Keyword Research - The One-Hour Guide to SEO, Part 2

Summary

This 'Whiteboard Friday' episode delves into the crucial realm of keyword research for SEO, emphasizing its necessity for understanding search demand and crafting effective SEO strategies. The speaker illustrates the importance of aligning content with popular search terms to outperform competitors and highlights the significance of analyzing search demand landscapes. The episode guides viewers on setting priorities and matching keywords to website pages, considering the evolving nature of search results and the impact of mobile versus desktop user behaviors on SEO tactics.

Takeaways

• 🔍 Keyword research is essential for understanding which words and phrases people use in search engines, enabling better content structuring and targeting.
• 🏆 Competitors who perform keyword research can choose wise search phrases that attract more searchers, giving them an advantage over those who don't.
• 🌐 Understanding the search demand landscape helps in crafting SEO strategies that can either build brand demand or serve existing demand effectively.
• 📈 Keyword research aims to create a list of terms and phrases to match marketing goals, achieve rankings, and ensure high ROI by prioritizing keyword investments.
• 📊 The importance of matching keywords to existing site pages or creating new content if matches are missing or suboptimal is highlighted for effective SEO.
• 📱 The variety of search results on mobile and desktop devices has evolved, with different types of SEO required for organic, paid, local, image, video, and map results.
• 📊 Click-through rates for mobile and desktop searches differ significantly, with mobile having a higher percentage of no-click searches and desktop favoring organic results.
• 📈 The search demand curve illustrates the distribution of search volumes, with a few high-volume keywords and a vast number of low-volume, long-tail keywords.
• 🔑 The long tail of search demand consists of numerous specific keywords with fewer searches per month, offering lower competition and more specific intent.
• 🛠️ Tools like Moz's Keyword Explorer, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google Trends are recommended for conducting keyword research and analyzing search demand.
• 📝 The process of keyword research should result in a prioritized list that considers volume, difficulty, click-through rate, business value, and the types of search results that appear for each keyword.

Q & A

What is the main purpose of keyword research in SEO?

The main purpose of keyword research in SEO is to understand which words and phrases people use in search engines to find content, products, or services. This helps in structuring content and optimizing it to rank higher in search results, ensuring that the content meets the searchers' needs and expectations.

Why is it important to know the search demand landscape for SEO strategy?

Knowing the search demand landscape is crucial for crafting better SEO strategies because it helps determine the search volume and competition for specific keywords and phrases. This information allows marketers to focus on terms with high demand and less competition, potentially leading to better rankings and visibility.

Can you give an example of how understanding the search demand landscape helped a company in the script?

An example provided in the script is Crowd Cow, a startup that delivers beef from small ranchers directly to consumers. Understanding the search demand landscape helped them realize that there was more search demand for their competitors like Omaha Steaks than for generic terms like 'buy steak online.' This insight could guide their SEO strategy to focus on building their brand and creating demand.

What are the big picture goals of keyword research mentioned in the script?

The big picture goals of keyword research include understanding the search demand landscape, creating a list of terms and phrases to match marketing goals and achieve rankings, prioritizing keyword investments for the highest ROI, and matching keywords to the pages on a website, creating or optimizing content as needed.

Why is it necessary to prioritize keyword investments in SEO?

Prioritizing keyword investments is necessary to focus on the most important and high-ROI keywords first. This ensures that time and resources are spent on optimizing for terms that are most likely to drive traffic and conversions, rather than spreading efforts too thin across less valuable keywords.

How has the variety of search results changed over the past 10-15 years according to the script?

According to the script, 10-15 years ago, search results were primarily 10 blue links. However, today, search results include a variety of formats such as shopping results, advertisements, organic results, maps, images, and videos, reflecting the evolution of search engines and user behavior.

What does the script suggest about the distribution of search demand among different types of keywords?

The script suggests that there is a search demand curve where a small number of keywords have a very high search volume, while a large number of long-tail keywords have lower search volumes but collectively account for a significant portion of searches. This highlights the importance of targeting both head and long-tail keywords in an SEO strategy.

What is the significance of the 'long tail' in keyword research as mentioned in the script?

The 'long tail' in keyword research refers to the large number of keywords with low individual search volumes. These keywords, when considered collectively, can represent a significant portion of search demand and offer lower competition and more specific intent, making them valuable targets for SEO.

How does the script describe the difference between head, chunky middle, and long tail in keyword research?

