Keyword Research – The Ultimate Guide + Automation - John's IMSecrets

Keyword Research – The Ultimate Guide + Automation

Keyword research is essential to any SEO campaign and targeting the wrong keywords could end up costing you a lot of time, effort and money.

If you want learn how to:

  • Find keywords that nobody else knows about (or at least few people know about).
  • Know which keywords will send traffic to your website.
  • Know how competitive a keyword really is.

Then, keep reading.

More...

Keyword Research - The Most Important Part of SEO

What exactly is a Keyword?

A keyword, in the search engine optimization context, is a word or phrase that describes the contents of a Web page. Keywords are intended to act as shortcuts that sum up an entire page.

Keywords form part of a Web page's metadata and help search engines match a page with an appropriate search query.


From 0 to 20,000 visits/month

Hint: You can achieve this kind of results in about three months (or less).

From 0 to 20k Visits-Month

This FREE step-by-step guide will show you how to go from 0 to 20,000 monthly visitors every month, it includes the strategies I use to grow my website every month.

If you are already receiving 20,000 monthly visits, it will help you double your traffic.


How To Generate a Massive List of Keywords.

Generating a massive list of keywords to target is a lot easier than most people think, however, when most people try to do keyword research, here's what they do:

  1. They go to Google's Keyword Planner Tool​
  2. They enter their niche selected keyword, select language and targeted country.
  3. Google drops a couple of very related keywords to the keyword query.
  4. The webmaster selects a keyword that they like and feel will work for their website.

Now, let me show you how most people do it with an example.

For this particular example, I've selected the music industry.​

keyword research

Regular User's Keyword Research

After that, they hit "get ideas" and get something like this:​

keyword research

Keyword Research For The Music Industry

Next, the one making the keyword research would click on the "keyword ideas" tab and get a list of them, just as shown in the image below.

keyword research

Keyword Ideas For The Music Industry

And BAM! You are done, right?

I mean, you have a list of around 100 keywords (maybe more, depending on the niche). you can target.

Sadly, NO.

And most people only do this when researching their keywords.​

The massive problem with this approach is that Google's keyword planner tool will always drop the same keyword results...​

That means your competitors will get the same keyword results as you do and will end up targeting them as well, making it a lot more difficult to rank for them.​

Also, the keyword planner won't give you many variations ​to your initial keyword (which actually sucks).

So, how do you use the Keyword planner tool in order to get keywords that most people won't get?​

I call it Keyword Planner Optimization.



Keyword Planner Optimization

Keyword planner optimization is as the name implies, optimizing the keyword planner for the best keyword results in your industry.

Here's how you do it:

  1. Go to Google and type in your niche keyword.
  2. Make a list with the domains of the first two pages on the search results.
  3. Go to Google's keyword planner tool and fill in the suggested keyword's form (don't click on the "get ideas" button, yet).
  4. Take the first domain and type it in on the landing page section and hit the "get ideas" button.
  5. Enjoy the new keywords.

Ok, I know if I only tell you how to do it, you might not completely understand how to do it, which is why I believe it's best if I show you ;).​

Ok, let's get right to it:

The following image will explain the first two steps.

When you go to Google and get your search query, this is what you'll get:

keyword research

Search Results For The Music Keyword

Your list should be of about 20 different domains. That should cover the first two pages of the search results.

Next is the third step.

Go to the keyword planner and take the first domain from your list.

Fill in the form and in the landing page place the domain from your list.

It should look like this:

keyword research with added domains

Keyword Research With Added Domains

Once you do this, you'll get a new set of keywords. Add them to your keyword research list and repeat the same process with different domains.

Keyword research with landing pages

Keyword Research With Landing Pages

An awesome way to find keywords that Google's keyword tool doesn't give you is with Google's  related searches.

Google's Related Searches​

Google's related searches are an incredible way to get high-quality keywords to target, after all, people are already searching for them and since they don't usually show on the keyword planner tool, there's not as much competition (depends on the niche).

