After evaluating hundreds of websites, I’d like to share tips on how to conduct effective keyword research while providing real world examples of common mistakes and how to fix them. I’ll also go over how to build out your web pages to target your keywords effectively. If you are a beginner with a business website, this is for you.

To start, make a list of words and phrases that describe your product or service.

Ask yourself, “what would people search if they were looking for a product or service like mine?”

Think of all the ways someone might describe what you are offering, including ways it meets needs or solves problems.

Once you’ve made your list, enter a keyword from your list into a keyword research tool. It will propagate a list of similar and related keywords. Monthly search volume and keyword difficulty metrics can help you decide what to target.

Extremely general high volume keywords are hard to rank for because they often don’t specify intent. A user will usually have to search again with more specificity to get what they are actually looking for.

For example, “wall art” is extremely general. It has a very high search volume and is difficult to rank for. Due to its generality, search results will be mega-stores like Wayfair.

“XL framed canvas fine art prints” or “mid century modern wall sculptures” are highly specific. Longer more specific queries like these are called long-tail keywords. Despite lower search volumes, long tail keywords are usually easier to rank for, and more likely to put you in front of people who want what you are selling.

You can broaden your search to find more related keywords or topics by selecting a keyword from a propagated list to search again.

Export all keywords related to your topic.

Now it’s time to identify the search intent of the keywords in your list.

Understanding search intent is crucial for creating content that aligns with what users are looking for.

Search Intent can be determined by searching your keyword on Google and looking at what type of content is ranking.

Search Intent can be divided into four categories:

Navigational Intent

Navigational intent means the user already knows where they want to go.

Examples: “Citibank login” , “walmart near me”, or “branded company name”.

Informational Intent

Informational intent means the user wants an answer to a question or to learn about something.

Examples: “can dogs eat apples” or “how to fax from email”.

Why would a business Target Informational keywords?

Many businesses have blogs to provide useful information related to their products or service. Not only is this helpful to customers, it also builds authority, boosts brand awareness, creates trust, and drives organic traffic. Blogs can also help convert information seekers into customers via linking to product and service pages.

Real World Example:

When doing keyword research for a company that sold smart scales, I noticed that search volumes for “how do smart scales measure body fat?” and “how do smart scales work” was rather high. The fact that a lot of people wanted to understand how smart scales work implies a trust issue; They needed to be convinced that it actually worked before they would buy it.

This trust issue represents an opportunity to address the concerns of potential customers. And in doing so, introduce them to your products.

We created a new page that explained how their scales work and compared the features of different models. Each model linked to its product page.

It is also common to include informational keyword targets in the form of FAQs on product or service pages.

Commercial Intent

When users want to do research before deciding what to buy, the intent is Commercial.

Examples: “best mattress for side sleepers” “compare Kamado grills”, or “Squarespace vs Wix”.

Commercial keywords often produce articles that review products or services in search results. Commercial content often provides comparisons, pros & cons, specs, or a ranked list from best to worst according to different criteria.

Transactional Intent

Transactional intent means the user is ready to buy and wants to make a purchase.

Examples: “buy mead online”, “emergency plumber”, or “trailers for sale near me”.

When the keyword includes the word “buy” it’s safe to assume it is a transactional keyword. However, there are plenty of keywords that could be informational, commercial or transactional, and there’s really no way to know unless you search search them on Google.

For example, the keyword “live streaming camera” could result in articles that compare and rate different cameras, or the results could be product pages. If the results are review articles, the search intent is commercial, and you would need to write a blog to compete for that keyword. If the results are product pages, the intent is transactional, and you need to optimize your product or product collection page to rank for that keyword.

Identify variations of keywords that are simply different ways to describe the same thing. There can easily be dozens of synonymous keyword variants.

Synonymous Keyword Variant Examples:

• can dogs eat apples

• is apple ok for dogs

• can dogs have apples

• is apple bad for dogs

  ——————————————--

• car accident lawyer

• auto accident attorney

• car wreck lawyer

• car accident attorney

  ———————————————

• restaurant delivery software

• restaurant delivery management software

• online restaurant delivery software

• software for restaurant delivery

In all examples, the keywords have the same meaning and search intent.

