Keyword Research: All Secrets behind the SEO Search for The One

Seeking to finally bring your business and your ideal customer together? In our era, a strong online visibility is the key foundation to pave the way to a match. And the key to a solid and organic visibility? Keyword research. 

Welcome, this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

At the end of the day, what marketing and mainly SEO is all about is understanding people, their concerns, quirks and interests. And so, the key to keywords is to align your content with search intent. 

Therefore, finding the most appropriate keyword is finding the one that best condenses your specific content in the social imaginary. As in other aspects of life, it's all about finding “the one”. 

So hold on tight to this guide, because that's where we're going. 

Why is Keyword Research so Important?

Why is keyword research so important, you ask? Well, just because it doesn't matter if your content is original, engaging and relevant if people won't find it in search engines. 

There are rules for every game, and to get your content to the most people, you need to know the basics of SEO and its X ingredient: strategic keyword research. 

This is the basis for the success of any On-Page SEO strategy. And what does On-Page SEO consist of? Basically, in optimizing parts of your web content to rank better in search engines. In other words, it's the boost that all good content needs.

By spotting the target keyword that resonates with your public and aligns with your content strategy, you'll pave the way for long-term traffic growth. Meaningful keyword research is not simply about stuffing your content with popular terms, but understanding the search intent behind those keywords. 

In this way, an efficient keyword research allows you to identify the most specific needs and interests of your audience. As we said before, it's all about finding the one, that one word that best captures the idea of your content in the social perception. 

If you don't know for sure how and what appeals to the person you are talking to, you may have a lot of great things to tell them but they will never get it. 

So, it may sound a little bit far-fetched, but the reality is that we could think of keyword research as an anthropological task. Luckily, there are several tools that allow us to pull out the data we need to put together our own investigation, we'll get there later.

And to carry all this out, hiring SEO copywriting services (digital anthropologists, perhaps?) can further refine your content strategy. Because no matter how key your keyword is, good content won't write itself. 

Keyword Research, Step-by-Step 

We all know organization is key to success, and so the step-by-step keyword research process is a systematic approach that only gets smoother with time and practice.

• Identify your audience

While we SEO kids are anthropologists in disguise, the first step is finding your niche market and your target audience. 

What topics, products or services do you offer? Who needs them and why? Who is your ideal reader or consumer? Getting these things straight will give you a solid foundation to get started with.

• Brainstorming time

And so the fun begins. Just as the surrealists employed automatic writing (put simply, writing without thinking) it's time for brainstorming. No wrong answers.

Think about the general topic of your content or website and make a list of possible keywords and phrases relevant to your niche. Think about it this way, how would you search for your product online? 

A good trick for when the storm starts to calm down is to use Google's autocomplete feature. 

• Keyword research tools, you’re up

This is where SEO keyword research tools come into play to expand your list of potential keywords. 

These tools provide valuable information about search volume, how difficult the words are to rank for, what words the competition is targeting, and many more hacks. Our mantra: user intent is crucial for driving relevant traffic to your website.

But let's not get ahead of ourselves. We'll devote a special section to it below.

• Cutting down the keywords list: Which one will remain?

Based on the competitiveness and relevance of each keyword we will trim and optimize the brainstorming. 

These keywords are the ones that will be prioritized when it comes to sketching the content. 

• Create quality content around target keywords

Now it's the turn of the copywriters, the writing minions. It's time to develop content tailored to your target keywords, making sure it integrates naturally into your website pages, blog posts, meta tags and headers. 

The important thing is that quality and content go hand in hand. 

Types of Keywords in SEO

There's more than one? Yes, yes indeed. Just as in love there are plenty of fish in the sea, there are plenty of keywords in SEO. And well, not all of them will be "the one", but they sure help us put together a nice collage of loving stories and epic content.

Let's look at the main ones.

On the one hand, there are the transactional keywords. These are the ones that will redirect us to the purchase of a product or service. Therefore, you will be able to use them throughout more than one content within your website (hey, since we're here, in the mood for contacting some excellent and dynamic Digital Marketing Agency?)

However, "the one" refers to the primary keyword. That is, the one that will be the predominant in the creation of specific contents. Thus, as you can see, the core keyword of this blog article is "keyword research". 

And if there are primary keywords it’s because there are secondary keywords, right? These will be the accessory keywords that are related to the core of the content. Don't worry, in a good keyword research tool you will have all this content within a couple of clicks.

So, although in your anthropological research you will build lists of each type, the lists that will change the most content by content and that, therefore, will need the most attention are the primary words (A.K.A, the one. Never too easy to get). 

3 Best Free Keyword Research Tools for SEO

• Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner, is a powerful tool offered by Google Ads, but even though it is technically an advertising tool, you can also use it to find keywords for your SEO strategy. 

Once you have your Google Ads account set up, go to the Keyword Planner. There you can discover new ideas and check search volume and forecasts to see metrics for an existing list of keywords. 

As Google's own tool, this keyword planner provides access to valuable data directly from the largest search engine. 

While it is relatively basic compared to some dedicated SEO tools, given that its primary purpose is to support Google ad campaigns, it is a valuable tool to get you started. 

• Ahrefs 

Ahrefs it’s really simple to use. Although it offers a limited amount of data available for free, its Free Keyword Generator feature provides up to 150 suggestions with comprehensive data on search volume, keyword difficulty and traffic potential for specific keywords. 

In addition, this tool includes keyword research for non-search engines such as YouTube, Amazon and Bing. Therefore, while it is technically an advertising tool, you can also use it to find keywords for your SEO strategy. 

• SEMrush

SEMrush, in case you're looking for something more advanced, is the way to go. While a bit more complex in the amount of options and filters it offers, this tool shares a ton of keyword data and makes it easy to drill down into the details, such as SERP features (featured snippet, reviews, site links, image pack, etc.).

And of course, this toolkit also offers a wide range of keyword research tools. From standard traffic and search volume data to content-based keyword research and competitive keyword gap analysis, here you have it all.

For this, a highlight of SEMrush is the Keyword Magic Tool. From exact matches to phrase matches, on a single page you have valuable information on search volume, keyword difficulty and even filters by country and state.

Another star feature is the SEO content template, which automatically generates a content brief and provides practical recommendations for optimizing content around specific keywords.

Well, with these three you have a good base to start with. Of course, you can always go deeper, and with the paid features of each one you will be able to delve deeper and deeper into the intricacies of keyword research. 

But without a doubt these three options provide us with a very complete set of free tools to start a prosperous path in the world of SEO. 

Conclusion: The Right (Key)Word Research for the Right Content

We've seen then that keywords are more than just popular topics. They are the starting point for making quality content relevant to your audience. Ultimately, all of us who make content want, in addition to producing and writing it, to be read, don't we? 

Then let's not forget about the power of (key)words and language. The importance of keyword research lies in its vital ability to drive sustainable traffic growth and fuel the success of your efforts.  

And as we are a foodie agency, we can't fail to mention our SEO plans for restaurants –or the ultimate culinary matchmaker– to achieve lasting relationships between diner and restaurant. 

If we invest time and resources in an idea but fail to achieve visibility, we only achieve frustration. That's why keywords, one of the bastions of SEO, will lay the foundation for long-term visibility, relevance and authority in your industry, positioning your website for success in the competitive digital landscape.