This document provides guidance on conducting keyword research. It discusses the importance of keywords for tracking search engine performance and outlines a 4-stage process: 1) Extract keywords from Google Search Console, website content and competitors; 2) Add metrics like source, category, search volume and rank; 3) Expand the keyword list using tools and by researching competitors; 4) Optimize the list by removing irrelevant keywords, sorting by metrics, and filtering out uncompetitive or unrealistic keywords. The key lessons are to focus on relevancy, tag keywords as research is done, avoid bulk importing keywords, and have realistic expectations.

1. -How To Do GOOD-
-Keyword Research-
Paige Hobart
Head of SEO @ ROAST
@PaigeHobart

2. Agenda
● Why should you care about keywords?
● What is GOOD keyword research?
● The 4 stages to success:
○ 1 - Keyword Extraction
○ 2 - Keyword Metrics
○ 3 - Keyword Expansion
○ 4 - Keyword Optimisation
● Recap & key takeaways
@PaigeHobart

3. -WHY SHOULD YOU CARE ABOUT-
-KEYWORDS?-

4. Keywords are REALLY important!
SEARCH = -SEARCHING-

5. They help us check our homework
Whether that’s helping us:-
● Track improvements;
○ Rankings
○ Share of Voice
○ Featured snippets
● Identify Competitors
● Flag areas of improvement
● Flag areas of opportunity

6. -WHAT IS ‘GOOD’ KEYWORD-
-RESEARCH?-

7. REAL BAD EXAMPLES
Yes, these are real examples...
House Plant Brand-
- “Aloe vera gel”
An agencies ‘experience &-
innovation’ webpage-
- “Branding”
- “Brand design”
- “Customer Experience”
- “Tone of Voice”
- “Experiential”
- “Design”
- “Commerce”
B2B Factory Business-
- “Augmented Reality”
TV Box Brand-
- “Netflix”

8. -Rule 1-
-Relevancy is EVERYTHING-
Your keyword list should ONLY include words and phrases
you actually have a chance ranking for!
-If in doubt - GOOGLE IT-
Follow
The Rules

9. -So how do we find all these GOOD keywords?-
-1. Keyword Extraction-
-2. Keyword Metrics-
-3. Keyword Expansion-
-4. Keyword Optimisation-

10. KEYWORD EXTRACTION-

11. Google Search Console (GSC)
The most powerful & important tool in the SEO armoury,
-Google Search Console- is the place to start your ‘seed list’.
This way you include queries that already have value!

12. Search Analytics for Sheets
If you want to apply filters (like excluding -Brand-),
or segment your data by URL/country/device/etc.
-Search Analytics for Sheets- is a fab FREE tool
for exporting more detail from GSC

13. Extracting keywords from your website
-Screaming Frog- will gather:
URLs, Title Tags, Meta Descriptions, H1s, H2s, Anchor text, etc.
These are all on-page elements that could/should contain
keywords to include in your seed list.

14. Extracting keywords from your website
Extracting the text in the -Navigation- of large sites can be a great
way of gathering more relevant keywords.
You can also use these as ‘tags’ to group your keyword sets e.g.
the “Sewing” category contains “quilting” & “haberdashery”

15. Extracting keywords from PPC
Extracting
keywords from
-PPC Data- is
another great
source of
potentially
valuable and
relevant terms.
-Only take what-
-is valuable,-
-not everything.-
(Keyword Planner
within Google Ads)

16. -So how do we find all these GOOD keywords?-
-1. Keyword Extraction- - Rule 1 - Relevancy is everything
-2. Keyword Metrics-
-3. Keyword Expansion-
-4. Keyword Optimisation-

17. KEYWORD METRICS-

18. -Rule 2-
-Tag up your keywords as you go!-
Tagging is adding layers of data to your keywords that help you identify
keyword suitability.
-This process is evolutionary-
Adding and adapting this data as you go, will help you!
Follow
The Rules

19. Keyword Tagging = Adding Data

20. Keyword Tagging = Adding Data: Source
Source
GSC
Website Crawl
GSC
Website Crawl
GSC
GSC
GSC
GSC
GSC
GSC
Navigation
GSC
GSC
Navigation
Website Crawl
GSC
GSC
GSC
GSC
GSC
GSC
GSC
GSC
Website Crawl

21. Source Category 1
GSC Cheap
Website Crawl Car
GSC Young Divers
Website Crawl Blog
GSC Bike
GSC Car
GSC Bike
GSC Multi Car
GSC Quote
GSC Young Divers
Navigation Cheap
GSC Young Divers
GSC Young Divers
Navigation Car
Website Crawl Bike
GSC Young Divers
GSC Young Divers
GSC Young Divers
GSC Brand
GSC Young Divers
GSC Multi Car
GSC Multi Car
GSC Cheap
Website Crawl Quote
Keyword Tagging = Adding Data: Categories

22. Source Category 1 Category 2
GSC Car Cheap
Website Crawl Car
GSC Car Young Divers
Website Crawl Blog SORN
GSC Bike
GSC Car Quote
GSC Bike
GSC Car Multi Car
GSC Car Quote
GSC Car Young Divers
Navigation Car Cheap
GSC Car Young Divers
GSC Car Young Divers
Navigation Car
Website Crawl Bike Bike
GSC Car Young Divers
GSC Car Young Divers
GSC Car Young Divers
GSC Brand Brand
GSC Car Young Divers
GSC Car Multi Car
GSC Car Multi Car
GSC Car Cheap
Website Crawl Car Quote
Keyword Tagging = Adding Data: Categories

