Web Analytics & Positioning: SEO - Keyword Research (PDF)
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Uploaded by IndulgentBiedermeier773
2024
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This document covers web analytics and positioning with a focus on search engine optimization (SEO). It explains keyword research, SEO projects strategy planning, and data collection methods. These materials provide valuable insights for digital marketing professionals.
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WEB ANALYTICS AND POSITIONING UNIT 2. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) > ON-PAGE SEO (I): KR AND WEB ARCHITECTURE 202 4/2025 SEO projects strategy planning 1. Learn about 2. Assess their 3. Assess their 4. Get insights 5. Implement 6. Develop 7. Implement 8. P...
WEB ANALYTICS AND POSITIONING UNIT 2. SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO) > ON-PAGE SEO (I): KR AND WEB ARCHITECTURE 202 4/2025 SEO projects strategy planning 1. Learn about 2. Assess their 3. Assess their 4. Get insights 5. Implement 6. Develop 7. Implement 8. Promote 9. Monitor, the organization online presence search visibility from other site keyword plan keyword plan in content optimize and and marketing improvement content strategy report competitiveness channels tactics Industry, Current Current search Google Ads Improve site Find keyword Create or edit Use other Monitor market website: link visibility: campaigns: technical opportunities optimized channels to content Conversion structure, general (topic) best performance for the project content: 1 URL promote the performance, goals, KPIs & information and specific performing and user (Google, per kw and visibility of kw metrics architecture, (keywords, by keywords, experience marketing search intent project URLs opportunities, Strategic user key business target (development platforms & Develop Digital PR: get SEO KPIs and business areas, experience, areas, audiences & UX teams): tools) editorial external metrics product/servic technical product/servic Social media make the site Compare with calendar popularity Reporting e category or performance e category or campaigns SEO ready current Unpublish/dele (links) Implement product/ Document product/servic (organic and keyword te/prune performance/c service previous SEO e) paid) visibility, underperformi onversion Target work Perform identify gaps ng or useless optimization audiences, Identify other competitive (for the site, or URLs tactics buyer/ marketing analysis, for specific Update web customer channels used: identify gaps categories or architecture personas search ads, Available products) Document all Business social, etc. search Prioritize and SEO changes / competitors analytics: select target implementatio traffic, keywords, ns keyword organize by positioning search intent Compare current web with keyword strategy, identifying underperformi ng or useless URLs Keyword research Market research Keyword research Website: Search engine: Architecture Consumers Organization Content SEO (organic results) SEA (paid results) Internal/External linking Business objectives Traffic vs. qualified traffic: User queries (>one or several Volume and alignment with Search intent: websites, campaign business objectives (conversion) informational, landing pages) Analytics / Conversion Rate commercial investigation, Optimization (CRO) transactional, navigational 5 Addressing users’ needs with the right content § Understanding the variety of relevant needs your users have (keyword research) will allow you to create content with the right depth and breadth to address those needs (content strategy) and organize it in a way that it is easy for search engines and users to find it and process it (architecture). § What do we know about how and what people search? How: through keyword size > short, middle and long tail keywords What: through types of content (search intent) HIGH COMPETITION Keyword = group of related words used in a search query LOW COMPETITION Long tail keywords have lower search volume individually… Short tail Middle tail Long tail … but all of them, together, represent the majority of searches online What types of content? § Bloomreach research shows that over 75% of users’ time on websites is spent in discovery mode: browsing and searching. Cited in: The Art of SEO “How People Decide What to Buy Lies in the ‘Messy Middle’ of the Purchase Journey” (Google, 2020): § There may be many different triggers that cause users to begin looking for something that may lead to a purchase of a product. However, it’s rare that the journey from the initial query to the purchase goes in a straight line. There are many different considerations that users may wish to address before they make the final decision of what to buy. (…) If your site doesn’t address these more specific questions, then there is a strong chance that you will fail to meet the user’s needs and will therefore fail to convert them. Cited in: The Art of SEO Creating a site with the pages and content required to meet all these needs is key to positioning your site as a leader in its market space. It will help your site satisfy more users than other sites that are less comprehensive, leading to better user engagement and conversion rates, and make it more attractive to link to. In addition, Google likes to surface these types of more comprehensive sites in the search results because users are more likely to be satisfied with what they find there, and thus be more satisfied with the search results that it provides to them. ENGE, E., SPENCER, S., and STRICCHIOLA, J. (2023). The Art of SEO. 4th edition. What is keyword research? Keyword research is the process of finding the words and phrases that connect customers to businesses You must map out the keyword space in detail (topics, variations, related concepts), understand what your competition is doing to succeed and where their gaps are, and then decide