Use the keywords your potential clients are using
I’ve been doing Search Engine Optimization SEO since 1999 and the one thing that has held true this entire time is that keyword research is your foundation.
If you are a beginner to SEO a keyword or keyword phrase is simply what your potential client is typing into Google’s search bar to find what it is they are looking for.
If you can figure out what keywords they are using then you can use that information to rank your site so it’s on the first page of Google.
Without doing this step in SEO, you will waste time, lose money and get very frustrated.
With that said I’m going to show you what I teach my SEO Coaching Clients on how to do SEO Keyword Research the quickest, easiest way without feeling overwhelmed.
Your first order of business is to Brainstorm keyword ideas. These will be your main keywords, also known as seed words.
From these keywords, you will walk away with an extensive list of keyword/phrases that you’ll be able to rank for on the first page of the major Search Engines.
When finding the perfect keywords we are looking for two things:
- High Search Volume – This lets us know that a lot of people are using the keyword to find the products or services you offer.
- Low Competition – We don’t want to go up against Goliath with nothing to back us up with. So, we are looking for those hidden keyword phrases that not everyone and their mother is trying to rank for.
Before we move on in this process there are two words I’ll keep mentioning that I want you to understand.
They are “keyword/s” and “long tail keyword/s”. Let’s define what each of these two is.
Keywords – these are words that people use to find information on the major search engine.
For example, if you were looking for a dress you would type in “dress” and Google would return websites that have that word in it.
Now if you sold dresses and your site showed up on the first page of Google then “dress” would be the keyword someone used to find your site.
Long tail keywords – are three to six keyword phrases which are very, very specific to whatever you are searching for.
For example, remember the dress above? Let’s get specific, “pink dress for 4 years old”. Now that is specific and what you would call a “long tail keyword”. Someone on the other end of the computer is looking for a pink dress for a 4-year-old. If you sell pink dresses in that size then you would want your site to be on Google’s first page.
Long tail keywords will be what we will be focusing on in this training.
Now that we got that out of the way and you know what a keyword and long tail keywords are let’s get busy finding out what long tail keyword phrases YOUR ideal client is searching on.
BONUS: As you do this keyword research you’ll also be getting lots of ideas for the content you’ll be writing about on your blog.
STEP 1: Brainstorm what’s already within you
This step right here seems to always get overlooked because I think we tend to make it more complicated that it really is.
Sit down with a paper and pencil in hand, set your timer for 5 minutes and jot the keywords you think your customers are using to find you.
For example, if you are a local roofing company and a potential client has a roof leak, they would head to Google and type in Roofing company or roof inspection.
STEP 2: Create Master List of Main Topic Keywords
Below you are going to come up with a Master Keyword List from your Main Topics. We will break it up into 3 different areas of your business (What, Why, What)
List at least 5 Main Keywords that describe WHAT you or your business do
- SEO Strategist
- [Teach] SEO Search Engine Optimization
- [Coach] Business Owners & Entrepreneurs on SEO
- [Offer] SEO Online Course
- Content Marketing
List at least 5 Main Keywords of WHY you do this for your ideal client
- Gain Visibility
- Generate Leads
- Build Authority
- Increase Traffic to the site
- Increase sales
List at least 3 descriptions of WHO your ideal client is
- Small Business Owners and Entrepreneurs
- VA’s
- Beginners
STEP 2: Create a List of ideas for keywords/phrases using the SERP’s, Instant Search and related search
Using Google’s SERP (Search Results Page), Google Instant Search and the related search you’re going to find some amazing keywords that you probably didn’t even know people searched on.
Let’s talk about the very first thing you’ll notice when searching for a keyword/phrase on Google. It’s known as Google Instant Search and as you’re typing your keyword or phrase into Google you’ll notice this drop-down list of suggestions. It uses Google’s autocomplete technology to show predicted search terms in a drop-down box and begins to display search results below the drop-down.
Basically, Google is handing you, on a silver platter, what keywords or phrases people are typing into Google to find web pages that will give them what they are looking for.
Using the main topic “SEO Course” I type that into Google and look at what Google Suggest I may be looking for because of other’s search request.
So you can see that from my main topic I have a list of 4 possible keyword phrases I can use and rank my website/page for…
SEO course
SEO course for beginners
SEO courses online
SEO course 2020
etc.
The keywords that have udemy and near me won’t apply to my website at least not right now so I wouldn’t need to rank those. However, I will be offering online SEO courses for beginners with some group coaching and one on one SEO coaching.
At this point, we’ll want to create an Excel spreadsheet or Google Sheets and start adding these keyword phrases to it.
Further along we will be doing more research to determine how many people actually search for these keywords and what sort of competition you might be up against.
Now that you have a few ideas from using Google Instant let’s look at the SERP’s (Search Engine Results Page) results and see what other ideas we can gain.
As I’m moving down the page I see that Google lets me know that People ask these questions that pertain to my main keyword.
They are asking What is online marketing? What are the different types of online marketing? What are the tools of online marketing?
These are AWESOME questions that I can quickly turn into a blog post. They are related to my niche/business and I can quickly put together a blog post that answers these questions.
I would take the first 3 questions and add them to my running list of keywords.
Continue to scroll to the bottom of the SERP and look what else Google gives you. Another list of keywords that people have searched on that is associated with seo courses.
This is like payday right here!
Are you getting as excited as I am?
Do you see the potential of blog post ideas you have?
The number of long tail keyword phrases you can possibly rank for?
From Google Instant, Google’s People Also Ask and Google Related I now have a TON of long tail keywords that I could possibly rank for on the first page of Google.
Think about this! I found these long tail keywords from just one main keyword/phrase “SEO course” and I still have 4 more to go under my list of keywords that describe what I do.
I want you to take what you’ve learned here and brainstorm a list of all the long tail keyword phrases you can find using your Main keyword [Topic] on what, why, who and then let’s move on to the next step of this training.
Want to learn more tips and tricks to find those keywords that will increase traffic to your site?
Let’s work together to get your site rankings and pouring in those leads so you can increase your revenue.
