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KEYWORD RESEARCH:

The Definitive Guide (2020

Today I’m going to show you exactly how to do SEO

keyword research.

In this comprehensive guide I’ll cover:

How to find keywords

How to choose the right keywords
How to use popular keyword research tools
Advanced keyword research tips
Lots more

So if you want higher Google rankings and more traffic,

you’ll love this updated guide.

Let’s get started.

Contents

Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3

Keyword Research Basics How to Find Keyword Ideas Keyword Research Tools

Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6

Keyword Difficulty How to Choose a Keyword Advanced Tips and Strategies
 y y y p g

CHAPTER 1:

Keyword Research Basics

In this chapter I’ll cover the fundamentals of keyword

research.

First, you’ll learn exactly what keyword research is (and

why it’s important for SEO).

I’ll also show you how keyword research helped grow

my site’s search engine traffic to 170k+ unique visitors

per month.

What is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the process of finding words and phrases (aka “keywords”) that people use in search engines

in order to optimize content around and rank for those terms in search engines.

Why is Keyword Research Important for SEO?

Keyword research impacts every other SEO task that you perform, including finding content topics, on-page SEO,

email outreach, and content promotion.

That’s why keyword research is usually the first step of any SEO campaign.

Put another way:

Keywords are like a compass for your SEO campaigns: they tell you where to go and whether or not you’re making

progress.

As a bonus, researching keywords help you better understand your target audience. That’s because keyword

research gives you insight into what customers are searching for… and the exact words and phrases that they

use.

In other words: keyword research is market research for the 21st century.

How Keyword Research Helped My Site’s Traffic Grow

Today, my site generates 302,749 visitors every month:

And 200,706 of those visitors (66.29% come from Google:

Obviously, there are a lot of factors that went into my site’s success with SEO, including content, on-site

optimization, link building and technical SEO.

But the #1 factor that contributed to my site’s traffic growth was keyword research.

For example:

A while back I used the process in this guide to uncover a low-competition keyword: mobile SEO.

And I created a piece of SEO-optimized content around that term: The Definitive Guide to Mobile SEO.

Because that keyword wasn’t super competitive, my site quickly hit the #1 spot in Google:
And thanks to that #1 ranking, that single page brings in hundreds of visitors from Google every month:

With that, it’s time for chapter 2.

CHAPTER 2:

How to Find Keyword Ideas

Now it’s time to get into the nitty gritty of keyword

research.

Specifically, it’s time to generate a list of keywords.

In this chapter I’m going to show you proven strategies

that you can use to come up with LOTS of keyword

ideas.

Let’s dive right in.

 Brainstorm a List of Topics

Here’s where you come up with topics that your target customer is interested in.

For example, let’s say that you run a digital marketing agency.

Well, you’d want to ask yourself: ”What topics do people search for that are related to my business?”

Some topics that come to mind would be things like:

Social media
Email marketing
Website traffic
Content marketing
Blogging
PPC

Note: These topics aren’t keywords. They’re broad topics that you’ll later use to drill down to specific

keywords.

Which is exactly what you’re going to learn how to do right now…

Wikipedia Table of Contents

Wikipedia is an overlooked keyword research goldmine.

Where else can you find articles curated by thousands of industry experts… all organized into neat little
categories?

Here’s how to use Wikipedia to find keyword ideas.

First, head over to Wikipedia and type in a broad keyword:

That will take you to the Wikipedia entry for that broad topic.

Then, look for the “contents” section of the page. This section lists out the subtopics covered on that page.
And some of the subtopics listed here are awesome keywords that would be tough to find any other way:
You can also click on some of the internal links on the page to check out the Table of Contents of other, closely

related entries.

For example, on the coffee entry we have a link to “Coffee Preparation”:

When you click on that link, you’ll notice that the table of contents for the Coffee Preparation page has even more
keywords that you can add to your list:

Pretty cool.
 Searches Related To

Another cool way to find keywords is to check out the “Searches Related to” section at the bottom of Google’s
search results.

For example, let’s say one of your topics was “content marketing”.

Well, you’d want to search for that keyword in Google.

And scroll to the bottom of the page. You’ll find a list of 8 keywords that are closely related to your search term.

Just like with Google Suggest, these are keyword ideas that come straight from Google. So you don’t need to

guess whether or not they’re popular. Google is literally telling you: “Tons of people search for these keywords.”

Pro Tip: Click on one of the “Searches Related To” keywords.

Then, scroll to the bottom of THOSE results. This will give you a new list of related keywords. Rinse and repeat.

Find Keywords on Reddit

Chances are your target audience hangs out on Reddit.

Which means you can usually find lots of keyword ideas on this platform.

Here’s how:

Let’s say that you run a site that sells organic dog food.

You’d head over to Reddit. Then search for a broad topic that your target audience is interested in… and
something that’s related to what you sell.

Then, choose a subreddit where your audience probably hangs out:

Finally, keep an eye out for threads that have lots of comments, like this:

In this case you’d add “dog food allergies” to your keyword ideas list.

Pro Tip: “Keyworddit” is a free SEO tool that scans Reddit for words and phrases that people use… and

sorts those phrases by monthly search volume.

Very cool.

Use Google and YouTube Suggest

Now that you have a list of topics, type each one of them into Google.

And see what terms that Google Suggests to you.

These are great keywords to add to your list.

Why?

Because if Google suggests a keyword, you KNOW that lots of people are searching for it.

But you don’t need to stop with Google Suggest.

You can also find keyword suggestions with YouTube Suggest:

And Bing:
 Find Popular Topics Using Forums

Forums are like having live focus groups at your fingertips 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

The easiest way to find forums where your target audience hangs out is to use these search strings in Google:

“keyword forum”
“keyword” + “forum”

“keyword” + “forums”
“keyword” + “board”

Once you find a forum, note how the forum is divided up into sections: Each of these sections are potential
keywords that you can add to your list.
To dig deeper, check out some of the threads on the forum to find other specific topics that your target audience

struggles with:

Pretty cool, right?

 CHAPTER 3:

Keyword Research Tools

This chapter is all about tools.

Can you find keywords without a tool?

Sure.

But a tool makes the entire process A LOT easier.

With that, here are the keyword research tools that I

personally use and recommend.

The Google Keyword Planner

Google’s Keyword Planner is THE most reliable source of keyword information online.

That’s because, unlike most other tools, the data you get from the Keyword Planner come straight from Google.

So you know they’re accurate)

The big downside of the GKP is that it’s designed to help people with their Google ad campaigns… not with SEO.
That said, you can still use the GKP to get lists of keyword ideas…

…and find search queries that get lots of searches.

 ExplodingTopics.com

This new tool is like Google Trends… but better.

Exploding Topics scrapes the web for terms that are surging in popularity. And it bubbles those terms up for you.

You can even sort the list of topics by category.

Nice.

Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere might be my favorite keyword research tool.

Why?

Because it shows you keyword ideas from different places around the web (including YouTube, Bing and Google
Analytics).

All you need to do is install the Chrome extension. And the next time you visit one of the sites that Keywords
Everywhere integrates with, you’ll see a list of keyword ideas… and data on each keyword.
 Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest was the first Google suggest scraper that I used. And last year the tool got a massive upgrade and

overhaul.

Ubersuggest still generates keyword ideas from Google’s search suggestions. But it also gives you data on each

keyword (like search volume, CPC, keyword difficulty and more).

 SEMrush

If you want to invest in a paid keyword tool, I HIGHLY recommend SEMrush.

That’s because SEMrush is a HUGE time saver.

Here’s why…

Instead of popping random keywords into a tool, SEMrush shows you the exact keywords that a site already

ranks for.

So if you have a site that you’re competing against in Google, just pop it into SEMrush.

And steal all of their keywords.

Nice.

Ahrefs

Most people consider Ahrefs a link building tool.

But not as many people know that Ahrefs also has a REALLY good keyword tool.

What’s nice about Ahrefs “Keyword Explorer” is that you get a ton of helpful data on each keyword.
Which can help you decide whether or not it’s a keyword that’s worth going after.

My one gripe with Keyword Explorer is that it’s not great at coming up with new keyword ideas. It usually

generates keywords that are just simple variations of the keyword I typed in.
That said:

When it comes to drilling down to a single term, you can’t do much better than the features found in Ahrefs
Keyword Explorer.

CHAPTER 4:

Keyword Difficulty

How do you know if a keyword is too competitive to

rank for?

It’s a good question to ask.

Because if you choose a keyword that’s super

competitive, you might have trouble getting past

Google’s third page.

But if you can find a keyword without a ton of

competition, you have a good chance of cracking the
top 3.

With that, here’s how to figure out a keyword’s SEO

difficulty.
 Long Tails Are (Usually) Less Competitive

If your site is brand new.

