By Adam

The goal of any SEO strategy
should be to rank as highly in Google as you can. The closer you can get to the
top of search results, the better for you. Only around 2 to 3% of people visit
the second page of any Google search. In total, most Google searches last less than
60 seconds.

When your page ranks in the top
few search results organically, you’re more likely to get a click. Further, if
you organically rank number one for a search result, you’re ten times more
likely to get a click than a page that ranks 10^th.

So how do you get to that coveted
number one spot?

There are a lot of ranking
factors used by Google, but the foundation of a lot of how well your site or
content ranks relies on using
the right keywords to guide your content.

Your keywords are typically
actually phrases rather than single words, and they describe what’s on your
page or post.

When people are searching for
that phrase or keyword, then they’ll be guided to your content.

Using the right keywords serves
as an indicator to Google as to what’s important, and it helps the search
engine learn more about what your page is about.

At the same time, with your
keywords, you can’t just think about Google. You also have to think about your
targeted user, and what they’ll
be looking for, and also what they’ll want to see after they click on a
page.

You never want someone to come to
your page expecting one thing and getting another because you didn’t use your
keywords properly.

So how do you find the best
keywords?

The following are a few key
things to know about keyword research.

The Basics of Keyword Research

First, what is keyword research?

This is a term that refers to the process you’ll use to find
and analyze terms people put into search engines.

Keyword research provides you with more specific details about
what your targeted audience is looking for.

With keyword research, you can learn more about what people
care about and what popular topics are at any given time that might relate to
your industry or niche.

With keyword research, you need keywords that you want to
rank for, but at the same time, that has to be balanced with the ones you
should and actually can rank for.

Getting Started

If you’ve never done any keyword research before, one of the
first steps is to brainstorm a list of relevant topics, questions, or important
things related to your business or site. This can be very general. Think of it
as a brain dump, and at this point, you don’t have to go in any particular
direction.

You’ll use these big, general topics to get more specific
with your keyword research when you’re ready.

If you really have no idea where to get started, do research
on your competitors. Look at what they’re writing about and blogging about.
That can give you a good starting point for your own SEO research and strategy.

During these initial phases of your research, you can create
somewhat of a wish …read more

Source:: Social Media Explorer

Author: Aaron