If you are on this post, you probably already know why keyword research is important. Maybe you have also tried to use the strategies you have read online. But now, you are looking for something to improve on those. Well, you are in luck cause this is exactly what this post is about. 

Here we will go over some tips and tricks that can improve your keyword research game. We will look at some advanced keyword research strategies and how you can use the researched keywords effectively. So, let’s get into it. 

Note: Since this post is about some advanced techniques, I will assume you know the basics of keyword research. These will be things like, how to use a keyword research tool, begin keyword research from scratch, etc. If you don’t know these things, I recommend you read up on the basics. You can read my post on A 4 Step Beginners’ Guide to Keyword Research. 

Searchers’ Intent

The first step in advanced keyword research is to find out the searchers’ intent. Searchers’ intent means what a searcher is looking for when he/she uses a keyword in a search query. For example, a searcher is probably looking for general information on automation tools when he searched for “email automation tools”. 

When the searcher understood what email automation tools do, he may consider investing in one. For this, he will research different tools so he can make the best decision. Now, to compare tools, the searcher will probably type something like “best email automation tools” in the search bar. 

Coming to the next stage of the journey, the searcher might want to compare the tools. So, the searcher should type something like “automation tool x vs. automation tool y”. And lastly, the searcher will pick a tool and search directly for it. So, the search query will be “x.com” or something similar. 

Throughout this journey, the searcher used the same keyword – automation tool. But, in each of these query’s he was looking for something different. In the first one, he wanted a broad overview, in the second one, he wanted a list of tools, and in the third one, he wanted an in-depth comparison between the two tools. 

As you can see, you can’t just use one keyword and try to rank for that. You need to know what your target audience would be searching for and then choose keywords accordingly.  

This brings me to my next point, types of keywords.

What Are the Types of Keywords?

When you go on to research keywords, you will find many. Some will be short, one to three words, some will be longer, almost like a sentence, some will be questions, etc. Unlike many people believe, you can actually use all of these to your advantage in one post using advanced keyword research. To do that, we will have to divide keywords into categories. 

1. Seed Keyword:

These keywords are broad terms with high volume. If you just type them in the search bar, you will only get a broad overview of the term and not anything specific.

For example, if you search for say, SEO, this is what will turn up.

There are posts about what SEO is and how to start with it. There is a right panel with a small explanation about SEO, and there are some general questions about SEO in the ‘People Also Ask’ Section.

If you look up SEO in a keyword research tool, you will see that it has a high search volume as well as high difficulty. So, SEO is a seed keyword.

Now, seed keywords’ use depends on what you are writing. If your aim is to sell, don’t use them as your focus keyword, keep them as your secondary keyword.

On the other hand, if you are trying to provide general information like the blogs in the photo above, you need to have seed keywords as your focus keywords.

2. Long Tail Keywords

The next group we have is long-tail keywords. These keywords are not actually words, but phrases or incomplete sentences. For example, effective keyword research techniques or advanced keyword research strategies, are long-tail keywords.

As you can imagine, these are more specific and so lead to more specific answers. Now, these make great focus keywords in almost all cases. They are specific so, you know that only the people who want this information will come to your blog, which will reduce the bounce rate. These also have lower keyword difficulty because they cater to a specific need.

3. Questions

The last group I am going to talk about in this post.

As the name suggests, these keywords are actually questions. These also make great focus or secondary keywords depending on your topic and intention with the post. In fact, these might be the best kind of keywords as this is how people usually search.

Think about it. How many times have you searched “best headphones less than Rs. 2000”. Instead of this, you probably used a question and typed “what are the best headphones under Rs 2000”.

So, it makes perfect sense to use questions as keywords in your posts.

Now, these 3 are not the only type of keywords. There are many other like commercial keywords, which intend to make a sale, or negative keywords, which are keywords you don’t want your posts to show up, etc. People have many ways to categorize their keywords, and so the list is non-exhaustive. I suggest that you look up more types of keywords and use the ones that apply to you’re the most.

You can get started here at Semrush’s blog, or Blogs.alexa.

How to Use the Different Types of Keywords?

Now, you may be thinking, I know about the types of keywords, but what do I do with them? How do I use them to maximum efficiency? 

Well, here is how you can use these keywords. 

• Use either long tail or questions as your focus keywords.
• The page title should have your focus keyword. You should try to keep the focus keywords in the beginning, but sometimes that’s not possible, and that’s okay.
• Use your focus keyword in your meta description. Again, try to keep it in the beginning. 
• On the post, use the focus keyword in the H1 tag just like you did for the title. 
• The H2 and H3 tags should have your secondary keywords, which can be from any category. 
• Use the seed keywords in your paragraph. However, don’t stuff your keywords there as this will give search engines a bad signal.

One thing I want to point out is that you might have read that you should keep the keywords with the highest volume in your H2 and H3 tags. This would mean that you are using seed keywords. But in 95% of the cases, your seed keyword is already in the long tail keyword or question. So, the above method will work. 

What To Do After Posting Content?

SEO is an ongoing process. So, even after you are done writing and posting your content, your work isn’t done. The next step is to monitor your keywords and progress.

You will have to regularly check your rankings for your focus keywords to measure the growth. Now, if you are new to content writing, don’t be upset if your first few posts don’t rank that well. Your rankings will grow gradually if you continue to use the best practices and create useful content. Also, only keyword research won’t help you rank. There are other factors that affect your rankings like backlinks to your site, bounce rate, etc.

To keep track, you can use tools like AHERFs, SEMRush, or Moz. These tools will not only help you monitor your progress but also do keyword research. You can see an in-depth comparison of these tools here.

Before I finish this post, when I suggested monitoring your progress, I meant tracking your keywords once in 3 months or so. There is no need to do this every day. In fact, that is just a waste of time.

3 months is a good enough time for search volume to change, the search trends to change, the competition to increase, and for you to see a real difference in your rankings. Now, based on the current trend, you can modify your old content and your future plans.

Hope you enjoyed this post. If you did, please share. Thank You.