Keyword Research — The Ultimate Guide

Keyword Research is the most vital part of Search Engine Optimization.

It helps us to achieve our goals in an organized way.

With Keyword research we not just strategize our content but also set our site’s niche.

It also helps us to identify our value in the world.

So, since keyword research is so important let’s understand it deeply.

But, before we dive in to understand Keyword Research, we first need to know What a Keyword is?

What is a Keyword?

In the real-world when we want to communicate with someone we use words. Similarly, In the virtual world when we want to communicate with the search engine, we use keywords.

Definition: A Keyword is a word or a phrase that we use to interact with the search engine. That’s the reason they are also called Search Queries. Because they are the queries that we ask from the search engine.

Now, that we understand What a keyword is, it’s time to learn about the different types of keywords present on the search engine.

Types of Keyword

Primarily there are 5 types of keywords present on the search engine.

• Informational
• Navigational
• Transactional
• Commercial
• Regional or Local

Informational Keywords

Keywords that want an answer to a question are called Informational Keywords.

These keywords are generally starting with the question words (what, when, how, etc.).

From a content creation perspective, informational keywords are great for creating informational content.

Now, having informational content on our site pleases the users by answering their queries, search engine increases the authority of our site.

And having higher authority generates more leads and sales which is profitable.

So, informational keywords are profitable keywords in terms of increasing the site authority and credibility.

Navigational Keywords

Navigational Keywords are called “Brand Specific Keywords”.

That’s because these keywords are specific about a brand.

For example, Jio is one of the leading telecom providers in India.

If you search Google, there are several keywords like Best Jio Prepaid Plans, How to get Jio Broadband Connection? And so on.

Now, if you see the above keywords, all of them are specific about a brand called Jio.

Hence, all the above keywords are called Navigational Keywords.

Now, you might be thinking, can a navigational keyword be an Informational one too?

So, the answer is Yes.

A navigational keyword can be an informational keyword too.

And it is obvious.

Take one of the above examples, How to get Jio Broadband Connection?

In this keyword, the word “How” is an Informational keyword. However, “Jio” is a navigational keyword.

So, we combine these two keywords and generate a keyword that is both informational and navigational at the same time.

Conclusion: A keyword can be navigational and informational at the same time.

Transactional Keywords

Keywords that help us to directly initiate a transaction.

For example, when we go to Google and type Buy TShirt Online, Order Pizza, etc., the first result we get in the search result is a direct link to initiate a transaction.

Transactional Keywords help us to initiate a transaction in the smallest step.

We can also say that these are the closest keyword to initiate a transaction.

Since these keywords are closely associated with money, they are the most profitable and most difficult keywords to rank on the search engine.

Transactional Keywords provoke users to buy a thing, hence they are also sometimes called Buyer’s Keyword.

Commercial Keyword

People generally used these keywords when they are planning to buy something.

For example, when I plan to see a movie, I like to read its review at first before watching it in the theatre.

In the above scenario, I am buying a movie ticket but before buying it I read the movie review on the web.

I simply type “ABC Movie Review” on Google and it prompts me a plethora of results.

So, in the above example, Review is a Commercial keyword.

Some other examples of commercial keywords are:

• How-to Articles
• Listicles
• Comparison article: For example, Jio VS Airtel: Which one has better internet speed?

So, Commercial keywords are the second most profitable keyword type after Transactional keywords.

Regional or Local Keyword

Keywords that are associated with a particular geographical area are called Regional or Local keywords.

These are the words and phrases popular in a particular geographical region.

A popular example of a regional keyword is the keyword that ends with “near me”.

For example, pizza delivery shops near me, nearby royal hotels, etc.

A regional keyword could either be Informational, Commercial, or Transactional.

Regional keywords are also called Local Keywords.

Now that we learn about the different types of keywords available on the search engine, let’s move on to understand the importance of keywords.

Why are Keywords Important?

Keywords are Important because it helps us to define the Content, Niche, Audience, and Value of our website.

Content Selection

Suppose we want to create a website about dogs.

Then, what do you think about which topic the majority of content will be present on our site?

Obviously, they are about dogs.

Also, it is obvious that a majority of keywords on our website will be related to dogs.

So, at last, keywords help us to select content on our website.

Niche Selection

Content selection and niche are mirrors to each other.

I mean to say that, if we write about dogs on our website then, it is obvious that the search engine will learn that we write about some animal and categorize our website as an animal website.

Take another example, suppose we write news on our website. Then, it is obvious that the search engine will categorize our website as a news website.

Now, writing about any niche, we do require keywords.

Hence, keywords are equally responsible for deciding a site’s niche.

Audience Selection

Before revealing to you how keyword decides a site’s audience.

First, do you know what do we call an audience?

I mean audience could not always be a person but could be a region as well.

For example, say we want to target an audience from the US who love cats, then we can research keywords for Top 10 Cat Shops in the US or Cat Breeds Found in Us and like that.

So, with keywords, we can decide our site’s audience as well.

Site’s Valuation

With keywords, we can also decide our site’s value. Here is how,

We know that the value of money varies from one country to another.

Similarly, the value of keywords also varies from one country to another.

So, if we target a keyword in the US, it will generate more money in comparison to India (if we ignore some prospects).

