Since people across the world make 3.5 billion Google searches daily, it’s critical that businesses do all in their power to stand out to these users. Almost all of your target audience is online, so this is the ideal way to reach out to them at any given moment.

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the top strategy to reach them organically. While there are many facets to SEO, keyword research is one of the most important in addition to being one of the first things you need to do. Read on to learn more about selecting keywords and phrases to insert into your blog posts.

Think About Potential Primary Keywords (PKWs)

Keywords are important in that you structure your content around them. This means that you need to select phrases relevant to your website, product, services, and ideologies.

Think about some concepts that your target audience may be interested in learning more about and consider what they will search for when looking for answers to these queries. You can then use those queries as potential keywords. These keywords should be anywhere between 2-5 words long.

List these words and phrases in a Word document or Excel file. This is a list of possible keywords and therefore possible blog post topics.

Look Into Search Volume (SV)

Once you know what types of blog posts you want to write, it’s time to look for the top keywords that will actually gain you visibility. Use SEMrush or a similar tool to research the words and phrases that you’re considering.

You want to select one with a high SV because people will actually look it up. They’ll then see your article for a query that they made. Look at the tool and select something with an SV of 100 or over- higher volumes are better.

Don’t Forget Keyword Difficulty (KD)

SV isn’t the only aspect of a keyword that you should look into. You also need to consider the KD, which will tell you how difficult it will be to rank for a specific word or phrase. This is important because having too high of a competition for a keyword will stop you from ranking even if people are searching for it and you produce good content.

Only target keywords that have a KD of 80 or lower. The lower the KD score is, the easier it will be for you to rank. Select something with the lowest possible score while still having a 100+ search volume.

Sprinkle in Secondary Keywords (SKWs)

SKWs don’t need as much meticulous research as primary ones do. While you’ll use your PKW in the first paragraph, conclusion, and at least one header of a blog post, SKWs give you much more leeway.

Choose around 5 phrases that are similar to your PKW. These can simply be phrases that you’ve slightly altered (SEO types → types of SEO, etc). Sprinkle these throughout your blog post to maximize your SEO campaign effectiveness.

Begin Your Successful SEO Campaign With Keywords and Phrases

Now that you know all about keyword research and how professional SEO companies can help, it’s time to get started.

While keywords and phrases are an important part of your SEO strategy, they’re far from the only thing that will boost you in Google rankings. Check out the ‘digital marketing’ tab on our webpage for more ideas on how to have a successful SEO campaign.