KICK YOUR CONTENT MARKETING STRATEGY

INTO HIGH GEARKeyword Research Sources

2016 Edition

Data-Driven Insights, Monitoring and Reporting for Content, SEO, and Influencer Marketing

Kick your Content Marketing Strategy Into High Gear with Seven Keyword Research Sources for Search, Social & Mobile

The world of digital marketing changes fast. Digital marketers in agencies and brands the world over are constantly kept on their toes. From trying to understand Google’s latest algorithm changes, to the application of the next Social Network, to identifying the differences in the discoverability and engagement of content marketing across mobile devices – the execution of digital strategies are, and will continue to be, ever changing and challenging.

One fundamental aspect of the digital marketing process, however, remains unwavering in its importance – keyword research. In fact, the execution of any paid, owned or earned strategy is fruitless without a strong, on-going keyword research component. And with content marketing at the core of digital strategies, keyword research is essential to create an engaging piece of content for a particular stage of the buying process.

According to the 2015 SEMPO State of Search Marketing Report, researching and choosing optimal keywords was ranked the greatest challenge in managing SEO efforts by nearly 10% of the brand marketers polled.

However, what has changed today is the way in which we think about keyword research in the first place. The 2016 edition of this guide looks at the new starting point in keyword research and the evolutions that have taken place with tools and tactics with current keyword research sources.

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In This Guide, You Will Learn:

The Six D’s of Digital Discoverability

The Importance & Definition of Keyword Research

How Your Audience Truly Drives Keyword Research

Seven Sources of Keyword Research

1. Related Searches from Google and Bing

2. Google Search Console and Google Trends

3. Monthly Search Volume

4. Secure Search (Not Provided) Data

5. Competitive Analysis (backlinks, social, etc,)

6. Social Keyword Research

7. Mobile and Desktop Discovery

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The Six D’s of Digital DiscoverabilityDigital marketers require timely, accurate content marketing campaign data to drive decisions and continually optimize content and their web presence in paid, owned and earned media.

1. Which content marketing campaign is performing and which isn’t?2. What are the keywords the campaign is optimized for?3. Which channel (i.e., social, search, email or mobile) is overperforming or underperforming and why?

The only way to effectively and productively understand the answers to these questions is through data. Keyword research provides a data point to make a decision to optimize a content marketing campaign. Optimizing for the wrong keywords can be underwhelming for the brand’s web presence and even disastrous in terms of outcomes and ROI.

The Six D’s of Digital Discoverability walks through the importance of data. At the foundation, accurate, timely data will drive the best decisions in order to deliver the most effective services, which make the most significant difference to dominate and enhance brand discoverability in search and social.

The Importance & Definition of Keyword Research

Now more than ever before, there is a significant focus on content marketing in the digital marketing mix. And while content marketing is a smart investment, if a modern marketer truly wants to win by producing smart content (not just more content) then the content marketing process must include a strong and on-going keyword research component.

At gShift, we believe that approximately 25% of an Optimized Content Marketing budget and effort should be spent on keyword and competitive research.

gShift defines keyword research as “the on-going process of understanding the words that prospects and customers are using in search and social to describe a brand’s product or service that they wish to obtain information on, consume or purchase.” The best keywords to focus on in a content marketing strategy comefrom keyword research data.

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How Your Audience Truly Drives Keyword ResearchIn days of old, marketers could get away with choosing their keywords based solely on search results and their determination of what they wanted to be found for. Essentially, digital marketing, as with traditional marketing, resulted in consumers being told what they wanted.

Today, your audience leads your marketing strategy. Social media and mass communication have turned marketing on its head, causing marketers to realize their consumers are no longer listening to traditional messaging. Today, your audience is already having a conversation about your product, service or industry. Marketers have to pay close attention and to figure out how to be invited.

All keyword research now stems from this understanding and a barrage of tools and strategies have been developed as a result. For instance, social listening has become a key component to marketing research, helping to identify the phrases being used on social platforms. Also, influencer marketing is rapidly increasing in usage as a way to amplify a brand’s message into an existing audiences and conversations.

Google has followed suit with this change, making many adjustments over the past few years to their algorithm. These adjustments have been made to bring the act of searching and the results closer to consumer behavior online. Most notably, we saw this change with Google Hummingbird and Voice Search, two changes that clearly forced marketers to start optimizing for how their consumers would naturally speak.

Voice search has been widely adopted, with more than half of teens (13-18) using voice search daily. Adults are also getting the hang of it, with 41 percent talking to their phones every day and 56 percent admitting it makes them “feel tech savvy.”

