Thanks to the pandemic, internet penetration has increased. As a result, it has become more important than ever for business owners to optimize their websites to rank higher on the SERPs.

As per a study, 66% of business owners like to do keyword research on their own. Unfortunately, most of them tend to make keyword research mistakes to beat their competition.

So, we went ahead and compiled a list of four common keyword research mistakes webmasters make and end up regretting later.

Grab a pen and paper. This blog post is going to be worth all your money!

Mistake #1: Not Understanding the Search Intent

Most of the time, webmasters think about which keywords will help them rank their website rather than “how can they satisfy the searcher’s intent.”

Understanding this aspect can make a world of difference.

In SEO, you optimize for the searcher and the search engine.

This is why creating audience personas for your target audience is crucial. For example, if you’re into the casual shoe business, ask yourself these questions before starting keyword research:

Probable question: Who is my target audience?

Probable answer: My target audience is men and women between the age of 25 and 30. They should love online shopping and must like casual shoes.

Probable question: What could be the possible pain point of my target readers?

Probable answer: My target readers are looking for trendy shoes that are durable. I will demonstrate how my business makes shoes of high-quality materials through my keywords and content.

Probable question: What questions do my target readers possibly type on search engines?

Probable answer: My target readers might search for:

• Features of a casual shoe,
• Shoe size guide.

Brainstorming about your target readers will help you understand the searcher’s intent. This will help you find long-tail keywords that can bring the right traffic to your website. You can also consider checking out Simon white SEO’s website to understand more about keyword research.

Mistake #2: Selecting High Volume Keywords

New website owners often make this mistake. Keywords with 100,000 searches per month certainly look lucrative. New website owners often think they can create long-form content on that keyword and rank within 8-10 months.

In most cases, this does not happen.

Google considers 200+ factors before ranking search results; keywords are just one of them.

Ideally, you should aim to balance search volume and low competition. We’re sure you have probably heard of this before. So, let’s dive deeper into selecting the right keywords.

Steps to select balanced keywords for your web pages:

1. Step 1: Select the head term. Example: Casual shoes.
2. Step 2: Select a question that you think relates the most to your business based on the audience persona. Example: Best features of a casual shoe.
3. Step 3: Search for this term on a good keyword research tool like SEMRush. Observe the search volume, competition (between 0 and 1) and average backlinks.
4. Step 4: Discard this query if A. It has high search volume and high competition. B. It has low search volume and high competition. C. It has almost zero search volume.
5. Step 5: SEMRush will display other keyword variants of the keyword you inserted. Try to look for a keyword with a search volume of around 500 searches a month and keyword difficulty (competition) of 30/100 or below.

Mistake #3: Not Factoring the Backlinks While Selecting the Keywords

Selecting a balanced keyword is just half the work done. You also need to check the number of backlinks your competitors have made for that keyword.

Is this important? Yes, it is.

Backlinks act as votes to a search engine.

Next to the keyword metrics like search volume and keyword difficulty, SEMRush will also show you the number of backlinks you need to make.

This will help you determine how much effort you have to make to create the backlinks, what types of backlinks to make and if it is really worth the trouble.

Quick hack: You can also register yourself on Moz.com and download its chrome extension. Next time when you search for a keyword on a search engine like Google, it will display backlinks under the search results. This will give you a quick idea without logging into any tool.

Mistake #4: Picking Low Competition Meaningless Keywords

The core objective of understanding the searcher’s intent is to select the keywords your target reader will most likely search on Google.

Picking low competition meaningless keywords to rank quickly on the SERPs will not reap any benefits.

For example, a low competition keyword can be “How to select best shoelaces for leather shoes”. However, keyword research tools can spit out meaningless keywords like “shoelaces best shoes”.

No one searches like that. You need to select logical keywords that people would normally search for.

Key Takeaways

Keyword research is an art. You need to make sure that you:

• Understand the searcher intent
• Select balanced keywords
• Check for backlinks
• Ignore meaningless keywords

What do you think about the tips mentioned above? Tell us in the comments!