Or if you want to focus 100% on keywords that aren’t competitive.

Then you DEFINITELY want to target long tail keywords.

I’ll explain…

Most people in SEO (myself included) divide keywords into three main categories: head, body and the long tail.

Here’s a breakdown of each keyword type:

1 Head Terms

These are usually single-word keywords with lots of search volume…and competition. Examples of head terms are
keywords like “insurance” or “vitamins”. Because searcher intent is all over the place (someone searching for

“insurance” might be looking for a car insurance quote, a list of life insurance companies or a definition of the
word), Head Terms usually don’t convert very well.

2 Body Keywords

Body keywords are 23 word phrases that get decent search volume (at least 2,000 searches per month), but are

more specific than Head Keywords. Keywords like “life insurance” or “order vitamins online” are examples of Body
Keywords. These almost always have less competition than Head Terms.

3 Long Tail Keywords

Long tail keywords are long, 4 word phrases that are usually very specific. Phrases like “affordable life insurance
for senior citizens” and “order vitamin D capsules online” are examples of long tail keywords. These terms don’t

get a lot of search volume individually (usually around 10200 searches per month). But when you add them
together, long tails make up the majority of searches online. And because they don’t get searches for that much,
long tail terms usually aren’t very competitive.

There’s no “best” keyword category to focus on. All 3 have their pros and cons.

But when it comes to competition, long tails are usually the least competitive of the bunch.

Authority of Sites on Google’s First Page

Here’s a quick way to evaluate a keyword’s competition level.

First, search for your keyword in Google.

Then, look at the sites ranking on the first page.

Not individual pages)

If the first page is made up of uber authority sites (like Wikipedia), then you might want to cross that keyword off
from your list:
But if you see a handful of smaller blogs on page 1, that’s a sign that you have a shot to hit the first page too.

Keyword Difficulty Inside of Keyword Tools

The vast majority of keyword research tools have some sort of keyword competition feature, including SEMrush:
Ahrefs:
KWFinder:

And Moz Pro:

We recently tested a bunch of them. And we found that they all size up keyword difficulty based on a combination
of page authority and domain authority. YET they all tend to come up with completely different keyword difficulty

scores.

Bottom Line? If your favorite keyword tool includes a keyword difficulty feature, go with that. It may not be

perfect. But they do tend to give you a general idea of how competitive a keyword is to rank for.

CanIRank

Believe it or not, but there’s an entire tool dedicated to keyword difficulty: CanIRank.

What I like about this tool is that it doesn’t just spit out a keyword difficulty number. Instead, it evaluates a
keyword’s competition level relative to your website.

For example, I recently popped the keyword “SEO” into CanIRank.

And the tool looked at Google’s first page competition compared to my site’s authority. And it gave me a “Ranking

Probability” of 90%
Super helpful.

CHAPTER 5:

How to Choose a Keyword

Now that you have a list of keywords, how do you know

which one to pick?

Unfortunately, there’s no tool out there that will tell you:

“This is the best keyword on your list”.

Instead, you need to size up each keyword based on a

handful of different factors. Then, pick the keyword

that’s the best fit for your business.

As you might expect, that’s exactly what I’m going to

show you how to do in this chapter.

Search Volume

This is pretty straightforward.

The more people search for a keyword, the more traffic you can get from it.

The question is:

What’s a “good” search volume?

Short answer: it depends.

The long answer:

Search volumes vary A LOT between different industries.

For example, a long tail keyword in the fitness niche (like: “best ab exercises”) gets 10K100K searches per month:

But a long tail keyword in a B2B space like digital marketing (like: “best seo software”) only gets 1001K monthly
searches.

That’s why you want to figure out what a “high” and “low” search volume number is in your niche.

Then, choose keywords based on what’s “normal” for your industry.

Organic Click-Through-Rate

It’s no secret that the number of Google searchers that click on an organic search result is way down.
And it’s no wonder why.

Featured Snippets make it so you don’t need to click on anything to get an answer:

Plus, Google now packs the search results with more ads than ever before:
The bottom line?

Search volume only gives you part of the story. To get a full estimate of how many clicks you’ll get from a first

page Google ranking, you also need to estimate organic CTR.

Here are two simple ways to do it…

First, you can look at the SERPs Search Engine Results Pages) for your keyword.

If you see a lot of stuff on the first page (like a Featured Snippet and multiple Google Ads), then you know that

you’re not going to get a ton of clicks… even if you rank #1.
Second, you can use a tool.

Ahrefs and Moz pro both estimate organic CTR.

With all that said:

I wouldn’t avoid a keyword just because it has a low CTR. If lots of people search for that term, it might still be

worth going after.

Difficulty

If your site is new (or doesn’t have a ton of links yet), target low-competition terms at first.

Then, as your site grows in authority, you can start to target more competitive stuff.

For example:

When I first launched Backlinko, I targeted almost 100% long tail keywords (like: “how to get backlinks”).

And because I didn’t have a ton of sites to compete with, I was able to get some organic traffic rolling in within a

few weeks. Which helped me achieve some early SEO success.

Today, my site has backlinks from over 20k different domains:

So I can target more competitive keywords (like: “YouTube SEO”).

CPC
CPC (cost per click) is a single metric that answers one important question:

Do people searching for this keyword actually spend money?

So yeah, search volume is nice and all.

But if that keyword has zero commercial intent, then there’s no point in targeting that term.

Plus, you can sometimes get a great ROI from a keyword that doesn’t get that many searches… if the CPC is high

enough.

For example, one of my target keywords is “link building services”.

According to Ahrefs, this keyword gets 400 searches per month.

So if I ONLY looked at search volume, I’d say: “This is a horrible keyword”.

That’s why it’s super important to ALSO look at CPC.

The CPC on that keyword is $25.00.

Which means that people are spending $25 every time someone searching for that keyword clicks on an ad.

So even though the search volume for that term isn’t that high, the CPC more than makes up for it.

Based on CPC (and the fact that the keyword wasn’t super competitive) I decided to create content optimized

around that term.

And that blog post now ranks in the top 3 for my target keyword.

Business Fit

Here’s where you look at how likely it is that someone searching for a keyword will become a customer.

Yup, CPC helps you figure this out. But it doesn’t tell the entire story.

For example, a few weeks ago I came across the keyword: “backlink checker”.

On the surface, this is a great keyword.

It gets a decent amount of searches:

And has a $4.01 CPC

It’s also not that competitive.

So this keyword is a winner, right?

Well… not really.

You see, Backlinko is an SEO training company. Which means I don’t sell a backlink analysis tool. So even if I DID

rank #1 for “backlink checker”, it wouldn’t do me much good.

Contrast that with a keyword like “YouTube SEO”.

This keyword’s CPC is only $2.22.

But considering that I sell a YouTube training course, this term is a 10/10 in terms of business fit.

Which is why I wrote a piece of content around that keyword:

 Keyword Trends

Finally, you want to see if your keyword is growing fast… or dying slow.

And the best way to do that? Google Trends.

For example, last year I was considering the keyword: “voice search SEO”.

But I decided to pop that keyword into Google Trends before pulling the trigger.

As you can see, interest in that keyword is growing fast.

Which is why I optimized this page around that term.

Even though that piece of content only brings in about 1k monthly search engine visitors per month today…
…the trend tells me that traffic to this post should increase over time.

CHAPTER 6:

Advanced Tips and Strategies

Now that you’ve mastered the basics of keyword

research, it’s time to cover some cool advanced stuff.

Specifically, I’m going to reveal a bunch of tactical

keyword research tips that you can implement right

away.

So without further ado, let’s dive right into the tips.

Barnacle SEO

Let’s say that you found the PERFECT keyword.

And you rank in the top 3 for that term.

You’re pretty much done, right?

Actually… not really.

As it turns out, you can get even MORE traction from that keyword with Barnacle SEO.

Barnacle SEO is the practice of using other sites’ authority to rank on the first page.

For example, one of my best keywords (in terms of conversions) is: YouTube SEO.

Like I mentioned earlier, I wrote a post about YouTube SEO. And that post ranks #1 in Google for that keyword.
Sure, a #1 ranking is great. But it’s still only one spot in the SERPs.

That’s why I created a YouTube video optimized for that keyword…

…a video that also ranks on Google’s first page.

Bottom line? If you find an amazing keyword, you want to take up as much first page real estate as you can. First,

create content on that topic on your own site. Then, publish keyword-optimized content on authority sites, like

YouTube, LinkedIn, Medium and more.

GSC Keyword Research

The Google Search Console is a goldmine of keyword ideas.

Here’s how it works:

First, login to your GSC account and head over to the “Performance Report”.
This report shows you the terms that bring in the most clicks from Google search.
Then, sort the list by “Impressions”.
This shows you keywords that get lots of impressions… but not necessarily clicks.

