5 Crucial Keyword Research Mistakes You Shouldn’t Make

Any online marketing campaign should start with keyword research. Whether it’s search engine optimisation or pay-per-click advertising, keyword research is an invaluable tool that allows you to make your strategies as effective as possible. Not only does it allow you to identify the keywords you should add to your content or ads, but it also gives you an insight into the search habits of your target audience.

However, not many marketers and business owners like doing keyword analysis or research. A previous study showed that it is one of the three most challenging SEO tasks to perform. Still, despite the challenges it brings, researching the keywords you want to target is a must. It helps improve your chance of success and, at the same time, enables you to maximise your marketing resources.

Keyword Research Mistakes to Avoid

Performing keyword analysis is difficult enough as it is so you’d want to minimise your mistakes as much as possible. This allows you to save time and effort and more importantly, enable you to get the results you’re expecting. Here are some of the common blunders you shouldn’t make when researching your keywords.

1. Disregarding user’s search intent

To stay as visible online as possible, you’d want to be where your target audience is looking. However, how can you accomplish this if what you have doesn’t match what your target customers want?

For this reason, it’s vital to examine your audience’s search intent when researching your main keywords. Also known as keyword intent, search intent is what motivates a person to perform a specific search query.

Understanding search intent certainly helps because it tells you what a user is looking for when using Google. This allows you to match your content or ads to what you target audience wants, which helps you drive high-quality traffic to your site.

2. Not referring to SERPs

Many marketers make the mistake of completely disregarding what’s listed on search engine result pages or SERPs. As a result, they fail to see what’s ranking for the keywords they are targeting.

Google sometimes provides users with content that doesn’t match what you have for a keyword you’re targeting. For example, you want to rank for the keywords “search engine optimisation” and have written a comprehensive blog post for them. However, instead of showing your post, Google provides links to companies offering SEO services.

Instead of solely focusing on the research tools you’re using, you should also take a good look at SERPs. Then, identify the types of content that are doing well for the keyword you’re targeting. Model your content after them to get the results you want.

3. Focusing too much on search volume

It certainly helps to go after keywords with the highest search volume as it allows you to generate a considerable amount of traffic to your website. However, such a practice isn’t always good for your business.

Instead of focusing too much on search volume, what you can do is identify other factors that significantly impact your content. For instance, when analysing your focus keywords, you should also determine the types of search queries your target audience is using to find solutions to their problem. This will give you an idea of what kind of content you should create to satisfy your audience’s needs better.

4. Ignoring long-tail keywords

Don’t make the mistake of dismissing long-tail keywords when performing keyword analysis. Although this type of keywords has a lower search volume, it makes your content more accurate and relevant. Also, searchers who utilise long-tail keywords in their search are usually at the last stages of the sales funnel. This means they are more ready to buy or take your desired conversion action.

Another reason why you shouldn’t ignore long-tail keywords is that they have less competition. They are more likely to match a user’s exact search query, too. Using long-tail keywords gives your audience the impression that you’re an expert in your niche or industry, which encourages them to trust you more. The more your audience trusts you, the bigger the chance they will come back when they’re considering buying your products or signing up for your services.

5. Adding keywords post-content creation

As mentioned earlier, keyword research should be the foundation of your digital marketing strategies. It is certainly not the other way around. As such, you should never make the mistake of inserting keywords to pieces of content that have already been written. Otherwise, you won’t be able to successfully meet your target audience’s needs and get the search rankings that you want. 

Analyse Your Keywords the Right Way

Keyword analysis is an integral part of online marketing. Whether you’re doing SEO, PPC, or content marketing, you should have a deep understanding of the keywords that you want to target. However, when researching your keywords, make sure you don’t commit the mistakes discussed above to get the results you’re expecting.

Do you need help with keyword analysis? Our SEO experts are more than qualified to assist you. Contact us at Springhill Marketing today.