How to use Semrush for keyword research.
Keyword research is an integral part of any digital marketing strategy and its importance will never fade. Here is a guide to help you.
This guide answers the following questions:
What is Keyword Research? What keyword research terms and metrics do I need to know? How to find hot topics for content? How to find the best keywords for organic traffic? How to find the most cost-effective PPC keywords? How do I track my site's performance for specific keywords? What are some advanced keyword research tactics?
What is Keyword Research?
Keywords are terms that people enter into search engines to find information. Keyword research is the study of these search terms to find out where the search traffic is coming from in your market and determine what keywords your site can be targeted by marketing.
Keyword research will help you:
Understand and reach your audience Find new trending topics to cover on your site Get qualified links Increase sales Improve advertising campaigns, get clicks and impressions Increase awareness of your brand.
Why you should do keyword research regularly.
Keywords change - there will always be multiple ways to say the same thing, and trends often change the terms people search online. Your audience is growing and evolving, and the way people use search engines is changing. Search engines are also evolving; Algorithms are getting better to better understand content and match user intent. You need to constantly update your content to keep it current.
Basics of Keyword Research.
The Semrush toolkit offers you several ways to collect the best keywords; good fundamentals never fail, and traditional keyword research is where you should start.
Get a quick analysis Build a master list of keywords Find your competitive edge.
Keyword Review: Quick Analysis.
Keyword Review is the easiest way to get a quick analysis of your keywords. A complete overview of all key keyword metrics - volume, CPC, paid search competition, high ranking pages, ad copy, etc.
Run the report, enter a keyword in the search field, and start the analysis.
Keyword Overview: Ad History Report.
The Ad History report lets you identify advertising trends and understand whether a keyword has previously been heavily used in paid search.
View all domains that have bid for this keyword and have had PPC advertising in the last 12 months.
The number in the section shows the paid position that the ad occupied in the given month. Note that this position is not necessarily the location of the ad on the search results page. Even if you've placed the highest bid, your ad may appear under organic search results.
You can also see the amount of ad traffic, the cost of ad traffic, and the total number of ads for that keyword.
Keyword Magic Tool: Create a master list of keywords.
Keyword Magic is a powerful tool for in-depth keyword analysis and creating amazing master lists. Research your niche and find semantically related long-tail keywords subdivided into specific topics.
Start with one initial keyword:
Click the "Search" button and get started:
Explore suggested groups and subgroups of related topics to find niche long tails and ideas for your PPC advertising groups. Sort groups by volume or by number of keywords; Exclude groups you don't need using the eye icon. Keep in mind that any advanced filters you have applied will also apply to the list of topics.
Look out for match modifiers to expand or narrow your keyword selection as you see fit.
Use the "Questions" filter; this handy feature will sort keywords based on questions. These keywords drive tons of quality traffic and often trigger topic snippets that can serve as a shortcut to the top of the SERP.
Use flexible advanced filters to further refine your keyword scope with word count, search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, competition density, and number of SERP results. Include or exclude broad or exact match keywords, and select SERP features to show words that trigger them (some words can trigger multiple features).
Here is a quick video tutorial on how you can use this tool in combination with a case study to develop a content strategy in line with the search terms.
Keyword Difficulty: Finding Competitive Advantage.
As you probably know, you won't be able to immediately rank high for every keyword on your main list. You need to choose wisely where to direct your efforts in the first place.
Hence the Keyword Difficulty metric.
Keyword Difficulty measures how difficult it will be to organically outperform competitors for that keyword. You will find this metric as a column in almost every Semrush report that lists the keywords as KD %.
For bulk analysis of keyword difficulty, you can enter up to 100 keywords at a time in the Keyword Overview report.
In addition to difficulty, this report shows monthly keyword volume, number of URLs in organic results, and SERP characteristics. You can also see a snapshot of the SERP and keyword popularity trends over the previous 12 months.
With this knowledge, you will be able to identify the best low-competition keywords that you can realistically target in organic search and that you shouldn't be wasting your SEO resources on, but rather turn to PPC.
Finding low-competition keywords takes patience, but it pays off because you won't waste time and energy on unrealistic ranking goals.
Do a full keyword analysis.
using the Keyword Browse tool.
Keyword research based on competitors.
Competitor based keyword research is another approach; this method uses websites that are already in the SERP as a starting point.
Instead of seed keywords, you collect seed websites to start your research.
Learn about your organic competitors Identify your competitors in paid search Compare portfolios of keywords.
Organic Research: Find out about your organic competitors.
With Organic Research, you can find your competitors in organic search, see the keywords they rank for, and examine the recent ups and downs of their pages in the search results.