Finally, create a piece of content optimized around that same keyword.

Why is this a powerful strategy?

These are keywords that you KNOW people are searching for. You also know that Google sees your site as a good

fit in the search results.

You just need to publish content that’s super focused on that specific keyword (or optimize a piece of existing

content around that keyword) and you’re set.

Optimize Content around Synonyms and Related Keywords

Yes, you want to optimize your page around your main keyword.

But don’t stop there.

You can get even more search engine traffic to your page by optimizing it around synonyms and closely related
terms.

I’ll show you how this works with a real life example.

Earlier this year I published this post on my blog.

As you can probably guess, my target keyword for that page is: “increase website traffic”.

But I also made sure to sprinkle in variations of that keyword, like: “get more traffic”.
In the end, I was able to rank in the top 3 for my main keyword…

…and lots of keyword variations.

Ahrefs Content Gap

Content Gap has quickly become one of my favorite features in Ahrefs.

Here’s how it works:

Just like with SEMRush, you can use Ahrefs to see the exact keywords another site ranks for.

And with Ahrefs Content Gap, you can take this type of competitor analysis to the next level.

Here’s how:

Head over to Ahrefs content gap. And put in 23 competing sites.

This will show you keywords that at least 2 of your competitors rank for… but you don’t.

And because multiple competitors rank for these terms, you know that you also have a good chance of cracking

the top 10.

 Analyze Keywords Based on Searcher Intent

In other words, ask yourself:

What does someone searching for this keyword want to see?

Are they looking to buy? For information? Or are they looking for a specific page (like a login page)?

For example:

I recently created a post that ranks #2 for the keyword “BuzzStream”.

Even though that keyword gets around 2k searches/month, that post only brings in 194 monthly visitors.

What gives?

Well, as it turns out, “BuzzStream” is a navigational keyword.

Which means that most people that search for that keyword are looking for the website… not information about

BuzzStream.

So yeah, that keyword looked great at first glance. But because it’s a navigational keyword, VERY few people click

on anything but the first result. Which is why that post gets so little traffic.

That’s why I recommend looking at the Search Intent of a keyword.

If Search Intent is “Navigational”, then you may want to avoid that term… even if it has great CPC and monthly

search volume numbers.

As you just saw, this is a lesson I had to learn the hard way)

But if Searcher Intent is “Informational”, then a piece of content optimized around that term could do GREAT.

Find “Shoulder Keywords”

Most people ONLY optimize their site around keywords that are very closely related to what they sell.
And it’s a BIG mistake for two main reasons:

1. Product keywords are usually super competitive.

2. There are thousands of keywords that your potential customer searches for when they’re not searching for
that you sell.

And if you can get in front of your customer with an awesome piece of content, they’re SUPER likely to buy from
you down the road.

For example, like I mentioned earlier, I run an SEO training company.

But I don’t optimize every page on my site around commercial terms.

Like “SEO training” and “SEO courses”).

Instead, I rank for keywords that my customers search for when they’re not looking for SEO training.

Keywords like: “link building”, “on-page SEO” and “SEO Tools”).

I call these keywords “Shoulder Keywords”.

These keywords aren’t directly related to what you sell. But they’re keywords that your customers search for.

Which makes them worth going after.

How about another example?

Let’s say you run an Ecommerce site that sells basketball hoops.

Obviously, you’d want to optimize some of your pages around terms like “buy basketball hoops online”.
But don’t stop there.

After all, someone interested in buying a basketball hoop may also search for:

How to shoot a better free throw

Slam dunk highlights
How to get recruited by college scouts
Nutrition for basketball players
How to improve a vertical jump

So you’d want to create content around these “Shoulder Keywords” too.

Now It's Your Turn

I really hope you enjoyed my new keyword research
guide.

And now I’d like to hear from you.

Which tip from today’s guide are you going to try first?

Are you going to try Shoulder Keywords?

Or maybe you want to optimize around trending

keywords.

Either way, let me know by leaving a quick comment

below.

290 Comments  

Ashley

WOWZA! Someone was reading my mind. I was just trying to search your site for keyword research and all of a sudden get an email with exactly
what I needed.

As usual, thanks Brian!

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re not alone, Ashley: keyword research is something a lot of my readers ask me about. I hope you enjoy the guide.

REPLY
 Jake

Hi Brian,
I love these guides. Besides the graphics which I assume are custom built, is there something special you use to create the general layout of
these? The change in colors, etc. just make these really clear to read – would love to replicate that kind of flow.

Thanks as always!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Jake. That’s right: this guide is custom designed and coded. So we built the layout from scratch so that our guides would be super easy
to read and skim through.

REPLY

Siphiwe

Thanks a million Brian. I love your guides, they are informative and hilarious too. Great work.

REPLY

Nick Clark

This is really a fantastic resource. Where did you get the idea of the layout, I’m sure I’ve seen something similar somewhere? 😛
But really, there is a lot of great information the noobs and veterans would like here. Awesome post!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Nick! The idea came from a lot of different sources, like QuickSprout’s Advanced Guides and the great content that Greg Ciotti at Help
Scout publishes.

REPLY

Mike

Brian this is great advice and content. Usually I un-subscribe from some of those ‘other’ email lists – but after visiting your site I can’t wait for the
next update! Thanks for your help and advice.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Mike. Happy to have you as a subscriber.

REPLY

Idris

Great and informative content.

Brian, thanks for your excellent keyword research guide.
 REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Idris.

REPLY

Daniel Cuttridge

Absolutely love this guide, it will be something that I can use as a constant reference in the future if I ever need to double check on something, and
that convenience is much appreciated 🙂
REPLY

Brian Dean

No worries, Daniel. Happy to help.

REPLY

Matt

And the reason you gave this away for free is…jk. Kick ass guide Brian. Much more valuable than some of the paid guides. Would be sweet if you
could package this up into a printable PDF.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thank you, Matt. I’ll look into getting the new guide put into a PDF.

REPLY

Brian

Looking good – love the design and everything! You’ve done it again, Brian Dean!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Brian, thanks for that. I agree: I’m really happy with how the design turned out.

REPLY

Loz James

The word is often overused – but not in this case – this is ‘awesome’ Brian!

Ha! I’m actually laughing out loud right now at just how good this content is.

Folks – this is why Brian is the best in the business when it comes to SEO.
Great stuff man!

Cheers

Loz

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Loz!

REPLY

Zak

Brian, I say this without any bias – every bit of content you provide is Gold. Have been hooked on Backlinko ever since I stumbled here not so long
ago 🙂
Great Work!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hey Zak, thank you. I appreciate that 👍👍👍

REPLY

Steve Stretton

Argh the sharing toolbar is destroying the article on my iPad. Can’t read anything on the left.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks for the heads up, Steve. Fixed.

REPLY

Daniel Moss

Would you consider offering your guides as single pages or pdfs? I prefer reading longer form content like this when offline/on the road. If on a
single page, I can easily Pocket them to read offline. Thanks for considering!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hey Daniel, we usually add PDF versions to each guide eventually. But it can take some time.

REPLY
 Mark Luckenbaugh

Awesome write up Brian. Thanks a lot for taking the time to write this and share it with us.

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Mark. I’m glad you enjoyed it.

REPLY

Volker

Brian, you killed it (again) with this article.

I have to admit, I opt out of almost all newsletters but from the ones I keep, yours is the only one with a CTR of 100% for me.
Keep up the awesome work and thank you so much!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Volker 👍👍👍

REPLY

James

Great guide. Sharing with my colleagues in the department now.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks James.

REPLY

Claude

Hi Brian,
I think is going be very difficult to make a better content than you period… You are Rock 🙂
Thanks
Claude

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Claude. I appreciate that.

REPLY
 Jennifer Ruhman

This is the best email in my inbox this morning! Great surprise. Wow you’ve been busy crafting another SEO goodie. Shoulder keywords make for
easy blog post ideas. I like this guide. Great job Brian.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi Jennifer, happy to hear that. For sure: Shoulder keywords are kind of an underrated approach. Of course we all want to rank for keywords
that are about our products (“Buy X”). But the fact is, most of the traffic out there is for informational keywords (like “how to X”). And if your
content impresses the pants off of people, you can turn that traffic into leads and sales.

REPLY

Eric

I am pretty certain I will be feasting on this article for days if not weeks to come! I can’t thank you and your team enough for the incredible
knowledge and insight.

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Brian Dean

Hey Eric, you’re welcome. This is basically everything I’ve learned about keyword research over the last few years.

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W Zaman

Another awesome content. Thank you, Mr. Brian, to share with us. Cheers!

