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• Unit 2 focuses on Search Engine Optimization (SEO), specifically on-page SEO and web architecture.
• The objective is to understand SEO project strategy planning and keyword research.

SEO Project Strategy Planning

• Involves learning about the organization, assessing online presence, and evaluating search visibility.
• Requires insights from other marketing channels to implement site improvement tactics.
• Includes developing a keyword plan, integrating it into content strategy, promoting content, and continuous monitoring with optimization.

Keyword Research Introduction

• Keyword research connects customers to businesses by identifying relevant words and phrases.
• A detailed mapping of the keyword landscape helps understand competition, identify gaps, and prioritize areas to address.
• Keyword research is a fundamental component of SEO, with processes that vary depending on project stage and business needs.
• It begins with compiling a list of keywords to target, based on both business knowledge and data from various tools.

Keyword Research Elements

• Market research and keyword research are key inputs for organizations to align with consumer needs and search engine algorithms.
• A website integrates architecture, content, and internal/external linking to meet organization and consumer objectives.
• Search engines utilize SEO (organic) and SEA (paid) results to connect consumers with relevant online resources.
• User queries, including search intent are considered, to understand what information is needed in each search
• Business objectives translate into multiple websites or specific campaign landing pages to assist users

Addressing User Needs with Content

• Knowing user needs via keyword research informs the creation of content, with the right scope and organization,
• Understanding how and what users search by looking at keyword size (short, middle, and long tail)
• Involves understanding the types of content users want to access by understanding user search intent

Long Tail Keywords

• Long tail keywords comprise the majority of searches, with lower search volumes individually but significant collective impact.

User Behavior

• A study finds that the majority of website time, upwards of 75%, is spent in discovery mode, involving browsing and searching.

Google's View of User Behavior

• Initial search query does not often going in a straight line to purchase
• A site should address specific questions to meet user needs and facilitate conversions.
• User searches include exploration and evaluation triggers as they move to purchase stage

Site Optimization for Rankings

• Building a comprehensive site helps it become a market leader by satisfying more users, improving engagement, and attracting links.
• Search engines prioritize thorough sites, enhancing user satisfaction and search result effectiveness.

Defining Keyword Research

• Keyword research uncovers the terms that link businesses with their target audience.
• Detailed mapping and understanding the competitive landscape are important as is choosing what to address
• Foundational for SEO, adapting to different project phases and business objectives, starting with identifying target keywords

Keyword Research Methodology

• Starts with selecting initial keywords (keyword seeds) and building a keyword base list.
• Utilizes marketing tools to analyze past performance and competitor strategies.
• Organizes and prioritizes keywords into a plan for content development and ongoing monitoring.

Keyword List Development

• Begin at a lower level of detail and broadening the level of detail
• How you organize keywords should align with market logical structure

Topic Discovery

• Includes considerations for product types
• Considers potential customer needs

Types of Keyword Research

• Related topics are evaluated for relevance and actionability.

KW Research for Unbranded Keywords

• Top-level keywords - short tail, broad with high competition, mainly for navigation and information
• Mid-level keywords - middle tail, specific categories with modifiers, catering to common unbranded searches with more focused intent
• Low-level keywords - long tail, include specific characteristics, not always worth ranking for due to low traffic potential, geared towards commercial and transactional intents

Data Sources for Keyword Research

• Internal sources include past keyword positioning data, GSC-Google Search Console, paid searches
• 2011 Analytics stopped providing keywords generating visits , labeling as "not provided" now
• External sources encompass Google SERP, thesauri, and SEO keyword research platforms to find related and competitor keywords.

Google Search Console (GSC)

• GSC's "Performance" area shows user queries for URLs and four performance measures.
• Impressions - how often URLs are shown to users in SERPs.
• Clicks - how often users click URLs shown in search.
• CTR measures click proportion, and Position indicates average keyword ranking in SERPs.

Google Search

• Google search results for keywords should be first source of reference for external data
• SERP results, features (PAA, Autosuggest, Related questions) important

Researching Trends and Seasonality

Resources include:

• Google Trends

• X/Twitter good for keyword ideas

• Buzzsumo for trending content

• Soovle for search queries on other engines

• A trend supported by data can track increases or decreases in search activity

• Seasonality based on certain conditions

Related Keywords

• Several sites can be used to generate keywords
• AlsoAsked (3 free daily)
• AnswerThePublic (3 free daily)
• KeywordShitter (web only, no limits)

Researching Keyword Search Volumes

• Google chrome extensions can reveal details
• Keyword Surfer
• Keywords Everywhere
• Sites to check on
• Ubersuggest
• Keyword-hero
• Keyword Tool

All-in-one Marketing Platforms

• Useful platforms for various validation metrics are:
• Semrush best for KW database metrics
• Ahrefs best for backlink data insights
• Sistrix best visibility analysis comparison
• Moz "classic" analysis

Keyword Valuation

Valuation Goals

• Not all selected keywords are obtainable
• Optimization cost maybe high
• Benefit from optimizing for low SEO search volume is too low

Hierarchy of Criteria

• Prioritize by business objectives, sales goal, brand initiatives
• Relevance only rank highly relevant keywords, keep the low-relevance keywords on another list for potential usage
• Only optimize for keywords used in measurable number of actual searches, filtering out high relevance, moving the others to another list
• Be mindful of acquisition costs, break down high difficulty keywords to more efficient usage of resources
• Related metrics look at cost per click and KD rating on the same keywords

Keyword Plan Elements

• The plan is the main worksheet for refined keywords and valuation data for prioritization
• Key elements for review are :
• Keyword
• Volume
• Potential traffic
• Ranking priority
• Relevancy
• Difficulty
• Performance rank
• Cost per click
• Superset
• Topic
• Search intent
• Audience
• URL

Search Volume Data

• Data can vary based on specific tool usage
• Ideally, search volume results can be combined, but can be time consuming

Competition Analysis

• Can Identify competitive gaps
• Use Semrush to compare up to 5 competitors

Domain Authority Metrics

• Observe authority of domains ranked , depending on your rating, the authority will be easier or harder to reach
• Aheres Domain Rating, Semrush Authority Score, MOZ, MajesticTrustFlow and some of the key data to compare to others
• Pick one for benchmarking

Keyword Ranking

• Keyword difficulty rating is also data that can vary among various tools

How Semrush Keyword ratings are Calculated

• Calculated using a methodology involving both SERP analysis and parameter analysis of median values
• Looks at volume, branded ratings, knowledge base ratings
• Calculation includes weighing of rating based on regional database for accuracy

General Guidelines

• Easy rating is 15-29 with quality content you will rank
• Possible is 30-49 optimized correctly will do a little better with competition
• Difficult 50-69 need backlinks or optimize in order to compete
• Hard 70-84 or very hard 85-100 need a lot more work to obtain
• Content types , format, and the angle is looked at