Understanding the keyword research process is key to earn a high ranking on search engine pages, especially with users relying on Google for their queries.
Keyword research is the process of discovering the specific words and phrases potential customers are typing into search engines to find agencies in your area. This requires you to research actual search terms into Google to reveal what topics are trending and the most frequently search phrases within your industry – for example, ‘Sydney real estate agencies’ vs ‘real estate agencies in Sydney’. Knowing this, you will base your site content on your keywords.
The goal is to narrow down a list of keywords to target so that your site appears at the top of Google’s results when that specific term or phrase is searched. Optimizing your content this way is a simple way to drive more traffic to your site. Read on below for a basic breakdown on how to find your keywords.
Step 1: Make a list
To get started, create a list of basic keywords and phrases that are most relevant to your business. These can be inspired by your products, services, location and even business goals and values.
With a real estate business, understand that potential vendors will be looking for an agent that specialises in their area. You may start with key phrases like ‘real estate agency Chatswood’, ‘real estate agency in Bondi’, and ‘best real estate agents in the North Shore, Sydney’. Make the list as vast as you can and start adding things such as terms directly related to your business, relevant words or phrases used by search engine users, as well as competitor keywords.
Step 2: Know your potential customers
Since you need to know what your potential customers want in order to attract them to your site, finding the terms being searched by them is the most crucial part. Your site must have relevant and informative content that’s specific to their queries.
A good way to find these terms would be to use site search functions to analyse user behaviour, such as what they are searching on your site. This tends to be a good reflection of what they search for on Google and other search engines.
Take it a step further and learn about the language and online behaviours of your target audience by researching the types of comments they make on blogs, social media shares and even online forums.
Step 3: Analyse terms for traffic potential
Once you have found the terms or phrases, enter them into a keyword tool such as ‘SEMrush’ to generate information about how frequently the words are used. Knowing how large – or small – the search volume is can be a strong indicator on the kind of traffic you could bring in by utilising that keyword anywhere in your website. Make sure you use them strategically in your copy but also use it to label images and captions.
Step 4: Observe the metrics
Apart from looking at traffic potential, have a look at the other helpful keyword metrics that you have been provided with. It often gives you an indication of the frequency of searches for that word, average cost per click of the keyword, competition in pay-per-click advertising, as well as the difficulty of that keyword.
Step 5: Analyse the competition
It is important to note that there is a high chance your competitors will be using similar keywords. Utilise the keyword analytic tool here, as most can generate a list of search competitors. You can double check these by searching your keywords to see if your competitors appear on the search page.
The trick is to find frequently searched key terms or phrases, but nothing that is too vague or too niche, as you will encounter plenty of competition if your keywords are broad and users will not find your page if your keywords are specific.
