Keyword research is essential to implementing any SEO strategy. Keyword research is based on identifying the exact words and phrases that users use in search engines to find what they are looking for. If you are not clear about what these words are, you will hardly be able to increase traffic to your website.
Keywords will serve as a guide to know where to go, measure your progress, and help you get to know your target audience better. If you are looking for good positioning, this guide will be your best tool for researching your keywords.
We at Saad Raza SEO utilized a semantic intent-based, long-tail keyword strategy for a health-related client. Through the matching of content to user intent and emphasis on low-competition, high-relevance keywords, we increased their organic traffic by 85% in a period of three months. This achievement shows how accuracy in keyword research and awareness of search intent can help in better rankings and visibility.
Why? Google favors search intent and contextuality-optimized content, and that’s why semantic SEO is the game-changer.
Keyword research is a way to find out what people are searching for on search engines. This way, we avoid creating content that no one is searching for. Many people create content without taking this into account and it is a big mistake. This is why more than 90% of pages do not receive traffic from Google.
✅ 90.63% of pages receive zero Google traffic as a result of poor keyword selection, per an Ahrefs study from 2024.
✅ Google’s 2024 AI changes have altered search rankings, so long-tail keywords and intent matching are now more crucial than ever.
Why? Data-driven content boosts credibility and SEO rankings.
Keyword research will help you resolve these questions:
The first step is to generate a list of keywords. We show you the most efficient strategies to generate many keyword ideas related to your website.
This is when it’s time to ask yourself: What topics are of interest to your target audience? What content are your users looking for?
For example, at Saad Raza we are SEO agency, some topics we can think about are:
Don’t rush, this is just the beginning to find your keywords.
This is another way to search for keywords but now with the help of Google. Check the related searches, these are words related to the search term that will give you many more keyword ideas.
These words are already in Google statistics as the “most searched words”. So you can be sure that they are quite popular words. Try it yourself!
Let’s see what happens when we perform a search on “digital marketing agency”:
Now we have 8 words closely related to the searches we performed, and we can see that they are terms on the same topic that we can include in our keyword list. It is not essential that you include all the related searches if one does not convince you, and on the contrary, you can repeat this practice a couple of times to get to know even better what people are searching for.
Google also suggests terms that are great keywords to add to your list. These terms, as well as related searches, come from the statistics that Google has to identify what people are searching for most frequently. The difference with related searches is simply that you can get different words and phrases, so you will have many more options. There is no need to limit yourself!
You can also apply this same thing to YouTube, and even to other search engines. Try it yourself!
Wikipedia is a content encyclopedia that will be very useful for finding ideas for your keywords.
Perform a broad keyword search and review the post’s table of contents; some of the subtopics are keywords that would not have been possible to discover otherwise.
Identify the internal links on the page, click on some of them and do the same. This way you will get even more keywords for your list.
Forums are spaces where you will have access to group interaction and debates on the topic that interests you .
To find the forums where your target audience is located, perform a Google search with the keyword + “forum”. This way, you can reach these spaces and identify potential keywords that you can add to your list.
Pay special attention to how the forum is structured, as sections and categories often turn out to be relevant keywords that you had not yet discovered.
Even if you want to get more detailed, you can check out the forum threads to find other topics that are of interest to your target audience.
With these ideas you will definitely start building an excellent list of keywords. Don’t forget to include synonyms and variations of your keywords, this will give you more possibilities and you will have many more options when selecting the most suitable keywords for your business.
Search intent is the purpose behind a user’s search query, and it must be understood to conduct keyword research effectively. Four fundamental types are:
Informational Intent – Users want answers or content for educational purposes (e.g., “What is digital marketing?”).
Navigational Intent – They want to go to a particular website or brand (e.g., “Saad Raza SEO website“).
Transactional Intent – Customers are intending to buy, for example, or sign up (e.g., “Get SEO services online“).
Commercial Intent – Buyers are searching for options prior to a choice (e.g., “Best SEO Experts in Pakistan“).
We’ve talked a lot about how to get keywords without using a specific tool. But a tool that helps us with keyword research will make the process much easier.
Google Keyword Planner is certainly one of the most reliable sources as the data comes directly from Google.
Although this tool is geared towards assisting people with advertising campaigns, it is still a source for getting ideas for your keywords.
There are also tools that help us identify topics and terms that are gaining popularity, such as Google Trends and Exploding Topics . From here you can generate a large number of keywords to add to your list.
Both tools show related topics that will give you further ideas for expanding your keyword list.
Currently, we find different keyword research tools such as: Semrush, Keyword Surfer, Ubersuggest, Mangools, among others. In each of these tools we find pros and cons. In addition, the choice will also depend largely on the investment you are willing to make.
We present our 2 recommendations and the main functions they offer:
Ubersuggest is one of the tools that offers the greatest benefits in terms of SEO and is very easy to manage.