When building your website, each individual URL should target one primary keyword (and its’ synonymous variants).

If you create two different pages that target a different wording of the same query, it results in Keyword Cannibalization.

Keyword Cannibalization is when two or more URLs compete against each other to rank for the same keyword (or variants of a keyword with the same intent). When Google has to choose between URLs that are too similar, ranking suffers for both.

Rule: Target one and only one Primary Keyword (and its’ synonyms/variants) per page.

Tip: If you are not sure if two keywords actually do have the same intent, you can check by searching those keywords on Google. If the top 10 results are the same for both keywords, then they can be treated as a single target. If the top ranking URLs are entirely different for each keyword, they have different search intents and can be treated as separate targets.

Keyword Cannibalization With Duplicate Content

A Medspa had created two blogs that targeted semantic variations of the same keyword. One blog was titled “Cost of Laser Hair Removal” and the other “Price of Laser Hair Removal”. Price and cost are synonyms. Also, the content of these blogs was nearly identical. Identical content is called duplicate content. Keyword cannibalization and duplicate content force Google to decide which page is the most relevant. This usually results in suppressed rankings for both.

When we removed the duplicate blog, ranking improved.

Tip: Don’t make the mistake of thinking you can rank for more keywords if you target synonyms separately. (If you rank for “cost of” you will also rank for “price of”). Instead, use semantic variations of a keyword on the same page. For example, use “Cost” in the title, and “Price” in a heading.

Keyword Cannibalization With Unique Content

A law firm was targeting “car accident attorney” on four separate URLs in the Title & H1 heading. Each URL had unique content about different aspects of car accident litigation. But it was not clear which URL would be the most relevant for someone who needed to hire a car accident lawyer. So they were stuck on page 3-10. Of the four URLs Google had to choose from, most often it ranked the one that had information about a topic that the competitors didn’t- what happens when children are involved in an accident.

This tells us two things:

1) The division of content (keyword cannibalization) was hurting them.

2) Google found the most value in the unique content.

The Solution: We consolidated the information onto one car accident lawyer page. As I predicted, within a month, they were moving up. Within two months they were in the top 10.

They moved up because they now had one URL that clearly targeted the right intent (and they covered same topics the top competitors did.) They jumped to page one because they also had original information that the competitors didn’t.

Tip: Evaluate the top ranking web pages for the keyword you want to rank for. Make sure you cover the information that they do, AND provide something unique to your knowledge that the competitors aren’t talking about.

Once you have identified the primary keyword that has the right intent for your webpage, turn your attention to secondary keywords. Secondary keywords represent subtopics of your primary keyword. In other words, information visitors want or need when searching the primary topic. Secondary keywords are often closely related keywords we discover when doing keyword research.

You can also get ideas for secondary keywords by assessing the competition. Look at the top ranking URLs on Google for your keyword to see what information they are providing.

Informational Blog Post Example:

In this example, let’s choose “How to Care for a Bromeliad Plant” as our primary keyword target.

The first heading (H1) would be: How to Care for Bromeliad Plants

In the paragraph under this heading you can target variants like “indoors”. Example: “Caring for bromeliads indoors requires….”

Each Secondary Keyword group represents a topic. Each topic should have a subheading.

Second Heading (H2): Choosing the Right Potting Mix for Your Bromeliad

Because we targeted “potting mix” in the heading, use “best soil” in the following paragraph.

Lawyer Service Page Example:

Use the primary keyword in the page title and H1: Car Accident Lawyer - Dallas Texas.

The secondary keyword topics can be organized in a number of ways as they boil down to combinations of “At Fault/Not at Fault” and “Insured/Not Insured”.

Now that you have your primary and secondary keyword targets, it’s time to start writing your content! Here are a few tips for targeting keywords in your content effectively:

1. Choose One Primary Keyword (to include variants with same intent) to build a page around.

2. Use the Primary Keyword in the Page Title & H1

3. Target Secondary Keywords in Subheadings and Content.

4. Write Original Content That Is Truly Helpful to Your Users

There are two factors that are extremely important when it comes to ranking on Google: The Helpful Content System, and E-E-A-T. No amount of superb keyword targeting will matter if your content does not meet these standards.