The script describes the 'head' as having a few keywords with very high search volumes but higher competition and broader intent. The 'chunky middle' consists of thousands of keywords with moderate search volumes and less competition. The 'long tail' is characterized by a large number of keywords with low individual search volumes but very specific intent and lower competition.

What is the importance of understanding the types of searches that appear for a keyword?

Understanding the types of searches that appear for a keyword is important because it helps determine the best SEO strategy. If certain types of results like images, videos, or maps frequently appear for a keyword, it may be beneficial to focus on those specific types of content to improve visibility in those search result areas.

How does the script discuss the importance of matching keywords to existing website pages?

The script emphasizes the importance of matching keywords to existing website pages to ensure that the content is optimized for those terms. If there are no matching pages, new content needs to be created. If existing pages are sub-optimal, they need to be improved to better answer the searcher's query. This process helps in leveraging the existing content and improving the website's SEO performance.

Outlines

00:00

🔍 The Importance of Keyword Research in SEO

This paragraph introduces the concept of keyword research in SEO, emphasizing its necessity for understanding the search demand landscape and crafting effective SEO strategies. It explains that without knowing the specific words and phrases that people use in search engines, it's impossible to structure content that meets their needs. The speaker uses the example of 'Crowd Cow' to illustrate how understanding search demand can vary significantly between industries. The goal of keyword research is to identify terms with real demand, prioritize them based on ROI, and match them to the appropriate pages on a website, creating or optimizing content as needed.

05:02

📈 Understanding Search Engine Results and Keyword Demand

The speaker discusses the evolution of search engine results, noting the variety of results beyond the traditional 'ten blue links', including shopping results, advertisements, and local SEO opportunities. They highlight the importance of recognizing different types of search results and optimizing for them accordingly. Using data from Jumpshot, the paragraph presents click-through rates for mobile and desktop devices, showing a significant difference in user behavior between the two. The concept of the 'search demand curve' is introduced, explaining the distribution of search volume across a broad range of keywords, from high-volume generic terms to low-volume, specific long-tail keywords.

10:02

📝 Conducting Keyword Research and Prioritizing SEO Efforts

This paragraph delves into the practical aspects of conducting keyword research, including the use of tools like Moz's Keyword Explorer, Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Google Trends. It outlines the importance of analyzing search volume, difficulty, click-through rate, business value, and the types of search results that appear for different keywords. The speaker advises on creating a comprehensive list of keywords and prioritizing them based on various factors to ensure that SEO efforts are focused on the most valuable and achievable targets. The paragraph concludes by emphasizing the need to map keywords to existing pages and optimize or create content where necessary to improve search rankings.

Keywords

💡SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

SEO refers to the process of improving a website's visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs) through various strategies. In the video, it is the main theme as it discusses the importance of keyword research as the foundational task for effective SEO. The script mentions that without understanding the words and phrases people use in search engines, it's impossible to structure content that will rank well.

💡Keyword Research

Keyword research is the practice of identifying and analyzing search terms that people enter into search engines. In the script, it is presented as a crucial step before starting any SEO work. The video explains that understanding which words and phrases people use helps in crafting content that meets searchers' needs and competes effectively with competitors who also perform keyword research.

💡Search Demand Landscape

The search demand landscape refers to the overall search volume and interest in specific keywords or phrases. The video uses this term to emphasize the importance of understanding the search demand for a company's products or services, like the example of 'Crowd Cow', to craft better SEO strategies and to determine where there is more demand for branded terms versus generic terms.

💡Ranking

Ranking in the context of SEO refers to the position a webpage holds on the search engine results page for a specific search query. The script discusses the goal of keyword research to create a list of terms that can be targeted for rankings, ensuring that the keywords chosen have real demand and are achievable for the website to rank for.

💡Long Tail of Search Demand

The long tail of search demand describes the vast number of less common but very specific search queries that collectively make up a significant portion of search volume. The video mentions this concept to illustrate the large number of keywords with low search volumes, which can be targeted for more specific intent and lower competition.

💡Chunky Middle

The 'chunky middle' is a term used in SEO to describe keywords that have moderate search volumes, typically between 50 and a few hundred searches per month. The video script uses this term to discuss a middle ground of search demand where there are many keywords with specific intent but less competition compared to the 'fat head'.

