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Keyword analysis in SEO

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keyword analysis in seo

Many companies would like to be found more easily in the search engine for relevant search terms and thus get more new customers for their own products and services. Against this background, it is advisable to continuously optimize the website with the aim of increasing traffic in the long term.

A popular measure to increase website traffic is search engine optimization. In order to optimize for the right keywords, it makes sense to start with a keyword analysis and identify the keywords for which optimization is suitable. In this blog post, we would like to show you how this works. Here we go!

Table of contents

SEO Keyword Analysis: The Process

Keywords express the intentions with which users visit your website. In essence, it is about addressing users who are closest to your economic goal at the lowest possible expense who are closest to your economic goal at the lowest possible expense. The following factors should be considered in keyword analysis:

1. The demand side

In the keyword analysis, the question is crucial: how often is the search term searched for, and is it even worth optimizing at this point? This question can be answered depending on the products: On average, a mechanical engineering company needs less search volume than a consumer goods manufacturer to classify a keyword as worthwhile.

2. The competition

Search terms that have little competition are easier to optimize. Basically, the competition can be derived from the click price. High click prices are often an indicator of a lot of pressure in the market and can contribute to the fact that optimization is not always worthwhile because it becomes too expensive.

3. Own positioning

Older websites in particular benefit from existing rankings. Against this background, it makes sense to analyze the existing keywords and optimize the chances for keywords that are on the threshold of the first search engine results page are on the threshold of the first search engine results page. If, for example, keywords are in positions 11–13 in the search engines, these search terms can usually be brought to the first search engine results page with relatively little effort.

4. The probability of closing

The probability of a conclusion is also decisive for the value of a keyword. Each search term expresses an intention. In the context of search engine optimization and against the background of keyword analysis, a distinction is made between three search intentions:

➤ Informational search queries (no interest in buying / obtaining information)

➤ Navigational search queries (low interest in buying / selection of providers)

➤ Transactional search queries (high interest in buying / covering needs)

The categorization of keywords according to search intentions can help align the website even more with the search behavior of the target group and thus place the SEO closer to the actual economic goal.

Keyword Analysis: The Validation

Using the 4 evaluation criteria, a keyword list should now be created and evaluated. Ideally, the keywords that have a high search volume, low competition, good positioning, and a transactional search intention are optimized first. This is where the economic benefit of optimization is usually highest, and thus the ROI in the area of SEO also increases.

To get data like search volume and competition, marketers can turn to the Google AdWords Keyword Planner. Here you have the opportunity to start keyword research based on your own keyword ideas and to evaluate the suggested keywords for relevance to the results pages. The keyword list can then be exported and further edited using a CSV export.

In order to receive data on your own ranking positions, paid software such as XOVI or SISTRIX is usually required. With a little effort, data on search engine positions can also be exported from the Google Search Console (GSC).

Helpful tools for keyword analysis

1. Google Auto Complete

We use the functions of the Google search bar for this. Because if you enter a term in the search bar, you will see that Google wants to help you directly with an auto-completion. You can use this function to identify the obvious search intentions of users and add them to your research.

2. Similar searches

Luckily for us, Google also lists related search terms under the search results, which Google says are used by users with similar concerns. These search terms can also be useful as supplementary keywords.

3. Synonyms

The synonyms are actually obvious but often overlooked. Because it is often worth trying to simply use related words.

4. Meta Descriptions

When looking for the right word combinations or phrases, the competitors’ descriptions can be extremely informative. By analyzing the respective top rankings, it is also possible to see which search intentions the user has.

Keyword analysis: the search intention

In order to be able to evaluate which keywords are the right ones, it is essential to know and understand the search intentions of the users. If you know the reason for the search, you can also adjust your landing pages accordingly.

As already mentioned, we basically divide the search queries into three areas:

1. Transaction-driven searches

As the name suggests, these are search queries that have a clear intention to buy or some other form of transaction. The user’s goal here is to purchase a product. It doesn’t matter whether the product is paid for or free. As with all search queries, you can also see certain patterns here that can be helpful in determining

A common sign, for example, are special verbs that are used in the search query, such as “order”, “buy” or “acquire”. Often, however, product-specific inquiries can already suggest a transaction. Such a scenario arises, for example, when a user asks Google about the length of a flight from Frankfurt to London. Although no direct transaction intention is expressed here, it can still make sense to show the user prices and flight times.

2. Navigational Searches

Navigation-oriented search queries, or navigation search queries, are queries that neither suggest an intention to buy nor serve to obtain information about a product or company. The aim of the request is to visit a specific website. So the user wants to go to a website and uses the search engine for navigation. These requests are most common when users do not know the exact web address of the page they are trying to visit. Subcategories of the website are often also entered in order to be taken directly to the desired subpage. An example of this would be the search query “Adidas pants”.

3. Information-oriented searches

Information searches are what many would call the most original form of search. Because these search queries fulfill the original purpose of a search engine, namely the targeted procurement of information that is filtered from the huge amount of data on the Internet, the users are not interested in searching for a specific website or buying a product but rather in background knowledge, instructions for any process, or information about products. The number of possible keyword combinations is almost infinite here. For example, questions like “How do I bake a cheesecake?” yield the same results as, for example, “bake cheesecake”. Even if you only select one word, such as “elephant”, the search engine offers you a variety of information pages.

Why is keyword analysis so important?

Companies that blindly optimize their website for search terms without having analyzed the market put a large part of their resources into search fields that have no potential for the company.

Through extensive keyword research and keyword analysis, the potential is first analyzed, then tasks are prioritized, and, as a result, a better ROI of SEO activities is generated. From an economic point of view, keyword analysis is essential for success in the search engine because different keyword types (short tail, mid tail, and long tail), search intentions, and search volumes have an impact on profitability.

Conclusion on the keyword analysis

The keyword analysis belongs at the beginning of every development process for new websites since potentials are recognized and systematized here. It is an important task for all those who want to use their own website to reach new customers. It should take place at the beginning of each SEO optimization and be repeated at regular intervals since volatile markets do not last forever, even in the search market.

As an experienced SEO agency, we are happy to support you in the targeted keyword analysis of your relevant keywords and in the expansion of your online marketing activities. Feel free to contact us and start with your keyword analysis!

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