Keyword Research: The foolproof method

"Keyword research is only a small part of SEO, but it's an important one. No SEO strategy is complete without this vital portion of research, and devil is in the detail. This phase can often result in mammoth amounts of data that can leave SEOs feeling lost - unless, of course, you use my go-to methodology which keeps things simple, logical and, most importantly for your brand, highly relevant to your audience."

"Keyword research is essentially market research, so it helps to listen to your audience first. Balance that with further knowledge of your own business and products, and you have a good place to start. There are also keyword combination tools such as Merge Words to quickly build out your initial list, and maybe a few variations such as your business name and city or country that can be added too. Get the basics down into a list then move on to the next step."

"On-site search If you don't already track internal search terms on your own site in Google Analytics then make a note to look into it later, as it's a resource necessary to accurately tell what users are looking for while browsing. Once you've got tracking sorted, you can find the internal search data in Google Analytics by navigating to 'Behaviour' and then 'Search Terms'. Don't forget to set the time period as wide as possible to add all the terms to your original list."

Keyword research is an essential component of SEO that requires audience-focused market research and careful data management. Begin by listening to the audience and combining that insight with product and business knowledge to build an initial keyword list. Use tools like Merge Words for combinations and include brand and location variations. Track internal site searches in Google Analytics under Behaviour > Search Terms with a wide time range to capture all queries. Research competitors' page titles, headings, navigation and sitemaps, and use crawling tools like Screaming Frog to gather pages and meta tags efficiently.

Read at The Drum