💡Fat Head

The 'fat head' refers to a small number of keywords with very high search volumes, often in the millions. In the script, it is used to contrast with the 'chunky middle' and 'long tail', indicating high competition and broad search intent, making it harder to determine what the searcher is looking for.

💡Organic Results

Organic results are the listings on SERPs that appear due to their relevance to the search term, as opposed to paid advertisements. The video discusses the importance of understanding the types of search results, including organic results, and how they factor into SEO strategy and keyword targeting.

💡Zero Click Searches

Zero click searches occur when a user enters a query into a search engine but does not click on any of the results. The video script provides statistics about zero click searches, indicating that a significant portion of searches on mobile devices result in no clicks, which is an important consideration for SEO strategy.

💡Local SEO

Local SEO is the process of optimizing a business's online presence to rank higher in local search results. The script mentions 'local SEO' in the context of map results showing local soccer stores, which is a different kind of SEO optimization that targets users searching for local businesses or services.

💡Content Optimization

Content optimization involves tailoring web content to align with what search engines and users are looking for. The video emphasizes the need for content optimization after identifying the right keywords, ensuring that the content is well-structured and answers the searcher's queries effectively.

Highlights

Introduction to the importance of keyword research in SEO strategy.

The necessity of understanding which words and phrases people use in search engines for effective content structuring.

The risk of optimizing for words and phrases that have little to no search demand.

The goal of keyword research to understand the search demand landscape for crafting better SEO strategies.

Case study of Crowd Cow to illustrate the difference in search demand between branded and generic keywords.

The distinction between SEO for building brand demand versus serving existing demand.

The objective of creating a list of terms and phrases to match marketing goals and achieve rankings.

The importance of prioritizing keyword investments for the highest ROI in SEO efforts.

The need to match identified keywords to existing site pages or create new content if necessary.

Understanding the variety of search results presented by Google for different queries.

The shift in search behavior between mobile and desktop devices and its implications for SEO.

Insights from Jumpshot data on click-through rates for paid and organic search results.

The concept of the search demand curve and its impact on keyword research strategy.

The significance of the 'long tail' of search demand and its role in SEO.

The difference between 'fat head' and 'chunky middle' keywords in terms of competition and search intent.

The process of building a keyword research list using tools like Moz's Keyword Explorer.

The importance of considering business value and search types when prioritizing keywords.

The next steps in the SEO process after keyword research, including page creation and optimization.

Transcripts

[Music]

