We didn’t invent keyword research, we just perfected it.

It’s all about keyword grouping. Gone are the days when you would target a single keyword for each page, now we target topics, and in that topic are a subset of questions in the form of a keyword that users may be searching.

Our keyword research isn’t just a case of using a keyword tool. We have the most advanced keyword research process in the market. The idea is, once we do the initial keyword research, you will never have to go back and do another keyword research again - unless of course you release a new product or service.
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​Keyword Research is split into two parts:

• Keyword research for existing pages
• Keywords gap analysis (for new pages)
  

We do this to avoid keyword cannibalization and to maximize the ranking potential of your existing content. From the Existing Keywords Research, we can identify whether we need to update the content, send more backlinks, or both.

The Full Keyword Research Process (for Existing Pages)

1. Gather all the URLs of Your Website.

Before creating any new content, we ensure that your current content can rank for your target keywords as well as possible. We need all the URLs with its user metrics, backlinks, page depth and other SEO metrics.

This will help us determine how it stacks against your competition on a page level, to identify where we can improve to outrank your competitors.

2. Find the Main Keywords and Secondary Keywords

Now it is time to decide what the main keyword is for each page, it's usually a combination of the highest search volume, most valuable (cpc) and the most relevant to the page.

The secondary keywords consists of keyword variations, related search terms and lsi/contextual terms. Except for the lsi/contextual terms - these secondary keywords belong on the same keywords cluster as the main keyword, and have the potential to rank for the same page.

This means that we should prioritize them as secondary keywords and place them within the content strategically; this also means that we won't need to create separate content for these keywords later on.

3. List the Pages of Your Top Competitors

We take the top 3 competitors on a 1:1 comparison e.g. if we're attempting to rank a blog post, then we compare it to a blog post. If it is a product page, then we compare it to a product page.

This is searcher intent. If Google has determined that based on the user signals that users are looking for product pages when searching a specific query, then that's what they will display. Before even considering onpage optimisation, we must first meet this criteria.

If for example, your website and target page has better Domain Rating, URL rating, number of HQ backlinks, data-driven onpage signals, no technical issues and a quality site structure, then the last main variable missing may be the "content type".

We may have to create a similar content type to what is currently in the top 10 in order to get you there.

The Full Keyword Gap Analysis Process (for New Pages)

1. Gather Your Competitors and All of Their Keywords

We gather all of your top competitors which could be as many as 5-10 competitors.

We then take all of their ranking keywords, compare it against your ranking keywords and filter out any keywords irrelevant keywords.

2. Gather More Keywords from Additional Tools

We want as comprehensive keywords list as possible to make sure we don't miss any opportunities. Your competitors are a great source but they may be missing some keywords. We use various tools to gather as many potential keywords as possible.

3. Cleaning the Keyword List

There are going to be plenty of duplicates, typos, brand terms, irrelevant keywords – we go through thousands of keywords and clean the list of any unwanted keywords.

4. Assign Search Intent

Why is the user searching for this keyword?
Are they looking to make a purchase, investigate?
Where on the buyers journey does it belong? 

By assigning intent, we can figure out how far the keyword is on the sales funnel and help us prioritize the content creation for these keywords.

5. Grouping of Keywords

Keyword Research is part art and science. This is where it is part science. How do you determine which keywords can be optimised for the same page? Do you create unique content for each of them?

You should be ranking content for an umbrella of keywords, but what if you are wasting your time trying to rank keywords that are not optimum for a specific type of content or are not semantically related to each other, according to Google?

The answer is hiding in plain sight; it's in the search results! We look at the top 10 search results and identify where keywords co-occur. From there, we can create groups that, in theory, can rank on the same page together. If two keywords do not rank together, then Google may require different pages instead.

The surest way to meet the standards of Google and improve the rankings of your website.

6. Prioritizing Specific Keywords

Finally, once we have a full list of keywords, cleaned, grouped and categorized by intent, we communicate it back to you. These keywords serves as the foundation for where to draw future content ideas from and so we ask for your feedback on them and how to prioritize them.