Keyword Research: How to Find Profit-Driving New Keywords Every Day

Keyword research is a fundamental part of search marketing, whether you’re primarily running pay-per-click (PPC) or paid search marketing campaigns, or you’re looking to improve your organic search engine optimization (SEO) results.

What is keyword research? Keyword research is the process of identifying and optimizing your site for the specific words that people are typing into search engines. Since it helps you connect with the right audience at the right time, keyword research is a crucial element of a successful search marketing campaign.

If you want your site to rank well for relevant, intent-driven keywords and earn healthy organic traffic, understanding how to conduct keyword research and recognizing which keywords are worth your focus is essential.

How to Find New Keywords Through Keyword Research

In order to successfully market through search you need learn how to research keywords and:

• Continuously discover quality, targeted new keyword opportunities to gain a competitive advantage.
• Effectively and continuously turn your keyword research into action.
• Make keyword research a supporting piece of your overall search marketing efforts so that your researched keywords actually lead to profits for your business.

So the question becomes: How do you, the search advertiser, go beyond a static list of keywords to create a continuous stream of keyword phrases that improve your bottom line? How do you discover and research keywords that will drive relevant traffic to your business?

Free Keyword Research Tools

WordStream’s keyword research tools make researching profit-driving keywords easy.

You can quickly and easily find new keywords for your business, organize long lists of keywords into workable groups, and even evaluate the performance of your existing keywords, all using WordStream’s new and improved Free Keyword Tool.

WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool is a smarter, more actionable tool that allows you to conduct advanced keyword research. It leverages targeted data that you can use in your search marketing campaigns, both organic and paid. While using keyword tools is an essential part of any keyword research strategy, the Free Keyword Tool will help you become a keyword research pro, guiding the way for analysis that can boost your business in enormous ways.

To make the most of your keyword research, be sure to check out our resources on keyword grouping and keyword niches.

How to Do Keyword Research

Not sure where to get started with PPC keyword research for your business? Here’s a simple process to follow:

• Start by brainstorming a list of words and topics that are relevant to your business. You can look at your existing website, if you have one, for inspiration. Put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes: What would they search for if they were looking for products or services like the
• Type those topics into a keyword research tool like our Free Keyword Tool. Now you can start gathering data on what real terms are most popular in your industry and how much search volume they have. (In other words, what potential audience size do you stand to reach if you can rank for that keyword?)
• Use a competitive keyword research tool to determine which keywords offer the best compromise between relatively high volume and relatively low competition. Less competitive keywords are easier to rank for in organic search and less costly in paid search. This will help you prioritize your keyword research.

For a more detailed guide, check out our Easy Guide to Keyword Research for Businesses.

What to Do with Your Keyword Research

What’s important to understand about keyword research is that a list of keywords, in and of itself, isn’t very helpful. To see traffic and profits from those keywords, you need to put them to work in keyword-rich web copy, including product pages and blog posts.

This will ensure that your potential customers can find you through organic search. So how do you close the gap between your research and your writing, and work your keywords into your copy in a way that’s SEO-friendly and reader-friendly too? Learn more with these resources:

• Content Keywords FAQ: How to Use SEO Keywords for Content Marketing
• The Expert’s Guide to Keyword Research for SEO Copywriting
• What Is SEO Content? A Beginner’s Guide to Creating Content for SEO

Putting Keyword Research to Work in PPC

Keyword research isn’t just useful for organic search engine optimization. It’s also crucial for your paid search campaigns.

Google Ads keyword research is essential to a winning PPC account as you learn how to find profit driving keywords. Check out these resources:

• The Big, Easy Guide to Keyword Research
• Most Popular Keywords By Industry
• The 18 Best Keyword Research Tools for Every Need