Every single day we receive more than 10 emails from new bloggers asking for more details about one major topic: What is Keyword Research? How to find the best keywords for my blog? How to get into Google top results?

[Updated content: August 2021]

We created this SEO Golden List for Beginners because we want to help new bloggers and content creators to master the process of KEYWORD RESEARCH. The right Keyword research can provide to your content the pleasure of  leading the listings of relevant and authoritative resources.

Learn how to use Keywords successfully. Attract the love and attention of all Search Engine Spiders and put your website at the top. – Areti Vassou 

Keyword research is the main practice for search engine optimization that most SEO professionals use to find and apply search terms and phrases in order to attract the attention of the right audience for the right reasons.

When users enter into search engines when looking for solutions, services, products or general information keywords are responsible for matching these specific searches with specific content into blogs or websites or eshops. In other words, keywords are related to queries and intentions, which are asked by users in search engines.

Google is the Master of Keywords

Today,  Google is increasingly trying to answer queries in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages) within seconds and indirectly is leading us to click further and visit the links that are more relevant to what we are looking for.

Clarify: But let’s start with the basics. You have a website or a blog or an eshop. Have you made it crystal clear what will be the main theme/topic of your digital asset?  What need does your website cover? For example, mine (ideadeco) is providing information about copywriting, digital marketing, SEO, SEM, social media marketing, web design, digital ethics, digital technology, coding, digital marketing strategy and seminars.

Mission: Knowing what is your mission makes it easier to understand what keywords to use in order to get the best results and high-quality traffic. You can even talk about a recipe for a cake in a more digital marketing frame if you have set from the beginning which keywords are the one with the best impact for your digital assets.

Check. Optimize. Repeat.

Check. Optimize. And Repeat.

Check. Optimize. And Repeat again, and again and again…

Be an optimization maniac just like me! We want our website and content to improve EVERY DAY! It is the safer and most professional way to manage your visibility online.

We want the love and attention of all Search Engine Spiders that are constantly crawling texts + links + picture descriptions and deep data. Keyword research can provide to our content the indication of relevant and authoritative source to queries. This is one of our top goals!

Keywords

There are single keywords and key phrases keywords that vary in quality and traffic results. Let’s go throw a keyword research about this particular topic [keyword research + seo]. Type the words and wait for the results:

22.500.000 are a huge number of results and quite impossible to compete, right? Let’s try a different angle of research… more niche-like.

Isn’t that better? Having 6.680.000 results makes it doable to play and win in this topic.

Now scroll down at the bottom of the page and notice what extra phrases are given by Google and which of them are more relative to your topic.

This is pure gold. You are looking at the most high ranking keywords and key phrases regarding this topic. Write down all of them, open the links, study them carefully and then start writing your article or post. Remember to use these precise keywords and key phrases in your content.

Compare my first title with the first key phrase. They are identical. For a very good reason. By providing a fresh and informative (+1000 words) answer for this topic it helps my content (and my website) to attract the attention of all the hungry crawl machines. Feed the spiders!!!

Use Keyword Research Tools

SEO based keyword research is a combination of technical skills, coding, creative thinking, copywriting, marketing, and discipline. In other words is a form of art.

It is a good idea to use keyword research tools before you start any optimization on your website or even before creating any post/page/article.

Pro Tips: This is how you can put your website at the top with the right Keyword Research Strategy!

Beginners Level Keyword Research

1. Always use the Google search bar and the given results (SERP) as your starting point.
2. Visit the strongest competitors or authorities on the topic and study how they set the reading flow and how they have used the top keywords.
3. Install the Free Moz Toolbar.
4. Google Trends can help you find top key phrases over time and in specific geolocation.
5. Google Keyword Planner. With Keyword Planner, you can find new keyword ideas for your Search Network campaigns that are relevant to your product, service, and target customers. Keyword Planner will show you historical statistics such as search volume data for these keywords so you can decide whether to add them to your campaigns. This article goes over how you can use Keyword Planner to get search volume data and find new keywords that are relevant to your business.
6. Google Trends will become your best friend. It is the best tool for finding the top queries with a similar pattern to a target data series.
7. SEMrush is a great tool for keyword research but it is free only for a limited period of time.
8. For creating amazing questions use the tools Answer The Public. 
9. Use the given infobox or the box with the “People also ask” as a navigator to your key phrases.
10. Optimize and update your articles or posts after any Google update. Every single time!