To get started, go to the Organic Research website, enter your domain in the search bar, select the Competitors tab, and scroll down to the table:
Now you have a list of your competitors; they will serve as your starting domains. The list is sorted by the level of competition - this metric shows how close a competitor the site you entered is; it is based on the total number of keywords a competitor ranks for and the percentage of keywords they share with a given site.
Sort the list of domains by the level of competition or by the number of common keywords. Click on the arrow icon to open the site in a new tab, or click on a domain name to collect a report for it.
How to get the keywords of your competitors.
Next stop is the Organic Research Position report for your seed domain.
Here you can see all the keywords for which this domain is in the top 100 search results. Each keyword that a domain ranks for is accompanied by the corresponding landing page URL and some metrics to help you through the research process.
The list you get will probably be too long, so you can add some filtering options by clicking on the Advanced Filters button.
For example, we might find keywords with positions between 4-10 with AC under 60 that include the words "cat food."
Try other filtering options in various combinations to get the most relevant data.
Search for opportunities.
There is an easy way to find potential quick wins - you need to keep an eye on changes in the rankings of your competitors.
Go to the Position Changes tab and look at the lists of lost and dropped keywords.
Dropped — The domain's rankings for these keywords have dropped, but it's still in the top 100.
Lost - The domain is no longer in the top 100 for these keywords.
Try adding different filtering options and with any luck you might find some keywords to earn money from.
Ad Research: Identify your competitors in paid search.
Finding paid competition for any domain is also a breeze with Advertising Research. Your workflow here will be similar to organic research.
Run the report, enter your domain, and switch to the Competitors tab.
At the top of the report, you will see a competitive positioning map. This visualization is based on the domain's paid search traffic and the number of paid keywords, so it gives a good overview of the competitive paid search landscape.
Below you will see a table with a list of paid competitors of the analyzed domain.
By default, the table is sorted by level of competition in the same way as in Organic Research, except that paid keywords are used for calculation.
Here you can easily pick up the seed domains of your top competitors.
Click the arrow icon to open the site in a new tab, or click the domain name to re-report it.
Analysis of paid keywords of your competitors.
To collect and analyze the keywords your competitors are bidding on, go to the Positions report in the Ad Research section.
To get the most out of this report, use advanced filters (eg.g., Include volume over 1000, and Exclude keywords with your competitor's brand name.)
Try different filter combinations to narrow down the list and find low cost, low competitive keywords for your PPC campaign.
Keyword Gap: Keyword portfolio comparison.
The Keyword Gap tool allows you to compare keyword profiles of multiple domains side by side. This is a great way to visualize where and how much you are ahead in search rankings. You can then identify specific opportunities to optimize your site.
Here is a brief description of how it works:
Keywords in content marketing.
Some might say that content is just an SEO tool, which is partly true – content marketing and SEO go hand in hand and overlap in many ways. The success of each is largely determined by the quality of the other.
SEO can be seen as a technical tool, while content marketing is broader and more about communicating information. Keyword research for content marketing comes down to finding out what your audience is interested in and what is trending right now.
So before we dive into the ins and outs of keyword research for SEO and PPC, let's start with a more conventional approach.
Topic research.
With the Topic Research tool, you can find hot topics, generate content ideas, and generate compelling headlines without digging through big data.Topic research is a simple yet effective tool for generating resonant topics, subtopics, and ideas to include in your content.
Just think of something you would like to highlight on your site and type it into the search bar.
You can specify a location down to the city level to target ideas.
For convenience, you can switch the view from Maps to:
Explorer - if you prefer to work with tables. Overview - if you want to get a compressed version of the report. Mindmap - if you like a more visual representation of topic cards.
Whichever look you choose, you will be presented with a top:
Headlines - The most resonant headlines, the priority of which is determined by the number of backlinks to the page. Questions are the most common questions people ask about a given topic. Answering them in your content will increase its value and give you a chance to appear in the Featured Snippet in the SERP. Related Searches are terms that are often requested along with the topic being analyzed in Google search. Use them to better understand user intent and enrich your content accordingly. Click on one of them to recreate a case study for it.
Add headings and questions to your Featured Ideas list and use it to plan your content and create the most compelling content.
Keyword performance tracking.
Position tracking.
Once you've found the best keywords, bid on the most cost-effective ones, and created new content for the low-competition ones, it's time to track how well you're doing.
Just enter the URL of the site you want to see keyword rankings for, select your device and location, and add your keywords.
You can target multiple device types and geographic locations at the same time, down to the zip code level, find SERP opportunities and your local competitors.
Advanced Keyword Research Solutions.
Semrush provides various keyword tools to complement your keyword research workflow. Let's take a look at some of the advanced solutions you can use in Semrush.
Search for (not provided) keywords - Organic Traffic Insights.
