Keyword research is an integral part of any SEO marketer’s job.
But according to a study compiled a few years back, few people actually love keyword research.
Keyword research was ranked as one of the top three most difficult tasks by SEO professionals (behind link building and content creation).
That might be because 66% of us perform our keyword research in-house as opposed to finding a specialist or outsourcing it.
Keyword research can also be a daunting task – as almost 44% of us only do it when we have to.
It makes sense.
When you do your keyword research sparsely, it can feel like a huge project, and there are quite a few pitfalls that make it feel even more laborious.
When I polled SEO pros on Twitter about what they think are the biggest mistakes businesses and marketers make when performing keyword research, I got almost 40 responses – but many hit on the same themes.
Here is a list of the top-named biggest keyword research mistakes to avoid:
1. Forgetting Searcher Intent
So many people mentioned that the biggest keyword research mistake was forgetting to truly examine searcher intent.
What’s the point in ranking your site or content for a query that doesn’t match what the user is looking for?
So many marketers are more obsessed with driving traffic than they are with the bottom line – driving conversions.
And that’s where the searcher intent comes in.
Searcher intent examines what the user is actually looking for when they look for something online.
If you have a recipe site, chances are people want the recipes – not a 2,000-word essay on what this meal meant to you in your childhood.
Match your content to what people are actually looking for or ensure that the right types of queries are driving traffic to your site.
2. Not Looking at Actual SERPs
Part of understanding searcher intent and what search engines understand the intent behind users’ queries to be – is to actually look in the SERPs.
Too many people spend too much time in the tools, and don’t look at what’s actually ranking for keywords.
You may see that the content that Google serves users for a particular query doesn’t match the content you have for that keyword. Maybe you’re writing a blog, but search engines interpret the query to need a product page result.
Look at what type of content is ranking for that keyword and model your content on that framework. – Read more
