What are the best keyword research practices for startups?

Identify the target audience and create buyer personas. Understand users needs, problems, and the language they use to search for information related to the products or services.

As a startup, navigating the keyword research landscape can be challenging. Competition is fierce, resources are tight, and understanding your niche audience is crucial. But fear not! Here are some best practices to guide your keyword research journey 1. Understand your goals and audience. 1. What are you trying to achieve with SEO? 2. Who is your ideal customer? 2. Use a variety of tools and sources 1. Free tools 2. Paid tools 3. Industry forums, publications, and competitor analysis 3. Categorize and prioritize your keywords 1. Head terms 2. Long-tail keywords 3. Informational vs. transactional 4. Optimize your website and content for your keywords 1. Strategic placement 2. Natural integration 3. High-quality content

For B2B SEM you should create different personas and different goals for the specific audience. Sometimes C-Level (as final decision maker) personas are more interesting for retargeting, while other levels, like project managers are your first target group, as they do the first research and internal presentations of their findings. That's why you have often different funnels and intermediate goals with different audiences in B2B marketing.

I use surveys and audience analysis to create content that resonates with them, which helps in building better customer relationships. Digital targeting is crucial for directing marketing efforts to specific channels and audience segments, ensuring higher ROI and conversion rates. Setting SMART goals gives my campaigns clear direction and relevance, aligning them with my vision. Building detailed buyer personas, considering both quantitative and qualitative data, allows me to tailor my strategies effectively, ensuring they address the specific needs of my audience. These practices guide me in developing focused and impactful marketing strategies.

For startup keyword research, define clear goals and understand your target audience. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush. Analyze competitors, focus on long-tail keywords, and prioritize relevance over search volume. Regularly update and refine your keyword strategy based on performance metrics.

First of all, clearly define the strategy and the target audience. From there, define a list of keywords that are part of that strategy and reach potential clients. Subsequently, use free SEO tools to see the level of competition for those key words, and look for less competitive synonyms to reach your customers.

Completely agree, identifying the audience you want to target and being clear about the objective of the website is essential for good initial SEO work.

The purpose of SEO is to boost online visiblity for terms that will are most likely to create engagement and conversion. Keyword research starts with analysis of keyword data sets to uncover the terms that have the highest value, and most align with the marketing objectives. The most highly searched terms are not necessarily the most valuable. There are questions of keyword intent and keyword ambiguity that must be addressed. The key is to find those terms that are most likely to convert. In most cases this means that they are likely to generate marketing activity or revenue. Once you identify the most aligned keywords, the next step is to analyze the sites that currently hold top positions in Google for your most valuable terms.

Determine your niche. Examining the psychographics and demographics of the audience to comprehend their preferences and motivations. Every niche keyword should align with the customer journeys. Find the places where your startup can carve out a distinct niche, instead of taking over competitors' existing spaces. Examine the keywords your rivals are ranking for.

Know Your Audience: Who do you wish to attract?Have a clear understanding of your business, your unique value proposition, and your target audience. This will help you identify your keywords. Use Keyword Research Tools: Tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, and Moz can provide insights into keyword search volume, competition, and trends. Analyze Competitor Keywords: Look at the keywords your competitors are ranking for. This may give you some not yet considered keyword opportunities. Know Your FAQ's : If you have spent any time at all then you know the questions and the answers that come from the trenches of your business. This is a great foundation for your content creations.

In case you are using a CRM (and if not: maybe you should check your need for it) you should connect your SEM tools with it to automatically add new Leads in the CRM. This helps you to target audiences not just by tracking and marketing automation tools, but gives you the chance to create manually more specific target groups. Also, the connection to the CRM helps you to keep to track where your lead or even new customer came from. It helps you to understand his basic needs like keywords and initial search requests, landing pages he visited and more, to give the best sales and after sales support. This way you can find many cross-selling potentials also in the wider future.

In my experience over 10 years in SEO, keyword research is the essential first step in understanding what your target audience is searching for. By uncovering your website's search terms, you gain valuable insights into customer needs, interests, and buying intent. This knowledge empowers you to tailor your content, marketing, and products to resonate deeply with them, driving traffic, engagement, and ultimately, success. It's a continuous process of exploration, uncovering hidden opportunities and connecting with real people on the other side of the search bar.

la liste de mots-clés n'est jamais figée. Une première liste pertinente au lancement de la campagne. Mais aussi des ajouts et des suppressions de mots-clés pendant la campagne en fonction des performances.

