So, you have a couple of SEO campaigns that have not generated the expected revenue. We are guessing that when you began your SEO work, you started with keyword research. Almost all SEO experts start their search for a rewarding SEO strategy with keywords. However, there is often a preparatory or warm-up step to their study. That is where most new website owners and SEOs go wrong. Skipping the pre-research phase of your keyword research can bring the doom of your SEO campaign.
How to begin the research before the real research?
How do you find out where to start? Is there a rule book for conducting the so-called “pre-research”? Where do keywords feature in the greater scheme of things? To keep things simple, you should take a look at the previous search engine optimization strategies that have failed. You need to see them as the various foolproof methods that do not work. So, scrutinize each step and find out where you went wrong. That will help you gather information on specific topics of your content.
For example – you are launching a new brand of sports clothing and accessories for men, women, and children online. While writing a blog about the quality and features of a specific sports shoe, you need to consider who you are targeting, where they live, how they can access the products and how old they are. In short, you need to research the demographics of your audience, but that is something every SEO content writer does. So, what is so special about it?
You need to sit yourself down and think. Think about all the keywords that fit into the context. Think about their variants, long-tailed formats, and LSI alternatives. Yes, taking help from a keyword generator should help you. However always remember that these tools are not all-encompassing. They can be erroneous because they do not have what we have –contextual reasoning. They might omit essential keywords or suggest others that do not fit the context. Do not rely on one or two tools blindly. Use your better judgment to select a list of high performing keywords that draw high volumes of traffic.
Incorporate your Local SEO into your content and keyword research
We are asking you to imagine all the possible keywords that can fit into your content. That is the most critical part of the pre-research. SEO keyword tools can skim through millions of words in seconds to give you a list of actionable keywords. However, deciding on the ones that will serve you better will depend on your website. That is a daunting task since you might have to select from hundreds of such keywords and phrases. Some of them will be generic for the niche, while others might be specific for your location. That’s right! We said it. Your local SEO game begins in the pre-research arena. During this time, you might want to seek the opinion of a Toronto SEO expert.
Local SEO is not just about paid promotions and technicality. It is about inserting the right location-based keywords in the text. For example – your sports brands cater exclusively to people in Toronto. Would it not be smart to include the name of the place, maybe a few landmarks in your content about the shoes? You could write something along the lines of, “Take your new shoes for a test run at the Sunnybrook Park. Now you have the perfect excuse to step outside and breathe the fresh air in Toronto this summer.” We have used these locations as examples, strictly. So, you can understand how SEO content incorporates elements of hyper-local and local ranking signals.
Writing about local vistas, landmarks, cultural programs, music festivals alongside your regular content can boost your visibility to the local crowd. While you may not have to wrack your brain for ideas on keywords, you might want to ensure that juxtaposing them with specific names of places or neighborhoods sounds natural. That is why most webmasters have dedicated SEO content and copywriting teams to do this. The digital marketers take charge of the pre-research, and keyword research, while the content creators think of imaginative ways to boost the optimization of the content for local audiences.
Start looking at the industry trendsetters for new keyword ideas
Now, once you have the set of the primary and secondary keywords, it is time to move to the edge. We are not talking about the LSI keywords, but the ones that are further away. These might not yet be the industry standards. However, you might want to incorporate them to get a head start. It is true that leading groups in market research usually set the trends for language preference and phrasing. They do so by publishing comprehensive reports each month, containing relevant keywords and phrases.
One way to get a head start is by checking out their regular publications. Check out their videos, listen to their podcasts and read their articles. You should be able to spot recurring themes and keyword variants. If not, you can always use Afrefs and Moz keyword tools to find the actionable keywords they are using in their most recent publications. You can use the same tools people use for competitor keyword analysis, only now, you will be looking for current trends from the advisory market reports. Following the search trends, checking out Google Autocomplete and finding new insights into the forever evolving traits of keywords are the only ways you can get on top of your keyword research and SEO game this year.
Keyword research may have never been as important as it is now! SEO strategies need more than techniques, tools, and hacks. They need a solid foundation that is only possible with in-depth keyword research. Jumping right into making lists of keywords is not the way to begin the study. You need to read reports, jot down the changing preferences for search terms, see the evolving keywords in the market trend-setter reports and go through your previous SEO strategies to check what went wrong there. It is a lot of work, but once the new SEO strategy falls into place, it is super rewarding!
