The Beginner's Guide to Free Keyword Research

[seocrab]

Good read. I looked at Seocrab's older threads, like the 'spamathon' classic, it's cool beans.

haha that's an oldie. not sure i'd be willing to try that these days!

 

[Darth Orko]

Well, I was thinking of trying out a revised version of the spamathon method, using parasites and other protections. Your ideas on keyword research certainly bring things current on that front, whether one is doing a WH or BH project.

 

[Rank Cartel]

thanks for share this , i get very helpful information from you...

 

[seocrab]

After about 10 minutes, I found these longtail keywords in the boat niche:

pros and cons of aluminum boats
french aluminum sailboats
aluminium vs inflatable boat
best bowrider under 20 feet
best bowrider for rough water
trolling motor review

Keep going to find more. Once you practice, you can spot “easy” keywords quicker.

With good content, any new site should be able to rank for these keywords with zero or very few backlinks.

9 months after posting this guide, the low competition keywords I found are STILL low competition.
A reminder that it's still worth targeting longtail low competition keywords: they are easy to rank and you'll keep ranking for months because competitors ignore these "hidden" terms in favor of glamorous high volume ones.

 

[ninjabacklinks]

In my opinion, keywords are the most important element of SEO. Bad keyword decisions can lead to the failure of your SEO campaign before you even bother to write content or build backlinks.

I see a lot of people making the mistake of chasing “big” keywords before they really know what they're doing. With longtail targeting, you can almost guarantee yourself a chance of ranking without spending too much time (or money on link building.

This is not a money-making guide or method – just a simple keyword research process (with free tools where necessary) that anyone can use to find low competition longtail keywords to drive traffic to their websites.

Free keyword research tools

The most powerful keyword research tool comes straight from the horse's mouth. No, not Keyword Planner. It's Google's Chrome browser.

Plus these free Chrome extensions:

Keywords Everywhere

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keywords-everywhere-keywo/hbapdpeemoojbophdfndmlgdhppljgmp?hl=en

MozBar (create free Moz account to use)

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/mozbar/eakacpaijcpapndcfffdgphdiccmpknp?hl=en

SEOQuake

https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/seoquake/akdgnmcogleenhbclghghlkkdndkjdjc?hl=en

Keyword research to find a niche

Before you can look for keywords, you need some seed ideas. These can be one-word ideas like “boats” or “iphones”, or more specific ideas like “homemade christmas decorations” or “coloring books for adults”.

Validate your ideas on Google Trends:

https://trends.google.com/trends/

You want interest that is growing over time.

A peak can highlight seasonal interest, like with “boats”:

View attachment 109244

There's nothing wrong with seasonal niches, but you will get most of your traffic at a certain time of year.

Got no ideas? Borrow someone else's:

https://nichehacks.com/1109-profitable-niche-markets/
https://incomeschool.com/niche-site-ideas/

Keyword research for a new website

If your site is new, it will have low authority, otherwise known as no backlinks. How can you rank without authority? Target low competition keywords.

Go to Chrome (with the extensions I mentioned earlier installed).

Set the locale to your preferred country if it's not your own (e.g. US, UK, Spain etc)

Type in your main niche and scroll to the bottom of Page 1.

View attachment 109245

Google has identified a bunch of related search queries. KeywordsEverywhere is adding the estimated search volumes for you (nice, but don't get hung up on volumes at this stage).

Click keywords to get more related results.

Look at the Top 5 results for each search. With the Moz plugin active (log into a free account), look at the DA for each result. Keep clicking related keywords until you find a SERP with plenty of “low authority” (DA less than 30) sites in the Top 5.

SEOQuake will also overlay the number of Google indexed pages and first recorded Archive.org date for each result. Look for keywords where the Top 5 results have <200 indexed pages and/or Archive.org dates only dates back less than 1 year.

Having no luck? Use KeywordEverywhere's suggested terms on the right:

View attachment 109246

I found out that the boat niche is competitive!