Take Ad-CPC for example, an advertiser pays more for a click from America in comparison to India.

Hence, with keywords, we can also decide the value of our website.

Now that we understand the importance of keywords and their types, let move on to learn about Keyword research.

What is Keyword Research?

It is a technique to find popular words (keywords) that users are querying from the search engine to get the desired result.

To determine the value and importance of a keyword, we read different metrics of a keyword while mining it.

Yes, a keyword has different metrics, and below I have explained the same.

Popular Keyword Metrics in SEO

While we can mine keywords openly from Google itself, keywords metrics are calculated by different SEO tools available on the web.

Again, all these tools calculate the keyword metrics based on their own intelligence, however, they have something in common.

All these keyword tools have the below keywords metric in common.

1. Volume — It shows the average number of monthly searches for a given keyword over a 12 month period.
2. Keyword Difficulty — It shows how difficult it would be to rank for a given keyword on the search engine.
3. Cost Per Click — It shows the average price advertisers pay for a user to click on an ad triggered by the given keyword.

While the above three are the most important keywords metrics, some tools provide a plethora of other keyword metrics.

1. Trend — It shows the trend of a given keyword in a period on the search engine.
2. Search Results — It shows the number of search results available for a particular keyword on the search engine. Obviously, if we have more search results for a particular keyword, then that keyword is competitive to rank on the search engines.

Now that we understand different keyword metrics, let me tell you about some tools through which you can reveal them.

Top 10 Paid Keyword Research Tools

1. Ahrefs
2. Semrush
3. Keyword Tool IO
4. KWFinder by Mangools
5. Keysearch
6. Ubersuggest
7. Moz
8. Majestic
9. Long Tail Pro
10. SpyFu

Top 10 Free Keyword Research Tools

1. Google Search (Auto Suggest, Related Searches, People Also Ask section)
2. Keyword Tool IO
3. Answer the Public
4. Semrush
5. Google Trends
6. Soovle
7. Ahrefs Keyword Generator
8. Ubersuggest
9. Keyword Tool Dominator
10. Question DB

Now that we learn about different keyword research tools let’s learn now How to research keywords from them.

Keyword Research Techniques

While everyone has their own way to research keywords, below I describe my hidden way of mining keywords.

I mean to say how we mine keywords and use them in our content.

But going to that, how many of you know about Primary and Secondary Keywords.

Well those of you who don’t, let me tell you.

Primary Keyword

This is the main keyword of our article.

A primary keyword will always be one for an article.

It is broad if you compare it with secondary keywords.

You can also say that a Primary Keyword is the heart of an article.

I will explain you with examples but before that let me tell you about the secondary keywords.

Secondary Keywords

These are the supporting keywords of the primary keyword.

If you think primary keyword as a root then, secondary keywords are its branches.

The secondary keywords for an article could be of any number three, four, five, depending on how big your article is.

Now, let’s understand primary and secondary keywords with an example.

Suppose, Apple fruit is a primary keyword then, Apple Fruit Benefits, Apple Fruit Vitamins, etc are the secondary keywords.

So, for every article, we research a primary keyword and then a few secondary keywords.

The benefit of adding a few secondary keywords is it improves the latent semantic indexing of the article.

Latent Semantic Indexing

It is a method that uses a mathematical technique called Singular Value Decomposition to index a set of information in an organized way by identifying relations between them.

For improving the latent semantic indexing of an article, I mean, search engines also follow latent semantic indexing.

Hence, if a search engine found supporting keywords in an article, then index it better.

Now, since secondary keywords improve latent semantic indexing of an article, they are also sometimes called Semantic Keywords.

Some users find it difficult to research semantic keywords but they are freely and easily available on Google Search Auto Suggest, Google Related Searches, People Also Ask Section.

Now, it is obvious that we look at the keywords metrics before finalizing our primary and secondary keywords for our article.

But which are the most profitable keywords to target from an article ranking perspective.

Of course, the answer is less competitive keywords but how do we find less competitive keywords from a free keyword research tool.

The answer is, put an aim on the Long Tail Keywords.

Yes, long-tail keywords are the most profitable keywords if you are new to a search engine.

Long-Tail Keywords

As its name suggests, they are long in size.

These keywords are more specific.

While the search volume is directly proportional to the short keywords, the conversion rate is directly proportional to long-tail keywords.

Even though long-tail keywords have low search volume (average monthly searches), it has a high conversion rate as it has low search difficulty.

These keywords are generally 5–6 words long and best for new websites to perform well on search engines.

So, so far we learn if we have a new website, then we have to target long-tail keywords with one primary and two or more secondary keywords.

There is one more hidden keyword research technique not very much popular in the market.

Keyword Golden Ratio

It is a keyword research technique to find high-performing keywords on search engines.

To calculate a keyword’s Golden ratio we require two things.

1. The monthly searches of that particular keyword
2. Its allintitle results

While some tools provide you a keyword’s monthly searches, you can calculate the all-in title result of a keyword by searching allintitle: “keyword name” in the search engine.

For example, below I have researched all in title results for the keyword Keyword Research

There are a total of 1,08,000 results on the Google.com search engine.

So, this is all for keyword research.

Do let us know, whether you love reading this article or not in the comments down below.

Happy keyword researching!