Organic Traffic Insights helps you analyze your site's organic search performance by combining Google Analytics, Google Search Console and Semrush data in one dashboard.
This integration of the three data sources ensures that you get the most accurate and complete keyword data (including "not provided" keywords from Google Analytics).
Optimize your ad groups - PPC Keyword Tool.
Use the PPC Keyword Tool to organize targeted keywords into ad groups and optimized campaigns for Google Ads.
You will be able to plan ad groups, automatically generate negative keywords for your campaign, and export the plan to a file for seamless integration with Google Ads.
Another important feature is the ability to provide CPC with keywords and local search volume for a specific city or region.
SERP Change Tracking - Sensor.
Our Sensor can measure fluctuations in search results for your keywords to help you catch and respond to any sudden fluctuations. Whether it's the result of Google's algorithm or something happening in your industry, you'll be the first to know.
Measuring the effectiveness of offsite content - post tracking.
Content partnerships are a great way to build links and promote your brand, but measuring the success of your efforts can be tricky without the right tool.
The Post Tracking tool allows you to track the performance of your content on external sources. Just set it up in your Semrush project and check keywords, backlinks, social shares and referral traffic from any URL you promote on another site.
Keyword Research Glossary.
Keyword research terms you need to know.
A promotional keyword is a query that triggers paid results.
Click Potential is a metric used to estimate the predicted likelihood of a click through to your site if your search result ranks at the top of the SERP. Click potential depends on the presence of characteristics in the SERP that prevent search engines from moving to organic site results.
Generic keywords are keywords for which multiple domains rank at the top of Google search results.
CTR (Click-Through-Rate) - The percentage of people who clicked on an ad or link in search results, out of all those who saw it.
Cross-group negatives is a method of optimizing a Google Ads campaign by using keywords from one ad group as negative keywords from another ad group. This prevents ads in individual ad groups from competing with each other and degrades click through rates.
Featured Snippet is the most visible SERP feature that appears at the top of search results and provides the most relevant response to a query.
Keyword (search term, query) is a word or phrase used in an online search.
Keyword Difficulty (Level of Competition) – A measure of how difficult it is to rank highly for a keyword in organic search, or how expensive it will cost to appear in an ad. You need to analyze the difficulty level in order to choose your battles wisely.
Local Package - A SERP feature that appears for queries with local intent or includes a geographic name (eg. g. 'pizza near me', 'best pizza in Philadelphia').
Long Tail Keyword – A long tail keyword is a search term that falls on the “long tail” of the search demand curve. These are keywords with low monthly search volume but generally more specific searcher intent and a higher chance of converting with SEO or PPC. You can find long tail keywords in Semrush by using the Keyword Magic Tool and adding filters by word count, keyword difficulty, length, and more.
Negative keywords are keywords that allow you to choose what not to target in your Google Ads campaign. Like regular keywords in an ad campaign, negative keywords can be specified with match types such as exact match, phrase match, and broad match. When you add a negative keyword to your campaign, your ads won't appear in search results for that term. This practice helps advertisers save budget and maximize ROI.
PPC (Pay per Click) is an online advertising model used to drive traffic to a website through paid ads (Google Ads). Choosing the right keywords is essential to the success of a PPC campaign. There are three forms of payment:
CPC (Cost per click) - Advertisers only pay when an ad is clicked on. CPM (Cost Per Impression) - Advertisers pay for the number of times an ad is shown. CPA (Cost per acquisition) - advertisers pay when users complete a specific goal.
Search Intent – There is an intent behind every search query, and good keyword research should not only answer what people are searching for, but why they are doing it. Of course, the intent behind the keyword isn't always crystal clear, but it usually falls into one of four separate categories:
Informational - Search for specific information, whether it's a simple answer to a question or a detailed coverage of a topic. (eg, "how to boil eggs for cats") Navigational - search for a specific web page or site; usually includes the name of a brand, product, or service. (eg, 'facebook') Commercial - This type of request is made by people who are considering buying and want to explore their options. (eg, 'best cat toys') Transactional - the seeker wants to purchase something. (eg, 'buy cat toys')
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is the process of increasing website traffic revenue through organic search engine results.
SERP (Search Engine Results Page) - a list of web pages issued by a search engine upon request.
A SERP feature is an extra layer of information or context on top of a regular search engine result. There is a wide variety of SERP features that are triggered by all kinds of keywords.
Volume is a fundamental keyword metric that shows the number of searches for a particular keyword in a given period of time (usually a month). Keep in mind that keyword popularity can be affected by seasonality (e.g. during the month).g., 'black friday deals').
Web Traffic - Simply put, this is the flow of visitors coming to your website. The quality and quantity of traffic determine the success of a site or page. People can get to your site pages in a variety of ways, but we'll focus on two main traffic sources that require keyword research:
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