How to Leverage Keyword Research for a Winning SEO Strategy

It’s a common misconception that search engine optimisation (SEO) is a dark art driven by mysterious forces. 

But we hate to burst your bubble – it's often far easier than that! 

A core component of strong SEO is a solid, targeted keyword base that you know your ideal audience is searching for.  

Not sure where to start? We break it down for you below. 

What is keyword research (and why do you need it?) 

Keyword research involves analysing and finding key search phrases that people enter to find information or services.  

For example, if someone was looking for a Cheltenham SEO agency, they might search terms such as ‘SEO agency in Cheltenham’ or ‘SEO services Cheltenham’. 

There are thousands of keywords out there for every product and service under the sun – the point of keyword research is to pinpoint which ones suit your business best and will drive more customers to you. 

Knowing what people are searching for helps to inform your overall marketing strategy by putting your company in front of exactly what people are looking for. After all, there’s no point in creating content around what people aren’t looking for – instead, find out what they want, and meet them there. 

Elements of a keyword 

Here are some things to look for when you’re putting together keyword research: 

Search volume 

The search volume of a keyword shows you how many people are searching for it every month. High search volumes often go hand-in-hand with higher keyword difficulties (more on this later), but you can build out a strong strategy with lower-volume keywords that are more targeted to your audience. 

Keyword difficulty  

Keyword difficulty refers to how hard it is to rank for that keyword. Higher keyword difficulties take a bit more power to rank for, requiring strong, informative content and an authoritative website to begin ranking.  

Search intent 

People search for different keywords with different intents in mind: 

• Informational: People at the very start of their buying journey search informational keywords to start the ball rolling. Someone curious about SEO may start by searching ‘SEO services’ to see what’s out there. 

• Commercial: Keywords with commercial intent are often searched by people wanting to investigate more about a brand or service. They’re slightly further down the sales funnel and are gathering more information to inform their decision. For example, 'Cheltenham SEO agency' is a commerically-focused keyword. 

• Transactional: Users searching transactional keywords want to make a decision or purchase. These are bottom-of-the-funnel keywords that can increase conversions on your website. 

• Navigational: Navigational keywords are slightly different to the other kinds of keywords. used by searchers to locate a certain page, rather than gather information. An example of a navigational keyword would be ‘Angelfish Marketing blog’.  

Long-tail vs. Short-tail keywords 

Not all keywords are created equal – some are one or two words long, whereas others can be much longer. Short-tail keywords can be more challenging to rank for, as more people are searching for them, so the competition is much higher. 

On the other hand, long-tail keywords can be easier to rank for, but their search volume is often lower. However, this doesn’t mean they’re bad keywords – long-tail keywords are often much more specific to your target audience, and so can convert better. 

4 ways to leverage keyword research for SEO 

Once you’ve filtered down what keywords you want to target, you can implement a powerful SEO strategy to start ranking. Here’s how: 

1. Bucket your keywords into topic clusters 

Once you have your keywords in place, sort them into topic clusters. Clusters focus on one topic at a time – for example, ‘B2B SEO services’. All the longer-tail keywords that fall under that cluster (such as ‘B2B SEO services in Cheltenham’) should be grouped together so you can track the topic cluster as a whole. 

2. Create a pillar page 

Pillar pages are long-form web pages filled with useful information that your audience is looking for. They are often highly detailed and form a foundation for the rest of the content in that cluster.  

For your pillar page, it’s useful to use the keyword with the highest search volume and keyword difficulty, as it gives it the best chance of ranking. Ensure the content is fresh, useful, and unique to give it the best chance of ranking amongst your competitors. 

3. Write supporting content 

Once you have your pillar page, you can then start producing supporting blog content to push your SEO further. These blogs will link to your pillar page and make search engines recognise that you have significant authority and expertise around the topic, which encourages them to rank your website higher. 

4. Track your results 

Once you’ve got the ball rolling, make sure to track your results to measure the impact of your hard work.  

Check out the results we got within six months for a recruitment agency specialising in oil and gas recruitment with this strategy: 

How Angelfish Marketing can help you 

Keyword research is no easy feat – so if you want help on your SEO journey, Angelfish Marketing is on hand to help. A Cheltenham SEO agency with years of experience helping our clients reach page 1, we can create an SEO strategy that gets you results. 

But don’t just listen to us – listen to the many happy clients who have had results from our programmes! 

Ready to kick things off? Book your free SEO audit today to see where we could take you.