If you find an anomaly in the SERP (a low authority site ranking among the big ones), you can mine it for keyword opportunities:

View attachment 109247

Go to the sitemap and look for keywords in the URLs. (note: the above site wasn't that useful for boat keywords, but it had some bait/fishing ones).

View attachment 109248

Well, at least there's 1 keyword on the above site...

View attachment 109249
This site is much more useful.

Keep on clicking and searching – it's going to take a while to find good keywords manually. Google might start serving you Captchas to slow you down.

Do not worry about keyword volumes. You're going to get most of your traffic from longtail variations that you haven't even thought of.

Need some more seed ideas? Go to AnswerThePublic.com

Type in your seed keyword or niche:

View attachment 109250

Click any question and Chrome will automatically search for it.

Need more help? Search for terms like:

Best X
X review
X vs X

After about 10 minutes, I found these longtail keywords in the boat niche:


Keep going to find more. Once you practice, you can spot “easy” keywords quicker.

With good content, any new site should be able to rank for these keywords with zero or very few backlinks.

It's good to have related keywords/articles to start your site off – you can interlink between articles.

Even if traffic is relatively low for your target longtail keywords, you're proving to Google that your site is an authority. It won't be long before you can level up and start ranking for more popular terms.

Happy hunting

It is really a great sharing. Thanks a lot for gaining a knowledge from you. Bookmarked

 

[shieldone]

Oh, nice that is what I need.

 

[dkv023]

That would have to be a whole different tutorial on how to optimize content!

The short answer is: use keywords in the title and H1, and break it down into related terms for H2s (and H3s etc). In the body text, wherever it fits naturally.

You need to Google your main keyword to find related topics that Google expects you to cover.

For example, for the keyword "pros and cons of aluminum boats", Google expects me to also discuss fiberglass boats, aluminum yachts, fishing boats, the effects of saltwater etc.

Use the "Searches related to" and "People also ask" features on the SERP to find those related topics.

Why do you use fiberglassb aluminum yachts, fishing boats, the effects of saltwater etc? It is a very competitive keywords about which must be many different articles

 

[Naysayer]

Look at the Top 5 results for each search. With the Moz plugin active (log into a free account), look at the DA for each result. Keep clicking related keywords until you find a SERP with plenty of “low authority” (DA less than 30) sites in the Top 5.

Nice guide mate. I wanted to know what if the top 5 sites had high DA but barely any content? Like amazon, few other stores with just one affiliate site are in top 5?

 

[gayatri_singh]

Keyword Research is one of the most important parts of SEO. Using the proper long-tail keyword in your post will help you to make your website rank higher in SERP. There are many tools available which helps you to find relevant keyword for your post.
Best keyword research tools are: Google Adwords, Ahrefs, Moz, SEmrush, Ubersugget, etc.

 

[seocrab]

Nice guide mate. I wanted to know what if the top 5 sites had high DA but barely any content? Like amazon, few other stores with just one affiliate site are in top 5?

Good question.

If the Top 5 results are mostly ecommerce product pages, then the keyword may have the wrong intent for an affiliate site.

There are 4 basic types of keyword intent (read more here: https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-intent/#types-of-search-intent):

• informational
• navigational
• transactional
• commercial investigation

Product pages have transactional intent, so unless you are trying to rank an ecommerce, you are going to find it harder to compete. There are sometimes SERPS with mixed intent where Google can't decide what to give searchers, but these are risky.

Look for clear commercial investigation (or "buyer intent") terms, where people are almost ready to make a purchase but need a little more info (e.g. "best golf clubs for high handicappers").

 

[Naysayer]

Good question.

If the Top 5 results are mostly ecommerce product pages, then the keyword may have the wrong intent for an affiliate site.

There are 4 basic types of keyword intent (read more here: https://ahrefs.com/blog/search-intent/#types-of-search-intent):

• informational
• navigational
• transactional
• commercial investigation

Product pages have transactional intent, so unless you are trying to rank an ecommerce, you are going to find it harder to compete. There are sometimes SERPS with mixed intent where Google can't decide what to give searchers, but these are risky.