REPLY

Brian Dean

👍👍👍
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Darshana

Definitely something I was looking into. Thanks for another great, lengthy, informative and useful post Brian!

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Darshana.

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 Davis Baer

Awesome stuff as usual Brian!

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Brian Dean

Thanks Davis. Like all of our guides, a ton of work went into this one.

REPLY

Rued

Somehow you always seem to hit me with the right content at the right time 🙂 Thanks for being an inspiration over the years.
/Rued

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Rued. I’ve got more cool stuff on the way.

REPLY

Biju David

In-depth guide about keywords research. Specially about the keywords to be chosen for new and old websites

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thank you

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James Dooley

Expanding on your keywords using Google Search Console has led us to driving double the amount of clicks so great info there.

Plus effective frequency in ranking in youtube, linkedin articles and other platforms is key because they drive referral traffic back to your page also
and this massively helps ranking.

Great guide Brian!!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks James. Nice. Yeah, that Google Search Console strategy is awesome because it’s Google telling you: “we think your site would be a
good fit for that keyword”. No 3rd party tool can do that.

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 Himanshu

Hi Brian,

I would like to add a tool for finding keyword difficulty – Kwfinder.

I have been using this tool since the start of my career and I can say that it provides the most trustable data.

Best Regards,
Himanshu Tyagi
Founder, CodeItBro

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Himanshu. I actually have the Mangools suite on my tools that I need to check out. I used KWFinder back in the day but haven’t used it
in a year or so.

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Helmi tri cahyadi

Get your email in the middle of night on GMT7

Thanks for your sharing

Its helpfull

And my i ask
I get nothing in email while im trying to join waiting list SEO Course via seothatworks.com

Im also already cek spam/junk

And still get nothing

Thanks again for your sharing.

Sorry for bad english and grammar

Im indonesian

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Helmi. Re: the waiting list email. If you email support@backlinko someone will look into that for you.

REPLY

Graham

Your email just hit my inbox Brian, I took a look at the size of your post and thought “how do you do it?” haha. I’ve just skim read it because a full
read will mean settling in later this evening when there’s more time. One thing that stood out though was how well you have laid this all out, I’m not
a huge fan of ultimate guides because they’re bulky but I can already tell that the way you have broken this down into easy to read chunks coupled
with nice graphics and illustrated examples means so much (and I’ve not even got to how well you do your research yet LOL.
Cheers
Graham

REPLY

Brian Dean
 Hey Grahman, thanks man! That’s actually how I write these guides. I don’t set out to make them this long post full of random information. I
outline each one into discrete chunks. That way, everything it easy to read and skim. Plus, I don’t go off into tangents about this and that. The
🙂
outline means that I have to stick to the script

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Jose

Absolutely great for beginner and expert. I really like your way of keyword research. Thanks for sharing.

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Jose.

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Naveen Rana

Hello sir, excellent article and it did showed me some new tips because I was struggling to find Keyword for a particular topic.

Thanks 🙂
REPLY

Brian Dean

Nice. Glad to hear that.

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Timothy Maggenti

Amazing, have you actually ever published something that did not look so wonderful. Really you always make all my stuff look drab and boring.
Although I have to do it myself, being small but hope to have good looking content like some day, when I am rich and famous like you. Thanks for
all the help you give us

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Brian Dean

Hey Timothy, Thank you. If I had to do this myself I can’t imagine how bad this would look! Guides like this are a true team effort. Thankfully I’m
not in charge of the design, LOL. But seriously, it takes a designer and talented developer to make our guides look as great as they do. I just
write up a Google Doc and the team takes care of the rest.

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Timothy Maggenti

cool, now we know the rest of the story

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 Avdhesh

Hi Brian,

Wonderful guide put up so nicely!

Thanks

REPLY

Brian Dean

👍
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Rahul

Thanks for new updated keyword research guide for 2020, and especially thanks for Wikipedia strategy

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Rahul.

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Karol

Hi Brian,

Great content as always 😉 Content gap tool in Ahrefs is lately one of my favourite place to find new keywords. I usually find there keyword that I
would never think of.

Looking forward to your next guide.

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Brian Dean

Hey Karol, you’re welcome. Have you tried their “link intersect” feature. It’s similar to that but for backlinks.

REPLY

Ganesh

if you write like this articles one day Google will kidnap you.

Amazing article Brian thanks for taking keyword research to the next level.

you will be #1 for “keyword research” in Google

REPLY
 Brian Dean

I hope so. Moz is currently #1 so it won’t be easy to hit the #1 spot.

REPLY

Melissa

Great stuff, Brian, as usual! Very smart nuggets that are both actionable & consumable!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi Melissa, thank you! I tried to make this guide super actionable (outside of some of the background info in Chapter 1. Glad to hear that I hit
the mark.

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arif

I start to read your guide and keep reading word by words, this is an awesome piece of content and very helpful for me. Thank You- “Brain”

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Arif.

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Manoj Maity

Thanks, Brian for such a brief but clear keyword research guide. I have a question regarding keyword research. For some keywords, I find a lot of
business directories, review sites ranking, but the intent is clear commercial. Can I rank using those keywords?

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Manoj. If there are some results that aren’t directories and review sites, you might. But if it’s literally 9/10 or 10/10, then I’d go
with the flow and try to create a page that’s aligned with what’s already ranking.

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Montfort Chisom

Ever since I stumbled on your site while searching for “On-site SEO” I’m glued at the level of content you share for free.

Maybe I should ask, what’s your research strategy? Because I do wonder how on earth you dig up these valuable details.

Great one Brian!

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 Brian Dean

Thanks Montfort. My research strategy is more or less “Document. Don’t create”. I talk more about that here.

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Montfort Chisom

Excellent. I’m already digesting it.

Awesome again!

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Henry C

This information is exactly what I am looking for to make my SEO more effective. There is so much information for me to digest. Thanks again.

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Henry. With guides like these, chunking is super important. So I try to make it so it’s not a giant wall of info. But more like an
SNES strategy guide.

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Doug

This is a really solid guide. I already knew a few of these tricks… but sometimes you forget about all the SEO tricks you’ve previously learned, and
it’s great to get a refresher or reminder🙂 For example, the GSC opportunities tactic of looking at impressions and then finding opportunities. I
think I’ll use that one shortly! Thanks for the reminder on this one!

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Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Doug. Nice! Yeah, the GSC has a lot of untapped features. If you haven’t seen it already, I’d check out my giant guide to the
Google Search Console here https://backlinko.com/google-search-console.

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Rupam Sardar

Great content as usual. While reading this post I came across some new tool like Canirank that I will surely start to use for my next keyword
research. Really love this guide Mr. Brian.

Thanks for this article.

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Brian Dean

Hi Rupam, no problem.
 REPLY

Guido

Hi Brian,
Thanks again. I’m going to visit Wikipedia right now 😉
I personally find it hard to start with the lower keywords competition. But in the longterm it is the way to go for a new website. Mental note to
myself)

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Brian Dean

Hi Guido, you’re welcome. For sure. I even think there’s a place for low-competition keywords for older + established websites. I’m finding with
Backlinko that it still takes a while to rank for anything competitive (although I do usually rank eventually!. But low competition terms can rank
within weeks.

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Arnold

Brian this is massive, very detailed and useful to both newbies and experts. Kudos

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Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Arnold. I tried to tackle some of the beginner-level stuff in Chapter 1. That way, I could focus on more advanced strategies later
on in the guide.

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Hemant kumar

Hi Brian. Great content always.

Brian could you please help me on one issue.

What is the reason of website down in google search now a days?

I mean my website was on 1st page in 67 months before, but today it is going back and appears on around page 89. I am making quality
backlinks and doing proper one-page seo. But still nothing happened.

Could you please tell me what should I do ?

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Brian Dean

Thanks Hermant. That’s a tough thing to diagnose. It could be an update, penalty, a technical SEO issue. It’s hard to say without really digging
into your Google Analytics and GSC. That said, one thing I’d look at is if your entire site dropped or just a few pages. Sometimes focusing on
pages that did and didn’t get hit can help you figure things out.

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Hemant Kumar
 Hi Brian,

My First main competitive keyword was on first page 67 months before. which was related to my website home page.

My second Low competitive keyword is coming on 1st rank on first page, which is also related to my Home page.

But I am surprise that my second keyword is on 1st rank but still my website didn’t get even a single click in one month. I checked impression
in GSC of that keyword, which is more than 200. And my website not get even single click.

This is horrible thing is happened with me. My all other competitor websites title and description is 90% same.

I am really worried about this type of critical issue in my website ranking. I am sharing my website on social site, building quality backlink,
proper on-page SEO, writing content on website, etc. But still not getting any good response.