what portions of the keyword space you wish to address (prioritization) It is a foundational component of SEO The process can vary depending on what stage the SEO project is at and the individual needs of the business. Seasonal keyword research can also benefit nearly every site There’s an art and science to this process, but it consistently begins with collecting a list of keywords to target (based on business knowledge and data from tools) ENGE, E., SPENCER, S., and STRICCHIOLA, J. (2023). The Art of SEO. 4th edition. Keyword research: method Keyword research (KR) 1. Decide on the starting keywords (keyword seeds) and create a keyword base list to work on. 2. Use marketing tools to: > Collect data on the past performance of these and related keywords (historical: evolution, trend). > Discover opportunities for new keywords from the analysis of competitors ranking for these keywords. 3. Organize and prioritize target keywords (the Keyword Plan) for content planning and future keyword monitoring. It all starts with a list of keywords… What are the topics that apply to every search query that you want to rank highly for? If possible, begin at the lowest level, then go up one step at a time. For instance, if the company sells smartphone cases and screen protectors, then the lowest level might be smartphone accessories, or, if that’s too broad (say, if you don’t sell earbuds, chargers, or cables), perhaps you need to think of this as two topic areas (smartphone cases and screen protectors). How you create your topics list needs to be thought out to best fit the logical structure of your market (fulfill users’ expectations). ENGE, E., SPENCER, S., and STRICCHIOLA, J. (2023). The Art of SEO. 4th edition. Next, ask yourself what the related topics are: Why do people buy this type of product? What are their concerns? What purposes do these products serve? What are the alternatives? What are the most important features or qualities? You want to be visible to potential customers as early in their journey as possible, for instance, when they’re looking for long-tail keywords: How to repair a scratched or broken smartphone screen, how to prevent that from happening How to repair water damage in a smartphone How can I insure a smartphone? Are there any cheaper alternatives to insurance? ENGE, E., SPENCER, S., and STRICCHIOLA, J. (2023). The Art of SEO. 4th edition. The related topics in this case would be: smartphone screen damage smartphone protection smartphone insurance waterproof case iPhone compatibility (if you sell this brand’s products) Samsung compatibility (if you sell this brand’s products) stylish case These aren’t actionable keywords yet (they’ll have to be evaluated first). ENGE, E., SPENCER, S., and STRICCHIOLA, J. (2023). The Art of SEO. 4th edition. KR for unbranded keywords Top-level topic Mid-level topics Low-level topics (short tail keywords) (middle tail keywords) (long tail keywords) Term that typically represents the type of Terms that typically represent the Terms that typically include more specific products or services the organization categories of products or services the characteristics of the products or services intends to sell or make available to users. organization offers. Adidas: Sneakers, organizations offer. Adidas: pride sports t- It can be broad, such as cosmetics, Hoodies, Bags | Bella Luna Toys: shirts | Bella Luna Toys: natural waldorf sportswear, toys, food, ecology or human Handmade Toys, Wooden Toys, Organic toys for Easter rights, or it can be a bit more specific, such Toys. | HRC: HIV & Health Equity, They include keywords with seasonal as organic food (Wholefoods), waldorf Transgender Justice Initiative, etc. words (Black Friday, Christmas, Easter, toys (Bellalunatoys.com), or equality for They are usually narrowed down with Pride, etc.). the LGBTQ+ community (Human Rights modifiers: Hoodies for women, waldorf They can be highly specific, and not worth Campaign). handmade toys, etc. ranking for many organizations, since – These are broad keywords with high These are more specific keywords that individually- not much visibility and traffic competition and only the most popular most organizations will try to rank, since can be attracted. brands can rank but always worth they cater the needs of most users in Mainly commercial investigation and monitoring through KR tools. unbranded search. transactional intents (e-commerce Navigational and informational search Informational and commercial conversions), informational intent (e- intents mainly. investigation search intents mainly. commerce content strategy, for other organizations they are conversion goals). Types of sources for KR Internal sources: previous internal keyword positioning data we may have from the business (organic: GSC - Google Search Console; paid: Google Ads). In 2011 Analytics stopped providing data on the keywords that attracted visits to the site, and now they are hidden under the label "not provided". There are some tools, such as Keyword Hero that allow us to know what keywords are under that label in Analytics. External sources: Google SERP, terminology sources (thesauri, industry classifications, etc.), keyword research tools in SEO platforms… > discover related keywords, competitors' keywords. Internal sources: Google Search Console (GSC) In the "Performance" section of GSC site owners can see the user queries for which Google has shown the project URLs and it offers 4 interesting metrics to start assessing which keywords are performing well and which are not: Impressions: number of times the site's URLs have been shown to users in SERPs Clicks: the number of times users have clicked on one of our URLs shown to them in response to that keyword CTR (Click-Through Rate): reflects the proportion of times one of our URLs is clicked on out of all the times it has been shown, i.e. it is the result of dividing the clicks by the number of impressions and multiplying