Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay Per Click (PPC) occupy the central position in digital marketing. Marketers across the globe use SEO and PPC to drive relevant customers into their conversion pages.
However, your SEO and PPC efforts can be successful only if you opt for a well-planned strategy. A key element of that strategy is keyword research. It’s the foremost step in setting up your marketing roadmap. This blog will talk about the most important things to keep in mind while conducting keyword research for SEO and PPC.
SEO and PPC – How Are They Different?
The primary difference between SEO and PPC is that the traffic your website generates through SEO is free, whereas the traffic from PPC is paid, and advertisers need to pay a specific sum for each click.
Both SEO and PPC are essential for success. Thus, they work best when there is a strategic integration of both in a business’s marketing strategy. An SEM company in UAE can perfectly implement the blend of two to help your business stay ahead of the curve.
The Foolproof Guide to Conducting Keyword Research
In the previous section, we mentioned that SEO and PPC are a different game altogether. Thus, it would make no sense if we adopt the same keyword researching strategy for both either. Adapts Media – one of the premier media agencies in UAE will help you step up your game by listing the most relevant keywords for your business and setting up the entire campaign.
Keyword Research for SEO:
Researching keywords for Search Engine Optimization requires strategy. Here’s what you can do:
1. Choose ‘Seed’ Keywords:
Seed keywords form the base of the keyword research process. It’ll help you identify the niche of the content and help you strategize the content. When you’re using any keyword research tool, it will ask you to input a seed keyword. The tool will then use the seed keyword to generate a list of popular keywords related to the seed keyword.
To give you an example, imagine that you own a company that sells computers and other electronic devices. Here is a list of potential seed keywords for your niche:
- Desktop
- Electronics
- Smartphones
- Laptops
Seed keywords need not be the center of your marketing strategy. You only need to use them ‘seeds’ to generate more keywords related to your specific niche. After determining the seed keywords, you may move on to the next step.
2. Look Out for your Competitors:
To become relevant, you need to outrank your competition. One way to do this is to track the keywords that your competitors are using. This will give you two major insights:
- The keywords that are giving your competitors the most traffic.
- The keywords that you should avoid using.
Finding your competition on the internet is easy enough. Here’s what you need to do:
- Retrieve the list of keywords that you got from the first step.
- Enter one of those keywords on Google and check out the top results.
- If you feel that none of the top results have the same niche as you, try using the ‘autosuggest’ queries to broaden the scope of your search. For example, if you are selling electronics, then the keyword phrase ‘Laptops under $1000’ would be more relevant to your business than just ‘Laptops.’
Once you narrow down the competitors, you can input these websites on competitive intelligence tracking tools. There are plenty of free tools available on the internet. You can use their report to gauge your competition’s search traffic, their top keyword, and much more.
3. Get Keyword Research Tools:
Generating relevant keywords is a crucial step. You should have an idea about the keywords that your competitors aren’t using. Using keywords that your competition is using will provide you with an edge over your competition in the market. This is where you need to use keyword research tools. There are a number of them available on the internet for free.
You need to feed a seed keyword into these tools to get started. Keyword result tools operate on three bases:
- Phrase Matches: This involves using keywords that contain seed keywords as it is. For example, if your seed keyword is ‘laptops,’ then you might get ‘cheap laptops’ as a potential keyword.
- Term Matches: Here, you will find keywords containing all the separate terms from your seed keyword. For example, if your seed keyword is ‘blue laptop,’ you might get the keyword ‘blue cover for laptop.’
- Questions: You might get keyword ideas that contain the seed word and any of the question words. For example, if the seed word is ‘blue laptops,’ you might get the keyword ‘where can I buy blue laptops.’
4. Analyze your Niche:
By now, you must have understood that
the best ways to find proper keywords. But all that would mean nothing if you can’t select the appropriate keywords for your content. You need to study your niche to check what’s trending there and push out the content accordingly.
Here’s what you can do to make this possible:
- Browse through forums, interactive websites, and Q&As.
- Read different reviews on your niche. Pick out the common product that people are talking about.
- Look for the trendies topic on your niche and create content based on that.
- If you can, get in touch with your customers and gather insights from them.
Keyword Research for PPC:
There is a slight difference in researching for keywords when it comes to PPC. Here’s what you need to do:
1. Review your Digital Presence:
When it comes to PPC, you should have a clear insight into your website’s analytics. You can use Google Analytics and Google Ads to determine your most successful pages.
Once you are satisfied with the results of a particular page, you’ll need to comb through the content to get primary, secondary, and tertiary keywords from there. This step is only applicable if the keywords in your existing content are relevant to the new content that you will be publishing.
2. Make a List of Root Keywords:
To select root keywords, you need to have an idea about what’s popular in your niche. For example, if your business deals with crypto-currency, then ‘Bitcoin Trading’ could be a root keyword. A root keyword can be anything that your business is trying to promote through its PPC campaigns.
These keywords should fall under the following four categories:
- Branded: These keywords will include the name of your business/organization. Branded keywords are a must in any PPC campaign.
- Competitive: These keywords include the names of your competitors.
- Product/Service: These keywords will talk about the solution and the services that your company offers.
- Peripheral: These keywords don’t relate to your brand itself but are popular among the industry and niche. Using these is an excellent way to target a broader audience.
3. Gather Long-Tail Keywords:
The next step would be to use these root keywords to obtain long-tail keywords. These keywords are phrases and are longer than an average keyword. Long-tail keywords are more effective when it comes to PPC because they cover broader areas.
The most effective way to search for long-tail keywords is to use a keyword research tool, be it free or professional.
4. Block Negative Keywords:
Negative keywords are the terms that you can blacklist so that your ads won’t appear for those specific keywords. Negative keywords are essential because they help filter out the situations in which the ads may appear for search terms that are not relevant to your niche. Accidental clicks because of negative keywords can lead to many unnecessary expenses.
Conclusion
PPC and SEO are at opposite ends of the same spectrum (SEM). When business owners use them as an integrated whole, they can get productive results. Keyword Researching is the first and the most important step when it comes to developing a strategy for PPC and SEO.
While they might sound similar, conducting proper keyword research for PPC and SEO requires slightly different methods. The steps involved are not complicated, and with the use of the right tools, you can considerably boost your marketing efforts.
There’s no denying that using the right keywords for PPC and SEO can make all the difference for your business. You can seek the consultation of an SEM company in UAE to narrow down the most suitable keywords for your SEO or PPC campaign.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to gain a competitive edge. Contact our team for expert assistance.