howdy miles fans

welcome to another portion of our

special edition whiteboard friday

the one hour guide to seo this is part

two keyword research

so hopefully you've already seen our seo

strategy

session from last week and what we want

to do in keyword research

is talk about why keyword research is

required why do i have to do this

task prior to doing any seo work the

answer is

fairly simple if you don't know which

words and phrases people

type into google or youtube or amazon or

bing whatever search engine you're

optimizing for

you're not going to be able to know how

to structure your content you won't be

able to get into the searcher's brain

into their head

to imagine and empathize with them what

they actually want from your content

and you probably won't do correct

targeting which will mean your

competitors

who are doing keyword research are

choosing wise

search phrases right wise words and

terms terms and phrases that

that searchers are actually looking for

and you might be unfortunately

optimizing for words and phrases that no

one is actually looking for or no

not as many people are looking for or

that are much more difficult than what

you can actually rank for

so let's talk about some of the big

goals big picture goals of cured

research

first off we are trying to understand

the search

demand landscape so we can craft

better seo strategies let me just paint

a picture for you

i was helping a startup here in seattle

washington

a number of years ago probably a couple

of years ago called crowd cow

crowd cow is an awesome company they

basically will deliver

uh beef from small ranchers small farms

straight to your doorstep i personally

am a big fan

of um of steak and and

i don't really love the quality of the

stuff that i can get from the store i

don't love the mass-produced you know

sort of industry around beef i think

there's a lot of americans who feel that

way

and so working with small ranchers

directly where they're sending it

straight from their farms is kind of an

awesome thing

but when we looked at the seo picture

for crowd cow for this

this company what we saw was that there

was

more search demand for competitors of

theirs people like

omaha steaks which you might have heard

of there was more search demand for them

than there was for

buy steak online buy beef online buy

ribeye online

even things like just uh shop for steak

or

or steak online write these broad

keyword phrases they're the branded

terms of their competition had more

search demand than

all of the keywords uh the specific

keywords the unbranded generic keywords

put together that is a very different

picture

from a world like soccer jerseys where i

i spent a little bit of keyword research

time today looking and basically you

know the brand names in that field

do not have nearly as much search volume

as the generic terms for

soccer jerseys and custom soccer jerseys

and and

you know football clubs uh particular

jerseys right those

generic terms have much more volume

which is a totally different kind of seo

that you're doing right one is very

oh we need to build our brand we need to

you know go out into this marketplace

and create demand and the other one is

hey we need to serve existing demand

already

so you've got to understand your search

demand landscape so that you can present

to your

executive team and your marketing team

or your client whoever it is

hey this is what the search demand

landscape looks like and here's what we

can actually do for you here's how much

demand there is

here's what we can serve today versus we

need to grow our brand

next goal of keyword research we want to

create

a list of terms and phrases that we can

then

use to match our marketing goals and

achieve

rankings and we want to make sure that

the rankings that we

promise right the keywords that we say

we're going to try and rank for

actually have real demand that we can

actually uh

optimize for them and potentially rank

for them or you know

in the case where that's not true

they're too difficult right they're too

hard to rank for or

organic results don't really show up in

those types of searches and we should go

after paid or maps or images or videos

or some other type of search result

we also want to prioritize those keyword

investments so we're doing the most

important work the highest roi work

in our seo universe first right there's

there's there's no point in going after

uh you know spending hours and months

going after a bunch of keywords that

if we had just chosen these other ones

we could have achieved much better

results in a shorter period

of time and finally we want to take all

the keywords

that matter to us and match them to the

pages on our site

if we don't have matches we need to

create that content if we do have

matches but they are

sub-optimal not doing a great job of

answering that searcher's query well

we need to do that work as well if we

have a page that matches but we haven't

done our keyword optimization which

we'll talk a little bit more about

uh in a future video we've got to do

that too

so an important part of understanding

how search engines work

is is to have this we're going to start

down here and then we'll come back up

is to have this understanding that when

when you perform a query on a mobile

device or a desktop device

google shows you a vast variety of

results 10 15 years ago this was not the

case right we got

we searched 15 years ago for soccer

jerseys what did we get

10 blue links and i think unfortunately

in the minds of

many search marketers and many people

who are unfamiliar with seo

they still think of it that way how do i

rank number one and the answer is

well there's there's a lot of things

number one

can mean today and we need to be careful

about about what we're optimizing for so

if i search for soccer jersey

i get these shopping results from you

know macy's and soccer.com and

all these other places google sort of

has this sliding box of shopping

sponsored shopping results

then they've got advertisements below

that notated with this tiny green little

ad box

and then below that there's a couple of

organic results what what

what we would call classic seo right ten

blue link style

organic results there's two of those

then there's a box of maps results that

show me local soccer stores in my region

which is a totally different kind of

optimization right local seo

and so i need

you need to make sure that you

understand and that you can convey that

understanding to

everyone on your team that these

different kinds of results mean

different types of seo now i've done

some work

recently over the last few years with a

company called jump shot they collect

click stream data from millions of

browsers around the world and

millions of browsers here in the united

states and so they're able to provide

some broad overview numbers

uh collectively across the billions of

searches that are performed on google

every day in the united states

the click-through rates are look

something like this

for for mobile devices on average

paid results get eight point seven

percent of all clicks

organic results get about 40 percent

little under 40

of all clicks and zero click searches

