The foundation of an effective marketing plan is to map out your keyword strategy.
This has taken on a new meaning with the latest development of Google’s search engines in terms of how they assess and rank your website.
Search intent is the major element behind the development of your inbound marketing strategy.
Choosing a specific keyword and repeating it in your content is no longer required to optimize your pages.
Search engines read your entire site to assess the value it provides as a response to a specific search query.
Group keywords together that have the same search intent. This will give your pages the optimization needed through latent semantic indexing.
Most noteworthy, this method of assessment has been in practice since the Hummingbird update in 2013.
Google has continually improved the level of sophistication in determining the intent of search queries and assessing which websites provide the best solutions.
List Your Keywords, Key Phrases and Top Search Terms
Starting your strategy is as simple as writing down a list of keywords that are being used to describe your offerings.
Collect the data necessary to provide accurate comparisons when you are finished.
A keyword tool necessary to complete this part of keyword research. Free keyword tools are available online such as Ubersuggest.
You will find the best and most useful software on sites like SEMrush and Ahrefs.
The keyword tools on these sites provide additional metrics such as:
- the number of organic clicks
- top performing pages of your competitors
- the keywords your competitors are ranking for in the SERP’s
Complete a Technical Assessment to Filter Your Top Choices
The standard set of values you will need to make comparisons are the monthly volume of traffic, keyword difficulty and cost per click.
You want high commercial valued key phrases with a high volume of traffic and low keyword difficulty.
Three things to consider regarding the stated value of traffic for any keyword are the:
- organic clicks from the traffic of that keyword
- percentage of clicks that are generally awarded to each position
- fact that your website will rank for similar phrases with the same search intent.
Identify search intent
You should identify search intent in the first phase of your keyword research because it defines the motivating factors behind users who are performing the query.
Perform the search yourself to see how the results page is displayed. This is the first clue to identifying search intent.
You want to take note of the layout of the page in order to assess the type of content that is effectively ranking at the top of the page.
The potential displays on the first page of results include the:
- featured snippet
- video carousels
- shopping carousels
- advertisements
- local listings
Organic results typically follow these other types.
Strategically Target By Type of Results
If the top first page has a video carousel, it would be wise to create and rank a video to compete for that specific search term.
If there is a featured snippet, you will need to match and create a better response as a solution to the search query.
The way you create your content depends on the way the results are being displayed as a response to the keyword search.
The number of organic clicks plays a crucial role in the effectiveness the search term has on your website.
Further investigation of a first-page result may lead you to realize that although a search term may have a high volume of traffic, there may be a large percentage of “clickless” traffic that exists.
If a featured snippet can adequately answer a search query and there is no reason for a user to click on to find more information, that particular term will be useless for getting traffic to your website.
Let’s take the example search “How many kids did Brad and Angelina adopt?”
That search may get 100k searches but the organic clicks may only be around 4k.
94% of people will not get past position zero on that particular search because the answer found in the snippet satisfies their search intent.
Provide Solutions to Search Demand
Once you have an effective grouping of keywords, build content that satisfies the search intent.
To get a better insight on what content your page should include, search forums to identify the problems people are experiencing.
Write down the questions asked and include every question in your article to increase the value it provides to visitors.
Evergreen content is highly recommended to provide your site with a steady long term stream of traffic.
Evergreen content has no expiration date and will continually contribute to the value your website provides.
Your best content will teach your readers how to learn a specific skill or about a specific event, subject, or strategy.
Examples of evergreen content include:
- case studies
- interviews
- round up articles
- how to guides
- best of lists
- checklists
- top strategies
- historical highlights
Write about anything relevant to your audience that will not become dated in the foreseeable future.
Evergreen articles improve the onsite search engine optimization of your website.
When you have long-form content it takes readers longer amounts of time to read through the article.
In fact, it may take a visitor a few attempts at digesting the entire piece of content if it is long enough.
Encouraging return visits and increasing the length of time visitors are spending on your website are direct ranking factors.
Return visitors and increased time-on-site will improve the competitive position of your website.
Focus on Content That Doesn’t Expire
It will contribute building traffic to your site as time goes by and it moves up in the rankings.
Your evergreen article acquiring new backlinks through increased sharing improves your offsite search engine optimization.
If your article is truly answering search intent and providing value there is a strong likelihood that people will share their findings.
This in turn creates more traffic through the links they share with others.
Targeted keyword research enables the curation of content that is able to effectively answer search intent.
Using evergreen articles is one form of structuring the content of your site to include multiple keywords and phrases.
Publish what will adequately respond to demand and outperform competing pages that rank for similar search terms.
Incorporate these two pillars of success to develop a website that ranks highly in the search engine result pages.
Christian Carere
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Really use tip for staring and prolonged companies and bigness .
Very well said, Christian!
Search intent is the core of writing any content according to me, the search intent gets you the write traffic necessary for your site and gives you the right direction to write relevant content.
This step by step process is followed by many good marketers and digital marketing agencies. As very rightly said the search intent is very critical before writing any content. Some really good insights and the evergreen content topics are excellent.
Very well presented! Search intent is the fuel to your website. With the right keyword target, your on your game! Content is King until today. People search to find answers, so better provide them with the right content.
Jay would love you to read ..Woocommerce Grundlagen – Was kann WooCommerce wirklich?
I’m not sure if I necessarily agree. People keep talking about how Google has completely changed its ranking from the old days but I think this is overblown. For instance, if you type in personal trainer Toronto in a search then the first business that shows up will have /personaltrainertoronto in their URL. Also, I see people with tons of PBN links that are at the top of the results. They still have a lot of changes to make for it to be a more fair system.
