Each time you enter a phrase into a search engine, you are using a search term. While search phrases assist in attracting attention and boosting your SEO, they are not considered keywords.
We’ll define search phrases and discuss why they’re critical to your marketing approach. Additionally, we’ll demonstrate how to utilize the Semrush tool to identify search words to target using organic and paid search techniques.
Why Is It Necessary To Conduct Keyword Research?
Typically, search queries include one or two keywords. You want to rank for a keyword that appears in a large number of search queries.
Additionally, search words reveal a customer’s search intent. The search intent reveals the kind of material that Google will display in the search results.
If your website is designed to target a certain search intent, understanding the search keywords used will increase the chances that your website will appear first on the SERP. Additionally, analyzing the search words individuals choose might help you save money on your PPC advertising.
After doing research on a range of search phrases and identifying the phrase you want to target, ensure that the keyword appears in all critical spots such as your webpage’s meta description, page title, and H1 tags.
Before you get into keyword research to discover search phrases, be sure to read our guide on utilizing the Semrush tool for keyword research.
When doing keyword research, begin with the Keyword Overview tool. The tool is included in the Keyword Research toolbox.
What if you were selling something like noise-canceling headphones? Begin by typing your desired keywords or phrases into the tool’s text field, selecting the desired country, and clicking “Analyze.”
As seen in the accompanying graphic, there are 110,000 monthly searches in the United States for your target term. The keyword variants include several well-known companies, such as Bose and Sony.
You can see some of the search words people use to find noise-canceling headphones in the Questions column.
The most often asked question about noise-canceling headphones is “how do noise-canceling headphones work?” and “what are the best noise-canceling headphones?” These questions may be used to create instructive and helpful material, such as “how-to” or shopping guides.
Further down the page, you’ll discover the themed report on Keyword Ad History. Utilize this report to get further insight into the paid ad campaigns that are presently targeting this keyword and determine if it is worthwhile to spend money in such efforts.
Additionally, you may utilize the Keyword Difficulty score to assess the usefulness or viability of a keyword. The higher the KD score of a keyword, the more difficult it will be for a website to rank organically in the Google top ten for that term.
Following this example, a KD score of 89 percent implies that it may be tough to break into the market for ‘noise-canceling headphones.’
See your competitors’ traffic with Traffic AnalyticsApplying Filters When Using Keyword Overview
The Keyword Overview offers a variety of information, which might seem overwhelming at first sight. You’ll want to utilize the tool’s capabilities to further refine your search.
You might begin by defining your market segment. The Keyword Overview tool defaults to your country of origin, but you must choose a target nation if it is different from the one in which your website is now operating.
Additionally, you may set the tool to display results just from desktop or mobile users, or to display results from a certain period period. These three filters appear just underneath the search bar at the top of the screen.
The Export to PDF capability is another helpful feature. A hardcopy snapshot is useful for filing and storing offline for future review or team meetings, particularly when presenting reports.
This report may be delivered to you monthly or biweekly, allowing you to remain current on your search keywords without having to access the tool.
The Keyword Overview tool is not the only one that Semrush offers. When you click on a keyword or key phrase in the Keyword Overview tool, the Keyword Magic tool is opened.
How to Make the Most of the Keyword Magic Tool
We clicked through to the Keyword Variations theme report in the preceding picture to get further information about our keywords.
You may use the Keyword Magic tool to:
• Redirect your keyword search to a different site
• Filter results using broad matches, phrases, or specific words.
• Eliminate words (great for building PPC campaigns)
• Sort by Cost per Click or Difficulty of Keyword
Additionally, you’ll be able to monitor critical metrics at a glance, such as a keyword’s Keyword Difficulty score or search traffic. To the left of the screen, related keywords are provided for additional research.
If you click on the link at the top of the “Questions” table in the Keyword Overview tool, you will be sent to the following page:
Utilize this data to determine the search words consumers use to find noise-canceling headphones.
Numerous search keywords are inquiries. People want to know the price of something (which suggests a transactional search), the location of a store where they may purchase it (which suggests an informative search), and similar words.
By tailoring your keyword research to a customer’s search intent, you may catch a significant portion of the search phrases they input into Google.
Additional information is available on this page, including the following:
• Trend: Is the search traffic for these queries increasing or decreasing?
• Cost per Click (CPC): How much are individuals paying for targeted keywords through Google Ads?
• SERP Features: Is it the number of real results or a SERP feature that is returned?
Check Your Rivals’ Rankings Now that you’ve done some research on your target phrase, why not see how your competitors are doing?
