[vc_row css_animation=”” row_type=”row” use_row_as_full_screen_section=”no” type=”full_width” angled_section=”no” text_align=”left” background_image_as_pattern=”without_pattern”][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][vc_column width=”2/3″][vc_single_image image=”31299″ img_size=”large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]A central tenet of any SEO effort is the discovery, selection and mapping of keywords. In basic terms, keywords refers to search terms that you want your website to show up for when users key them into Google. Since search terms have a near infinite number of variations, rather than working all of them into your website, it makes sense to instead use keywords. In most cases, search terms similar to a keyword will be ranked around the same range as the keyword.
Given the importance of identifying keywords for your website, it is imperative that you be armed with the tools necessary for the task. Thankfully, there are no shortage of software in this field, with many requiring no financial investment on your part. As such, no matter how tight your marketing budget is, you can surely discover the right set of keywords for SEO.
In this article, we take a look at several tools which help you uncover new keywords at no cost at all.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
Google Keyword Planner
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”31300″ img_size=”large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]A free method to discover and retrieve keywords is to use Google’s keyword planner tool. Found under Google Ads’ platform, you can sign up for free and use the tool to find data such as:
- Suggested keywords
- Average monthly search volume
Additionally, it provides the average CPC prices of these keywords on Google Ads as well as the competition amongst advertisers. While these are not directly applicable to SEO keywords, they serve as indicative proxy metrics as to the degree of difficulty.
To use Google’s keyword planner tool, you will need to first key up to 10 search terms of interest. From there, keyword planner will suggest more keyword ideas for you to dive into.
Pro tip: Do not just consider the search terms primarily related to your core business or home page. Instead, get a full list of all valuable search terms within your industry. Even if your website is not optimal now for certain keywords, you can create new content later to be used to rank for the keyword.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
Google Search Console
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”31301″ img_size=”large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Google Search Console (GSC) is another free tool that is a goldmine for finding new keywords. GSC has many different functions, but for the purpose of identifying keywords, you will want to view the performance report. GSC’s performance report shows all search terms that your website has had impressions for on Google. In addition, it shows the corresponding clicks as well as the average position of the search term.
Within this report, you can find search terms that your website is having impressions in high volumes yet are not receiving traffic from. Specifically, if the average position of the search term is not great, then there is a clear opportunity for you to adopt the search term as a keyword. Thereafter, focusing on the keyword will allow you to quickly capture a highly search keyword.
From another viewpoint, GSC also reveals niche terms within your industry that your audiences are searching for. Used correctly, the performance report reveals a multitude of long tail keywords to be ranked for using secondary or blog content.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
Google Trends
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”31302″ img_size=”large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Google Trends is the third free tool provided by Google for you to identify up and coming keywords. The primary value provided here is the user-centric presentation of the patterns of user searches for various keywords. This helps you to visualize any patterns in searches made, be it in terms of days of the week or months in a year. Additionally, it displays search terms that are trending upwards in searches. This helps you get ahead of your competition in adopting new breakout keywords and optimizing your website for them.
It should be noted that Google Trends does not display hard search numbers unlike those seen on Google Keyword Planner and Google Search Console. Instead, it compares the level of interest over time. As such, it can be difficult to compare and estimate the search volume potential between multiple keywords.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
LSI Keyword Generators
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is an age old concept in SEO. LSI keywords are search term variants that are semantically similar to a particular keyword. So long as you have a base keyword, you can then find other keywords that are similar to it.
The biggest benefit of using this tool is in finding keyword variants that are valuable and that can be mapped to the same page. In this way, you would be preventing keyword cannibalization while also providing a naturally LSI optimized page. Conversely, if the LSI score is high, we would recommend against mapping the keywords to separate pages in order to prevent conflict.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
Competitor Website Analysis Tools
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]There are several free software versions of competitor analysis tools. These tools help analyze competitor websites to find probable keywords that they are ranked for. In turn, you would be potentially identifying new keywords that your competitors are benefiting from. At the same time, it would also provide you an estimate of the amount of traffic entering your competitors’ websites.[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]
Interested To Learn More?
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_column_text]Keen to build a strong link profile for your website? Speak to our SEO consultants at MediaPlus Digital. We are a leading digital marketing and SEO agency in Singapore, who has run 100s of SEO campaigns for our clients. The cost of SEO for small businesses varies according to various factors and it is important to understand them before embarking on a campaign.
At all times, we help brands to achieve their marketing goals while also delivering transparent data metrics for them. This allows us and our clients to make informed decisions with positive marketing impact.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][vc_column width=”1/6″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
