Keyword research is essential for search marketing as it can really transform your website and business objectives. You can also learn a lot about your customers behavior from what they are looking for and how they search for it.
The critical point for SEO has always been how to get the right types of visitors to websites, which is why keyword research is so important. Do some competitive research, what keywords are they using? This will provide useful insights as to what approach you should use for your own keywords. Try a test campaign with Google AdWords and track your impressions and conversions. The more research you do, the higher your ROI will be.
The problem for search marketers is that most of the search terms occur in the long tail of the search demand curve. In fact, this percentage is around 70% while popular search terms make up the remaining 30%. However, this is not as bad as it may first seem.
Long tail search terms often convert better because they catch people later in the buying cycle. Think about it, when you search a product with a descriptive sentence it’s because you want to be more accurate with your results, in order to make a purchase.
There are different types of searches made by consumers which vary with their intent.
Transaction searches for example are about identifying local businesses, making a purchase online or completing a task. Navigation searches on the other hand are about visiting a pre-determined destination or sourcing a specific URL. Information searches though, are about getting quick answers for non-transation information such as the weather or getting directions.
As a result, useful content is crucial to search engine optimization. Every search performed at the engines comes with an intent — to find, learn, solve, buy, fix, treat, or understand. Search engines place web pages in their results which are the most useful to the consumer, therefore, crafting fulfilling content that addresses their needs will improve your chance to earn top rankings.
There are plenty of tools available to help you as well, such as:
Google AdWords Keyword Planner Tool