Next Level Keyword Research for SEO

We do the research to find the most suitable and competitive keywords. The main reason is to keep our website’s content more SEO friendly at all levels. Inside the entire content, the actual meaning, the pictures, the URLs, the links, the breadcrumbs, the social media texts, the hashtags, the titles, and headings and all the micro copy details ARE PART OF SEO.

Now start thinking like your audience. Add features and details that are actually for the use of local,  hyperlocal and mobile queries. Now we must consider also and the voice search option. In my case, you will find that most of the times my content offers all possible options to be discovered even from audience that live on the other side of the planet. My digital services face no geolocation or time limitations, so my content is discoverable even in non-European languages.

Keyword Research and SEO, SMO, SEM & SMM

The main S terms yoy need to add in your Keyword Research activities and efforts:

• SEO: Search Engine Optimization
• SMO: Social Media Optimization
• SEM: Search Engine Marketing
• SMM: Social Media Marketing
• SERP: Search Engine Page Results

What do they ALL have in common?  All of them are sensitive to the right keywords.

For example: I am a Digital Marketing and SEO Copywriting Expert. Should I use in my keyword + content strategy phrases any words related to cars or football? If I don’t sell cars I should better avoid all car’s terminology and topics. My target audience will find boring my love for speed cars. My target audience swims in a different lake of interests.

That said, now it is obvious that everything we publish or post should follow the main keywords related to certain line of interests. It is as sipmple as that: if we want to be at the top of the digital marketing advanced game then we must play by the rules of this game.

Keywords are the backbone of all successful content marketing strategies in the digital world.

Google SERP

Google SERPs is the winners playground dedicated to introduce your brand and website to the public. But you have to blend in with the winning crowd of the top 3 pages. Open your eyes and notice how winning players are remaining at the 1st page of Google SERP.

Try their approach and find how you can implement their strategy to your action plan. Comply with the algorithm changes as soon as they are announced. Be among the early birds of Search Engine Optimization best prectices and soon others will look at your digital assets with admiration.

Bonus SEO Tip on Keywords

How do you search for keywords into a document? Click on EDIT in the FILE menu and then FIND, a box will open, allowing you to enter your keyword. You can save time if you do this often by using the keyboard shortcut CTRL + F which will open the SEARCH box. And that’s all.

The Ultimate SEO Golden List

RESEARCH is the number one element to make your website reach the sky.

• Run Keyword research before you publish any kind of content.
• Check your competitors keywords. Know where you stand in the market.
• Find the best keywords for your homepage, service and product pages.
• Keep your keywords organized by product, service, page and use.
• Separate popular keywords from long tail keywords.
• Do not overuse the keyword again, and again, and again!!!
• Define which keywords your competitors use before you start adding them into your website.
• Track down from where your competitors get their inbound links.
• Make a keyword and phrase bank for your Blog posts (yes, you must have a blog).
• Pay attention to your website architecture. UX & UI are crucial. If you have noticed that your competitors’ website structure helps them to make more sales, then go for it.       
• Save time and money by choosing the best winning model.
• Focus on how to make your website look much friendlier and appealing to prospect customers.
• Invest in great quality for design, photos, tools and coding.
• Define your target group.
• Make a calendar for your action plan and keep it.
• If your website is live, then spot any site errors and fix them as they come along.
• Fix any website speed issues, every week!!!
• Keep it mobile friendly.
• Check your website’s speed at Google. Google offers a free report and provides feedback for your next step.
• Run SEO audit and do on-site & off-site SEO optimization regularly.

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