Here's what they look like:​

I'll use the same search query as before (music).​

keyword research with related searches

Keyword Research With Related Searches

Add those keywords to your list and then click on every single one of them.

It will give you more related searches at the end of the page, add those as well.

Rinse and repeat till you have a list you are comfortable working with.

Searches related to youtube music
Searches Related to Music Download
Searches Related to Music Definition

Once you've got your list, go to the keyword planner and see how many monthly searches that keyword is getting.

After that, go to the "how to find keywords for easy rankings" section of this guide and see which keywords will work for you and your website.

Ok, now let me tell you about a not very known and underused method.


From 0 to 20,000 visits/month

Hint: You can achieve this kind of results in about three months (or less).

From 0 to 20k Visits-Month

This FREE step-by-step guide will show you how to go from 0 to 20,000 monthly visitors every month, it includes the strategies I use to grow my website every month.

If you are already receiving 20,000 monthly visits, it will help you double your traffic.


Amazon Keyword Research​

What?!

Amazon, really?

Yeah, I use Amazon very often. I use it when I want to write a massive guide or when I want to know what topics are ​pain points for pretty much any niche.

Here's how I do it:​

First, go to Amazon and search on the "books"​ section for books related to the niche you want to know more about (or specific keyword).

For this example, I'll use "music" as well.​

Amazon Keyword Research

Amazon Keyword Research

Click on one of the e-books and follow the indications found in the image below.

Amazon Keyword Research

Amazon Keyword Research - Table of Contents

Do this for as many e-books as possible. Two things will happen:

  1. ​You'll end-up with a huge list you can use for article ideas.
  2. Examine the headlines for keywords you can use to target in your web pages.

Very neat right?

With this method, I was been able to find topic ideas for this particular guide ;)​

Do you use Amazon for your keyword research?

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The next strategy are forums.

Forum Keyword Research

Forum keyword research is really awesome, this is one of the best ways to find out what people are actually looking for, after all, they are actually writing down their questions and are archived for you to tap into.

Here's an amazing list of the best internet marketing forums you can use in case you are in the digital marketing space.

Here's how you'd usually use forums for keyword research with the best results.

  1. Go to the forum of your choice.​
  2. Look for the search query box (every forum has one).
  3. You'll get to the advanced search page, just fill the information with the seed keyword of your choice.
forum keyword research

Forum Keyword Research - Advanced Search

4. Analyze the search results and make a list with keywords you found.

Do you use forums for your keyword research?

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Another amazing way to find great keywords is Wikipedia!​

Wikipedia Keyword Research​

Wikipedia is one of the best places to find great keywords and it's one of the methods that are least used.

Here's how you'd want to approach Wikipedia:

1. Head over to Wikipedia.org and type in your seed keyword in the search box (I recommend using a broad keyword​ for this).

For this particular example, I'll use the same keyword I've used in the past examples wich is Music.

Wikipedia keyword research

Wikipedia Keyword Research

2. Once you get the result for your search query, go to the table of contents (that's the keyword mine gold).

Wikipedia ToC keyword research

Wikipedia's Table of Content Keyword Research

3. Make a list with the keyword ideas you get from the Table of Contents.

4. Examine every single keyword for competition and rank-ability.

Don't worry at the end of this guide, I'll tell you how you can automate the whole process.

Are you using Wikipedia for your keyword research?

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How To Find Keywords That Will Send Traffic To Your Website.

With the techniques mentioned above, keyword research will be a breeze, however, how do I know which keywords will send traffic to my site?

Well, let me explain how it works.​

It all comes down to the authority of your website, how well optimized is your page and the strength of the links your competitors have (plus the number referring domains).

Here's what I do when I want to know if a keyword will send traffic to my site:​

  1. ​I run a Google search for the keyword I want to rank for.
  2. I check the DA, UR & DR of every result on the first page.
  3. If the difference in rating from the search results and my website is too great, I wait until my domain is strong enough to rank for that keyword.