I also checked Manual Action or penalty by google in GSC. Fortunately my website not penalize.

Could you please give me some steps which I should check according to your experience ?

And could you please make any blog or video related to Google Analytics – Complete Guide 🙂
REPLY

Md Sarwar

A super helpful guide, Brian. I’m using CanIRank for a few weeks and found it amazing in keyword research (suggestions and ideas).

REPLY

Brian Dean

Nice! Yeah, it’s a cool little tool. I like that it has a standard keyword difficulty score. But also takes your own site’s authority into account.

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Amanda L Grossman

Thanks so much for this!

Search results question:

If I see a competitive search term that does NOT have any videos ranking on the first page…is that an opportunity to make a video and get it to
rank there? As in, there just AREN’T any videos for the term to rank

OR

Seeing no video results means that Google is just not going to show videos for that particular search term?

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Amanda. It’s definitely “Seeing no video results means that Google is just not going to show videos for that particular search
term?”. In my experience, if there’s no video, Google doesn’t see video as a good fit for that keyword. Of course, that can change over time. But
I try to focus on keywords that already have videos in the search results.

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Amanda

Great help – thanks!

 REPLY

Rick Crombie

Brain, I am blown away with the expert detail you put into your articles and the amount of quality content you give away for free. I have learned so
much from your work, please keep it up!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hey Rick, thanks man! I appreciate that. I’ll definitely keep it up. We have some cool stuff on the way.

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Ankush Agrawal

Thank you for such a lovely post brian dean. I must follow your tips

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Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Ankush.

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Michael Chen

Brian,

Do you have an SEO agency? If not, can you recommend a couple?

Thanks!

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Brian Dean

Hi Michael, I don’t have an agency. Backlinko is an online training company that sells online courses.

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Sergy

Hi Brian,

Definitely useful information which I will use developing my new website.

Thank you!

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 Brian Dean

Hi Sergy, great. Let me know if you have any questions.

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Moya

Great read Brian, surely helps when you’re working for an SEO agency doing keyword research for pitches day in and day out.

REPLY

Brian Dean

HA! AS someone that used to run an agency, I can 100% relate to that.

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Ahmed Sohail

Hey Brian,

I am almost following you since you were explained a Skyscraper Technique & learned from you that no one is perfect to initiate, experience makes
us perfect.

I keep my close view on your strategy from video, text content to graphics & keep on following them for my clients as & when needed.

Thank you for supporting & sharing your experiences to improve my experience. Just by following you I am motivated & left the JOB to started my
own business & initiated everything last month.

Although, this is just a beginning a day will come with the help of mentors like you & Neil.

Keep it up & help us to share your knowledge

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Ahmed. Congrats on the new business!

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Fahad Rafiq

First of all I thanks to you, Really help me out to research new keywords.
I was not focusing on Shoulder Keywords for my clients. But now I will make sure that these keywords indirectly help you increasing Sales and
Branding.

Thanks again Brian 🙂

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome. For clients in “boring” niches, Shoulder Keywords are where its at.

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 Abu Monsur

Hey Brian,
As per as I know keyword research is one of most important SEO factors along with link building, and content marketing. This great post has been
too much helpful in my new venture of keyword research. Thank you

REPLY

Brian Dean

👍👍👍
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Bilal

Epic content Brian! I love long tail keywords and always easy to rank in most competitive niche.
My question is can we target low competition keyword like 50 volume?
For affiliate site 3K words enough to rank an article on Google?

Thanks
Bilal

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Brian Dean

Hi Bilal, you can. I sometimes target keywords with low search volume if there’s very little competition.

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Paul

Thanks for the long and comprehensive blog post. Really great content. Again. Thnks

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Brian Dean

Hey Paul, you’re welcome.

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Lynn Spencer

Soooo much great info here! Going to try out CanIRank right now! Thanks

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Brian Dean

Hi Lynn, you’re welcome. Hope it helps you out.

 REPLY

Jhon Bueno

Thanks Brian, I really enjoy the guide and discover a tool I didn’t know before “Keywords Everywhere” I like it a lot.

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Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Jhon.

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Robert Taylor

Great article, as usual!

Hey I don’t think your SEMrush screenshot shows any competition or KD. Might want to double check that one.

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Brian Dean

Thanks Robert. You’re right: that’s the wrong screenshot.

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Robert Taylor

I also wanted to add that I think Ahref’s metric of “clicked vs not-clicked” for Keywords is incredibly helpful in identifying whether it makes sense to
go for a keyword. Nice tool to show which keywords generate more rich results and keep people on Google instead of going to a website.

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Brian Dean

Hey Robert, definitely. Some keywords are literally 90% “no clicks”. So it’s important to take a look at.

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John

Great post, Brian. One random question, what do you think is the search intent for the keyword “Our Clients”?

I have a client who ranks #1 for this keyword and it seems very random but has good search volume. Any advice?

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi John, I’d say that’s a “mixed bag” keyword. In other words: there are lots of competing search intents. And Google does their best to match
those search intents with a mix of different types of pages.
 REPLY

Melissa

As always, you’ve outdone yourself Brian! I didn’t even know canIrank existed, I just signed up for a trial and it’s so helpful!!! Thanks so much!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi Melissa, you’re welcome. Happy to hear that.

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Soraia

Hi Brian, thanks for the great content!

A couple of things:

1 since I discovered the Broad Search definition I got lost in keyword research for SEO. Because so many times in GKP one keyword such as “best
seo software” has high volume and competition and a really similar one such as “best search optimisation software” has low volume and
competition, so initially I would chose to go with the low competition one. However, according to broad search definition, “SEO” and “search
optimisation” are actually synonyms, so I don’t see how “best search optimisation software” would have low competition since the big players who
are already ranking for “best seo software” would definitely rank for ”best search optimisation software” too, since Google sees those as the same
keyphrase. So I don’t know anymore how to chose keywords and if I should trust or not the Competition indicator. Does that make sense? And
what is your point of view on that?

2 I found the CPC chapter rather confusing, firstly because it took me a while to realize that in “Do people searching for this keyword actually
spend money?“, by people you mean advertisers rather than regular users and by searching you mean “thinking of optimising for”. Secondly, the
high CPC could also just mean that the advertisers have a bad ROI over that keyword and are not getting enough conversions for what they’re
paying, right? It doesn’t necessarily mean that a high CPC is a “good” keyword to optimise for, does it?

Thank you so much in advance for your advise!

Sol

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi Soraia, thank you!

1. The difficulty metric in the GKP is advertiser competition. Not SEO.

2. By people I actually meant “searchers”. Because in this case, it’s both! Yeah that is confusing. That’s true: it could be that advertisers are
losing money on that term. But over the long-term, if a keyword has a high CPC, there’s probably an ROI there.

REPLY

Pham Thien

I am a big fan of you. Your great posts help me a lot. I am applying long tail keywords to my website and very effective, although the traffic is not
much but the conversion rate is quite good. Thanks again.

REPLY

Brian Dean
 You’re welcome, Pham. It’s all about conversions so that’s good!

REPLY

Andy

Love the idea of shoulder keywords. It allows me to expand the contents around money keywords. Gracias!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi Andy, nice. In my experience, because of the sheer volume of informational keywords, Shoulder Keywords are the biggest SEO opportunity
for most sites.

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Peter Mark

Hello Brian,

I like the way you well explain the small and bigger things in deeply with the screenshot, example plus pro tips.

It looks hard to understand the thing before reading your post but one it starts reading the post so everything comes in mind clearly.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hey Peter, thank you. For sure. Keyword research is a massive topic. There are entire courses on keyword research alone. But I tried to drill
down into the most important approaches and pro tips that I’ve picked up oevr the years.

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Amit

Hay Brian Dean, Great job you have covered everything related to Keyword Research. But, I Was expecting more about voice search & search
intent.

REPLY

Brian Dean

👍👍👍
REPLY

Robin Khokhar

Hi Brian,
You always write amazing articles and guides. And I try to read them all. Over the years your posts have helped me.
Thanks for sharing this amazing guide.
Have a good week ahead.

REPLY
 Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Robin.

REPLY

N Upadhyay

Good tips on keyword research, I would like to know how rank brain affects the phrase match search.

REPLY

Brian Dean

I talk more about that here: https://backlinko.com/google-rankbrain-seo

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baba junaid

Thanks for the comprehensive post. I am going to try the shoulders keywords.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Sounds good.

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Alex Tester

Insightful as always, thanks! The reddit keyword research tool was a new one on me, definitely will use that.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hey Alex, you’re welcome. Yeah, that’s a really cool little tool. Super helpful for brainstorming keyword ideas.

REPLY

Maciek

WWWUUOOW This guide is just pure gold! I thought I understood keyword research already but this is really a whole new level, I never heard of
canIrank but instantly registered! This really covers it all!

