How Edward Does Niche Keyword Research: Full Walkthrough
Why Keyword Research Inspires Instead of Frustrates
A lot of SEOs hate keyword research. I never actually understood that, because I love keyword research. For me, it's one of the most fun things to do.
I learn what the streets want. I learn what language to use to describe the niche. I can go into any niche and become kind of fluent in it very fast just from doing good keyword research.
I learn what people care about, which informs my products and services. So I can actually make things that people want. I learn what is most important to searchers, and I can make pages that target keywords, then go deeper into what the searchers actually want on those pages -- to reduce pogo sticking and then to move searchers into my funnel.
Walking Away Inspired: Most Niches Are Less Competitive Than You Think
Every time I do keyword research, I walk away inspired. I feel good because I see that most niches are way less competitive than maybe I would initially think.
If you're thinking about going into a niche, or you're struggling with your niche, and you just spend an hour or two actually really looking at the keywords in the niche and going deeper into finding creative keywords, you might walk away thinking, "Wow, this is actually a lot more attainable. Dominating this niche is a lot more attainable than I thought."
That's how I feel when I walk away from doing keyword research. I feel, wow, I can't wait to dominate the SEO in this niche.
Start by Finding Sites That Are Actually Targeting Keywords Properly
The most important thing for me when I start doing keyword research is looking at what competitors are ranking for -- and I don't even know if I would actually call them competitors. I would instead say sites that kind of know what they are doing with keyword targeting.
What you do is start by having a bunch of keywords, or just ideas for search terms. You put in one of these search terms. You see the sites that come up, and what you specifically want to look for is a site that has that keyword in the page title and the URL slug.
If you look at enough of these sites, you will find that one of them is actually doing SEO. Because if you want to do SEO, take your keyword, put it in the page title, put it in the URL slug. You should also put it in the H1 and the beginning of the first sentence. But a lot of sites don't even know to do that.
Finding Hidden Keyword Opportunities From Competitors' Rankings
If you see that, and you look at a few sites, eventually you will find one that is ranking for a decent number of keywords. Maybe they just know how to describe themselves properly, or maybe they are actually doing SEO. Then you start seeing what these sites are ranking for.
You start picking out keywords that are relevant to you. "Oh, that's relevant to me. That's relevant to me." Now you have tons more keywords to go down the rabbit hole and look at.
Why Bottom-of-Funnel Keywords Are the Priority
If you've been listening to the show for a while, you know that I like to prioritize keywords that are closer to the bottom of the funnel. This means the people who are searching them are literally looking to convert. They know what they want. They're just looking for the brand to give them what they want.
These keywords are a lot easier to rank for as well, because they're usually undertargeted. These are the types of keywords where a lot of people aren't actually going after them deliberately by putting these keywords in their page titles and their URL slugs.
How to Start When You Have No Keyword Ideas
I will just start basically by thinking of a generic keyword in my niche. What is my niche? What does my product do? What is my service? I'll put that into a keyword research tool and look at the sites that come up.
If I can't think of generic keywords in my niche -- and that happens sometimes, sometimes I get writer's block like anybody -- I'll just go to ChatGPT. I will literally just speak to ChatGPT for a full couple of minutes, have my voice transcribed, and say: this is what I'm doing, this is what my service does, this is what my products do. I am looking for searchers who know what they want, but don't know the brand that can give it to them. They're searching, they're putting their problems into Google. Give me some problems that they might be putting into Google.
ChatGPT is very good at thinking of generic keywords to start with. And then I will go into those, and again I will try to find sites that kind of know what they are doing with keyword targeting.
The Best Signal: Sites Ranking for Keywords They Are Not Even Targeting
Often what you see is sites are targeting some keywords correctly, but they're not doing it fully well -- and they're ranking for lots of other keywords accidentally that are very relevant to you, that they are not targeting at all. I love seeing that.
It gets me so inspired. You go look at the SERP and the SERP is just not targeted at all. Gets me feeling so inspired.
Using Google Search Console to Find Undertargeted Keywords You Already Rank For
Another easy place to start is Google Search Console. Look at the keywords that you're ranking for. Pick out the ones that are closer to the bottom of the funnel or that seem lucrative, and ask yourself: which ones am I not targeting properly?
Can I insert these keywords into existing content, or do I not have any existing content that's relevant enough? Should I create new content for these keywords?
