Google seems to be tailing us with their constant requirements on algorithm updates. Despite all the fuss with this aspect, there is one thing that proved to be consistent and beneficial for inbound marketers who are looking for ways to further optimize their own websites for searching – keyword research. While doing keyword research is an ongoing thing, the way it is done has evolved. Understanding Keyword Research What is keyword research, you may ask? It refers to the process of searching and analyzing the actual terms that people use in different search engines. Search engine marketers never underestimate the power of keyword search, since the insight coming from these terms helps a lot in creating a content strategy, which further enhances your overall marketing strategy. Is it important? For the past decade, we have all seen who SEO has practically evolved. Keywords used to be unimportant, but with proper optimization, can become a part of the people’s search every day. SEO Strategy – Research Keywords If you consider yourself a beginner in this regard, there are a few things that you may want to focus on. Let us divide them into steps for easier comprehension. Step 1: Create a list of relevant and important topics that are based on what you actually know about your niche. In order to start off with this process, you may want to sit down and think of the topics that you want to rank based on generic buckets. You may be able to prepare with up to 10 buckets of topics related to your niche, and use them to generate specific keywords later on. If you consider yourself as a regular blogger, these terms may refer to the topics that you frequently blog about. They may also be topics that are usually discussed in sales conversations. To help you start, you may want to imagine yourself as your potential buyer. What topics would be interesting to you that you would be compelled to search about them in search engines? Step 2 : Come Up With Keywords Based on the Topic Buckets As of this point, you may have already come up with some topic buckets that you would like to focus on. You can now start identifying specific keywords that you can fill into your buckets. These specific keywords are actually phrases that you think are attractive enough to rank in the search engine results pages (SERP). They are the terms that your potential customers are most likely to search for. Step 3 : Explore Related Search Terms You may have already gone through this step as you also think of the possible keywords that you would like to include in your topic buckets. If you find yourself struggling with thinking of keywords that potential audience would use, you may want to check Google and look at related search terms that appear as you enter a keyword. This is done by scrolling towards the bottom of the search results as you type in your phrase. There will be some suggestions for related searches. You may be able to think of other ideas to consider. You can even extend your search by entering those similar search terms and see what is related to them as well. Step 4 : Combination of Long Tail Keywords and Head Terms Head terms refer to keyword phrases that are more general, broad, and usually shorter. In fact, they usually appear with just one to three words. On the other hand, long-tail keywords, as suggested by the name, are phrases that are longer, which usually contain three words or more. It is helpful to make sure that you have a combination of these head terms with long-tail keywords since it will allow you to create a keyword strategy that is balanced with your goals. Bottom Line There are also other things that you may want to consider, such as checking out your competition. Whether you decide to do this or not is entirely up to you. The most important thing is that you have now established a keyword list that will help you to focus on the best topics for your niche. Just a tip, you may need to reevaluate your keywords after every few months, adding more if needed so that you can continue to maintain your presence.