REPLY

Brian Dean
 Thanks Maciek. To me, keyword research is really the foundation of SEO. So it’s important to dig deep into how to do it right.

REPLY

Sayeed Ahmed

Thanks Brian for sharing your knowledge. Always refreshing to learn someting new from your posts.

Keyword research is really crucial. Without doing it first there is a danger of losing a lot of time and resources. Being fastidious is the key.

We learnt it the hard way when we started out. We worked so hard for 67 months in a niche, only to realise there was hardy any search volume
there.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi Sayeed, I’ve also had to learn that lesson the hard way. In my case, the issue wasn’t a lack of search volume. It was lack of any sort of buyer
intent. I was getting a ton of traffic but conversions were basically zero. It sucked.

REPLY

Sachin Bisaani

Hey Brian, this is first time I’m posting a comment like this on your blog my other comment are better than this 😊
In your Google Web Console tip you wrote that look for keywords with high impression and less clicks then create a new page with awesome
content around that keywords, but I believe if Google showing that keywords in GWB query with high impression then there must be a page
already dedicated to that keyword, may be page is not properly optimized around that topic.

I believe this will create keyword cannibalization issue, instead of this, this is my opinion we should update existing page around that keywords by
utilizing others technique you mentioned like using synonyms, shoulder keywords etc.

This is my opinion, I always follow you when it comes to SEO, and I also noticed that you have updated many old guides which are advance but
now contains basic tips, reasons I read somewhere is those guide are not matching search intent.

Hope to see those content back again some time, may be they are now part of your course which you conduct and open for enrolment once a
year.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi Sachin, that’s true: there’s definitely more than one way to approach that situation. The issue is: if you change a page to be optimized around
that new keyword, it’s inherently going to be less optimized around the current one. Which can hurt your rankings for that page’s original target
keyword. Which is why in most cases I recommend creating a new page around that term. Hope that makes sense.

REPLY

Sachin Bisaani

Hi Brian,

Thanks for replying,i agree with your suggestion, but still if that page has higher impression on particular keywords and if that keyword
matches the intent then I’d update old content.

But yes as you cleared that their is more than one way to approach given situation, so I’d rather use customize solution.

Thanks
Sachin
 REPLY

Ali Shahzad

Brian, Thanks for an in depth keyword research post. Love reading the new techniques and methods. Will try out Can I Rank tool and see how it
works. Thanks

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Ali.

REPLY

John Gillen

Hi Brian, these are brilliant tips. They will help me with my website going forward!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi John, you’re welcome. Let me know if you have any questions about what you read.

REPLY

Alek

@brian Great post and really helpful tools. 1 on Keywords everywhere, but I would also add how it’s now a paid extension. It’s still great for $10
per 100k keywords.

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Alek. I saw that. Kind of a bummer but they had no choice but to make it paid.

REPLY

Alek

Yeah, but it’s still really useful, especially when you combine it with looking for KW suggestions on Google, all the numbers are just there.
Support teams that provide useful tools all the way! 🙂
REPLY

Brian Dean

👍
REPLY
 Mary Reyes

Wow! Difficult to read and clearly understand overall! Thanks for the awesome guide!

REPLY

Brian Dean

I hope you mean “easy to read” 🙂

REPLY

Santhosh Muralidhar

Such a lovely article Brian. exploding topics was another new topic research tool I came to know after reading your content. And It was very useful
for me to gain information about things like barnacle SEO.

REPLY

Brian Dean

👍👍👍
REPLY

Asen

Hey Brian,

Excellent resource! I’m using a KW tool called Jaaxy. Have you heard of it and is it good according to you? So far I have good results with it but I’d
like an expert opinion.
Thanks!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hey Asen, I have tried Jaaxy but it’s been a while. From what I remember it was solid.

REPLY

Chris Alicks

Hey Brian!

I follow up your email recent email I got keyword Research, But this Niche Research help me to rank my micro niche site.

The main thing in this post which I liked most is Longtail words and its volume.

Whatever explained its works for me Like Charm.

I Will need another Guide or Case Studies on Low Competition keywords.

It will be helpful for me.

Thank you,
Cheers.
REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Chris.

REPLY

Siva

I am doing the same without knowing it – search real estate. 🤣

I just know about the fancy name this method has.

REPLY

Brian Dean

👍👍👍
REPLY

Chris Pontine

Hi Brian,

Great article!

Quick question for you for the “Searches Related To” topic you talk about.

Would you look at these keywords as new content topic ideas

Or:

Maybe sprinkled into the content you are writing?

Or:

Maybe it just depends

Thanks,

Chris

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hey Chris, like most things in SEO, it’s definitely “it depends”. It depends of the search intent is different for the keywords that you find. If the
search intent is the same, you can sprinkle those terms into your existing content. if it’s different, than I’d create a new page optimized around
the new keyword.

REPLY

Chris Pontine

Hey Brian,

Thanks for that! That makes a ton of sense and I see what you’re saying.
 Thanks,

Chris

REPLY

Amit

Really informative! Personally got a lot more to execute. Thanks Dean.

REPLY

Brian Dean

👍👍👍
REPLY

Justin

A lot of great stuff here; thank you!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Happy to help, Justin.

REPLY

Clinton

All we will ever need to research our next keyword!

Loved the section on navigational Vs transactional keywords. Have a lot to work on to update some of my posts.
Thanks for the share

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Clinton. I still target some navigational keywords. But yeah, the CTR for navigational terms tend to be super low. So the search
volume needs to be huge for it to make sense.

REPLY

Rohit

Hi Brian,
This is 4th guide I am reading here. It’s lot to read and digest. Hats off to you!
I am curious how do you create such longgg form post and how much time it usually takes?

REPLY
 Rahul Setia

Your website is my all-time favorite site when it comes to searching for new digital marketing trends and growth hackings and this guide of yours
especially “shoulder keywords” explanation is fabulous.

Keep up the good work!!

REPLY

Brian Dean

Happy to help 👍
REPLY

Jihan Jain

You provided such a piece of astounding information in your keyword research post.
In Chapter 3
The Keyword Research Tools which you give is remarkably useable for all and especially me.

I have just started a website and it have quality content. But some of my articles are not getting rank. So I just want to know, Is SSL certificate
really affects the ranking.

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Jihan. Yes, a HTTPS site has a slight ranking advantage.

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John

Hi Brian – Awesome guide as always. For the long tail keywords that are more than 4 words, how do you get around keyword density? The writing
might not come as natural when we try to satisfy keyword density. Or do we still need to hit a minimum threshold every time we write a post?

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Brian Dean

Hey John, good question there. I wouldn’t worry about keyword density. As long as you use your keyword a few times in the right place, you’re
good. Here’s a guide to how that all works.

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Alex Buraks

Huge thanks great longread!

My lovely combination is ahrefs + semrush to get keywords and then get more from GSC after indexation.

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Brian Dean
 You’re welcome, Alex. Yup, that’s a great long-term keyword research strategy right there.

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Dawn W Smith

Thanks so much! As a newer blogger who is not making much money yet, I appreciate that many of the tools you listed are free! I’m looking
forward to diving into keyword research more thoroughly from here on in.

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Brian Dean

Hi Dawn, happy to help. And best of luck with the new blog.

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Kostas Retalis

Great job Brian! A very good guide with tons of work behind! Keep it up!

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Brian Dean

Thanks Kostas. Glad you liked it 👍👍👍

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Oscar Chokola

Really Brian, thank you very much for this very rich and comprehensive guide.

I read it from start to finish and when I got to the research intention level, I wanted to stop. I asked myself before giving up reading, why did I start
reading this guide? And suddenly; I had the courage to read it until the end. It certainly took me a long time to read it and take notes, but it was
worth it.

I assure you that you have talent and your writing is always motivating and always gives confidence. If you are reading this article by hovering over
it, the best is at the end of this article.

The technique on the shoulder keywords that you share. It is really crazy and I am very convinced that it will work with my computer training
company, management software design, etc.

It is simple and it allows you to find tons of keywords, ideas to better satisfy the client without, however, writing about the motivation for the
payment for the training and pushing the client to touch the pocket.

You are going to correct me, if I understood the shoulder keyword technique correctly: “This technique consists in listening to the customer or the
internet user and writing about the other characteristics or functionalities of the product or services or the customer’s need for meet the real
needs of the client. ”

I would even say: “Understand the client, what he is reflecting in his brain, what he wants to achieve and write that to better bring him value. It is
really, a crazy technique, I tell you. the customer himself can buy or book training without, however, pushing him to do so brutally.

Sincerely, THANK YOU.