Absolutely agree with using a mix of tools for keyword analysis. UberSuggest, specifically, stands out for its user-friendly interface and cost-effective features. It provides valuable insights like search volume, competition, and trend data, which are essential for SEO strategy. While it's great on its own, combining UberSuggest with other tools like Google Keyword Planner and SEMrush, and sources like industry blogs and social media, ensures a more robust and diverse keyword strategy. This multi-tool approach helps in uncovering unique opportunities and gaining a deeper understanding of your target audience's search behavior

I focus on long-tail keywords for less competition and better targeted traffic. Understanding user intent is crucial, so I develop buyer personas to match my audience's needs. Analyzing keywords through these tools helps me look at search volume, difficulty, and related terms, guiding me to the most beneficial keywords. I aim for a mix of high-volume and long-tail keywords, balancing immediate wins with long-term goals. My content strategy is quality-focused, incorporating keywords naturally and avoiding stuffing. I also use keyword variations to enrich content and keep an eye out for new opportunities. This approach ensures my keyword research is strategic, targeted, and effective.

There are hundreds of tools for keyword research, both paid and free, but the most useful is common sense and naturalness (In addition to Google's own search engine, which for me is the most complete)...

You should belive only Google Keyword planner tool. This tool provide accurate data as compared to other tool. From my past experience, third party tools like ahref, moz or semrush provide inaccurate data related to the keyword suggestion.

Learn to understand and use the SEM-Tools. Define some KPIs and measure them to make SEM visible. A great All-In-One Tool is the german „sistrix“. It comes with a SI-Index, Assigning a value for visibility in search engines.

But remember that nothing replaces human thought; the most important thing is not the conclusion that a tool can provide you, but your ability to interpret its results.

Let's add to this...you can also use Google's "auto-complete" feature by starting to type in a prospective keyword and checking out the suggestions that come up. Also, you can start with one keyword in an ad group or campaign, then look at the search terms for that keyword. You can usually come up with some pretty good prospects, especially the search terms that end up with conversions.

Categorizing the keywords helps you to prepare the right landing pages for each lead: In case someone searches for "product xyz" the product features should be way more in focus while a search query for "product xyz pricing" should lead to a landing page with pricing in focus or even a special and limited discount. If a lead searches just for your company name you should give him a short summary of what you do, your company history but most important reviews which will give the lead trust in your company, more than information about a specific product.

As a content manager at Instoried, I used SEMrush for keyword research for Instoried's blog. I specifically used it for extracting long-tail keywords.  My personal experience says long-tail keywords work better for startups. The number of websites competing for such keywords is lower than compared to short-tail keywords. As a result, it is easier to rank for such keywords. Also, since the long-tail keyword has content relevant to a customer's needs, it helps make buyers faster purchase decisions. So, you see how it is a win-win situation from both ends?

I start by grouping keywords into themes that reflect our business services and products. Understanding user intent is crucial, so I align keywords with whether users are seeking information, making purchases, or comparing options. I use keyword research tools to evaluate search volume and competition, prioritizing keywords that have high search volume but low competition. The priority is also given to keywords with high conversion potential, aligning them with our business goals. I also emphasize leveraging long-tail keywords due to their specificity and higher conversion potential. Importantly, I don't overlook low-volume keywords as they can be less competitive and still valuable.

When doing keyword research as a startup, focusing on keywords with lower search volumes but that are easier to rank for can be a smarter strategy. In my experience, going for very competitive, high-search volume terms can be extremely difficult. Instead, I'd recommend concentrating your initial efforts on longer-tail, more specific keywords that have fewer pages optimized for them already. These may have lower individual search counts than broader terms but appear at the top of page one for their search phrases. I believe optimizing accurately for many of these long-tail keywords allows a site to quickly gain some traction and will help build authority faster than swinging for the fences with keywords that will be challenging to rank for.

Understand the underlying reasons behind user searches. Analyzing user intent ensures that the content created aligns with what users are seeking, improving relevance and increasing the likelihood of satisfying their needs.

Keywords trends always changed. You should check the search volume of any keyword after 3 to 4 month that you are targeting or add new keywords according to the trend.

Categorize your keywords according to their search intent and prioritize according to your business goals. Keep in mind: keep in mind: you mostly sell products and benefit from transactional keywords

You can use a KEI (Keyword Efficiency Index) to sort your keywords by relevance in terms of return on investment. KEI = ((average monthly search volume)² / number of indexed pages containing the keyword) * 1000.

For impactful keyword research, categorization and prioritization should align with your specific goals. Instead of relying solely on standard groups, develop advanced custom categories that delve deeper into user behavior and market trends. These might include groups like 'Seasonal Trends Alignment', 'Niche Market Interests', or 'Emerging Topic Relevance', which provide insights beyond the scope of paid tools. Prioritize these keywords based on how well they serve your objectives, be it increasing visibility or driving conversions. Regularly update these categories with fresh data analysis to ensure your strategy remains sharply focused and goal-aligned.