For years, we have been talking about Search Intent and audience. With the emergence and continued of Siri, Google Voice Search, and Cortana, keywords search will finally evolve into statements and questions changing how marketers find their audience. Broad targeting will replace explicit keywords matching intent as questions and queries will continue to grow significantly in 2016.

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In an effort to stayRELEVANT AND DISCOVERABLE

brands have to expand their keyword research and

optimization to include

CONVERSATIONAL SEARCHES

1. Related Searches from Google & Bing

For every keyword searched on via the Google or Bing search boxes, both search engines return a listing of re-lated keywords, which have been searched on previously.

This listing of keywords is essentially Google and Bing saying, “Here is a list of keywords other searchers have recently used that resemble the keyword you just searched on”. This insight is valuable keyword data that can be used to create smarter content.

Digital marketers need to consider these keyword variations on an on-going basis and seek to understand:

1. The competitive landscape for each keyword (i.e., volume of searches and competitor content);2. If the brand has any content currently being discovered for the related keywords; and3. If it is worthwhile investing resources into optimizing for a keyword within the context of

the brand’s greater content marketing strategy.

Digital marketers should analyze this keyword data source at least twice per month to identify new keywords to monitor, optimize and create content for.

Related Keywords

Related Keywords

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2. Google Analytics & Google Search Console

Both Google Analytics and Google Search Console are timely sources of keyword research data. Google Analytics is the most widely used website statistics service (Wikipedia), and when combined with Google Search Console, they provide decent insight into:

A. keywords your web presence is currently being discovered for

B. content your web presence is currently being discovered for

A. Keywords your web presence is being discovered for.

The image below shows the Keywords Driving Traffic to this web presence from Google. Now, the data available with this method has become more sparse with the development of Secure Search (Not Provided), but you can still gather some insights. This keyword data from Google Analytics is telling us that searchers discovered this web presence using these specific keywords. If there are keywords on this list that are relevant and have a good search volume, they should be followed in your SEO platform, to understand what content (web page) is ranking in Google and how the content can be further optimized to enhance the ranking and potential for its discoverability.

Additionally, these two keywords should be integrated into the organization’s content marketing strategy since they are keywords already driving prospects to the web presence.

Keywords Driving Traffic from Google

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gShift’s integration with Google Search Console shows you the keywords searched on at the Google search box along with Impressions, Click-Throughs to the website monitored, Click-Through Rate (CTR), Average Position for that keyword and Average Position Change.

Any unfollowed relevant keywords should be followed to understand what content is ranking for the keyword. Consider both the number of Impressions and the number of click-throughs, to better understand what content is ranking for this keyword and if/how it can be further optimized to acquire potential traffic from these impressions.

Keywords Searched on from Google Search Console

Both Google Analytics &

Google Search ConsoleARE TIMELY SOURCES

of keyword research data

Opportunityto Optimize

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B. Content your web presence is being discovered for.Keyword research is an important part of the digital marketing process. However content research should also be conducted. What content within my digital footprint is currently being discovered in the search engines that I am unaware of?

The image below illustrates content found in Google by searchers who visited each piece of content. This content should be followed to understand what keywords it was found for, its position in Google and where the opportu-nities are to optimize it further.

Content Currently Being Discovered, Visited, and Engaged

CONTENT RESEARCH

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{...create SMART, ENGAGING content...}

3. Monthly Search Volume

The number of times a keyword is searched on is referred to as its Search Volume. It is a relevant keyword data point as it helps indicate the frequency and popularity of a keyword, as well as how competitive it may be for a brand to create discoverable content for that keyword.

In the example below, the web presence is currently positioned beyond the 3rd page (position 22) in Google for the keyword “bandsaw blades” and there are 3,600 searches per month on this keyword. This keyword is much more competitive, and the web presence is currently not likely being discovered since searchers rarely click past page 2 in search results. The data is telling us to initially invest time into the keyword “bandsaw blades” and to enhance its discoverability by aiming to have it appear on Page 1 of Google.

Another way to look at this is to realize the web presence already has momentum and a degree of authority for this keyword in so far as it has established Page 3 positioning and is on the rise. That being said, a longer-term stretch goal may also be to work on building enhanced organic visibility for “band saw” or considering a PPC campaign to attract some eyeballs from the higher volume of search.

