We know that the Keywords Analysis, Competitors and everything else that is important for SEO of a website can’t be contained in eight minutes of reading, but we’ll try…
Why the Keyword analysis is so important for your Web site?
Analytics of the present status of your site and systematic work are some of the key points that will make your website better and more successful.
A good start with SEO optimization of a website is the analysis of keywords and competitors in the same niche, which I’ll try to explain in this post.
There are three main essential factors to consider in this type of analysis:
- Keywords and Search volume
- Competitors and Competitors’ websites
- Growth potential
Let’s now have a more detailed look at these three factors.
Keywords and Search volume
The most important to be mentioned here is the natural search volume for the relevant keywords.
The larger is the search volume, the better. This means the users are looking for things your website is ready to offer to them.
Each marketing niche is specific itself, so is the set of keywords for the particular website. This means each and single keyword must be carefully researched and thoroughly selected.
As you probably noticed I used the plural “keywords” instead of “keyword” because it is always necessary not only one but a set of words describing the main topic or theme of the web site.
For example, if you have an online store selling shirts, you should not concentrate only on the word “shirt” but on the entire spectrum of products sold — looking for general terms that would be suitable to specify the entire niche, for example, “clothing” or “apparel”.
Users searching for information on Google usually never use only one word, when searching for something.
On the opposite- in most cases, they use very specific phrase describing what they want to read or buy.
For instance, if we use the above example “blue men’s’ shirts“.
The focus should always be on the user, searching for the keyword or term because the same user is your potential client.
In the example above with the shirts store-the SEO optimization should be directed not to the word shirts, but for example to “Shirts shop”, “Shirts store”, “cotton shirts”, “long sleeve shirts”, “men’s shirts” or connected to the physical destination of the store — “Shop for Shirts Los Angeles “,” Men’s Shirts in L.A. “, etc.
More specific keyword phrases that your visitors and potential buyers are likely to use when they search for something are called “Long Tail keywords” and should be your goal of optimization as they are preferred by users of search engines.
Due to the fact the long-tail keywords most accurately describe the users’ search, they can be really valuable for SEO if you know how to use them properly.
The long-tail keywords are more valuable because usually, the visitors will be closer to the point of buying your products if the long-tail keywords match the search query.
Someone who searches Google with the phrase “men’s blue shirts in L.A.” is likely to buy something from your store if the store is located in Los Angeles and offers blue shirts for men.
The main idea behind keyword analysis is to try to understand exactly how your potential visitors will be searching for the goods or services which your website offers and to choose the set of keywords that most accurately coincides with the searches of the users.
Each specific niche has dominant phrases with the highest number of searches, which is naturally the top priority, but other keyword phrases or words combinations on the same subject should not be underestimated.
On the opposite: the purpose of website SEO optimization should be not only one keyword phrase but possibly with few carefully chosen phrases to be able to cover the entire search spectrum or most of it.
It is important to mention that keyword analysis should include data on the search volume of Google and not from another source, as Google as an absolutely dominant search engine will be also the main source of traffic to the web site.
Google allows you to research the information about the search for keywords for 12 months back in time and gives a relatively accurate idea about the expected number of visitors to the site. The analysis must be adjusted as per language in which the search queries are expected and the location of the targeted visitors. For example country-France, the language of search-French.
An important element to the keywords’ search volumes is the historical number of searches for a few years back.
For example: by using a graph showing data for 2,3, or more years, you can determine whether the search volume remains constant or whether a decrease or increase can be expected. Sometimes can also be spotted peaks in search volumes in some particular months.
For example, people use the search term “Christmas presents for men” more extensively during one or two months of the year only.
Such a temporary demand for particular phrases or keywords combinations can be utilized and the web site can be optimized for such periods in order to reach the maximum number of visitors.
Who are your Online Competitors
A good analysis of the niche includes always an analysis of the competition which in most cases already exists on the market.
As per the description, a competitor is someone in the same niche that offers the same product or services as you.
On the internet, though things are slightly different — a competitor is any site that appears in Google’s results aka SERPs for the same keywords from your marketing niche.
This is not always someone who is your competitor in the real world. Your online competitors are not only online stores selling the same commodity as you but also all forums, personal blogs, Facebook and even Tumblr.