The Helpful Content System

The Helpful Content System is designed to reward content that is helpful to people and demote content that appears to be written for search engines.

Once upon a time, keyword stuffing (repeating the same exact match keyword again and again in your content) helped you rank. But Google’s algorithms have become significantly more sophisticated since then. Google’s increasing ability to understand context has reduced the need to target specific phrases so heavily. It is more important that your content fulfills search intent, uses natural language and offers something unique.

Google has provided a guide to writing helpful content: Creating Helpful, Reliable, People-first Content. I highly recommend using it.

Helpful Content Tips:

• Your content must serve the needs of your customer, client, or user base.

• You should provide original content based on experience, not just repeat information you can get on hundreds or thousands of other sites.

• Visitors need to be able to find what they are looking for quickly and easily, because user experience also effects helpfulness.

  More Tips for Creating Helpful Content >

E-E-A-T: Experience, Expertise, Authority & Trustworthiness

E-E-A-T is part if Google’s Search Quality Evaluator Guidelines which rates websites based on how trustworthy they are as a source of information.

In order get a good E-E-A-T score, Google must be able to determine the following:

• That real people are behind your business or website

• Who those people are

• That those people are trustworthy sources (they have experience, expertise, and authority in their industry or niche).

If Google cannot determine these things, your site could get a low E-E-A-T score which will hurt your ability to rank.

You need to prove your legitimacy by providing information on your website about who is behind the company, and by writing content that demonstrates first hand experience or expertise.

Actionable Tips to Improve E-E-A-T >

Once your web page is published, track your keyword rankings in a Keyword Tracking Tool. Use this information to tweak and fine tune your content.

Keyword Tracking Tools:

There are many keyword ranking tools to choose from. To determine which is right for you, you’ll need to search commercial keywords like “best keyword rank tracking tool for local business”. You will undoubtedly be met by the likes of SEMRush, Ahrefs and Moz. These tools offer far more than keyword tracking and are best suited to agencies that track multiple websites or large companies with large budgets. If you are a small solo business there are more affordable options.

While I have not tried all tools, of the ones I have used Mangools Keyword Tracker is my favorite for three reasons:

1) You can set your search location to a country, state, city or county. If you are an eCommerce store that ships nationally, you want to track how you rank in the USA. If you’re a florist is Tuscaloosa, you want to track where you rank in Tuscaloosa. A lot of local SEO keyword rank trackers have this feature.

2) Unlike any other tool I’ve used, Mangools provides a graph of daily rank placement along with which URL was ranking. If the URL that ranks changes, or multiple URLs are competing, you will be able to see that. It’s the easiest way to identify keyword cannibalization issues.

3) It’s affordable for small business and freelancers. The keyword research tool that you need comes with the plans as well.

No, they are not paying me to say this. I just really like the tool. And describing it’s features can help you know what to expect or look for when choosing the right tool for you.

Using Data To Improve Your Content

Once you have selected your tool and are tracking your keywords, you can start tweaking your content to perform better based on those results.

For Example: If you land on page three for your target keyword, look at the top 10-20 ranking URLs and evaluate why they are ranking higher than you.

Possible Reasons:

They are targeting the search intent of the keyword better you are.

They are providing more helpful content.

Their content is better organized and user friendly (heading structure/ internal linking structure).

Their sites has a higher level of trust (E-E-A-T).

Tracking Organic Traffic

If you use Google Analytics and Search Console (they are free!) you can see which pages are getting traffic, how long visitors stay on the page, where they go next, and which queries are driving traffic and getting impressions. This data can be invaluable in helping you fine tune your content for success.

Now you know how to do meaningful keyword research and how to build your webpages to succeed!

If you have any questions, please leave them in the comments. Do you have a keyword ranking success story? I’d love to hear it!

If you need to do keyword research but don’t have the time, I can help. I offer keyword research packages that include keywords grouped by cluster and sorted by intent.