What is Keyword Research?

Keyword Research is the process of creating a list of keywords that you would like your website to rank for in search engines. This involves understanding your desired audience and how they use Google to find the products, services and information that they need. It also involves looking at SEO competition, search intent and keyword value to determine which keywords are worth your time and energy to target.

Many people make two big mistakes when starting out with Keyword Research. They either focus on very popular "head" terms, which are already taken by large businesses, or they aim too low with long-tail keywords that have less traffic but allow you to rank for a wide range of different searches with varying levels of competition. Using both high and low-volume keywords in your content and SEO is the best way to get maximum return on investment.

Another key factor is user intent, which has become one of the biggest ranking factors in Google and other search engines. This means it's more important that a web page answers the question that a searcher is trying to answer than it just carries the search term the searcher used. Thankfully, the good news is that user intent is much easier to understand than ever before thanks to SERP features like 'People Also Ask' and 'Related Searches'.

In addition, it's also important to remember that keyword research should be an ongoing process - even if you think you have a good grasp on what keywords are relevant for your business. That's because searches change over time, and what was popular last month might not be so this month.