Learning how to master keyword research as a beginner blogger is the first step you need to take in order to become a successful blogger.
By the time you finish reading this blog post, you will understand:
- the importance of keyword research
- how to research keywords
- how to select the best keywords for your blog post
- how to use the best keywords within your blog post
Over the past few weeks, I collected feedback from my readers on areas of blogging that they found to be the most challenging. Keyword research was the main area that bloggers are struggling with.
Before I dive into this week’s post on how to master keyword research as a beginner blogger I want to shoutout, Jaya of Nin Chronicles. Jaya personally requested for me to publish a post on keyword research. Jaya I hope this post helps you to better understand how to research keywords for your content.
Understanding Keyword Research as a Beginner Blogger
Keyword research is one of the most underrated techniques of blogging. So many bloggers find it too intimidating to even blog about. I personally did not find creating this post easy.
However, I know firsthand how hard it was for me to understand to research keywords. When I first began blogging there was only a small amount of resources online to walk me through the process.
Why understanding how to master keyword research is important to your blogs success
Understanding how to master keyword research is important if you are seeking to write content that is SEO-friendly. And if you are a blogger you know how important writing for SEO is in order to attract traffic to your site. Which leads to the ultimate blogging success (more traffic = more views = $$$).
Understanding exactly what your audience is searching for
Keyword research is intended for you to understand exactly what your audience is searching for. The easiest way to drive traffic is to know what your audience is searching for and write content related to that.
This is where keyword research comes in. Keyword research allows you to discover what people are searching for online. Once you know what your audience is searching for it makes it easier to create content that is appealing to your audience. This will surely drive your page views.
Aside from understanding exactly what your audience is searching for you, you will then have an edge on your competition within your niche. I see it far too often, bloggers creating content with no clear keywords. It’s so obvious when bloggers pick a topic and they simply hope it will drive views.
More often than it should, content without keyword research often becomes dead content online. Far from the evergreen type of content you want to create that will continuously drive traffic to your blog.
Conducting keyword research will only give you an edge on your competition within your blogging niche if done correctly. Allowing you to better understand how keywords are ranking (popularity on search engines), and what your audience is searching for.
Knowing what type of content your audience wants to read will help you become a successful blogger.
How to conduct keyword research
Ok, now for the information you have been waiting for.
1. Use a keyword research tool to discover keywords for your content
I have tried multiple different keyword research tools that have helped me to research keywords for my content. There are so many different websites, extensions, and tools out there available to you. Some are free options and others are paid.
I am going to share with you my top keyword research tools that I personally use in order to discover keywords for my content. Not only does it save me time, but each tool is so easy to use.
KW Finder
KW Finder makes it so easy to find keywords that you can easily rank for. I specifically like to use this tool in order to find my long-tail keywords. I really like how it also allows me to find my competitor’s keywords. As well as suggests google keywords.
Another perk of using this tool is all of the useful features it provides when conducting keyword research. Such as the ability to identify keyword difficulty, as well as details regarding search volume and a variety of keyword metrics.
SEMRush
SEMRush is another great tool to use in order to conduct your keyword research. I have tried only the free version and I find it very helpful to use this platform to conduct my keyword research along with KW Finder and the other tools I will later mention.
Using SEMRush you will soon find that there are so many features available to you. A feature that I love the most is the ability to optimize your content for SEO, and also the overall traffic analytics. SEMRush provides data on organic keyword research traffic and will also gather related key phrases and keywords. This is a plus when building and optimizing your content.
Keywords Everywhere
Of course, I have saved the best for last. Keywords Everywhere is my #1 keyword research tool that I always use when researching and planning out my blog content. I have the google chrome extension downloaded which makes it super easy to access and use.
Keywords Everywhere make it so easy to conduct keyword research because it shows you the monthly search volume, CPC, and competition data of keywords on multiple websites.
I prefer to start my keyword research in google and Keywords Everywhere makes it super easy by pulling data right from the page.
2. Get to know your competition
The best way to conduct keyword research is by checking out and getting to know your competition. What are other bloggers in your niche writing about?
You can use SEMRush or Moz, which is another keyword research tool site in order to identify popular keywords within a specific domain.
So, go ahead and check out your competition. Use SEMRush or Moz to conduct a search using your competitor’s URL. Review their high-performance keywords that are driving the most organic traffic to their blog. What is driving the most traffic to their blog? Is it a specific keyword?
Do not copy, but definitely take notes from the professionals. The data that you view should help not only motivate but also encourage you to create content that will drive views and more traffic to your blog.
By getting to know your competition and understanding where they are gaining the most of their traffic from on search engines you are then able to measure exactly what is working and what is not. Take that information and apply it to your content.
3. Export/save your keyword research in a spreadsheet
Saving your keyword research in the form of a spreadsheet is very beneficial if you truly want to master keyword research. Using a spreadsheet to track and manage your keywords will help you as you plan and create content. Making it easier to analyze all of the data at once.
Most keyword research tools have a feature that will allow you to export the data into a CSV file. Which ultimately will make saving your keyword research in a spreadsheet a simple job.
If you still don’t know where to begin you can check out The Best Keyword Research Tool for SEO is a Simple Google Spreadsheet [With template!] this is what I use. And it makes it so easy to compare keywords as I prepare to pick the best keywords for my blog post.
How to pick the best keywords for your blog post
Now that you understand the importance of keyword research and how to conduct keyword research it is now important to discover how to pick the best keywords for your blog post.
Create a list of long-tail keywords
Once you select a keyword you then want to create a list of long-tail keywords. A long-tail keyword is a key phrase this is specific and usually 3+ words longer than your actual keyword.
