Keyword research: A complete guide for beginners

It’s essential for any search strategy, no question. We explain how keyword research works, why it matters, and which tools to use.

Search engine optimization (SEO) today goes far beyond keywords, and copy/pasting them into your webpage. However, driving highly-relevant search traffic still requires excellent content that's targeted to the right keywords. So in this guide, we'll explain what matters when doing keyword research. Let's go.

What are keywords?

Keywords are the words (or strings of words) that are entered into a search engine, to find something on the Internet.

Let's say you have a hair salon in London. So if someone is looking for a hairdresser in this area and searches for "hairdressers London", the chances are good that he will (eventually) find you with this search query.

The search engine then begins to find suitable results on the Internet using its search algorithms, comparing the search query and the index with each other.

Fig. 1: Google search results for the keyword "hairdressers london"

Keywords therefore primarily serve to establish a connection between searchers and the web content they are looking for. In order for website operators to rank top with their content in Google search results, they need to use the appropriate terms on their website (there is more to it than just that, however).

In the past, it was sufficient to integrate the selected keywords in sufficient quantity into websites or texts. Today, search algorithms from Google and the rest are much smarter – keywords should therefore be placed as naturally as possible and fit into the content in such a way that user-friendly, helpful content is created.

This makes researching highly relevant keywords for your website all the more important.

What does keyword research mean?

Keyword research (also known as keyword analysis) refers to the search for keywords that can be used to optimize your website. The goal is to rank better in the search results and therefore achieve more relevant traffic or sales.

So it's not just about collecting as many keyword ideas as possible. As a website owner, SEO manager or content creator, you should first and foremost understand the search intent behind each keyword in order to select the appropriate terms for your content.

While the example "hairdresser London" described above is already quite clear, it's more complex with other keywords. For example, if you enter the term "cat" in the search field, it can mean many things. It might mean:

You are simply interested in cats
You want to buy a cat and are looking for information
You are interested in seeing the musical, ‘Cats’
You are interested in books about cats

Fig. 2: Different Google search suggestions for the keyword "cats"

In order to be found not only as often as possible, but also by the right users (who are actually interested in your offers), you should always evaluate keyword ideas with regard to the search intent behind them.

Why is keyword research important?

Finding keywords is of great importance for businesses who wish to make their website content as relevant as possible for their target audience.

Let's say you sell inflatable boats. To be found, you need to adapt your SEO and website content to your offer. The following questions may occur:

What kind of inflatable boats do you sell (with or without a motor, for kids, ocean-going, etc.)?
What are users looking for when they search for inflatable boats that match your offer?
Who are the other sellers that are displayed when certain keywords are entered?
How exactly can these keywords be used? (See more info on “ longtail keywords” below).

You also need to know what it is exactly that your target audience is looking for. Are they looking for "buy inflatable boat", "rent inflatable boat", "inflatable boat cheap" or maybe "inflatable boat for kids"?

How does keyword research work?

A keyword research can be divided into three important steps, which we'll now take a look at together:

Situation analysis: Check existing keywords
Keyword gathering: Research new ideas
Keyword selection: Understand and classify them by search intent

1. Situation analysis: Check existing keywords

Before you start searching for new terms and topics for your website, you should check for which keywords your pages are already found in organic search, and whether you can further optimize your content for these and similar terms.

The best way to do this is to use Google Search Console or a keyword tool that uses real Google data, like Ryte Search Engine Optimization.

Fig. 3: Existing keyword rankings can be displayed in Google Search Console

Looking at your existing keyword rankings, you should ask yourself the following questions:

What are your focus keywords?
Do the keywords listed match the products/services/content you offer?
How relevant are the existing keywords for your offer and your USP?
Do you rank for important keywords with the matching pages of your website?
Are searchers likely to find the solution to their search query for the keywords on your website?
Are there important terms for which you do not yet rank, or for which you would like to improve your ranking?

2. Keyword gathering: Research new ideas

The next step is to gather new ideas for keywords. For this, there are plenty of keyword tools that are just treasure troves of new keyword ideas and variations of existing or known terms.

Additionally, your colleagues in the sales or customer support team, or as already mentioned, Google's Auto Suggest function are all useful sources to collect new topics and relevant keywords for your website. If available, be sure to check out the comments on your own website (users are often excellent tipsters) and research marketplaces, discussion forums or advice sites.