Is their any wordpress plugin who choose best keyword according to my article automatically?
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Hey,
Nice post i really appreciate your words in this blog regarding growth of the business
This is really a good content just want to know which tool you use for keyword research
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Hi Mark,
The best free tool is Ubersuggest which I wrote about in Powerful Keyword Research: the Key to Attracting More Traffic.
SEOs also use many paid tools. And advertisers who spend tens of thousands of dollars on AdWords can get better keyword results from Google.
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Hi,
This is nice post for identify search intent fuel and having right article to see you here. Thanks a lot for sharing with us.
the article is quite interesting and has great stuff as well. I think content is the king if you are having great content on your website then it will automatically rank. the recent update of Google says that to rank fast on google SERP. You need to focus on great content
Quant would love you to read ..How to select SEO Keywords
Hi Quant,
Nice thought, but that is wishful thinking. Unless you rank for a really long-tail keyword phrase no one else cares about or there are only a few sites about your topic, your content will not automatically rank.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..SEO-Optimized Infographics: A Blogger’s Best Friend
Ultimately, I understand keyword research plays a vital role in catering our content to the user’s search intent. Keywords are the key that conveys what audiences are looking for. We should not just take the keywords as we get it from keyword research tools. We should also make use of Google related searches, auto type search queries into account for the fruitful content creation. Thanks for the heads-up!
Christian,
You have nailed the topic in detail. In the SEO industry, always there is a debate: we should write for the search engines or the users. Absolutely, one should understand that even search engines will refine the sources that are appropriate to the search queries (made by users). So, it is ultimate to write for the user’s search intent. It’s sure that the search engines will reward it in terms of rankings if it really serves the users with what they need. Thanks for your deep insights about identifying search intent.
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Hi Christian,
Keyword research plays a vital part in content. This post is very helpful. Thanks a lot!
Great post thanks for posting such valuable information with us. This will definitely help a lot of people improve their website’s search presence. Nice work keep posting such information with us all.
I completely agree with the author on the importance of search intent in building the content. The latest algorithm rolled by name “Broad Core Algorithm” clearly speaks on building quality & relevant content for fast ranking.
Hi,
This is nice post for identify search intent and fuel business growth. Thanks a lot for sharing with us.
Hi Christian,
Thanks for sharing informative blog post. I totally agree with that proper keyword research are the foundation of any business. Many say content is the king however they fail to realize that content with proper keyword research would not attract right audience. This blog post clarifies many doubts i have about the identifying the search intent.
Thanks once again for this blog post.
Ubersuggest is one great keywords tool if you do not have access to Google keyword planner. I also share them with my students and clients.
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Hi Bryan,
Even if you have access to Google keyword tool, the way I understand it is that only advertisers who spend a lot of money actually get to see the full results. So I wouldn’t rely on that alone.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..SEO-Optimized Infographics: A Blogger’s Best Friend
Yes, you are right about the Google keyword tool. But I would consider that as the most accurate information as they are running the search engine itself.
Bryan Ng would love you to read ..Why Digital Marketing Is Important?
Hi Bryan,
They have the most accurate information, but they most likely don’t provide that to anyone. And they have made that more obvious by telling us that only advertisers spending 10s of $1000s a month are being shown supposedly full results.
Also, it is never accurate. You cannot tell whether one person searched for a phrase 15 times of 15 different people searched for it once. The odds of making a sale to 15 people versus that 1 person are better.
I know this because I did ppc, mostly AdWords, for 5.5 years. And crazy searches no two people would ever make could show high counts. (Nothing under 10 searches a month shows.)
Many people type a search in, click one result, and then instead of backing up, just click search again — especially if whatever they’re using leaves that search sitting in the search box.
It is easier for them to click “search” than to click “back”. Or maybe Google even counts going back as another search.
Either way, it was obvious that only one person was repeatedly making that search as no other person would come up with exactly that long string of non-sensical words.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..SEO-Optimized Infographics: A Blogger’s Best Friend
this article is quite helpful and it focuses majorly on the content part and I personally feel that content is the kingpin and it shouldn’t be expire quite easily.
the content should be different from others. only then google will take your content into consideration.
Very well presented! Thank you for sharing! Search intent is one of the factors for your site to grow. I would find anything more important than search intent.
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It’s hard enough to gain organic visitors so, I think CPC promotion services are absolutely needed. If we do that after we publish in a very attractive way the information to be promoted, we will have the job half done!
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I myself am a fan of Ubersuggest as well. They have come a long way since their early versions which I found out about in around 2014. Besides Ubersuggest, Google trends is also great for keyword brainstorming.
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Nowdays population is rapidly increases day by day. So jobs options is very low. Therefore only one option is remaining to settle in life that is business.
We can start any business that is depending on your Intereste.
I’m strongly recommend a business don’t follow for jobs.
It’s my opinion 😎
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Great Post Christian! Which tool do you use for keyword research? I mean paid or free?
Keep up the good work 🙂
i think google keyword planner is the best tool for keyword research… it has many updated features & help us to management…. and its free
alex rogers would love you to read ..IFRS 15 – Canada
Hi Alex,
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, it is my understanding that only people who spend high 5 figures on ads get to see all the keyword results.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..3 Huge Online Mistakes You’re Making Right Now
Hi Gail,
Off course I’m strongly agree with u…
alex rogers would love you to read ..IFRS 15 – Canada
In my opinion, you should educate your target audience about the products and services that would benefit them. Choose the right keyword that are usually used by users to easily target them.
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content is the king but i wrote a quality contents if you compare with my competitors content but i dont know why not ranking.whats your suggestion?