the result by 100 Position: it shows the average position of the keyword in the SERPS in the analyzed period The keywords that have a higher CTR will be the ones that are attracting more traffic and will therefore be the ones that are performing better, regardless of the average position (although obviously, the better the position, the higher the chances of clicks). External sources: Google search Google should always be our first source of reference: From the search engine: üSERP results üSERP functionalities: PAA (People Also Ask), Autosuggest, Related questions… Researching trends, topics and seasonality Google Trends [https://trends.google.com/trends/] X (Twitter) [https://help.twitter.com/en/using-x/x-trending-faqs] Hashtags don’t usually make good keywords, but they can inspire some ideas for good keywords and topics. Buzzsumo [https://buzzsumo.com/] – 30 day free trial; It provides a window into what content is trending right now, not just overall, but also by topic or keyword. Armed with this information, a content marketer is well-positioned to “newsjack” on trending topics before their competitors. Soovle [https://soovle.com/] shows you the most popular related search queries on several sites, most notably YouTube, Amazon, Wikipedia, and Answers.com. A trend is a pattern of increasing and/or decreasing activity that is supported by historical data. Seasonality is a trend that recurs based on well-defined and predictable conditions. Finding related keywords AlsoAsked [https://alsoasked.com/] - 3 free searches daily AnswerThePublic [https://answerthepublic.com/] - 3 free searches daily KeywordShitter [https://keywordsheeter.com/] Researching keyword search volumes Keyword Surfer [https://alsoasked.com/] – Free Chrome extension Keywords Everywhere [https://keywordseverywhere.com/] – Paid, affordable; It is a very versatile tool, as it allows you to reveal search volumes in other tools, such as Answerthepublic, Google Ads, Google Trends, etc. Ubersuggest [https://neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/] – 7 day free trial Keyword-hero [https://keyword-hero.com/] – Integration with Google Analytics KeywordTool [https://keywordtool.io/] – Paid Researching keywords in marketing All-in-one platforms (several valuation metrics) Semrush [https://www.semrush.com/] – Best KW database Ahrefs [https://ahrefs.com/] – Best backlink data Sistrix [https://www.sistrix.com/] – Best visibility analysis Moz [https://moz.com/keyword-research] – Classic Keyword valuation and keyword plan Keyword valuation Which keywords in the raw kw worksheet represent actionable and profitable SEO opportunities for your site? All the kws we selected may be relevant, but some may not be attainable (the cost of optimizing for them may be too high), and some may not have enough search volume (the benefit of optimizing for them may be too low). ENGE, E., SPENCER, S., and STRICCHIOLA, J. (2023). The Art of SEO. 4th edition. The hierarchy of criteria for keyword valuation is: Priority. Keywords that serve a major business objective, sales goal, branding initiative, or other critical marketing purpose should be considered above everything else. Relevance. You only want to rank for keywords that are highly relevant to your site’s content. Low-relevance keywords are not necessarily bad, but they should be moved to a separate list in case you need them later. Popularity. You only want to optimize for keywords that are used in a measurable number of actual searches. High-relevance but low-popularity keywords should be filtered out (hidden in your spreadsheet) but not deleted, because they may become popular in the future. Related metric: Monthly search volume Difficulty. If the cost of acquiring traffic is higher than the benefit of converting it, then you’re wasting money. High-difficulty keywords that are highly relevant to your site can be broken down into variations that represent more efficient opportunities. Related metric: KD (Keyword Difficulty, aka “keyword competition”); CPC (Cost Per Click) ENGE, E., SPENCER, S., and STRICCHIOLA, J. (2023). The Art of SEO. 4th edition. The keyword plan This will be your main worksheet containing your refined list of keywords and their metrics/valuation data. Goal: prioritizing keywords. Columns: Keyword Monthly search volume Traffic potential Priority Relevance Difficulty Rank CPC Superset ? Topic Search intent Persona URL Based on ENGE, E., SPENCER, S., and STRICCHIOLA, J. (2023). The Art of SEO. 4th edition. Keyword research: collecting data Search volume data Search volume data will vary depending on the tool used. Data marketing tools use comes from search engines, their own web crawlers, and clickstream data (third-party data resellers). Then they apply their algorithms to identify patterns and make inferences. Ideally, we’d want to combine their results, but this is generally not feasible as it would be very time-consuming. Competition analysis: identify gaps Semrush: Search for a keyword and observe who competes in the first positions of that SERP. Use “Semrush Keyword Gap” to compare the keywords of up to 5 competitors. Domain authority metrics Observe the authority metrics of domains ranking in those SERPs: the higher the authority of the domain, the harder it will be to compete, depending on your own authority. Different metrics: Ahrefs Domain Rating Semrush Authority Score Moz Domain Authority Majestic TrustFlow https://www.searchenginejournal.com/domain-authority-checkers-compared/ KD varies among tools https://hop.online/seo/keyword-difficulty-score-methodologies-moz-ahrefs-semrush-ubersuggest/ https://www.semrush.com/blog/most-accurate-keyword-difficulty/ Matching search intent with content Among highly ranked results for a kw, consider: Content types: blog posts, videos, product pages, campaing landing pages, category pages Format: How-to guides, step-by-step tutorials, list posts, editorials, tolos. Angle: copywriting / CTA used.