3. Keyword selection: Understand and classify by search intent

The third step is to better understand the terms on your keyword list based on their characteristics and to classify them accordingly. Different keyword types and the underlying search intent as well as aspects such as search volume and conversion probability are crucial.

A first categorization of your keywords results from their length:

Head and short-tail keywords: These keywords have a high search volume, but are rather general (like in the example “cats” above), and they lead to a rather low conversion rate.
Midtail keywords: Here we find a medium search volume, which is more specific and leads to an average conversion rate.
Longtail keywords: The search volume is low and very specific, the conversion rate is high.

Finding your focus keywords

As already mentioned, search intent plays an important role in keyword research. It decides whether a user is searching the Internet with the intention of making a purchase or for other reasons, for example because he merely wants to find out more about a topic.

Further classification of keywords

Keywords can be further classified beyond search intent. Three categories are particularly interesting for your keyword research:

Money keywords: These are not always associated with an intention to buy, but are primarily characterized by a high search volume or demand, and thus usually by high competition. In the case of commercial sites, these are, for example, search queries such as "buy pants" or "car lease offers".

Brand keywords: As the name suggests, Brand Keywords are those that relate to a brand. They include brands such as "Microsoft" or "Nike".

Compound keywords: These are keywords with a combination of two user intentions. In addition to the interest in buying, for example, a certain brand is favored. Keywords in this category can be, for example, "buy Nike shoes" or "Windows 10 cheap".

Leveraging long-tail keywords

Short-tail keywords: This refers to short and concise keyword phrases, such as “buy a car” or “sugar-free lemonade”. These types of keywords usually have a very high monthly search volume.
Long-tail keywords: These are much more complex search queries such as “store jam properly” or “hats from Cuba and Mexico”. The monthly search volume is significantly lower for these keywords.

Tools for keyword research

Tool	Function	Cost
Answerthepublic	Multi-word combinations, create matching questions and long-tail combinations.	Free of charge for up to three uses per day.
Google Search Console	Check rankings and clicks of existing pages.	Free.
Google Ads Keyword Planer	Review search volume, look at competition and determine cost of GoogleAds.	Free.
Ryte Content Editor	Matching short and long-tail keyword recommendations for your chosen main keyword, based on WDF*IDF and top ranking websites.	Free of charge in the 360° Ryte Trial; afterwards depending on the package.
Keywordtool.io	Allows suggestions for secondary keywords, term combinations and W-questions according to Google’s autocomplete function. Additional query of search volume on Amazon, YouTube and the App Store.	Partially free, full functionality in paid Premiere package.
Google Trends	For analyzing differences and trends between search clusters. Also suitable for YouTube analyses. No indication of absolute search volumes.	Free.
Buzzsumo	Displays information about such social media content that has been successfully shared in recent months. Helpful for social media work to create suitable stories with appropriate keywords.	Basic functions are free of charge, additional functions are only available in the paid version.
Similarweb Keyword Research	Market intelligence solution for identifying benchmark values of websites. Comparing your own website with the competition and showing who can be found where on Google.	Basic functions are free of charge, additional functions are only available in the paid version.
Searchintent	Visualizes search paths to shed light on topics in detail and shows what else people are searching for related to a main content.	Free.
W-Fragen-Tool	Provides the ability to find out users’ W-questions (“where”, “what”, “when” etc).	Free.
Alsoasked	Comparable to the W-Questions tool, but international in scope and with language selection available.	Free.

Conclusion: Keyword research pays off

We hope this guide will help you find the right keywords for your website and create great content for your target audience based on them.

Of course, this is not an easy task and it will take some time. For comprehensive keyword research you should allow two to four working days. As discussed, start by analyzing your already ranking keywords, then gather new keyword ideas and categorize or refine your keyword list according to your goals and the search engine users' intent.

And don't forget: The world of SEO is constantly evolving and the interests and needs of your visitors can change over time. So you should always keep yourself informed and update your keyword research regularly so that you can incorporate current developments into your work.

It's worth the effort, we promise – if everything goes well, you'll be rewarded for your efforts with unique content and excellent SEO performance.