The first and arguably the most important part of building a digital strategy that works is finding the right keywords for SEO. If one has the skills of an exclusive strategist, then finding the right way to promote one’s business using the right keywords becomes quite easy. But if you do not know much about SEO then, how do you find the ‘right’ keywords? Where do you even start…?
While there are many established and trusted companies who explain their process we’re going to show you how you can jump onto Google’s Keyword Planner to quickly find relevant keywords and get your SEO off to a flying start.
Google Keyword Planner
As the world’s biggest search engine, Google should be first port of call. If you don’t already, you’ll need to create a Google AdWords account.
Once you’ve got an account, log in and select ‘Tools’ and then ‘Keyword Planner’ at the top of the page.
On the next page, select ‘Search for new keywords using a phrase, website or category’
Now we’re off:
- Enter your product name
- Pop in a URL (a successful competitor’s URL can work as well if not better)
- Select your Country
- Put in any words you don’t want included in the ‘negative keywords’ section
- Hit the ‘Get Ideas’ button
It’s as simple as that. Traditionally, the keyword planner was created as a tool for PPC, however, it can still be a powerful research device for finding keywords for SEO.
I have a list of Keywords for SEO, now what?
If a keyword has 1000 searches a month, I think to myself that’s 1000 people that my website and services could be landing in front of. But it’s not all about volume. Next ask yourself:
- Is this relevant? How many of those people searching will want to click through to my website?
- What’s their intention? Is the person searching this term likely to purchase from me?
After answering these questions, you have a pretty good idea if you want to target these words. To save your list, first click the ‘Add to Plan’ button on the right most column of the results page for any keyword you’d like to target.
Then, you can then export your plan as a CSV file by clicking the download button and selecting excel CSV in the pop-up
And, there you go – how to find keywords for SEO using Google’s Keyword Planner!
