Do you ever give up on conducting keyword research because it becomes so difficult that you get lost from the start? Choosing the right starting point is the first step in conducting keyword research, but is also the most challenging task on the checklist.

This blog will provide you with the best keyword research checklist to help you understand how to do keyword research and locate the appropriate keywords for your article. Our compiled keyword research checklist will help you rank higher in the SERPs and stay a step ahead of your competitors.

So, let’s get started.

1. Understand Your Competition

When attempting to improve SEO, knowing who and how your competitors are can be quite beneficial. Finding out what terms your competitors are not using will help you outperform them; thus, it is vital to know how your competitors perform.

Keep in mind that any successful business will probably use these same methods, so you must be consistent with your keyword research and analysis to remain competitive and rank well.

2. Include Primary Keywords

Primary keyword ranking has your major keyword in your URL. Adding your main keyword to your page URLs in the future is something considered part of SEO best practices, even though it is only a “very modest” ranking influence.

Even if keywords are popular and relevant to your content, you need to ensure they are relevant in the same way to the audience. The best way to verify a user’s intent when they use a keyword is by entering the particular keyword into a search engine and analyzing the results. If the content that appears closely relates to what you intend to share with this keyword, you’re on the right track. If not, the intent may not be aligned, and it could be beneficial to choose a different keyword.

3. Find Long Tail Keywords or Question Keywords

Often, the head or the short tail keywords are insufficient. It doesn’t provide you with specific details on what the user is searching for. As the name suggests, long-tail keywords are more precise and in-depth. These are not one-or two-word descriptions of what your target audience is searching for. Rather, they are questions or lengthy expressions that go into great detail about what the people are searching on search engines.

For instance, if you own an Italian restaurant and want to attract customers who are searching for excellent Italian food in Texas, some long-tail keywords for your website might be “delicious Italian pizzas for dinner,” “how to get the best Italian pizza near me,” “where to get the best Italian pizza near Texas,”.

Question keywords, on the other hand, are terms people use when looking up something on the internet. Example: If your ideal customers look up “organic fruit sellers online” and you sell organic fruits and have optimized your site for short-tail keywords like “apple seller” or “orange farms”, chances are you won’t show up in the search results of your target customer. These keywords may have significant search traffic but you won’t be able to rank for them Every day, tens of thousands of people will look for orange farms online. Unless it is a high-authority website, your website’s chances of appearing on the first page of the search results are quite limited. Therefore, you should aim for long-tail, less competitive, and more precise keywords with low search traffic.

4. Determine Search Intent of Pages

In the end, Google’s main objective is to satisfy users’ search intentions. Search intent must therefore play a significant role in your strategy if you want to be successful with SEO. However, your page won’t rank if it doesn’t meet search intent. You may produce content that satisfies the needs of the searcher and gives them the information they seek by understanding what they desire.

Put yourself in the customer’s position and consider these questions to determine search intent:

• What do your potential customers type into Google or other search engines?
• What inquiries are researchers attempting to address? Once more, “people also inquire” can be of use to you.

Then:

• Use keyword research tools to determine popular keywords and phrases related to your topic.
• Look for SERPs and see what results appear
• What questions are searchers trying to answer?

So, if you solely consider query volume and neglect search intent, you probably won’t come up with a keyword. Even if you manage to rank on search engine results pages (SERPs), your page would not satisfy the searchers’ needs, creating a bad user experience and raising your bounce rate.

5. Research for Your Competitors’ Keyword Profiles

Just because you rank for a particular keyword or set of keywords doesn’t mean traffic and conversions will automatically flow. You should examine the keyword profiles of your competitors and become familiar with their target terms and phrases in order to truly optimize your website and its content for your target audience.

By conducting this research, you may learn a lot about the competition you face as well as the keywords and phrases that are most significant to your target market. Filled with this knowledge, you can start focusing on those keywords and phrases on your website, which will increase your ranks and visibility over time. As a result? It can be fantastic, assisting you in improving your ranking, saving money, and maximizing your ROI.

Just make sure that you are writing for actual people and not for Google only:

Image alt Text

Content and images work together flawlessly. Alt text, also known as alt tags and alt descriptions, is the written content that substitutes for an image on a webpage when the image is unable to load on the user’s screen. This language enables search engines to better crawl and rank your website while also assisting screen reading software in describing the images to users who are blind or visually challenged.

H1, H2, and H3 Headings

You can rank multiple keywords by adding them to your headings. Using keywords in titles makes them relevant to your content and straightforward for search engines. While proper headings don’t have a massive impact on SEO, they have many perks. The more direct your headings are, the better value you give to your readers. You want to make titles straightforward, and you need the content to deliver.

Catchy H1, H2, and H3 headlines leave the reader wondering what the article is about. For SEO effectiveness, keep each tag on track and straight to the point.