23. Keyword Tagging = Search Volume & Rank
Each layer of data tells you something about that keyword

24. -Keyword Planner will probably change your keywords-
This is Okay-
Use vlookups to transfer your data into keyword planners output list
This way you will avoid having duplicate search volumes
Just make sure you have manually checked what keyword planner has
changed your phrases to. Most of the time its plurals etc.
Search Volume

25. -Don't use GSC ‘position’ unless you really have to-
Use a dedicated rank tracking tool for ‘rank’ & ‘ranking url’ data-
GSC position can be misleading and widely considered as not particularly
accurate at scale for ranking position data.
Much better to use a rank tracking tool like Myposeo (who we use) or
SERP Robot is a really cheap (FREE up to 25 keywords, then around $5 per 300)
Rankings
SERPROBOT

26. Keyword Tagging = Future State
You can even map keywords to ‘proposed’ URLs if your site
isn’t live, or is undergoing an IA restructure
I FULLY recommend tagging at ‘page level’-
This will be really helpful in the months & years to come

27. -Right, so we’ve got all this data...-

28. Pivoting your data
Pivoting out your tags will show you;
● which areas have a lot of keywords in e.g. “Marketing”
● and which categories have only a few e.g. “Small Business”

29. Pivoting your data
You should aim to have the number of keywords in
each category roughly equal.
Although there are times when this isn’t possible -
-relevancy & quality are more important than quantity-

30. Pivoting your data
Average rank & search volume can
help you identify the categories with
the most opportunity e.g.
“Background checks” is a good area of
opportunity with high search volume,
keyword count and good average rank.

31. -So how do we find all these GOOD keywords?-
-1. Keyword Extraction- - Rule 1 - Relevancy is everything
-2. Keyword Metrics- - Rule 2 - Tag as you go
-3. Keyword Expansion-
-4. Keyword Optimisation-

32. KEYWORD EXPANSION-

33. -Rule 3-
-NEVER bulk import tool keywords-
I promise you WILL save time by manually cherry picking each query and
adding it to your list. This WILL take a lot of time, but it takes a lot less
time versus the clean up after bulk-pasting keywords into your list.
-I’m looking at you Keyword planner…-
Follow
The Rules

34. Tools for keyword expansion
-Now you know the rules…-
Work through your categories bit by bit.
Expand on those themes - particularly the
groups that were a bit light on keywords >
You are allowed to bin off a category if it breaks
Rule 1! (relevancy is everything!)

35. Tools for keyword expansion
-Tools I like to use-
FREE
▻ IBM NLU Text Analysis
▻ Answer the Public
▻ People Also Ask queries (Google)
▻ Related Searches (Google)
▻ Concatenation (Excel / Google Sheets)
▻ Competitor Research > -Navigation-
▻ Competitor Research > -Crawl-
PAID
▻ Google keyword planner
▻ SEMRush
▻ Ahrefs

36. Competitor Research
You can use most tools (apart from GSC) on -any website!-
This means you can steal all of your competitors good keywords!

37. Expanding your keywords and data
Remember -Rule 2 - Tag as you go!-
During the expansion process you may have;
- Identified new categories or sub-categories
- Combined smaller groups together
- Split out large categories into smaller groupings
- Deleted whole categories of keywords
-All of this is okay!-
It’s also okay to have categories that are slightly larger than others;
Sometimes there is just more opportunity in one topic than another!

38. -So how do we find all these GOOD keywords?-
-1. Keyword Extraction- - Rule 1 - Relevancy is everything
-2. Keyword Metrics- - Rule 2 - Tag as you go
-3. Keyword Expansion- - Rule 3 - No bulk importing
-4. Keyword Optimisation-

39. KEYWORD OPTIMISATION-

40. -Rule 4-
-Be realistic !-
You're so vain
You probably think these KEYWORDS are about you
You're so vain (you're so vain)
I bet you think these KEYWORDS are about you
Don't you? DON’T YOU?
Follow
The Rules

41. -Rule 4-
-Be realistic !-
No “Vanity Keywords”
Follow
The Rules

42. Remember these?
These all break -Rule 1- - Delete them!
House Plant Brand-
- “Aloe vera gel”
An agencies ‘experience &-
innovation’ webpage-
- “Branding”
- “Brand design”
- “Customer Experience”
- “Tone of Voice”
- “Experiential”
- “Design”
- “Commerce”
B2B Factory Business-
- “Augmented Reality”
TV Box Brand-
- “Netflix”

43. Finding the BAD STUFF
-Sorting, pivoting & filtering your list-
● Highest to lowest Search Volume
● Highest to lowest CPC
● Highest to lowest Impressions*
*Will only be available for GSC-sourced keywords
● Google it! Are the websites in the top 5
positions like you?
● Filter by locations - do you exist there?
● Filter by keywords you’re not ranking for
● Filter by keywords you and none of your
competitors are ranking for

44. -So how do we find all these GOOD keywords?-
-1. Keyword Extraction- - Rule 1 - Relevancy is everything
-2. Keyword Metrics- - Rule 2 - Tag as you go
-3. Keyword Expansion- - Rule 3 - No bulk importing
-4. Keyword Optimisation- - Rule 4 - Be realistic

45. Thanks!
ROAST @PaigeHobart