For example, my keyword for this blog post is: keyword research.
My long-tail keyword is: keyword research for the beginner blogger.
My targeted audience would be: a beginner blogger.
Creating a long-tail keyword is beneficial for your blog in order to narrow your audience by targeting specific readers to your content. Your goal as a blogger is to select a keyword and long-tail keyword that will attract your ideal reader.
Pick keywords with a medium search volume
This is when your spreadsheet will come in handy. Go ahead, take a look back at your keyword data. Use your spreadsheet to identify keywords with a medium search volume.
By using keywords with a medium search volume your content will be up against less competition. You never want your content to get lost in a large pool of blog posts from bloggers who are more established. Those bloggers are obviously going to rank much higher in most search engines.
However, if you select keywords with a medium search volume your swimming in an average size pool, and this is the best practice to use in order to reach the right number and audience of readers.
How to Use Keywords when Blogging
Content Planning
When blogging I use keyword research in order to plan out my content. Keyword research is one of the first steps I take when planning my content.
Before writing a blog post you first must decide what your blog content is going to be about. Your topic will typically be your keyword.
Once you have successfully researched and determined what your keyword will be you can then create ideas surrounding your keyword. This is a great time to use your keyword in order to create a blog post outline.
Write for SEO
I am a WordPress blogger and I absolutely love my Yoast SEO plug-in. I use the paid version and it does most of my work for me when it comes to ensuring that my keywords are in their appropriate places within my blog post. The only thing I have to do is type in my focus keyphrase and related keyphrase.
Once I have my keyword and keyphrase identified the Yoast SEO plug-in makes sure that my keyword appears in my title, meta description, and throughout my headings.
These are all crucial areas where your keyword must be present.
What makes you click on a link? For most readers, you judge content based on the title and the meta description which is a brief overview of what the focus of the content is about. I am most readers.
This is why it is so important that your keyword is present within your title and meta description. If you include your keyword in those areas you will be one step closer to being able to master keyword research.
Write Quality Content
When blogging use keywords as your guide in order to write quality content. Keywords allow you to ensure that your content remains consistent and relevant. I like to use my keyword as my guide to keep me on topic when writing.
If you write quality content that is relevant to your topic and is supported, there is no need to keyword stuff throughout your blog post.
As long as your keyword is within your title, meta description, and throughout your headings your blog post will be search engine ready.
Are you feeling like you can master keyword research?
Now that you have learned the basics of how to master keyword research. I am confident that you are ready to put these practices to the test within your own blog.
If you have made it this far you should have an understanding of the importance of keyword research as a beginner blogger, as well as how to conduct keyword research, how to select the best keywords for your blog post, and how to use keywords when blogging.
As always, I am always available. Just shoot me an email or message on social media if you have any further questions about keyword research. We are going to work through this and perfect keyword research together. I am a fan of resources and if it’s something I don’t know I believe in researching to learn or figure things out.
If there is anything that is still unclear to you be sure to leave a comment below. Let me know what specific areas of blogging you are still struggling with.
I am also accepting suggestions for my next blog post topic, so drop some ideas below and you may be FEATURED in next week’s blog post.
Until next week…
Caroline
Keyword research confuses me so much but this blog post has really helped me. Thank you for writing it & sharing your knowledge! Never had a clue what a long-tailed keyword was before but now I do <3
Tyler V Layne
These is such a great resource! Thank you so much for sharing
Aspen Hite
WONDERFUL! It’s like you are a mind reader and knew I needed this! It’s a lot to digest at the moment, but I’ve bookmarked it to refer to when I have more time to focus. Thank you so much! Be well. ✌
Alated Bibliophile
Oh my gosh. Thank you for this post! I’m definitely bookmarking it to study later!
redvelvetblogadmin
So in depth and so useful! As a new blogger this is hugely helpful x
Diana
This was such a helpful and informative post! 😊 I learned a lot ! thank you for sharing this as I’m still new and learning!
Jaya Avendel
Absolutely loving this in-depth post and the visual shots you share of the tools you use to help you. With so many options for keyword help out there, Keywords Everywhere sounds like an awesome Chrome extension! I love that it picks keywords and phrases right off the page for easy study. Checking out a competitor’s blog and seeing what is working for them is also a great way to find ideas.
Keeping a list of keywords as a spreadsheet is an easy and handy idea; I need to start doing that. Information and focus are both golden.
Thank you so much for sharing this! I will be referring back with each new article I write until I have the hang of it. Practice makes perfect. <3
bloglifewitherica
I am so happy you found this post helpful Jaya. I definitely love when I can find an extension for chrome. It makes things so much easier. I hate having a lot of different windows open while working. But sometimes it so hard as a blogger when you have to manage and oversee so much.
I can’t wait to see your improvements and results from your keyword research. You got this! I am rooting for you! As, always thank you so much for your content topic suggestions.
xo Erica
Jaya Avendel
Love that you make it possible for your readers to share what they need help with and receive such complete and useful ✍️ <3
Tiffany McCullough - Metaphysical Mama
Great Info! I’m still trying to get the hang of keyword research so this has been really helpful. Thanks for sharing!
mindbeautysimplicity
great post!! i still need to get a seo plugin…i guess there aren’t any free ones though. but i love the idea of a keywords spread sheet to keep tabs on the most used / categorize them.
bloglifewitherica
Definitely check out the Yoast SEO plugin and give the free version a try. It’s so worth it. It especially helped me learn about what all needs to be included to write content that ranks for SEO.
xo Erica
lynnmumbingmejia
Great post, Erica! I’m learning so much about keyword research right now and this was super helpful! I’ll be pinning this for later xx
Lynn | https://www.lynnmumbingmejia.com