Part of doing good keyword research is precisely identifying which are the best words to work with for each category/product or page. I mainly take into account the search volume and what words the most direct competition works with.

Keep also in mind: In the end you design a website for a human, not a machine. The content has to be good and useful. This is the mantra.

Optimizing your landing page for a PPC campaign goes beyond just incorporating keywords. It involves creating a targeted and persuasive experience that maximizes conversions. Create persuasive and benefit-driven content that highlights the unique value proposition of your offer. Make sure that you communicate how your product or service solves the user's problem or fulfills their needs. Use testimonials, customer reviews, or case studies to build trust and credibility. If your landing page includes a form, keep it simple and only ask for essential information.

Tailor keywords for specific geographical locations. This strategy enhances local search visibility, making the business more discoverable to users in specific regions, especially relevant for startups targeting local markets.

Yes, it's great idea to optimise your content according to the keyword but over optimisation create a blunder to your website. Don't do keyword suffing into the article. It can impact negative on your website.

There is no magic formula for text optimization for SEO. Always remember to check the content of the top-ranking sites on Google for your keyword to ensure you produce content that is not off-topic compared to what Google expects from you.

Effective optimization for selected keywords extends beyond embedding them in titles, descriptions, and content. The strategy involves aligning these keywords with your site's core themes and messages. When creating content, focus on incorporating keywords in a way that resonates with the interests and needs of your audience, which can be identified in your Custom Keyword Intent Groups. Your content should simultaneously engage the reader and satisfy search intent, weaving in the keywords naturally. This method ensures your website not only attracts visitors but also provides meaningful engagement, enhancing its relevance and value to both users and search engines.

Indeed, once the keyword study has been carried out and we have selected which keyword is going to be worked on in each section of the website, it is time to carry out the main oppressions within the website and making appropriate (not abusive) use of said keywords, in addition to nourishing the website with quality content that meets the needs of users and is directly related to the product offered by the client.

If you’re operating a startup you will need to use longer tail keywords with less traffic potential but also less competition. The market leaders will have the broad term keywords covered.

In order to better target your audience and better understand users' search intentions, you can prioritize your keywords according to their search volume, their difficulty, their level of competitiveness and also the information to which they correspond: informational, commercial or transactional. , thanks to SemRush.

include selected keywords seamlessly into your website's content, meta tags, and URLs. Ensure a natural flow and relevance to maintain user engagement and search engine rankings, focusing on delivering quality and informative content.

SEO is a job that gives results in the medium - long term, so periodic monitoring of the results through different tools (Personally I use Semrush and SearchConsole) is essential to assess / prioritize the following SEO actions to be carried out.

Google search console is great tool to measure the website performance on the search result. Google analytic help to check the user behaviour of your website. Don't go with third party tools, these tools provide inaccurate data. The bad thing is, You have to to paid for it to check inaccurate data.

Analyze competitor keywords and strategies for informed decision-making. By understanding what keywords competitors are targeting, startups can identify gaps, opportunities, and refine their own approach to stand out in the market.

Don't underestimate the benefits you can already derive from Google Search Console. You can also identify your indexing and associated problems there.

To be effective in the long term, impose a recurrence to track the ranking of your site for your main keywords using tools like SEMrush, for example.

it is essential to interpret your results on tools such as GA4, Google Ads etc... but it is not uncommon for certain data to be difficult to access: for this, you can contact Google support and obtain personalized follow-up for several months to train you for free.

Regularly track your keyword performance using analytics tools like: Semrush, and Ahrefs. Analyze traffic, rankings, and conversions to understand the impact of your keyword strategy, enabling you to refine and adjust for continuous improvement and better ROI.

You don't need to focus on thousands of keywords. Start small. Pick around 20 terms that you would like to test. Be sure to use Adwords responsive ads and max out all available headlines and descriptions for testing, as well as, landing pages. However, don't test too much out at the same time. Once you have a solid foundation of terms, you can expand. Just be sure you are monitoring your KPIs. I suggest bi-weekly and adjust accordingly.

If you're a startup struggling with keyword research, I would strongly suggest considering the services of a digital marketing agency. These agencies have the expertise and tools necessary to navigate the complexities of SEO. They can offer deep insights into industry trends, competitive analysis, and bespoke keyword optimization strategies. Hiring an agency can be a game-changer, especially for startups aiming to make a mark in digital marketing. It's an investment that can save time and resources and bring about superior results. if you're looking for suggestions I would strongly advise checking out Connection Model at Connectionmodel.com

Keep in mind: SEM is a marathon and a process. Keep an eye on your keywords and their search volume and always be on the lookout for new trends. Also try new ways to enrich your content.