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Brian Dean
 You’re welcome, Oscar. And you summed up one of the main takeaways from this guide perfectly. That the real opportunity in keyword
research comes from Shoulder Keywords tha aren’t directly related to what a site sells.

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Matt Zajechowski

Hey Brian,

This is really great stuff. I’m also a big fan of the content gap tool from Ahrefs.

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Brian Dean

Hey Matt, thank you. For sure. Ahrefs has a lot of cool little features that aren’t super well known.

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Keval

Great information Brian.

I’m going to add my projects and should implement your strategies.

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Brian Dean

Sounds good, Keval. Keep me posted on how things go.

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Satish Kumar

Hi Brian
I think Uber Suggest is the best tool for keyword research, but earlier this tool was free, now it has been paid. So now I am looking for a tool for
keywords research, but your blog has solved this problem. Thanks for doing such amazing work for us.

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Brian Dean

👍
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Stephan Moerman

You keep delivering amazing content & insights. Keyword research has always been on my scope, but I think with voice search becoming more
common long tail keywords are increasingly important. Do you think it’ll influence keyword density in the near future? Thanks again Brian! 👍
REPLY
 Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Stephan. It might. I share a lot of my thoughts and data on voice search in this guide. Might be wroth checking out if you’re into
that topic.

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Louis Huynh

I found GSC is the best suggestion, they know exactly what’s already working.

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Brian Dean

👍👍👍
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Joshua

Such a thorough guide, Brian (as always). But what about when you start running out of keywords? If I’ve already created a ton of content around
all my hot keywords, should I just update old content or build new content around shoulder keywords?

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Brian Dean

Hi Joshua, it depends on how old your content is. If it’s old, I’d give it an update + upgrade. Otherwise, I recommend using Ahrefs or SEMRuh to
find keywords that your competitors rank for. That can usually help you find keywords that you might not otherwise find.

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Leslie

Thanks for all the effort, detail and most importantly clarity that you infuse into your posts. Very comprehensive and yet easy to digest.

I now have a dedicated bookmark folder for Backlinko for quick and easy reference – until I get up to speed. Which shouldn’t be too long given your
excellent content.

Couldn’t have come at a more opportune time.

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Brian Dean

Hi Leslie, you’re welcome. Let me know if any questions crop up as you go through the blog.

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David

I was notified on this page I’m using an outdated browser. Yes I am and I’m also using an outdated OS, so I can’t update the browser. I find this type
of notice both annoying and similar to a poor practice of 20 years ago when a site was “best viewed with…” browser.
REPLY

Natacha Besel

Thanks Brian. I wonder. In your Google RankBrain blog post, you say that long tail keywords are dead. My blog is new. Should I forget them or not?
Thanks, in advance, for your feed-back.

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Brian Dean

Hi Natacha, it depends on the search intent for the long tail keyword. If it’s unique, then I’d go for it. But if it’s just another way of phrasing
another keyword, then RankBrain will figure that out.

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Martina Motwani

Thanks for the article. It was very descriptive and provides all the necessary details at one place.

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Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Martina.

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Peter Draper

Backlinko is the mother of all rabbit holes (I mean that as a complement)! I subscribed to your newsletter…next thing I know I am going down the
2020 Keyword Research Definitive guide page, but it’s taking me forever (which is the point I guess) to get through the content because I keep
linking (and reading) to other great content sprinkled throughout your site. I definitely need to hang out on your website some more!

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Brian Dean

HA! Thanks Peter.

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Radu

Hi Brian, excellent guide as always. I have a quick question: Can you please tell me what plugin you use for the social share widget (the sticky
widget on the left)?

Thanks,
Radu

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 Atiqur Rahman

Hello Brian,
I think the “shoulder keywords” and “LSI Keywords” are nearly same, am I right, please?

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Gaurav Tiwari

The last 1 hour was well used. So much information in just one article. I am trying even the oddest tools like Keyworddit thanks to you. I’ll keep
coming back on this post.

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Anoop Nair

Awesome content Brian.

I have noted down each and every suggestion in bullet points. I will definitely go through each of them before selecting the keywords for my next
content.
Once again, Thanks for this awesome content.

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Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Anoop.

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Jerry Wong

Hello Brian, I hope you are well. Can you please help me with some ideas? I am stuck between Google keyword planner and keyword everywhere. I
am not using any paid tools for some reason. Which one should I choose or are there any other free tools for research. I see in your post some of
them, but I need more. I already tried them. Please help.

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Ankit

Brilliant guide Brian.

Great flow of content, didn’t feel boring throughout any chapter. Great and pretty cool tips about using Wikipedia and Reddit.

What tool do you use to take these screenshots?

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Achal Tomar

Very detailed and Informative guide Brian. The Points I liked the most are “Use Google and YouTube Suggest”, Barnacle SEO. CanIRank is
something which I found new and useful and I will check it now. I was so impressed with this post that I shared it on my Twitter too.

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 Natasha

Very helpful information in the post – Google suggestion is best one! We found so many long tail keywords with this trick 🙂 thnx for sharing.
REPLY

Bartek Jancy

As usual, content quality level: Brian Dean. How can anyone fail in SEO when such a great and comprehensive content is available for free? Damn,
you are good. And nuts 😉
Thank you a lot for this. I’m really greatfull.

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Ben

This is great info Brian. As someone who just started a business and is an absolute novice to SEO, I feel like I have a better grasp on these topics
because of this guide. Thanks a million!

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Brian Dean

Awesome Ben! Good luck with the new biz.

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Sumit Kumar

Brilliant blog Brain, “Shoulder Keywords” concept makes total sense and I can see how important this can be as I found your website while
searching for “Link building” keyword and then started reading your post about “keyword research” and now I am keen to start on “SEO training”
because after reading your blog I understood gaps in my knowledge level in regard to organic search. Thanks for sharing.

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David

Brian! You have answered almost all queries for an SEO beginner! I am glad you did! Thanks a lot buddy!

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Brian Dean

Nice!

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Devender Gupta
Hi Brian I have to say the article was very long and it took me some time to read properly but I have to say each and every paragraph contains
awesome information and I think this page is one of the best keyword research resource available on the internet.

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Fred

one word: Awesome!

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John

Thanks Brian, for sharing yet another great and very helpful blog for us! Till now I have used google keyword planner, Google’s people also asked &
google’s related searches feature for the keyword research. It seems easy but keyword research is also not an easy task.
Neil Patel was also a good tool to find competitor’s keywords with their difficult level but now its free features are also limited. Heard about
ExplodingTopics for the first time in your blog. Will definitely try it.
Best wishes, stay in good health.

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Brian Dean

You’re welcome, John. Glad you found the guide useful.

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Nate

Definitely trying out the shoulder keywords concept today !!

Thanks!

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Linh

This is my first time to BackLinko and I think I discovered a treasure chest of knowledge and information from you Brian. Thanks for keeping it real
and for providing ACTUAL knowledge, experience, actionable tips and tricks for SEO/keyword research. I’m putting my feet in the SEO copywriting
field and reading this is 10000x more effective than taking a Shaw Academy class or any other college class today. You provide real-life info and
experience to back it up. You can expect me back on here again!

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Christopher

Hi Brian,

Really appreciate how user-friendly, actionable and valuable your content is.

Thank you for sharing your expertise with us!

Warm Regards,

Christopher
REPLY

Steven Toews

I just downloaded and installed Keywords Everywhere. It is FANTASTIC! Thanks so much for referring me to this.

REPLY

Ed

As always, I love it.

I love the examples—the infographics.

And mainly the fact that it’s so thorough.

Thanks!

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Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Ed.

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Felipe Alvarez

Wow Brian,
This is huge. Always coming with new ideas, tools and tips.
I’m just not agree to leave those kw made up of uber authority sites (like Wikipedia).
In my experiencie. with niche service sites, I have beat big sites of services/products here in Santiago, Chile. Lets say home depot, yellow pages,
etc. and when read about it, its because they are not “niched”, and makes sence.
Maybe i didnt get your whole point, but I wouldn’t close the door to that situation, y fact when i see 1st page full of ubers, I go for it XD
Thanks for this content, will apply some to my Corporate Video Company and SEO clients

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rafik

Hey Brian, this is a REALLY good post but I wanted to point out something you may have missed. When we try to assess Keyword Difficulty, it’s not
enough to use the default KD metrics on SEO tools.

You always need to see the SERPs to determine the Domain Authority and the number of links pointing to each page to get a good sense of how
difficult it is to rank for that KW.

I got this advice from Ahrefs, and it turns out that they’re right because the KD is misleading.

What do you think?

REPLY

Brian Dean

I agree: KD is a good starting point. But it’s flawed. Also, every tool calculates KD differently: https://backlinko.com/keyword-research-tool-
analysis
 REPLY

Alessandro

Hey Brian thanks for fantastic article!!.

