If one of your marketing goals is to increase search traffic to your small business’s website, then SEO keyword research should be at the top of your list.
SEO for small businesses involves targeting relevant keywords so your customers can find you and visit your website. To get the most out of your SEO strategy and ensure your website is optimized for maximum visibility, you need to find the right keywords to target.
That’s why we put together this beginner’s guide to keyword research. By following these steps, you can improve local SEO, increase visibility, and generate more traffic to your small business’s website.
What Is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is the process of identifying and analyzing search terms and phrases that people use when searching for products, businesses, or information online.
Conducting keyword research is a crucial step of any SEO strategy for small businesses. When someone searches for something related to your business, you can increase your chances of showing up in the results by incorporating the right keywords on your website.
Finding keywords for your business to rank for can be done manually or with keyword tools. Either way, it’s essential to choose the right search terms — these are keywords that make the most sense for your business and what customers are searching for.
Why Keyword Research Is Important for Small Businesses
Researching SEO keywords may not be the first thing on your to-do list if you run a service business. But the truth is that every small business can benefit from keyword research.
Keyword research is more than just identifying search terms and adding them to your website here and there. When done right, keyword research is an insightful process that helps you understand your customers, guide your positioning, and improve your local SEO.
Here are just a few benefits of keyword research:
- Improves your website’s ranking in search
- Increases visibility for your business
- Helps you understand what customers are searching for
- Provides insights into market trends
Keyword research is easy enough for SEO beginners, but it can take time — especially if you do it manually.
Instead of doing SEO keyword research yourself, consider letting Durable do it for you.
With built-in website SEO tools, Durable does your keyword research for you, shares the best keywords, and implements them into your content automatically. Plus, Durable tracks your keyword ranking and traffic, so there’s no question whether your website is optimized for SEO.
How to Research Keywords for Your Small Business
You may be asking, how exactly do I conduct keyword research for SEO? Follow the four steps below to start finding keywords for your service business.
Step #1: Brainstorm Relevant Topics
Start by making a list of all of the terms you want your website to rank for. These are topics and phrases relevant to your business.
What do you offer? Where are you located? What’s your unique selling point? Think about your customers — what would they search to find you?
For instance, if you have a personal training business, your topic list could look something like this:
- Personal training business
- Local personal trainer
- Personal trainer in [your city]
- Best personal trainer in [your city]
- Personal trainer for beginners
- Personal training services
Step #2: Identify Keywords You’re Already Ranking For
Next, see which keywords your website is already ranking for. Even if you’ve never conducted keyword research before, there’s a good chance people are still finding your website. Knowing how they find you gives you guidance on which terms people are using and associating with your business.
You can use Google Search Console to analyze your organic search traffic and see everything from which keywords you’re being ranked for and how much traffic each one generates.
Step #3: Research the Competition
You don’t need to reinvent the wheel — the best SEO keywords to incorporate on your website are the ones that are proven to work.
Check out your competitors’ websites to identify keywords or phrases they use. Not sure who your competition is? Google generic terms related to your business and see who shows up in the results. The ones at the top of the results page get the most traffic, so those are the websites you want to beat.
If you’re using a keyword research tool, you can plug their domain into the tool to see which keywords their site ranks for. Add these terms to your list as long as they make sense for your business, too.
Step #4: Use Keyword Tools to Refine Your Strategy
Once you have a complete list of keywords you want to target, use a keyword research tool to create a strategy.
Keyword tools help you understand search terms better. They can show you:
- Monthly search volume
- How competitive the keyword is (i.e., how easy or difficult it’ll be to rank for it)
- Search intent (why a user is searching for the keyword)
- Topic ideas around those keywords
When you have a better grasp on how much traction keywords are getting, you can hone in on the right ones for your business. The right keywords are the ones that are relevant and achievable.
4 Helpful Keyword Research Tools
If you want to step up your SEO strategy, then it’s a good idea to invest in a keyword research tool. There are several paid and free keyword research tools for small businesses — here are a few.
#1. Durable
If the idea of doing keyword research sounds intimidating, Durable is here to do it for you. Durable includes built-in SEO tools as part of the website builder.
When you use Durable, not only do you get an entire website designed and written for your business, but Durable also conducts SEO research and provides you with a list of keywords for your business. And you have the ability to add your own keywords, too.
Durable automatically incorporates the keywords to any new on-page content, blog posts, page titles, image tags, and metadata.
As a small business owner, the fewer tools you have to use the better. Managing your website and SEO in one tool is the best way to get online and start generating traffic to your business right away.
#2. Google
If you have time to go the manual route when it comes to SEO research, Google is one of the most beginner-friendly tools.
For example, let’s say you’re a freelance graphic designer. To find relevant keywords, start by typing “graphic designer in [your city].” As you type, Google will auto-populate similar phrases and terms to give you more ideas.
Once you’re on the search engine results page (SERP), you’ll also see the “People Also Ask” section. This section provides similar phrases people are searching for.
As a freelance graphic designer, terms like “freelance graphic designer in san francisco” and “top graphic designer in san francisco” would be good to incorporate in your website.
You can also tap into the powers of Google Search Console (which is free to use) to get detailed data for your current SEO performance if you already have a website.
#3. Moz Keyword Explorer
Another free option is Moz Keyword Explorer. This tool allows you to make 10 queries per month and provides 1,000 keyword suggestions, all for free.
Like Google, Moz is pretty beginner-friendly. The free plan includes keyword suggestions and straightforward metrics including monthly search volume, difficulty level, and average CTR.
If you’re interested in ranking for more keywords or want to start a blog and need some topic ideas, then Moz is a great tool to explore.
#4.Semrush
Semrush is a more advanced keyword research tool, but it’s worth the investment if you’re looking to increase your content and expand your SEO strategy.
Semrush provides detailed keyword data and SERP analysis that can be helpful for small businesses that already have a big online presence. You can use the tool to analyze SEO performance for both organic and paid content.
How to Find and Search for Website Keywords
You can use any of the tools mentioned above to find and search for website keywords.
With Durable, you don’t need to come up with any keywords yourself. You can get started right away with the auto-populated list of suggested keywords.
The AI-generated keywords will be automatically added to any new website content so it’s optimized for search — taking all of the guesswork and research out of the process.
Keyword research is essential for any small business marketing strategy, especially if you want to improve your local SEO.
By taking the time to find the right keywords, implementing them on your website, and continuing to optimize as you grow, your business will be primed to generate more traffic and leads.
Generate your website with Durable and start bringing in traffic today!
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