Look for clear commercial investigation (or "buyer intent") terms, where people are almost ready to make a purchase but need a little more info (e.g. "best golf clubs for high handicappers").

It is a buyer intent keyword like the one you used in the example and has decent amount of search volume. So amazon and other e-commerce sites in the top 5 is a good sign?

 

[seocrab]

It is a buyer intent keyword like the one you used in the example and has decent amount of search volume. So amazon and other e-commerce sites in the top 5 is a good sign?

Hard to say without seeing the SERP. If product pages are being served, it's likely a commercial or mixed intent keyword.

It could be ok if you think the SERP isn't giving searchers exactly what they need. Probably worth testing it out.

 

[dkv023]

1) what do you think about competitive niche like fitness. There are no longtails, which are not competitive. Example, arm workout, chest exercises at home, and so on, these longtails are competitive. And i think there are no websites there with <200 indexed pages and/or Archive.org dates only dates back less than 1 year.

2) you had said that don't look at volumes. But if I choose long tails keyword which has 30 searches per month, how i be able to get traffic? You said

Do not worry about keyword volumes. You're going to get most of your traffic from longtail variations that you haven't even thought of

but I think it only works for high volume keywords, which has longtails.

3) I see cons of these longtails optimized articles. There are not be able shared in social networks. Because social users are interested in general topic. So they are unlikely to read these articles.

4) what about Google. Which google i must use if i want to target Tier-1 countries. Usa? So i must to look competition in usa google?

 

[seocrab]

1) what do you think about competitive niche like fitness. There are no longtails, which are not competitive. Example, arm workout, chest exercises at home, and so on, these longtails are competitive. And i think there are no websites there with <200 indexed pages and/or Archive.org dates only dates back less than 1 year.

2) you had said that don't look at volumes. But if I choose long tails keyword which has 30 searches per month, how i be able to get traffic? You said but I think it only works for high volume keywords, which has longtails.

3) I see cons of these longtails optimized articles. There are not be able shared in social networks. Because social users are interested in general topic. So they are unlikely to read these articles.

4) what about Google. Which google i must use if i want to target Tier-1 countries. Usa? So i must to look competition in usa google?

These are all really good questions. The guide was intended for beginners, so I was trying to keep things simple, but these details are important.

1) There are low competition longtail keywords in every niche, even competitive ones, they're just harder to find.

Your example "Arm workout" is definitely not longtail (17,000 monthly searches). You may have to modify your criteria a bit (like <500 pages, age <2 years, DA 35), but you can still find easy keywords in the fitness niche, for example:

2) Keyword volume is only an indicator of search demand. If written well, you will end up ranking for different keyword variations without meaning to. You can even get good traffic from zero volume keywords. The more authority your site gets, the more competitive (and usually higher volume) keywords you can go after.

3) I'm not a social media expert so I can't comment on that. Interesting theory, though.

4) Target the country you want to rank in. If you want US ad clicks or affiliate sales, select US in SEOQuake and KeywordsEverywhere when you do your keyword research.

 

[dkv023]

In your example best side delt exercises is synonym to side deltoid exercises or lateral deltoid exercises. It is look like the same keyword. Maybe that is why there are (in usa google serp) many articles and videos about lateral deltoid exercises. Maybe it is a competitive keyword.
About usa serp. These keywords like, best side delt exercises, they are searched by users from many countries, not only usa. If you write article about arm exercises how do you get traffic from usa and not from other countries? I think I must search keywords which are only in usa (or popular only in usa)?

 

[dkv023]

I think to get 1000 visitors per day I must have 1000 articles optimized for longtail keywords. But problem is to find 1000 longtails I think it will take few months.

 

[Ken Jones]

Great information. Thanks!

 

[seocrab]

UPDATE: The Keywords Everywhere Chrome extension is no longer free, but you can try Keyword Surfer instead - https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/keyword-surfer/bafijghppfhdpldihckdcadbcobikaca

 

[nelida kornilova]

such keyword tools are handy but keyword difficulty may seem to irrelevant

 

[Gymthreads]

Thanks for the info OP!