Keyword research is essential for your website:
And if you don’t get it right, then you could end up publishing tons of content, that’s simply never going to rank because it’s too competitive.
…Or even worse, no one’s searching for that keyword.
So in this guide, you’ll discover 5 easy tips to rapidly improve your keyword research.
Table of Contents
5 Tips to Improve Affiliate Marketing Keyword Research
Tip #1: Always Check The Keyword Difficulty
Before you produce any content around a keyword, always check the keyword difficulty.
Not all keywords were made equal.
Why?
A few reasons:
- Competition: Some keywords are just too competitive to rank
- Search volume: If there’s no search volume, there’s no point ranking for that keyword
- Viability: Some keywords don’t have the right search intent (more on that later in this guide!)
- Some keywords simply don’t get ANY clicks
Pick your battles when it comes to keyword research
When it comes to keyword research, pick your battles carefully.
Go for keywords that have a low keyword difficulty – because they’ll be easier to rank for.
How can you check the keyword difficulty (KD)?
Use a tool like Ahrefs.
Then find keywords with a KD between 0 and 10.
But why go for the easy keywords?
Because this will save you time in the long run, and it’ll also get you better results.
If you’re going to invest time and resources into producing content, make sure you can rank for it.
Tip #2: Analyze The Keyword’s Search Volume
Search volume matters:
Why?
Because there’s no point trying to rank for a keyword if no-one’s searching for it.
That’s why you should NEVER guess which keywords to go for – always do the research first.
But how do you find the search volume?
You can use tools like Ahrefs or SEMrush.
It’ll break down the numbers for you – like you can see below:
But what search volume should you target?
I’d go after keywords with a search volume of at least 100+ monthly searches.
But is 100 enough?
The thing is, this compounds over 10-15 variations of that keyword.
Let me explain:
Maybe only 100 people are searching for a certain keyword, but then there are ten different variants of that keyword.
e.g. make money online, how to make money online, can you make money online?
Therefore the real search volume is 1000+ per month.
Tip #3: Scope Out Your Competition
Before you produce any content, look at the competitors on the first page of Google for that particular keyword.
For example:
Let’s say the keyword is “make money online”.
Check out the competitors ranking for that keyword – and see how may backlinks each page has.
When analyzing your competitors, ask yourself:
- How many backlinks does your top ranking competitor have?
- How long is the content they’re ranking for?
- Can you realistically produce better content?
You need to be able to beat your competition on all 3 of the above factors, if you realistically want to rank.
Also check, what’s the word count of your top ranking competitor’s article?
Can you produce a more in-depth, comprehensive article?
The trick here is to produce superior content to your competition.
Tip #4: Analyze The Keyword’s Search Intent
Next up, look into the search intent of your keyword:
- Why are people searching for this keyword?
- How can you tailor your content around that?
- What problem are users on Google trying to solve with this keyword?
Search intent is more important than ever before:
So it’s crucial that you understand what the user is looking for and if your content can beat it.
If you produce content that doesn’t fulfil the search intent, you won’t rank.
So always reverse engineer the search intent first, and then tailor your content around that.
Tip #5: Understand The Business Value Of Your Keyword
Following on from search intent, it’s essential to check the business value of a keyword before you try and rank for it.
Ask yourself:
- How much is that keyword worth to you?
- Is it going to bring in sales?
- Will it drive more leads to your website?
- Is it a profitable keyword?
Because if the keyword has ZERO business value, why are you trying to rank for it?
So which keywords are most valuable to you?
Typically, if you’re just looking for sales then find keywords that are:
- Product related
- Solving a problem
- Can lead directly to sales
However, non-commercial keywords are also useful too:
They drive brand awareness, more attention to your website and attract customers who may at some point, be interested in your products/services.
Final Note
These are my top 5 tips to improve your keyword research.
It’s a simple formula:
But it’s also tried, tested and proven to work.
Just note:
It’s essential to come up with a keyword strategy before you try and rank for your content.
Why?
Because this will save you a lot of time and money in the process.
The smarter your keyword research is, the more successful your website is going to be.
It can take a long time to rank content:
Could be weeks – or even several months.
So get your keyword strategy in place – it will save you a lot of time in the future!
