Choose keyword analysis over sentiment

We can't know what people are actually Googling until we've researched it.

Or what people expect to get from search results.

But a thorough keyword analysis is your key to delivering the right content to the right people at the right time.

It's the key to being found when your potential customers are looking for you and want your help. And the key to you being able to deliver it.

Alright, so how do you do that?

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Keyword analysis step 1: Find out what's most important to you

... It's the million dollar question.

Like everything else in life, you need to figure out where your focus should be. What is the most important thing for you to become more visible on?

Usually the most obvious questions to find out are: "What do you make the most money from?" and "what do you want to sell more of?".

Once you've figured that out, you can start the keyword analysis. Now you have your "target".

You know that this area of your business is where you want to focus on getting more sales-generating conversions.

Keyword analysis step 2: Know who you're optimizing your website for

You can't do targeted marketing if you don't know who you're talking to.

For this reason, of course, you need to find out who your potential customers really are.

The good news is - there are plenty of ways to get a better insight into your target audience.

Among other things, you can:

Dive into your website and social media data

In Google Analytics, you can gain much greater insight into what content your visitors interact with on your site and which pages drive the most traffic.

If you run Facebook ads, you can also use Facebook Insights to learn more about what content your audience responds to - and the demographics of your audience.

Talk to your current and potential customers
To really understand your target audience in depth - you can interview both your sales department and your existing customers.

You can also use questionnaires - and reach more people in less time.

Most importantly, try to understand what your customers' challenges, needs, and questions are - how they interact with your business - and what content they respond positively to.

To visualize your potential customers' needs, challenges and questions even better, you can start creating personas.

Hubspot is brilliant for that - so take my recommendation and geek out on this.

Keyword analysis, step 3: Get an overview of what people are Googling

You now have a clear picture of which business areas are important to you and who your target audience is. Now you can start your keyword analysis in earnest.

Before you get impatient, however, remember that keyword research is not a linear process.

You find a bunch of keywords, analyze their potential, replace some, prioritize and find new ones.

But you have to start your detective work somewhere - and you can do that by making a long list of potential keywords.

Inspiration for tools you can use:
Ahrefs (not free),
https://answerthepublic.com (free),
https://moz.com/explorer (free),
Google Keyword Planner (free - but you need a Google Ads account) + a dash of common sense, a dash of logic and a lot of mentalization.

Let Google brainstorm keywords related to your business

As a start, you can log into Google Keyword Planner and let Google "brainstorm". It's very simple.

You just plug in a few words related to your business and you get a long list of keyword ideas, its average monthly searches and the competition.

Google brainstorm keywords

Download the list of suggestions - and now turn your attention to your competitors ↓

Check out what your biggest competitors are being found on

It's always smart to look over your competitors' shoulders for inspiration. In Ahrefs, you can check out what your biggest competitors are being found on that you are not.

These are not necessarily keywords that make sense for your business - but it's a good way to learn more about what people are actually Googling and uncover any gaps in your own online presence.

Use Ahrefs' content gap feature by writing domains on three competitors and your own ↓

Use Ahrefs' content gap feature

Drop the words you think have potential into your keyword list and now build on your list by adding them to your... 

... Research what you are being found on right now

Of course, all optimization work should be based on where you are right now. Therefore, you need to examine what your website is currently ranking on. Look at both what it ranks well on - and what it ranks embarrassingly badly on.

For example, you can use site explorer in Ahrefs or Google Search Console.

Ahrefs - Site Explorer

With insights into what it ranks well on, you can dive into data in Google Analytics and see if those good rankings actually translate into great visitor numbers and valuable conversions.

If they do, you know that keywords like these are important to you - and you can start hunting for related keywords.

You can also add the keywords you rank poorly for to your list of potential keywords and see if they have potential.

How, you ask? - Keep reading, I promise I'll get to it ↓

ALSO READ:: 15 concrete tips for writing a great landing page

Map your potential customers' journey

The customer journey

So far so good. You now have a long list of keywords, which most likely contains both good and bad. But the list can be better and more targeted.

It's time to zoom in on what questions and challenges your personas may have throughout their buying process, also known as the customer journey.

Why is this a good idea, you ask?
Because most people don't just wake up one morning and think "I need to buy a ventilation system" and then Google "buy ventilation system", without having noticed a problem in their everyday life before this urge to buy and not knowing the solution.

The customer journey is key to understanding the thought processes your target audience goes through, from when they are just starting to notice their pain point and don't know the solution yet, to when they know what they want to buy, where and why.

At each stage of the customer journey, the searcher has different intentions and needs.

The words they plot in Google are therefore also different.

And if you want to optimize your website to not only be found when your potential customers need you and your knowledge - but also convert your visitors - then you need to deliver content that is created based on the stages of the customer journey.

In a nutshell: Keyword research based on your audience's customer journey is the way to deliver the right content to the right people at the right time.

Are you a little too busy? Get a free SEO analysis from me or a colleague.

Find keywords for the awareness stage

Typically, your decision-making process starts in the awareness stage.

Here, the Googler discovers that he has a challenge or problem - but he is unsure of the scope and significance of the problem - and doesn't know the solution to it.

The searches the Googler makes here are called informational keywords. He is searching for information - has only just started researching - and is therefore far from ready to buy anything.

But even if he's not close to pulling out the card, it's still a hugely important stage for a company to be found.

This is where you as a company have the opportunity to plant a seed in your target audience's mind that you know a lot about the topic.