Examining your competitor’s keyword strategy may encourage you to pursue other keywords or provide insight into the kind of ads they are running against you.
How to make the most of the Keyword Gap tool
The Keyword Gap tool is ideal for comparing your website’s ranking for keywords to that of your rivals. You’ll begin by inputting your domain and those of your rivals.
In this instance, we’ll collaborate with Best Buy (bestbuy.com). The Keyword Gap tool identified many potential Best Buy rivals, including Techradar and BH Photo Video.
The technology identified the most profitable keyword options for Best Buy: two comparison search keywords emphasizing the brands Bose and Sony.
Additionally, the program gives keyword comparisons for Best Buy, Techradar, and BH Photo Video. Green squares indicate your keyword advantages or victories, indicating where you rank higher than your competition.
Best Buy is losing ground to Techradar in the search phrase “noise-canceling headphones” (position 7 versus position 3, respectively.) Position 7 is not awful, but with little effort, we might move it up a notch.
We’re ranking highly for the keyword “Bose,” are doing reasonably well for the keyword “Sony,” and have a slew of victories on the page.
Additionally, the Keyword Gap tool may assist us in tracking:
• Organic keywords, or keyword gaps in PPC campaigns
• Keywords that are insufficient
• Keywords that are powerful
• Any keywords that are unique or unexplored
• Results on mobile or desktop
• Alternately, you may change the date range for historical data.
You may export the data to your computer for further study or mix it with other Semrush reports.
Reach the Top of SERPs with Quality BacklinksHow to make the most of the PPC Keyword tool
You may create and manage a Pay Per Click campaign with the aid of the Keyword Magic tool (PPC). Again, using our “noise-canceling headphones:” as an example:
With a few more metrics, you may sort and filter the data:
• Traffic volume: sort by the terms that get the greatest or least traffic.
• Keyword Difficulty: Considering what your competitor is doing, how difficult would it be to rank for those keywords?
• Cost per Click (CPC): This measure is critical for paid ads in particular. How much money do you anticipate spending each click on this campaign?
• Include Terms: Narrow the scope of your report by filtering out non-targeted keywords.
• Exclude Keywords: Once you’ve identified your negative keywords, you may exclude them from your investigation. This may save you a lot of money by eliminating terms that you should avoid spending money on.
You may now access Semrush’s PPC Keyword tool.
You can plan your own Google Ads campaigns with the help of this Semrush tool.
The Negative Keywords aspect of the tool is likely the most powerful. Negative keywords are terms that you want to avoid targeting with your PPC campaign.
It costs money to target keywords, therefore if you can identify the terms for which you do not want to be paid, you may disable them in Google Ads.
Additionally, the PPC Keyword tool enables you to choose the campaign’s geographical region down to the city level, allowing you to target search words specific to your region.
Businesses that depend on local SEO, such as delivery services or restaurants, may find this feature especially beneficial when developing their PPC campaigns.
You now have your keywords, a knowledge of the search phrases people use, have conducted some competition research, and have put up some PPC advertising.
With the Position Tracking Tool, you can now monitor the effectiveness of your campaigns.
You may use the Position Tracking feature to:
• Maintain a database of keywords and domains
• Maintain a record of numerous geographical places
• Keep an eye out for possibilities in ‘Featured Snippets’
• Local SEO monitoring
• Monitor up to twenty rivals and five domains
This robust tool maintains a careful check on your website’s and rivals’ rankings. You’ll obtain information that will enable you to pivot your campaign or identify new possibilities to acquire keywords.
Utilize the tool to monitor the search phrases for which your website presently ranks, the sources of your traffic, and the location of your traffic on the map.
These insights may assist you in responding more effectively to the intent of those search phrases. Additionally, the Position Tracking feature helps demonstrate any successes you’ve had with your local or mobile SEO efforts.
Additionally, you may get daily or weekly updates to be informed about changes in trends and rankings.
Uncover Your Competitor’s PPC StrategyConclusion
In the early 2000s, search behavior was rather straightforward. Users typed phrases into the search field, and Google returned what it believed to be the closest match. “Pizza, Boston” would provide a list of pizza restaurants in Boston based on our search criteria.
Today, individuals engage much differently with search engines, and as a consequence, our search words have evolved. Now, we can type “what is the best pizza shop in Boston?” into search engines and obtain a list of responses. We may now use far more complicated search words, and Google will still attempt to grasp what we are looking for.
Individuals are becoming more adept at describing the kind of information they want. Utilizing the Semrush tool to decipher these more complicated search phrases and phrases can only benefit your online visibility.
