Research keywords and save the ones worth targeting

Every other SEO tool in a project works from the saved keyword list: rank tracking, the Answer Engine and article writing all read from it. Keyword research is where that list is built. You type one phrase your client's customers might search, and get the related searches with numbers for the country you choose.

Steps

1. 1

   Open Keywords

   On: Project, Keywords

   Open the project, then open the SEO hub and choose Keywords. The page has four tabs: Research, Rank Tracker, Competitors and Cannibalization. Stay on Research.

   You should see: A box titled "Keyword research" with a field for a seed keyword.

2. 2

   Choose the country and language

   On: Project, Keywords

   Set Country and Language to where the client's customers are. Search volume for the same phrase is very different from one country to another.

   You should see: Both lists show your choice.

3. 3

   Type a seed keyword and research it

   On: Project, Keywords

   Type a phrase a customer would search, for example "roof repair charlotte", and press Research. The button reads "Researching…" while it works.

   You should see: A table of related keywords with the columns Keyword, Intent, Volume/mo, CPC and Relevance.

4. 4

   Read the numbers

   On: Project, Keywords

   Volume/mo is the average number of searches a month. CPC is what advertisers pay per click, a sign of commercial value. Intent says what the searcher wants: Informational, Navigational, Commercial or Transactional. Difficulty is shown from Easy to Hard.

   You should see: You can pick out a keyword with useful volume that is not marked Hard.

5. 5

   Select and save

   On: Project, Keywords

   Tick the keywords worth targeting, or use Select all, then save the selection. Clear unticks everything.

   You should see: The keywords appear under Saved keywords below.

6. 6

   Filter the saved list

   On: Project, Keywords

   Under Saved keywords use the intent filter to show one kind at a time. Transactional and Commercial keywords suit service and product pages; Informational keywords suit articles.

   You should see: The saved list shows only the intent you chose.

7. 7

   Turn a keyword into an article

   On: Project, Keywords

   On a saved keyword press Generate article to open article writing with that keyword already filled in. Remove takes a keyword off the list.

   You should see: The article screen opens for that keyword.

Tips

• Find questions returns the questions people ask around your seed. They make good article titles and FAQ entries.
• A note reading "Stub mode — demo data only" means the live keyword data source is not connected for this workspace, and the numbers are examples.
• Ten well-chosen keywords are more useful than two hundred nobody will act on.

Troubleshooting

"Expansion failed" appears.

Try a shorter, more general seed phrase, and check the country and language match it.