You are an expert. And you even help and share your knowledge with landing pages, blog posts, infographics or videos.

Find keywords for the awareness stage by asking the questions:

What challenges does your business solve?
What is the best-case outcome your business provides?
And what words does your target audience use to describe their problems and the desired outcome?

Let's say your business is speed optimizing websites for a living.

For example, searches made by your potential customers in the awareness stage:

  • "slow website"
  • "check slow website"
  • "why is my website slow?"
  • "how do I speed optimize my website?"
  • "best way to make website fast"
  • "make website fast" or "fast website".

Find keywords for the consideration stage

In the next stage, the Googler is now aware of their challenge - and realizes that there are different solutions. This is when the buyer puts on their solution-oriented glasses.

The Googler is actively exploring the terrain for a fix - and he now knows that there are companies that can speed optimize the website for him.

Keywords in this stage will therefore be much more specific and informed.

To find keywords for the consideration stage, you can zoom in on the questions:

  • Who are your competitors and what is the difference between their products/services and yours?
  • What are the advantages and disadvantages of your product/service (especially according to your customers)?
  • What questions do your customers often ask about your product?
  • What synonyms are there for your product/service - and what words do your customers use for your product category?

Examples of typical searches:

  • "Your product name" vs. your "competitor's product name"
  • "Your product name/product type/product category" + city
  • Benefits of "your product's name"
  • Disadvantages of "your product's name"
  • Company/brand + product type
  • Reviews for "product type"
  • Pricing on "product type"

Find keywords for the conversion stage

In the conversion stage, your potential customer will use transactional keywords. These are searches at the end of the buying process - and your potential customer is getting very ready to buy your product or order your service.

Brainstorm keywords by zooming in:

Do you have any discounts or incentives?
What is the fastest way for a customer to get your product into their basket, order your service or book an appointment with you?
Do your customers usually have any specific practical questions just before they buy your product or service?

In the conversion stage, searches are often pretty straightforward. You will see searches like:

  • Buy "your product/service"
  • Order "your product/service"
  • Booking "your product/service"
  • Discount on "your product/service"
  • Download "your product/service"
  • Sale on "your product/service"
  • Where do I buy "your product/service"

Find keywords for the delight stage

Unfortunately, many people forget the last stage. The Delight stage can be overlooked because your customer has now actually become a customer.

But don't you also want a happy customer who feels seen and heard?

This is exactly what your content and therefore your keywords should focus on in the final stage.

Think about the questions your customers often have after buying your product. Do you have any advice on how they can get the best out of the product? Or avoid running into problems?

Now, with your long list of keywords, you can sort them all based on the stages of the customer journey.

Throw them into a Google Sheet. And then you have them ready to clean up when you get to the next (and last, don't worry) step in your analysis - analyzing each keyword's potential ↓

Keyword analysis, step 4: Analyze keyword potential

Before you decide which keywords to target, you need to assess their potential with three important questions:

Is the keyword really the right match for what you offer?

The most important thing to avoid is to only choose keywords based on the possibility of traffic.

It's just as important to choose keywords based on the ability to convert the traffic that comes in. That way you get - relevant - traffic coming in.

So the question is - does the search intent match what you offer?

For example, when the searcher enters "plumbing", it's important for you as a plumber to find out if the intent behind the search is to order a plumber to provide a service (such as cleaning a blocked drain) or if it's to find a webshop with plumbing items (such as a bath faucet or a new water pipe).

A good way to understand the intent of a keyword is to look at the page 1 results that are currently appearing for the keyword.

Do they match what you offer?

If they do, it's an indicator that the world's largest search engine has determined that the intent behind the search is to find what you offer = your chosen keyword has potential.

Is there enough to go around?

The next important question is - how many people search for the word per month?

In my opinion, there is no number of monthly searches that is too low or too high to aim for if you have infinite time in your calendar.

But few of us have that. So it's worth weighing up the monthly number of searches with what a single converting customer on the chosen keyword is worth in dollars and cents.

The search query "What does bathroom renovation cost" has (currently) 30 monthly searches in the UK.

It's not many in the grand scheme of things - but if 1 of those searches turns into a customer buying a bathroom renovation for their mansion - that one customer can quickly earn back the entire SEO work for the keyword.

Therefore, don't be blinded by search volume, but instead assess what it would cost you to be number 1 for the keyword considering how much labor it takes to get there.

Can it be done?

... And then we get to the less fun (or really fun?) part. You need to look at the competition on the keyword, of course.

Here's the question - how easy is it to dominate your keyword?

Search volume can often give you a general idea of this. The more monthly searches, the more competition there is often.

But if you want a more specific answer, you can look at Moz's or Ahrefs' difficulty score, which is based on your domain's link profile.

Remember that you also need to assess whether you can deliver as good an SEO job as those who currently rank the highest - because that's who you need to beat.

As a cherry on top, you can look at the potential organic click through rate for the keyword - SEO guru Rand Fishkin has written a great article about this.

Don't have time for all this?

Okay, okay. I understand that, of course.

But the work pays off! And just like money - saving time costs time in the end. A half-baked analysis will only yield half-baked results.

You can let us provide you with a free SEO report - to help you on your way.

If you don't have the resources to create a well-thought-out SEO strategy, you are always welcome to send me an email at seo@amplify.dk or contact one of my colleagues at info@amplify.dk.

THANK YOU for reading! 

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