Monthly Search Volume

3rd page; 3,600 searches each month

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4. Secure Search (Not Provided) DataAs a digital marketer, it likely has not gone unnoticed that when reviewing Google Analytics data the majority of the traffic coming from organic search is coming from a keyword called (Not Provided) or (Not Set). In fact, upwards of 90% of most brands’ keyword data is now unavailable in this manner as a result of Google putting search activity under a Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) certificate in 2013 to protect customer privacy.

Not Provided data is extremely valuable keyword research as these encrypted keywords are precisely the keywords searchers used to find and consume the brand’s content. So how does a digital marketer uncover their Not Provided data?

Not Provided insight data is now available as a keyword research source in gShift. By tracking and monitoring content for a web presence plus the position of the content in the Google search results, strong conclusions can be drawn as to which keywords were used by searches to arrive at a particular piece of content.

The example below indicates the keywords this Home Page is currently found for in Google. Since gShift knows the Monthly Search Volume by Keyword as well as industry average Click-Through Rates, the number of Entrants or Visitors by keyword can be estimated.

This is keyword data that is typically lost!

Estimated Keywords from Not Provided

[Learn More: Not Provided Guide, 2015 Edition]

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5. Competitor Backlink Anchor TextEven with all Google’s search algorithm changes and the crack down on bogus backlinks, inbound links do indeed still matter within an effective organic search strategy and proving the overall authority of a brand’s content and web presence.

The anchor text of your competitors’ backlinks are a valid source of keyword research data that is often overlooked. Insights can be gained into the keywords your competitors are attempting to optimize for as well as content a competitor’s web presence is being found for.

Below is an example of a competitive anchor text report, which reveals several keywords which are not, but should be, followed to determine whether or not they should be incorporated into the organization’s optimization strategy.

Competitor Backlink Anchor Text

{...inbound links

DO INDEEDstill matter...}

Keywords inanchor text

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6. Social Keyword References from TwitterSocial conversations on Twitter are a great source of keyword research data as Tweeters must select their 140 characters very wisely. gShift has a unique software module, which allows for the tracking of a keyword in Twitter on a daily basis in order to understand the frequency, related keywords and related hashtags for any keyword that matters to a brand.

The image below shows the frequency of Twitter conversation over 30 days for specific keywords. From this data, we can understand if any conversations are taking place, helping to identify relevant keywords to focus on, create content for and socialize via Twitter and other social networks.

Frequency of Conversations by Keyword

It can be safely assumed the keywords being used in conversations on social channels are also being used in Google searches and should be monitored and/or optimized for accordingly.

[Read gShift’s Social Keyword Research Guide]

Twitter conversationsfor bandsaws

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7. Mobile versus Desktop DiscoverabilityMore and more people are searching via mobile devices including smartphones and tablets. With over % of all organic search traffic coming to a website from a mobile device (gShift Proprietary Data), it is important to take mobile keyword research into consideration. For example, the keywords that content is being discovered for in Google from a desktop may not be found at all when searching on these same keywords from a mobile device.

Digital marketers require insight into the differences in discoverability of their keywords and content across devices. The example below shows keyword position data for content being tracked for search results on a mobile device. Geography or local search position data can also be reported on, as required.

Keyword Position Data By Device & Location

[Read gShift’s Mobile SEO Guide]

More and more peopleare searching via

mobile devices...

Showing position results for Google Toronto on a desktop versus mobile device

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ConclusionKeyword research data is key to implementing a strong digital and content marketing strategy. Keyword research must be an on-going process driving decisions about how to optimize content, as well as how to create smarter content on a go-forward basis.

As noted, there are many useful sources of keyword research, all of which should be leveraged and cross-referenced to establish a comprehensive list of keywords that will deliver value (i.e., qualified traffic and conversions). Keep in mind that not all keyword research sources are created equally and quality keyword data typically comes at a cost. However, this is generally a small price to pay relative to enhancing the discoverability of your brand by your target audience in search, social and mobile.

Contact Us to learn more about the gShift Platform and request a demo.

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About gShiftgShift’s industry leading web presence analytics platform helps Brand and Agency teams efficiently understand and improve on the impact, engagement and resulting sales of a company’s content across its web presence. gShift’s software infrastructure has been crawling and collecting web presence data since 2009. More than 10,000 brands in 24 countries benefit from gShift’s insight data and software as they optimize their time to improve the discoverability and the sharing of their content. gShift has placed 29th on the PROFIT HOT 50 of Canada’s Top New Growth Companies. For more information, please contact us at 1-866-743-5960 or sales@gShiftLabs.com.

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