I have a question for you.

Let’s say I decide to jump on a niche, but I’m not an expert at it…and I dont know how to write articles.

Just as an example… I like the niche I’m into..but definitely not an expert or writer )

How would you go from there?

What’s the step you would take?

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Shashank Mangal

Hi Brian,

Nice article. Thanks for the effort.

I have a question.

You listed one of the factors of selecting the keywords should be CPC and high CPC means that companies and brands are ready to pay for those
keywords which mean those keywords must be transactional in nature (Assuming).

So if we have a new client, should CPC be that factor to take care of? Because the ideal strategy for the new client should be to target long-tail
keywords which are more informational rather than transactional and their CPC will be zero.

When you started, you also targeted long-tail keywords with more informational content and maybe getting interlinking done to get users to your
intended goal.

Is this correct?

May be informational, long tail with decent volume and low KD should be the ideal factors for any new website.

Your thoughts?

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Ram Thakur

Brian,
I just loved the “Wikipedia Table of Contents” idea for keyword research.
It’s something really new for me. I will give it a try.

Overall, I loved the examples and infographics. It’s like getting premium SEO training/guides for free.

Thank you Brian!

REPLY

Omri Ben Canaan

Hey Brian,
your articles never cease to amaze me. Bravo and merci! 🙂
Quick question: what plugin do you use for your sticky social share buttons on the top left?
Thanks

REPLY

Sergiy Tymchenko

Hi Brian,

Thanks for the great article! Using Wikipedia is so simple but so powerful approach at the same time. Wonder why I didn’t guess about it before 🙂
REPLY

Olajide Gbenga

Wow Brian you’re a genius. This is so informative, even more educational than some udemy courses I have taken to learn about SEO some people
will offer this amount of information as a course. Your blog is really helpful.. Today I have spent more than 4 hours reading your blog, going over
topics I’ve read before and discovering new ones.. Thank you

REPLY

Rohil Raj

Hey Brian,

This is great a in-depth article for the keyword research. I like the term shoulder keyword which sounds really good. Why don’t you publish a
detailed article for the same?

REPLY

Manjit Bhaker

Really like the idea of Exploding Topics, do you know much about the founders 😉
Great guid as usual 👍🔥
REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Manjit. All I know about the founders is that they’re handsome guys 😉
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Alex

Damn, this must be the single best piece of content i ever read on the internet.
At the moment i get distracted by all sorts of stuff, wandering around, lots of things in my head etc. not proud but it is what it is.

The point i´m trying to make is: I HAD TO READ IT. Also this whole line spacing and tons of pictures make it so easy to read. I´m impressed. Thank
you.

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 Tharaka

I think I’m going to use this as a reference everytime I write a new blog post.

Thanks Brian!

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Satish Sahu

No one beats Brian when it comes to explaining such vast topics in depth.

Once I started reading I couldn’t stop myself reading the whole article.

This is probably one of the best article written on keyword research

I also learned about some new tools like explodingtopics, CanIrank, and absolutely loved the “Wikipedia Table of Contents” idea for keyword
research.

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Ivan Miller

Your post helped me open my mind to find keywords for my logo design business. If I can use the table of contents of a Wikipedia page to find new
keywords, I can also use the index or glossary section of a design book. Thanks, Brian.

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Brian Dean

Nice! Great idea.

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Robin Shah

Great tips and on top of that, I like how this blog post is presented as a great detailed landing page. Really like the idea. I am sure a lot of hours
must have gone into producing this.

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Brian Dean

Thanks Robin. For sure: this was quite an effort to put together.

REPLY

Felix Hesse

Great article. I learned so much although I am pretty much an SEO pro. Just discovered explodingtopics.com about 3 weeks ago. They are pretty
good for inspiration but overall I still prefer ahrefs.

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 Harshith

Hey Brian!
Thanks for sharing this super comprehensive guide!
I’d like to know your opinion on Jaaxy and the keyword research methodologies promoted by Wealthy Affiliate.

REPLY

Joel

I’m ticked that it took me so long sign up for your emails! You keep putting out practical and timely content. Consuming all I can! Great job

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Joel

REPLY

Ujesh

Thanks a lot Brian. This is definitely a worth read article. You have nicely curated all the major points about Keyword Research. Really appreciate
your effort on delivering insightful contents.

🙂
REPLY

freshersclicks

Thanks for your good information on the keyword.

https://www.freshersclicks.com/

REPLY

freshersclicks

Thanks for your good information on the keyword.

REPLY

Jhon

very good article and Much more valuable than some of the paid guides. I just read and so clear my mind in the keyword search.
thanks man

REPLY

Alex Smith
Nice Article! One of the best things that I like is that your content is always up to date and different from others.

REPLY

Jazz

Thank you for sharing this post Keywords Research. My website DA 10. Can i target high competitive keyword?

REPLY

Vastu Sarwasv

Best Vastu Shastra Consultant In Jaipur is Vastu Sarwasv

REPLY

webprint software

http://www.vastusarwasv.com/

REPLY

Mehdi

You have hands down the best definitive guides on the internet. I can’t believe this is all for free.

I’m gonna spend a lot of time re-reading this guide.

Thank you Brian.

REPLY

Nick Jones

Hi Brian,
I just loved the content especially that “Wikipedia Table of Contents” idea

It’s something really new for me.

It’s like getting premium SEO training/guides for free. Thanks for this amazing stuff !!

REPLY

Valentina

Hi Brian, I am new in SEO field and your way of teaching is exactly what I was looking for.

I am particularly intrested in “tribes” behavoiur and languages on the internet. In this area, search intent is an important topic.

If you have some suggestions for me, I will appreciate them a lot.
Thank you so much!

REPLY
 Mikey

Absolutely great for beginner and expert. 👍👍

I was struggling to find Keyword for a particular topic and especially thanks for Wikipedia strategy! 😉
Thanks for sharing and shared it with our audience!

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Mikey 👍

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Chris Davis

Brian,
Thanks for the info on Wikipedia. I never would have thought about it. I currently use Mangools software and have another 10 months on the
subscription. How much different is it versus changing to SEMrush or Arefs? Is it worth the swap for now or after my subscription ends. Thanks
and much respect.

REPLY

Brian Dean

You’re welcome, Chris. I recommend reading this: https://backlinko.com/mangools-review

REPLY

Tiffany

This was a great source! Do you have a post that breaks down the “Free vs Paid” tools?

REPLY

Matt Astifan

Wow, just want to say this guide was top notch.

I would be curious to know the results you get from searching the same head terms in multiple tools (eg, Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest) to
compare how they calculate the monthly searches, difficulty and CPC value.

Do you have data on how each tool collects their data? How do we know which is the most accurate?

REPLY

Brian Dean

Thanks Matt. I’d read this: https://backlinko.com/keyword-research-tool-analysis

REPLY
 Clyde

This is really a golden content! You’ve shared a lot of information here and I can’t wait to try them or maybe experiment for some keywords without
using a tool. I didn’t know that Wikipedia could be useful for searching keywords. Thank you for sharing these awesome tips.

REPLY

Noel

Super helpful. I am just in the process of launching a brand new site and service, so this gives me a great roadmap for the SEO part. Thanks!

REPLY

Ahu

Hi Brian, hope you are doing great. I searched your content but there is one topic I couldn’t find information about long tail keywords.

Is the order of the words important in the title tag, header or in the blog post?

Example: Lets say my chosen long tail keyword is “4 month old baby sleep training”.

I will create a blog post about it.

But the actual search term isn’t easy to use as it is.

Instead is it ok to name my post something like “5 success tips to sleep train a 4 month old baby” which is more reader friendly?

Many thanks

REPLY

Brian Dean

Hi Ahu, it depends on the keyword. Search for one version of the keyword. Then the other. If the results are 99% the same, then you know
Google considers them basically the same.

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Charandeep Kapoor

Hi Brian,
This was a great post like all your other posts, and I’ve been a long term fan.

Reading many SEO guides and checklists from all over the internet presents a lot of conflicting topics and also many high-effort-low-return
suggestions to make in SEO for websites.

Could you please create a checklist which could detail which are the best SEO practices and arrange them in terms of effort required vs the impact
of their result?

Thanks!

REPLY

Naina Singh

Hi Brian,
I hope you are doing great. I’m a regular blog reader of Backlinko. I just loved your points on keyword research especially the “GSC Keyword
Research” idea.

It’s something real and interesting for me.

It’s like getting advanced SEO tips for free. Thanks for this sharing and keep sharing amazing stuff like this more in the future!!

REPLY

Zac

Thanks Brian, this is a terrific guide as always. We managed to pick up a few more keywords we hadn’t previously thought of with these strategies

REPLY

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