This is a presentation for non-SEOs who want to learn the basics on developing a keyword strategy for their website.

1. Photo Credit: Paul Green
How to Master
Keyword
Research
(Even if SEO Makes You Feel Lost)

2. @mattlacuesta
#wcdenver

3. Photo Credit: Anthony Martino

4. Photo Credit: Matt Lacuesta

5. Experience

6. Photo Credit: Nadine Shaabana

7. Image Credit: Matt Mullenweg
SEO in 2009 – Repeat Keywords
in all the places. (WordCamp Denver 2009)

8. Photo Credit: Nadine Shaabana

9. Photo Credit: Naphtali Marshall

10. Image Credit: Sharon Mccutcheon

11. Photo Credit: Ryan Franco

12. Image Credit: Sharon Mccutcheon

13. What is keyword research?
The process of identifying the
terms and phrases that will help
you meet your business goals
with on-page content.
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14. Photo Credit: Naphtali Marshall

15. Long Tail
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The long tail
keywords add up
as they are easier
to rank for. They
will include your
core terms but
will match user
intent more
frequently.

16. GOOGLE ANALYTICS
Utilize site search
data from GA to see
what current users
are looking for on
your site.
This helps with UX,
information
architecture and
content ideas.
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17. GOOGLE TRENDS
Learn from data directly from Google for current trends. You
can search for the US or around the world.
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18. GOOGLE TRENDS
Use trends to compare keywords relative to other phrases in search.
Identify trends and seasonality.
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19. SEMRUSH
Find keyword opportunities by identifying trends and what
types of features show up in the SERPs.
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20. KEYWORDTOOL.IO
This free tool will give you keyword ideas for many different
channels, not just Google. The paid version is worth it if
you’re trying to pull a lot of volume data for non-Google
channels.
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21. SEARCH CONSOLE
You can highlight
basic keywords
from Search
Console and
Analytics to see
what is currently
driving traffic to
your site.
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22. SEARCH CONSOLE
You can highlight
basic keywords
from Search
Console and
Analytics to see
what is currently
driving traffic to
your site.
@mattlacuesta#wcdenver

23. SEARCH CONSOLE
This is a great tool to glean insights from, but
understand that it’s not all of your keywords.
In my view of hundreds of millions of visits,
we are seeing samples of 4-6% of total traffic
and they are heavily skewed towards brand
terms.
@mattlacuesta#wcdenver

24. BUZZSUMO
This is a great tool to see what types of content are
garnering engagement on social. If people are sharing it, it
must resonate.
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25. AHREFS
Use the Content Gap
tool to identify the
keywords your
competition ranks for
that may be
opportunities for you.
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26. TOPIC CLUSTERING
Don’t just look
at keywords,
look at the
themes you can
build content
around.
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27. ANSWER THE
PUBLIC
Determine the
questions that
users are asking
around your core
terms.
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28. ANSWER THE
PUBLIC
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Create content that
speaks to what people
are looking for. Take
advantage of FAQs and
supporting content for
your core pages.

29. PAAs
Look to People
Also Ask to see
what questions
users are asking,
but also what
types of content
show up as the
answer.
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30. PAAs
You can scrape PAAs from
Google and then use python
to organize the data and
organize questions into
themes and categories to
inform your content
strategy.
https://nitto.li/scraping-people-also-asked/
@mattlacuesta#wcdenver

31. Photo Credit: James Best

32. KW RESEARCH
Find keyword opportunities by identifying
current ranking phrases and pages for related
terms.
“Where do you show up, and which page is
getting the job done?”
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33. Research new, high-volume or high-value
phrases for which the site is not currently
ranking.
“Where do we have important gaps in our
content?”
KW RESEARCH
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34. KW RESEARCH
Find core entities, or topics, to tie opportunity
phrases and new keywords into content and
build authority.
“How do we make sure search engines and
humans see our answers as actually relevant
to the question?”
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35. KW RESEARCH
Find questions people ask around the central
terms and key ideas of your site, so you can
answer the right search queries.
“What topics could we directly address with
our site to increase visibility?”
@mattlacuesta#wcdenver

36. Image Credit: Camylla Battani

37. @mattlacuesta
Need help?
matt@mattlacuesta.com

38. Photo Credit: Matt Jones