where a searcher performs a query

but doesn't click anything google

essentially either answers the results

in there or the searcher is

so unhappy with the potential results

that they don't bother clicking anything

that is 62 right so vast

vast majority of cl of searches on

mobile are

no click searches on desktop it's a very

different story it's sort of inverted so

paid

5.6 i think people are a little savvier

about

which result they should be clicking on

on desktop

organic 65 right so much much higher

than mobile

and zero click searches 34 so

considerably lower there's a lot more

clicks happening

on a desktop device that being said

right now

we think it's around 60 40. uh so

meaning 60 of queries on google at least

happen on mobile

40 happen on desktop somewhere in those

ranges might be a little higher or lower

another important and critical thing to

understand about the keyword

research universe and how we do keyword

research

is that there's a there's a sort of

search demand curve

right so for any given um universe of

keywords

there are essentially some a small

number

right maybe a few to a few dozen

keywords

that have millions or hundreds of

thousands of searches every month

something like soccer or

seattle sounders right those have those

have tens hundreds of thousands even

millions of searches

every month in the united states but

people searching for uh sounders fc away

jersey customizable

there are very very few searches per

month

but there are millions even billions of

keywords

like this when when sundar pichai

google's current ceo

was testifying before congress just a

few months ago

he told congress that 20 around 20

of all searches that google receives

each day

they have never seen before no one's

ever performed them in the history of

the search engine i think maybe that

number is closer to 18

but that is just a remarkable sum and it

tells you

about the the long tail right what we

call the long tail of search demand

essentially tons and tons of keywords

millions or billions of keywords

that are only searched for one time per

month

five times per month 10 times per month

if you if you want to get into this next

layer what we call the chunky middle in

the seo world right this is where

there are you know thousands tens of

thousands of

keywords potentially in your universe

but

they only have between say 50

and a few hundred searches per month and

then this fat head

right has only a few keywords right

there's only

there's only one keyword like soccer or

soccer jersey right which is actually

probably more like the chunky middle

right but it has hundreds of thousands

or millions of searches

the fat head is higher competition and

broader

intent what do i mean by broader intent

that means when someone performs a

search for soccer

you don't know what they're looking for

the likelihood that they want a

customizable

soccer jersey right that moment is very

very small they're probably looking for

something much broader

and it's hard to know exactly their

intent however

as you drift down into the chunky middle

and into the long tail where there's

fewer keywords

sorry where there's more keywords but

fewer uh searches for each keyword

your competition gets much lower there's

fewer people trying to compete and rank

for those because

they don't know to optimize for them and

there's more specific intent

customizable f's sounders fcoa jersey

is very clear i know exactly what i want

i want to order

a customizable jersey from the seattle

sounders

away right the the particular colors

that the away jersey has and i want to

be able to

put my you know logo on there or my name

on the back of it

what have you right so super specific

intent

as a result you need to figure out what

the map of your universe looks like so

that you can present that

and you need to be able to build a list

that looks

something like this you should

at the end of the keyword research

process and you know i

we we featured a screenshot from moz's

keyword explorer which is a tool that i

really like to use and

and i find super helpful whenever i'm

i'm helping companies even now that i've

left moz right and been gone for a year

i still sort of use keyword explorer

because the volume date is so good and

it

it puts all the stuff together however

there are uh two or three other tools

that a lot of people like

one from ahrefs which i think also has

the name

keyword explorer and one from sem rush

which i like although some of the volume

numbers at least in the united states

are not

as good as what i what i might hope for

there are a number of other tools that

you could check out as well a lot of

people like google trends which is

totally free

and interesting for some of that broad

volume data

so i might have terms like soccer jersey

sounders fc jersey

custom soccer jersey right for seattle

sounders

and then i'll have these columns volume

because i want to know how many people

search for it

difficulty how hard will it be to rank

right if if it's super difficult to rank

and i have a brand new website i don't

have a lot of authority

well maybe i should target some of these

other ones first that are lower

difficulty

organic click-through rate just like we

talked about back here there are

different levels of click-through rate

and

and the tools at least moz's keyword

explorer tool

uses jump shot data on a per keyword

basis to estimate

what percent of people are going to

click the organic results

should you optimize for it well you know

if the click-through rate is only 60

pretend that instead of 100 searches

this only has 60

or 60 available searches for your

organic clicks

95 though great awesome all four of

those

monthly searches right are available to

you business value

right how how useful is this to your

business

and then set some type of priority

to determine so i might look at this

list and say hey for my new soccer

jersey website

this is the most important keyword right

i want to go after a custom soccer

jersey for each team

in the u.s and then i'll go after

team jersey and then i'll go after

customizable away jerseys and then

maybe i'll go after soccer jerseys

because it's just so competitive so

difficult to rank for

there's a lot of volume but the search

intent is not as great the business

value to me is not as good

right all those kinds of things and last

but not least i want to know the types

of searches that appear

organic paid do images show up

does shopping show up does videos show

up do maps results show up

if those other types of search results

like we talked about here show up in

there

i can do seo to appear in those places

too

and that could be that could yield in in

certain

uh keyword universes a strategy that is

very image centric

or very video centric which means i got

to do a lot of work on youtube

or very map centric which means i got to

do a lot of local seo

or other kinds like this once you build

a keyword research list

like this you can begin the

prioritization process

and the true work of creating pages

mapping

the pages you already have to the

keywords that you've got and optimizing

in order to rank and we'll talk about

that in

part three next week take care