How to Drive More Targeted Traffic with Effective Keyword Research

Attracting targeted traffic to your website can be both challenging and highly rewarding. A common mistake many make is focusing on highly competitive keywords that are too broad and general. These keywords neither attract potential buyers nor offer good ranking opportunities.

For instance, if you're in the web design business, consider what your prospective customers would search for when looking to get a website designed. Are they more likely to search for "best web design company in New York" or just "web designing"? The answer is clear.

Read More: 7 Killer Headline Tips to Help You Increase Website Traffic by 500% Focus on Long-Tail Keywords

Instead of concentrating solely on broad keywords, it’s crucial to target long-tail keywords. These are more specific and bring in more qualified traffic. For example, if your site is about online textbook rentals, broad keywords might include "e-books" or "online textbooks." However, your long-tail keywords could be "textbook rentals online," "cheap textbook rental online," or "should I buy or rent textbooks."

Targeting these specific keywords reduces competition and draws in visitors who are more likely to convert into customers. Writing content that aligns with your brand goals while resonating with your audience is a challenge that requires time and effort. It involves brainstorming solutions to the most pressing problems faced by your target customers.

Read More: 4 Types of Content to Bring Diversity to Your Blog

Use Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) Keywords

Avoid the overuse of the same keywords in your content. Instead, use LSI keywords, these are terms related to your main keyword that Google recognizes as relevant to your content. For example, if your site is about volleyball, potential LSI keywords might be "volleyball equipment," "10 rules of volleyball," or "volleyball ball price."

Read More: Co-creation: User Generated Content Techniques

Finding Your Targeted Keywords

Here are some strategies to find the right keywords for your content:

1. Google Analytics: Analyze the queries that are currently bringing visitors to your site.

2. Google Keyword Planner and Google Suggest: Use these tools to discover related keywords that your audience is searching for.

3. Google Trends: Check the most relevant keywords for your target location and compare the popularity of different keywords.

4. Wikipedia: Use it to find suggested terms that your prospective customers might search for.

5. LSIGraph: This tool helps you find relevant LSI keywords to enhance your content’s relevance.

6. Question-and-Answer Sites: Platforms like Quora and Yahoo Answers offer insights into the questions your target audience is asking.

7. BuzzSumo: Analyze trending topics on social media to generate ideas for shareable content.

By implementing these keyword research strategies and focusing on long-tail keywords and LSI keywords, you can significantly boost your website's visibility, attract more targeted traffic, and improve your chances of conversion.

Several factors influence your rankings in SERP. Know about the On-Page SEO factors that influence your site rankings.