In this podcast episode, Rebecca reviews the importance of performing ongoing keyword research and audits. She covers how often you should execute a keyword refresh, what’s involved in the process, and why it matters to SEO and overall ranking.
When to Do Keyword Research
- At the beginning of any campaign or SEO project
- When an industry shift occurs
- When you are writing a fresh new piece of content that isn’t already part of your editorial plan
- Every six months to a year if your industry isn’t fast moving like technology or healthcare
- When a major change occurs in Google search (i.e. the Knowledge Graph arrival)
What to Consider in Your Research
- Target demographic – needs, pain points, challenges
- Customer or patient journey map
- Existing content rank
- User intent in search
- Nuances of Semantic search
- Competition level within search results
- Broad keywords are not ideal, so focus down into specifics
- Closeness to your E-A-T
- Readability of keyword phrases
Where to Perform Research
- Google Analytics
- Google Search Console
- Bing Webmaster Tools
- SEMrush
- SpyFu
- Ahrefs
- KW Finder
- Google Keyword Planner
- PPC phrases and human searches within broad keyword campaigns
The Takeaway
Keyword research isn’t quick or easy, but it is critical to the health of your website and SEO. At the very minimum, this should be done yearly, and in some cases, every six months.
Today’s Episode Sponsor
A big thank you to Scripted.com for sponsoring season three of the SEObits podcast!
I’m very particular about who can sponsor our show and who I’ll put my name behind, however, today’s podcast sponsor won me over when I did a walk-through of their Cruise Control content offering. They had all the core ingredients for attracting search engines and appealing to the real humans we all want to convert.
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