Researching Keywords like a Pro: How to figure out which search terms to use
Submitted by: Vergleich.org | https://www.vergleich.org on August 28, 2015 |
Online journalists have one big advantage over classic print journalists: they can find out what their readers are looking for before publishing their texts. There are different tools that help you research popular topics before you even start writing.
For example, 30 per cent of Welt.de readers and 37 per cent of FOCUS.de readers visit their web pages through search engines. Other websites, such as gutefrage.net, gain 86 per cent of traffic via search engines like Google and Bing.
That’s why it is particularly important to achieve a good ranking on Google, in order to generate as many visitors as possible - and with it high profits for Amazon Associates.
1. What is the difference between On-Page and Off-Page Optimisation?
Search Engine Optimisation can be divided into two sections: On-Page and Off-Page Optimisation:
On-Page Optimisation focuses on everything that happens on your website. It can be split up into the following categories:
- Page Structure (e.g. what is the internal link structure of your website?)
- Text Content (e.g. Did you mention and discuss the right topics?)
- Text Structure (e.g. Is your content well presented?)
- User Signals (e.g. Are users returning to the Search Engine Results page - short SERP - or are they staying on your page?)
This article will focus on Text Content - which is just one element of On-Page-Optimisation.
2. Keyword Research - What are the advantages?
A good ranking is only possible if the text on your website contains terms that search engine consumers use. The purpose of Keyword Research can be divided into three sections:
a. Greater quality of content – for example, a universal shopping guide for kettles should mention the topic ‘kettles with temperature control’ - a keyword which is used regularly. With good advance research you can ensure that all important points are covered. At the same time, using Keyword Research you can find out that criteria such as material (i.e. glass, stainless steel etc.) and colour rank very highly among customers. Therefore, they are frequently entered into search engines and should be featured in any quality guide.
b. Identifying new niche topics – using Keyword Research you will inevitably hit new, exciting subtopics and will be able to enter new niche topics step by step.
c. Identifying important synonyms – for most products, there are different words that can be used as a synonym. For example the terms ‘robot vacuum’ and ‘vacuum cleaning robot’. A good article about robot vacuums needs to mention both descriptions. Typically, users search for specific needs, for example ‘mattress 90 by 100 centimetres’. Following On-Page Criteria, a perfectly optimised text would contain a section about good mattress size.
2.2. Where to start?
2.2.1. Check Google Search Volumes (Google Keyword Planner)
Almost every Keyword Research starts with Google’s Keyword Planner (https://adwords.google.com/ko/KeywordPlanner/Home). The free tool is available after registration with Google Adwords. The planner has four functions, two of which are the most important:
1. Using a word group. a website or a category to search for new keywords => this step helps you identify new topics
2. Get data on Search Volume and Trends => check if you should use ‘robot vacuum’ or ‘vacuum cleaning robot’ as a main keyword for your article on robot vacuums - which is the most used search term?
To start, you can enter the keyword, for example the word ‘kettle’ under ‘use as a word group’. Google will display relevant keywords…
Here you can copy the most important keywords to make sure they are covered.
2.2.2. Find out seasonality with Google Trends etc.
Many topics are quite seasonal: lawn mowers are mainly bought in spring, gloves are bought in winter. Using Google Trends (https://www.google.com/trends/) can help you find out trends and seasonalities very quickly.
This graph shows ongoing trends – the topic ‘Action Cam’ has been growing in popularity in the past years. When you look more closely, clear seasonal peaks are visible in November and December. It seems the Action Cam is a popular Christmas gift. For a matching text, this could mean that it is mainly read by ‘gift givers’, i.e. parents, who are planning to buy an Action Cam for their kids.
2.2.3. Using Google’s Keyword Tool and Amazon Keywords for topic inspiration
To find even more keywords, you can use get help from Google's Keyword Tool. Google completes search entries based on other search terms. Tools like http://keywordtool.io/ read Google’s suggestions automatically.
Also of interest are the following:
- WDF/IDF-Analysis
WDF/IDF stands for Within-Document-Frequency (WDF) and Inverse-Document-Frequency (IDF).
Its purpose is to find out which keywords are used comparatively often in a text, i.e. more so than in everyday language use.
Basically, the tool looks at websites that are already ranked for the search term and analyses their texts.
The point is to pick up specific terms with comparatively high usage. Through comparing such terms to everyday language use (‘inverse-document-frequency’), expressions like ‘and’, ‘maybe’, ‘too’ etc. are disregarded automatically. Therefore, WDF-IDF-Analysis only displays important terms.
- Faceted Search of Price Comparison Sites
To further penetrate product categories, filters of price comparison sites are a great start. The big comparison sites can help filter products in the most relevant categories (e.g. built-in fridges vs. freestanding fridges). In most cases, this will show important keywords as well.
3. How to write a good text based on Keyword-Research
Keywords should be first ranked by importance or search volume in different categories – important keywords should appear in your text more frequently. Quite often it makes sense to create a template based on Keyword Research and to fill it with text continually. After completing your text, you can always compare it to your research and possibly add more information.It is important to only add keywords where it makes sense and to avoid Keyword Spam – an overuse of certain keywords – at any cost. Adding keywords without context at the end of a text is called Keyword-Stuffing – and considered a forbidden SEO strategy by major search engines such as Google. Using this strategy could result in a penalty for your website, which would dramatically lower the number of users referred through search engines.
Submitted by: Vergleich.org | https://www.vergleich.org on August 28, 2015
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