In relation to keyword research, the tool has the ability to show suggestions for terms and keyword combinations, as well as the difficulty of the keyword. In terms of competition, you will get the search volume and the cost per click (CPC).
Mangools’ KWFinder is one of our favourite and most reliable tools. It helps us find the most effective terms to rank for, and it allows us to search specifically by country and language. This valuable tool also shows search volume, cost per click (CPC), and difficulty in ranking for keywords, as well as pay per click (PPC).
In addition, KWFinder allows you to create custom keyword lists, use filters, export data to .csv format and keep clear track of all KPIs to measure your progress.
Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT can be employed to aid in keyword research by giving keyword variation ideas, search intent statistics, and content ideas based on user searches. ChatGPT can recognize the potential of long-tail keywords and generate optimized content plans through the right prompts.
DeepSeek is a semantic keyword suggestion-based search and keyword research tool that uses AI. It is able to analyze intent, relevance, and rank potential of keywords, so it is a great tool for finding keywords that are literally right in front of our noses.
Google’s Bard AI can even assist with keyword research by observing what is popular, learning natural language trends, and creating high-probability content ideas. Due to the new capabilities of Google’s AI models, Bard brings new light to the user’s search phrase construction and helps with real-time optimization of keyword strategies.
Now, you probably have keywords in your keyword list that have varying difficulty ranking. You are probably wondering how you can identify this if you didn’t get this information from a keyword research tool. Now we will tell you how to find out!
Long tail keywords are generally less competitive, meaning they are more likely to rank high. In relation to SEO, keywords are classified into 3 categories: head, middle tail or body, and long tail.
As we can see in the image, the “head” terms are composed of a single word with a high search volume and competition. When doing a search with a single word, the needs are not specifically delimited and the results may be topics that are not related to what you really want to find.
Middle tail keywords are slightly more specific, 2-3 word phrases with an average search volume. They are generally less competitive than the main terms.
Keywords in the long tail category are generally longer than 4 words and are much more specific. Individually, the terms do not have a lot of search volume, but together, they make up the majority of searches performed on different browsers.
These 3 categories should be included in your keyword list, but in terms of competition, long tails tend to have the least competition.
There are tools that rank keywords using certain parameters. Keyword difficulty is an SEO metric that estimates how difficult it is to rank a keyword. Difficulty is set on a scale from 0 to 100.
It works simply: the higher the difficulty of that keyword, the harder it will be to rank for in search engines due to high competition.
Another simple way to evaluate the level of competition for your keywords is to check the authority of the sites that appear at the top of the search results.
Do a keyword search on Google, and look at the sites that appear in the top positions. If they are sites with higher authority, you may want to move on to the next keyword on your list.
If, on the other hand, you see smaller sites on the first page of results, it means that you have a chance of ranking on that first page as well.
Once you have your list of keywords, you’ll want to know which ones to target and how to choose them.
There is no exact formula to determine which are the best keywords for your list. To do this, we must evaluate each one of them considering several factors and you must keep in mind that they must always be related to the main topic. Now we will see how to do it.
You should keep in mind that each industry has different parameters and behaviors. It is common that in popular markets, the average number of searches per month is between 10,000 and 100,000. While in smaller industries, searches per month can reach just 10,000.
That’s why it’s important to know the search volumes in your sector. There is no general parameter that can be applied to any topic or business.
For example, a keyword in the food industry gets 92,600 searches per month.
On the other hand, in a less common industry such as industrial labelling, the monthly searches generated are 3,100.
In recent cases, the organic click-through rate (CTR) turns out to be quite low due to the large number of snippets and ads that appear when a search is performed, since you get an answer without having to click.
In addition to getting this number through keyword research tools, you need to have the full estimate. It’s really easy!
Look at the search results pages for your keywords. If you see a lot of them in the ads and featured snippets, you can tell that you won’t get many clicks.
If your site is new, we recommend starting with low-competition keywords. Then use more competitive terms as your site gains authority.
This is the time when you can best take advantage of your long tails. By not having a large number of websites as competition, you will be able to obtain good results in a short time.
If there are some keywords on your list that you would like to use but you think the search volume is not very good, you should check the cost per click (CPC). By looking at this number you will be able to determine whether it is really worth it or not, and also obtain a return on investment that will also bring benefits to your business.
Now it’s time to put it into practice! With this guide you will be able to carry out extraordinary keyword research that will undoubtedly bring excellent results and progress in your positioning.
If you require advice and help with your keyword research, do not hesitate to contact us . At Saad Raza SEO we are SEO agency that specializes in digital strategies.
Saad Raza is an SEO specialist with 7+ years of experience in driving organic growth and improving search rankings. Skilled in data-driven strategies, keyword research, content optimization, and technical SEO, he helps businesses boost online visibility and achieve sustainable results. Passionate about staying ahead of industry trends, Saad delivers measurable success for his clients.
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