Keyword Research is the first and most important step when writing for the internet. Think about the terms you want to be found for and use these exact terms in the content you write.

These are the steps required to identify and use keywords properly:

Identify

List the relevant words related to your business products and services that potential customers search for. Keep it simple – list just the first words that are top of mind.

Expand

Use tools such as Keyword Discovery or WordTracker to expand your list of seed words. It will help you in understanding the relative volume of search for all of your keywords. Note that the search volume projected by these tools are often inaccurate and may not be used for comparison purposes.

Organize

Rank your list by their importance to your marketing campaign. This is useful for both improving your website’s visibility as well as prioritizing link-building campaigns.

Classify

Now is the time to classify the organized keywords according to the goal of your business. It will allow you to understand their performance in your marketing campaign. This classification can make it easier for your marketing team to understand the meaningful impact of the keywords. If your keyword is a phrase such as cheap business class flights you should breakdown the phrase into various keywords (ie. cheap, business class, flights) and then classify them accordingly.

Filter

Filtering the keywords is especially important for seasonal terms. It is best to do this on a monthly basis or when new products are introduced, focusing on analytical data and PPC data as it can provide your business with new opportunities to grow.

Publish

Now is the time to publish these keywords. Identify and tweak the appropriate landing page ensuring that the keywords are used in the title and headings.