Keyword research

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Importance of Research[edit]

Keyword research[edit]

The objective of keyword research is to generate, with good precision and recall, large number of terms that are highly relevant yet non obvious to the given input keyword.[2] Process of keyword research involves brainstorming and the use of keyword research tools. In order to achieve best results with SEO, it is important to pick the most relevant keywords. It is a good practice to pick keywords that have little competition and high amount of searches. Little competition will make it easier to achieve higher rank in search engines and high amount of searches will guarantee that the keyword attracts web traffic. The downside of this practice is that usually keywords that have very little competition get less searches while those who get millions of searches per month are very difficult to rank for.[3] There are three important concepts to consider when conducting a keyword research. Good keywords are related to the theme of the website. search engine algorithm has the right to ban or exclude from search results websites whose content is not relevant to the keyword.[4] Good Keyword that are highly competitive are less likely to rank in the top. Keywords that have no monthly searches will not generate any traffic therefore rendered useless for SEO.

Research Examples[edit]

A very popular and highly competitive keyword on Google search engine is "making money". It has 2 890 000 000 search results, meaning that millions of websites are competing for that keyword. Keyword research starts with finding all possible word combinations that are relevant to the "making money" keyword. For example a keyword "acquiring money" has significantly less search results, only 47 900 000, but it has the same meaning as "making money". Another way is to be more specific about a keyword by adding additional filters. Keyword "making money online from home in Canada" is less competitive on a global scale and therefore easier to rank for. Multiple tools are available (both free and commercial) to find keywords and analyze them.

Keyword Research Tools[edit]

Google AdWords Keyword planner[edit]

Google offers free tools to do some basic keyword analysis. All the results are relevant only for Google search engines. Features of AdWords Keyword planner:

  • Get traffic estimates for the keyword.
  • Generate new keywords by combining different keyword lists.
  • Create new keyword variations based on initial keyword.

Additional Tools[edit]


  1. ^ "Kris Reid – The Coolest Guy in SEO". 3 July 2015. Retrieved 14 August 2015. 
  2. ^ Joshi, A; Motwani, R (2006). "Keyword Generation for Search Engine Advertising". Data Mining Workshops: 493. doi:10.1109/ICDMW.2006.104. Retrieved 3 April 2014. 
  3. ^ Jerkovic, John (2009). SEO Warrior. O'Reilly Media. pp. 213–236. ISBN 978-0596157074. 
  4. ^ Ross, A. Malaga (2008). "Worst Practices in Search Engine Optimization". Commun.ACM 51. doi:10.1145/1409360.1409388. Retrieved 3 April 2014. 
  5. ^ Patricia, Redsicker. "Findable Content Marketing: 3 Google Keyword Tool Tips". Retrieved 13 February 2013.