The Diabolical Strategy: Outranking Competitors in the Niche They're Trying to Create
Another place to look -- this one is pretty diabolical. I actually love this. I've done this multiple times. See how competitors represent themselves. A lot of competitors don't represent themselves with actual keywords, but they are trying to create a niche -- which is very common in the startup world.
Competitors are trying to create a niche and claim it, but they don't know how to do SEO. I know how to do SEO. I will create a page for the niche that they are trying to create, and then when people search for that niche, I show up number one and not them. I love doing that.
Also, they might not even realize that there is actually a search term for that niche. They're describing the niche in a different way than most searchers actually describe it. By doing some keyword research, you find the synonym that everyone is searching for -- and then you make a page for that niche. The keyword is in the page title, the URL slug, the beginning of the first sentence, the H1. The meta description is optional, but I like to put the keyword at the beginning of that too.
What to Look For in a SERP During Keyword Research
This is what I look for in a SERP when I am doing keyword research. First: the keyword is not in the page title or the URL slug. If you see that, it means people are not targeting this keyword adequately. That means if I make a relevant page, it's going to be very easy to rank well for it.
I also want to see low domain authorities relative to my site's domain authority. If I have a new site, I want to see very low domain authorities in the SERP, or at least one low domain authority. If you can see one low domain authority in the SERP and not a lot of pages targeting that keyword, it's usually pretty certain that if you just target the keyword properly -- because other people aren't -- you can rank well for it.
Building Authority by Starting With Lower-Volume, Bottom-of-Funnel Keywords
There are a lot of keywords out there. There are a lot of search terms. There are a lot of people searching in different ways. You don't need to go after the most high-volume keywords immediately. You can start building up your site for relevant bottom-of-funnel, lower-volume keywords.
A lot of bottom-of-funnel keywords are just naturally lower volume, because there are fewer people at the bottom of the funnel. You rank for these keywords, you build your authority, and then you can go after higher-volume, more competitive keywords.
Thin Content as a Ranking Opportunity
Something else I look at in SERPs is whether there actually are sites targeting the keyword properly, but the pages are very thin. You look at these pages and think: I think this might not really satisfy search intent well, and I can create a page very easily that will satisfy search intent better.
Often that's just including more thorough content. By putting up more thorough content, I can rank above a page that has thin content, because it has similar authority to mine. Basically, a longer, deeper page on the subject matter is more relevant than a shorter page on the same subject matter. Google and search engines like relevance.
Low Topical Authority and Low On-Page Relevance as Additional Signals
Something else I look for is low topical authority. Is the site that this page is ranking on actually related to the keyword? If the answer is no, and my site is related to the keyword, I might have an easier time ranking for it.
I'm always thinking through: is this page likely to have high pogo sticking? Can I satisfy search intent better so people don't pogo stick on my content? The biggest indicators are a page title and URL slug that just don't have the keyword in them. If you see that, it means the page is not very relevant -- and it's very easy for you to beat it.
Why Fully Automating Keyword Research Is a Massive Missed Opportunity
I have so many people who come on this show and tell me they are completely automating keyword research. And I think it is a massive opportunity that people miss when they try to fully automate keyword research.
It's just such a tremendous opportunity for people who are willing to manually go into the SERPs, to manually see what other websites are ranking for, to think creatively about which keywords are relevant to them. You get a great sense of what people want and what people are looking for.
Where to Go Deeper: The SEO Course and Compact Keywords
If you want to see me doing keyword research, I do it for two hours in my SEO course. There's a two-hour section called "Finding Compact Keywords" -- these are bottom-of-funnel keywords that are typically undertargeted. You can see exactly how I go about finding keywords, what I'm looking for, how I think through things, the actual SERPs, and the tools I use. That's at compactkeywords.com.
I love this testimonial from John Ray: "Give Edward's framework in the course to one of your motivated junior employees. Have them follow it exactly as he's laid out. Your employee is going to gain a power skill that will serve them for the rest of their career. You don't have to do anything, and you're going to gain a six-figure SEO-level employee just by having them go through this course. Edward, thanks for putting something together that feels practical, that feels new. We've gone through a lot of SEO courses over the last decade, and this one definitely had a lot of fresh stuff for us that felt relevant."
Again, that's at compactkeywords.com. This is episode 964 of the Edward Show -- 964 days in a row doing this podcast. If you watched on YouTube, thank you so much for watching. If you listened on Spotify or Apple Podcasts, thank you so much for listening, and I will talk to you again tomorrow. Bye now.
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