Glossary:

  • ​DA: Domain Authority
  • UR: URL Rating
  • DR: Domain Raiting

    Also, here's what you'll need in order to utilize this method:​

    These are chrome extensions you can download and utilize for free.

    Let me share with you an example of how I would do it.

    Let's say that I want to rank for the keyword "Internet Marketing", there's massive competition​ for that keyword, but, for the sake of this example it'll be great.

    Keyword research for natural results

    Keyword Research for Natural Results

    Let's examine the first two search results for the keyword "Internet Marketing".

    In the first place we have Webopedia ​and in second Quicksprout.

    Webopedia's Link & Domain standing​:

    • DA: 86​
    • UR: 45
    • DR: 69

    Quicksprout's Link & Domain standing​:

    • DA: 80​
    • UR: 31
    • DR: 68

    At a first glance, that's the status of their link/domain.

    And these are mine at the time of the creation of this guide:

    Domain status of John's IMSecrets

    John's IMSecrets DA, UR & DR

    My results are:

    • DA: 14​
    • UR: 22 (this is for the home page, so it should be disregarded, if I created the page, at the time of creation it would be like 7).
    • DR: 39

    My results:

    • DA: 14​
    • UR: -
    • DR: 39

    Webopedia's results:

    • DA: 86​
    • UR: 45
    • DR: 69

    Ok now, If wanted to compete with Webopedia for the first place on the search results, I'd need to increase my DA first, then promote the page with the targeted keyword until the page has a strong UR to compete and lastly my DR should be of around 69.

    As you can see, my doimain is not strong enough to compete on the first page of Google as is.

    This is what you need to do in order to find out if you'll be able to compete on the first page of Google. However, if your results are close to the ones of your competition, the search results will still send you some traffic.

    What keyword research techniques are you using?

    Click to Tweet

    From 0 to 20,000 visits/month

    Hint: You can achieve this kind of results in about three months (or less).

    From 0 to 20k Visits-Month

    This FREE step-by-step guide will show you how to go from 0 to 20,000 monthly visitors every month, it includes the strategies I use to grow my website every month.

    If you are already receiving 20,000 monthly visits, it will help you double your traffic.


    How To Find Keywords For Easy Rankings.​

    Finding keywords isn't hard, but, it takes time if you don't have the proper tools to help you. I will share with you the software that has helped me find those magic keywords.

    It's called Long Tail Pro, I've been using this software to automate my keyword research since September 2015 and to be honest, it has saved me a TON of time.

    This software is a huge time saver, I highly recommend you check it out.​

    Here's a short video explaining exactly how to use Long Tail Pro:​

    Awesome, you stayed until the end of this guide!

    Now, I'd love to ask you a few questions if you don't mind.​

    • Have you ever used Long Tail Pro before?​
    • And was this guide helpful to you?

    To your research success!

    Jonathan Nuñez​


    Was this article helpful?

    Please, feel free to share it on social media. It could help somebody else 🙂

  • I did find this guide very useful and I will certainly be using some of these techniques.

    No, I’ve not used Long Tail Pro – I’ll take a look at it.

    • Hello Julie,

      I’m very glad you found them useful and if you do get Long Tail PRO, I recommend you build a list of about 20 related terms and then use the suggest tool and analyzer to get up to 800 new keywords for each one of your seed keywords.

      You will get a huge list in about 10 minutes of work.

      After that, you just need to sort through them with your specifics needed like the local searches and competition for example.

      I can’t tell you how much time this tool has saved me and helped me 😀

  • Love the article man! I’d never seen anyone calculate a keywords competitiveness like that before – definitely gonna give that a try.

    I also like how you deconstruct the keyword opportunities by checking the landing page keyword suggestions in GKP. I’ve done that at times, but using 10+ sites for it seems like it’d work a lot better, I might have to give it another try 🙂

    • Hey John,

      I’m glad you liked the article and the keyword competitiveness table, it takes a bit of time to research but, it’s definitely worth it 😀

  • Mrs G says:

    Thank you for the detailed information – very helpful

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