Best Keyword Research Tips for 2023: Outrank Your Competitors

In today’s digital world, search engine optimization is a critical aspect of online success. One of the most crucial components of SEO is keyword research. Understanding which keywords are most relevant to your business and target audience can help you drive more traffic to your website, increase conversions, and boost your bottom line.

The clickthrough rate of organic search results is significantly higher than that of paid ads, with the first and second organic results sitting at 28.5% and 15.7% respectively, vs. an average of 2% for ads. This means that if you nail your keyword strategy, you could potentially see incredible upside depending on your niche.

In this article, we’ll cover some of the best keyword research tips for 2023 that can help you outrank your competitors. We will also take a closer look at keywords in general, what they are and what their purpose is. 

Understand Your Audience

The first step in conducting effective keyword research is to understand your target audience. Knowing your audience’s search behavior, pain points, and language is critical to selecting relevant and profitable keywords. To accomplish this, you can use various tools like Google Analytics, surveys, and social media listening to collect valuable insights about your audience.

Brainstorm Keyword Ideas Based on Your Products and Services

Once you have a solid understanding of your audience, it’s time to brainstorm potential keyword ideas. Consider using tools like Google Trends, Answer the Public, and Google AdWords Keyword Planner to find new and trending keywords that are relevant to your business.

Analyze Competitors

An essential part of effective keyword research is analyzing your competitors. By looking closely at your competitor’s keywords, you can identify gaps in your content strategy and identify opportunities to outrank them. Tools like SEMrush and Ahrefs can help you to identify your competitor’s keywords and create a strategy that attempts to beat them at their own game, while also filling in any gaps they might have in their own approach. 

Focus on Long-Tail Keywords, Especially at First

Long-tail keywords are specific keyword phrases that typically contain three or more words. These keywords are more targeted and less competitive than shorter keywords, in general. 

Since it is easier to rank for these keywords if the proper optimizations are made, your keyword strategy needs to take this into account. One of the best keyword research tips you should follow through on is making sure you have plenty of long-tail keywords in your strategy.

Use Keyword Variations

Using keyword variations (sometimes referred to keyword clusters or keyword groups) can help you capture a broader audience while still remaining relevant to your target audience. Consider using synonyms and related keywords to optimize your content and attract additional traffic to your website.

Analyze Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty is a measure of how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword. Analyzing keyword difficulty can help you identify which keywords are worth targeting and which are too competitive. Tools like Moz and SEMrush can help you analyze keyword difficulty and identify profitable keywords that are worth targeting. 

While this isn’t always the case, longer tail keywords often have a lower difficulty. As you get to broader keywords, the difficulty will naturally increase. While the likelihood of ranking an eCommerce jewelry store for something like “jewelry” is virtually impossible, think about it from a user’s perspective: would you really want thousands of people visiting your website who are simply searching for something as generic as “jewelry?” Chances are they are looking for information or an example of something, and are not yet interested in making a purchase, if at all. 

Optimize Your Content

Once you have identified your target keywords, it’s time to optimize your content properly. Use your target keywords in your meta descriptions, title tags, headers, and throughout your content, such as on your blog. Make sure your content is high-quality, relevant, and valuable to your target audience.

It’s important to have a well-thought out content strategy here. The point of thorough keyword research is to take these phrases and implement them on your website in terms of how the user expects to see them. In other words, to fulfill search intent. 

All of the content you create should fulfill search intent in some way, so this is something to consider in the research phase.

Why Are Keywords So Important For SEO Campaigns?

As you can see, keywords are the backbone of SEO. They help search engines to understand what your website is about and match it with relevant search queries. 

To perform the best keyword research possible, however, it is important to know exactly what keywords are and how they function. 

What are Keywords?

Keywords are the terms or phrases that people enter into search engines to find information. For example, if someone is looking for information about “how to cook steak,” they might enter this phrase into a search engine. 

In this case, “how to cook steak” is the keyword.

By using relevant keywords in your content, you can signal to search engines what your website is about and increase the likelihood that it will appear in the search results for relevant queries.

How to Use Keywords in Your Content?

Now that you have chosen the right keywords, it’s time to use them strategically in your content. Here are some tips to help you use keywords in your content:

• Use keywords in your headlines: Your headlines should include your main keyword. Use H1, H2, and H3 headings to structure your content and include keywords in these headings.
• Use keywords in your page content: Use your keywords naturally in your content. Do not stuff them unnaturally as this will lead to a poor user experience.
• Use keywords in your image alt tags: Search engines cannot read images. Therefore, it’s important to use keywords in your image alt tags to help search engines understand what your images are about.
• Use keywords in your meta tags: Use your keywords in your title tag and meta description. This will help search engines to understand the content of your page.
• Use internal linking: Use internal linking to link to other pages on your website that are relevant to your content. This will help search engines to understand the structure of your website.

Keyword Research FAQs:

What is the ideal keyword density for SEO?

Keyword density is the percentage of times a keyword appears in your content compared to the total number of words on the page. There is no ideal keyword density that applies to all keywords. Instead, focus on using your keywords naturally in your content.

How do I know if my keywords are working?

You can use tools such as Google Analytics to track your website’s traffic and search engine rankings. If you see an increase in traffic and rankings, your keywords are working.

Can I use the same keywords on multiple pages?

You can use the same keywords on multiple pages, but make sure that the content is unique and relevant to each page. Generally speaking, most pages will naturally be more relevant for certain keywords based on the purpose of the page, so keep this in mind – it doesn’t always make sense to try and target the same keywords across multiple pages, because this would infer that some pages on your website have the same exact purpose. 

Let the SEO Pros Handle It

Effective keyword research is critical to the success of any SEO strategy. By understanding your audience, brainstorming keyword ideas, analyzing competitors, focusing on long-tail keywords, using keyword variations, analyzing keyword difficulty, and properly optimizing your content, you can outrank your competitors on SERPs and drive targeted traffic to your website.

However, understanding how to do keyword research and implementing a successful SEO strategy are very different things. If you don’t have the time or the SEO expertise, you are going to want a team of professionals in your corner that can take care of all of this for you. 

If you want to uncover the best keywords for your website and implement them into a sound SEO strategy, we recommend taking our free SEO audit or contacting us directly.