Any website displayed in Google’s search results when searching for same or similar keywords from your niche is classified by search engines as a similar or same topic and is your competitor because you have to compete for the first positions in the search engines results.
The competition is everywhere, isn’t it?
The analysis of your Competitors is very important in order to monitor the entire niche and its development on time.
From analyses of competitors sites that take first positions in the search engines results can be obtained useful information.
This information can be useful to understand why Google ranked the competitor’s site before yours.
The latter is helpful to prepare and make useful fixes and changes to your site, in order to improve the position of your website in SERPs.
Such a process is called website optimization or SEO. Improvements may concern the texts of the web site, the titles of the articles or blog posts, the number of links from other sites, the meta description of your site and others.
With the help of a list of competitors sites in the same niche as yours, you can also identify websites from which you can get links to your site (see OFF-Page Optimization and Backlinks).
These can be both articles in Wikipedia on the same topic and a number of forums and Blogs on the same or related topic, allowing the building of links to your site.
Growth potential
Let’s assume we have done an analysis which has shown us exactly how users were searching in search engines, we now know who are our competitors and we have already chosen the keywords, long-tail keywords, and phrases with the highest search volume.
As a next step is important to identify the priority keywords to optimize our web site. The aim is to identify exactly those key phrases for which competition is relatively weak, but the demand and potential traffic to the site are large.
Sometimes you can achieve better results if your site is optimized for four or five phrases with less demand than just for two with the highest demand, as it is possible these 4 or 5 phrases altogether to be more competitive(more searches by users) compared with the two with the highest demand.
If this is combined with weaker competition, then you can achieve faster and more efficiently the desired growth of visitors to your website.
The analysis of keywords and competitors in the niche is amongst the strongest weapons in SEO optimization and technical SEO.
Such analysis provides a wide insight as to how users are searching and how and where exactly is your site for the most wanted words, compared with your competitors.
I strongly recommend such analysis to be made on a periodic basis, as users sometimes change their way of searching and it is important to be consistent in the optimization process.
If you are interested to learn SEO, this will take you some time, but for now, I suggest you check out these useful Links for free tools and resources:
Keyword Planner, Keyword Research and Strategy | Google AdWords Tool — The free keyword research and keyword planner tool from Google will help you with keyword ideas and new keyword opportunities.
Finding related keywords, monthly search keyword volumes, clickthrough rates and other information useful for SERP analysis is not difficult with the keyword explorer.
The search volume tool is a great marketing tool and one of the essential webmaster tools.
How To Do Keyword Research — The Beginners Guide to SEO — A valuable post about How to do Keyword research.
This tutorial will help you to understand what is keyword difficulty, how to judge the value of each keyword, how to use Long Tail Keywords and keyword search volume data.
Keyword Research and Strategy with Keyword Planner — The ultimate beginners guide to Keyword Planner.
Learn how to get data from google to find the phrases and keywords that are most relevant to your niche or business.
Here you can learn what are the uses of keyword monthly search volume, organic searches, PPC campaigns and how to implement this type of data in your AdWords accounts.
Keyword Tool For SEO |Keywordtool.io -A Free Keyword Tool, an alternative to Google AdWords Keyword Planner. You can utilize it for SEO and PPC keyword research.Keywordtool.io generates long-tail keywords and provides search volume data.
Free Keyword Tool | WordStream — This Free Keywords Tool will give you competitive data and thousands of keywords to use in your search marketing campaigns.
Google Keyword Planner Alternative |The Hoth — Another free SEO tool which as other keyword planners will assist you for your online marketing. This tool offers keyword research, volume tool to get keywords search volume, a trend about search traffic and more.
Ideal Keyword density for Optimal SEO | Unbranded.— An overview and some tips about the recommended keywords density of websites, blogs and web pages in relation to Search Engines Optimization.
Final Words
SEO is a powerful tool in the digital marketer’s toolkit. By focusing on keyword analysis, understanding the competitive landscape, and identifying growth opportunities, you can significantly enhance your website’s search engine performance.
While this guide serves as an introduction, the resources listed provide pathways for deeper exploration and mastery of SEO techniques.