When I ask my clients the following question “What keyword or phrase should I type into Google that you want your business or brand to be known for?” about 90% of them have no idea how to answer me.
If this sounds like you, that’s totally ok. You don’t have to be an SEO ninja to figure it out. Talk to other online store owners or entrepreneurs and you’ll often find that keyword research is not even on their to-do list radar.
Keyword research doesn’t have to be a painful process. The fact that you can discover how many people per month are searching for something, what words they're using, and what questions they're asking in search still boggles my mind! That is why I am going to show you 5 easy hacks that connect you with your target audience in no time.
#1 Finding relevant blog or site categories
Having about five to ten blog categories can help you rank in search for popular topics, allow readers to find more relevant content on your site, and help to organize your blog.
For example, if you own a wedding planning service I would check out popular site theknot.com for common navigation and blog categories. This is what I found in less than 5 minutes and voila there are some instant keywords or key phrases that you can start sprinkling throughout your content.
#2 Use Google Advanced Search Operators To Dig a Little Deeper
Sounds a bit techy and complicated? It is super easy to do. It works on most popular sites.
Example: I am still sticking with the wedding planning service business. Popular sites like Brides.com and theknot.com have content topic pages. What does that mean? Instant blog topic or content ideas to incorporate into your site! To view all of The Knot.com’s topics search this: site:theknot.com/content/topic or if I want to find out popular topics discussed on Brides.com I can type in site:brides.com/topic.
This is just one example of topics that I could use in my blog posts or service pages:
#3 Take Advantage of Google Suggest
Google "wedding planner" and don’t hit enter!
Instead, make note of the drop-down search suggestions. You can also search "wedding planner a" [don’t hit enter], "wedding planner b" [don’t hit enter], all the way through to z to get the most popular and/or trending wedding-planner searches. That is another way to capture your keywords!
Here's an example:
#4 FAQ Keyword Research
Answering the most commonly searched-for questions about your product/service will provide value to your readers and give you instant credibility as an industry expert.
Here’s how to gather the most commonly asked questions on a topic:
Head on over to this free tool: Answerthepublic.com
Put in your product or service into the search box.
Next, you will find this super cool question wheel of what people are asking in the search. It will address the What, How, Why, What questions people are typing into search. This will not only help you create instant blog topics but keyword phrases as well. I download the report into a .csv file so I can delete any questions that might not be relative to my business.
#5 Don't Underestimate the Power of Pinterest
Never underestimate the power of Pinterest. It can be a keyword goldmine. Just type in your product or service and see what pops up in search. You can easily compile a keyword list just by using Pinterest!
You are now on your way to keyword research success in about 60 min or less!
Are you up for your next keyword challenge? Join us for our FREE 3 Day SEO challenge starting on May 7, 2018 where we will be giving you actionable steps towards SEO success. Sign up here: bit.ly/findmysite.
