6 Best Strategies for Choosing the Right Keywords for SEO Campaign

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Why keep depending on keyword research for SEO even after all these years when google constantly changes its algorithms? The answer is simple, even with the SEO algorithms, the importance of keywords is never reduced. Your SEO campaign highly depends on how well you do the keyword research.

Coming up with an effective strategy to find the right keywords is imperative in 2022 for your SEO campaigns. However, the old keyword research techniques have become obsolete with the constant changes in the search engine’s algorithms. Therefore, the campaign managers must constantly stay updated and make changes to their SEO strategies accordingly. 

An effective SEO campaign is vital to running an online business, and keyword research play a vital role. To give you a clear idea about how you should go about choosing the right keywords for SEO in 2022, we have put together a list of keyword research strategies that may help you. 

The coming section is divided into two segments. The first segment focuses on researching for keywords, and the second segment lays stress on choosing the right ones for your SEO campaign.

Researching For Keywords

Researching for the most effective keywords relevant to your segment is where it all begins. If you want to grow your business, you need to research keywords people are searching for or very popular.

Start with listing relevant topics to your business

You know your business, right? Now put yourself in the shoes of your target audience and think about the topics that they would be interested in. Topics can be related to the information they are looking for, finding solutions to their problems, addressing their concerns, or new developments. The more accurately you can find the relevant topics, the more effective your SEO campaign. 

Brainstorm relevant keywords for each topic

Now you have the list of topics you would want to cover on your website, and so the next step is to search for relevant keywords for each topic. Create a brainstorming session with your teammates to develop a list of relevant keywords for each topic. 

Make sure to list only such types of keywords that would be important for SERPs (search engine results page). 

Reverse engineer to determine what your target audience would type in the search bar. Those would be your keywords. Every topic would have many keywords, so try to be as comprehensive as possible. 

Understand the keyword intent

Having a good understanding of keyword intent is important for a good SEO campaign. A keyword can have multiple meanings, so you need to understand the audience’s intent behind typing those keywords in the search bar. 

If your keyword is building websites, the search intent could be how to build websites from scratch or build websites using a website builder. Know the intention of the keyword input in the search bar to create the most relevant content. 

Search for related keywords

Finding the related keywords can be easier if you know where to look. Just type in the keyword in the search bar and see a list of options the search engine offers. You can type the entire keyword and look at the bottom of the page, where it shows related keywords. Make a list of all the relevant keywords for each topic.

Making use of keyword research tools

Numerous keyword research tools can help you save time and energy finding the right keywords. Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest, etc., are some of the popular and best SEO tools available. These tools can easily generate the relevant keywords suggestions to help you move faster. 

Choosing the Right Keywords for Your SEO Campaign

Now that you have understood how to create a list of all relevant keywords for each topic, it is time to choose the right ones for your SEO campaign. You can use these keywords in your Google slides, website content, social media, or YouTube marketing. Using all the keywords might not be good since the search intent might differ for each keyword and might not give the desired SEO results. Therefore, choose the right keywords with these tips:

# 1: Start with Google Keyword Planner 

Google is the # 1 search engine globally, so it makes sense to use Google Keyword Planner to find the right keywords. It allows you to find the search volumes and estimated traffic for each keyword. 

This information can also be used further in Google Trends, where you can check whether the same keywords have increasing or decreasing search trends. Focus on keywords with the rising popularity and might have high search volumes in the future. 

# 2: Focus on keywords with less competition

Large companies focus on the high search volume keywords, and since they are already established entities, Google gives them the leverage of these keywords. High-domain authority websites gain the most, so it would be difficult to outrank them. Instead, you must focus on keywords that only a few websites compete for. 

# 3: Check monthly search volume (MSV) 

You need to know how many searches of a shortlisted keyword are done every month before you decide to include it in your SEO content. It would be wise to focus on keywords with high search volumes to help you increase traffic. Google Trends can help you find the monthly search volume for a specific keyword. 

# 4: SERP features can help you choose keywords

Google will highlight the SERP feature snippets if you highlight your keywords correctly. 

When you search Google with your keyword, check what the first result looks like

  • If its images you see as the first result, then include more relevant and high-quality unique images in the content
  • For paragraph snippets, include relevant content to user intent
  • For list snippets, use lists to answer, and
  • For Video snippets, include more videos in your content

The SERP features can easily guide you to what your virtual marketing content should be focused on to gain a better ranking. 

# 5: Focus on long-tail keywords smartly with head terms

Long-tail keywords can help you gain the attention of the most relevant audience. These keywords focus on specific queries users search for, so they are more likely to go through your content and respond to CTA (call to action). 

Small keywords or head terms have a wider meaning. Sometimes the head terms can be ambiguous, such as the term email programs searched on Google can mean, what are the best email programs? or it can also be related to email marketing softwares/programs.

Therefore, using the head terms with long-term keywords is advisable to reach the right audience. 

# 6: See how your competitors are doing

If your competition is ranking for the same keywords you are, it makes sense to work on raising your ranking for those as well. However, don’t overlook those that your competitors appear to be unconcerned about. This could be an excellent opportunity to gain market share on key terms.

It doesn’t always mean a keyword is significant to you because your competitors use them. Your competitor might be focusing on a particular keyword for customer retention, and if your purpose doesn’t align with theirs, using the same keywords might not give desired results. Understanding what keywords your competitors are attempting to rank for is a strategic approach to help you re-evaluate your keyword list.

Conclusion

No full-proof strategy will magically hand over the right and best-ranking keywords to you. You need a better understanding of how the changing algorithm of search engines comprehend your content and how accurately you address the keyword intent. All the other factors like competition, search volume, analysis of SERP results, etc., will help you choose the right keyword for your website. 

Relevance, authority, and traffic will all determine the optimum keywords for your SEO campaign. 

You wish to uncover highly searched terms that you may compete for based on the level of competition and your ability to create content of higher quality than what is currently ranked.

Author box:

Ayush is a content writer at RankHandy and he likes to write about SEO, digital marketing, and social media. He enjoys sharing his experience with like-minded professionals and aims to provide high-quality content.