Do you feel that keywords are passé, having landed in a grave years ago when Google decided to stop primarily using them for ranking? The latest algorithms from Google focus on topics to find relevancy rather than words. The way people search also reflects an emphasis on topics (or queries) rather than matching words. This has led to many marketers saying goodbye to keyword research. However, researching keywords and keyword phrases remains just as important as it did back when SEO first started to become mainstream.

 

What is SEO Keyword Research?

Keyword research is about much more than simply finding words to sprinkle throughout your content for increased rankings, which is how keywords were traditionally used. Putting in the time and effort remains an important component of your digital marketing campaigns, especially your SEO strategy. SEO keyword research today is about combining user search queries with relevant keyword phrases to create a topical structure for your content. Blog posts written in a format that covers all of the relevant questions and topics surrounding the main keyword phrase reinforce to Google that the piece will provide readers with something valuable.

SEO keyword research has become an art form of sorts. It begins with data and research, moves to topic ideation and ends with natural optimization and subtle reinforcement. These components have to be weaved together in a way that appeals to both reader and search engine without one taking precedence over the other.

 

Things to Consider When Conducting Keyword Research

Because of all that keyword phrases need to accomplish in today’s SEO landscape, it can be easy to get a little lost when learning how to find appropriate user queries to focus new content around. Here are some of the main things to master when getting started on your SEO keyword research.

 

Understanding Relevancy of Keywords/Topics

Relevancy is an essential component of content marketing for many reasons, especially as it is one area that Google uses to match pages to searches. Using keyword research provides you with a larger understanding of all the relevant terms associated with a particular topic. For example, if you are writing about cars, you also want to include relevant terms such as vehicle, automobiles and auto. Simply including a diverse array of relevant terms increases the ranking of your page. Furthermore, incorporating a variety of relevant terms enhances the content and boosts your rankings by demonstrating your page has a more comprehensive understanding of the topic.

When performing keyword research, it’s a best practice to focus on a primary phrase for the overall structure of the post. That being said, it’s important to have 4-5 other related keyword phrases that help expand upon the ideas in that primary phrase you’ve selected. For instance, if the primary keyword you’ve decided to focus your blog on is “How to take great pictures”, you might consider secondary keyword phrases along the lines of “When to take pictures”, or “what camera to use to take pictures”, as well as interchange the word “pictures” with “photos” or “images” to cast the widest-reaching net of keyword phrases in your piece.

 

Learning the Nuances of Your Topics

No matter the nature of your business, the topics about which you write are multi-faceted. It is difficult at times to fully comprehend all sides of your business and adequately include those in your SEO strategy. Working with keyword research provides you an opportunity to learn more about all of the niches and nuances within your business, including those you might not immediately realize. Then, you can include this in your content by writing about more diverse topics, which provide even more ways to be found by potential customers.

Half the battle of content writing is just coming up with a topic in the first place. The better you understand your industry, the easier it will be to spot the holes in great informational content. While one strategy for SEO keyword research is to just take the top-performing words and make better content than everyone else that focuses on that phrase, another great avenue to take is to find keyword phrases with less competition and be the first to make original, great content about it.

 

Discovering Opportunities for Targeting Traffic

Not only does keyword research help you remain relevant and discover additional nuances of your topic, it also helps you to find better opportunities for targeting traffic on your site. You can also find keywords and phrases that have the highest-volume for traffic. Often, these are highly lucrative keywords but also highly competitive and potentially expensive.

As was mention above, you can also find terms that have less competition that might provide additional ways to find traffic. By performing adequate research, you have the information you need to create a strategic SEO strategy that intelligently uses your budget to attract the traffic you want with a combination of high-volume and low-volume terms.

There’s no one-size-fits-all when it comes to SEO keyword research strategy, so coming up with a custom plan that best suits your business and it’s current placement in the industry you’re in is the best way to go.

 

Knowing the Language of Your Customers

No matter how brilliant your content or how much of an expert you are in your industry lingo, if it does not match the language of your customers, you will find that your pages do not rank well. Although you might feel that you have a strong sense of the language of your customers, keyword research provides invaluable insight that you cannot always get simply by interacting with your customers or performing market research.

It includes ways that potential customers think about your products and services and the language they use to search for your products. Including this language alongside the industry lingo increases the number of people who find your information and see it as relevant, which in turn improves your organic traffic and your SEO rankings.

Companies often make the mistake of labeling a product or service a certain way and assuming that everyone refers to it the same way. On the other hand, some things may be labeled correctly but have multiple meanings. Our own company name, BKA is a great example. If you searched for “What is BKA” on Google, you’d find a lot of information about a below-the-knee amputation procedure. However, if someone searches “What is BKA Content” they’d find information about our company.

When performing SEO keyword research, always be aware of language and how user intent changes based on the words in the keyword phrase.

 

Matching Landing Pages and Other Navigational Information

When you create your website, it is important that you make it easy to navigate. If customers find it confusing, they will quickly bounce. Learning more about keywords helps you to create a navigation that matches the language and needs of your customers. For one, the keywords provide recognizable language in which to use as your menu buttons and other navigational tools. As discussed above, there might be a disconnect between the industry language and that of the customers. Using the laymen’s terms in your navigational tools ensures customers know where to go.

Additionally, keyword research also helps you to create more relevant landing pages. Landing pages are an essential component of any successful SEO strategy because they direct customers to the actions you want them to perform. They need to be relevant to the keywords so that there is no disconnect when the customers arrive. Learning more about how the competition and customers use keywords and understand them enhances your ability to create dynamite landing pages.

One great way to showcase this point is to look at how one keyword phrase may be better suited for a landing page vs another keyword phrase that’s better suited for an informational blog. For instance, any keyword that has a question attached like “how to”, “what is”, “when should”, or “Why”, would be better suited for an information blog post that can fully answer their question. Any keyword that is specifically about a product or service would be better suited for a landing page that shows them the product or service and how you can help them.

People want relevant answers to their queries and don’t want to be jerked around by having to navigate through multiple pages. When conducting your SEO keyword research keep that in mind when picking keywords and the associated content types that you’ll use to try and win that keyword.

 

Getting Inside the Searcher’s Head

To increase traffic to your site, it is important to find ways to target all potential customers. Knowing what goes on in people’s heads helps you to create content that matches all stages of the sales process from contemplation to purchasing. As was mentioned above, it is important to understand what phrases match different parts of the stages so that you create content that is relevant to the customers in their present position.

To take it a step further, think deeper about search intent and put yourself into the shoes of your potential customers. If the people searching are simply interested and looking for research, they will want to find information that provides answers to their questions. If they already own something and are looking to solve an issue, then they will search for troubleshooting content. Taking some time to see what pages rank highest for certain keywords and phrases provides insight into the headspace of customers when they use these words so that you can create content that matches it.

 

Discovering Products and Services for the Future

When you research associated keywords in your business, you might also discover products and services you can add to your business to grow and expand. You might not have the ability to expand and grow your business at the moment, but it is beneficial to continually see ways that you could expand in the future rather than only looking into today’s potential business.

For example, if you provide massage therapy services, you might find that many people who search for it also search for facials, acupuncture and other complementary services. Using this information, you might decide to work towards adding facials and acupuncture services to your massage clinic in the future to bring in additional customers.

 

Researching Your Competition

Using tools for SEO keyword research also helps you to have a better understanding of what your competition is doing. The Google Keyword Tool has a component where you can enter a website, including that of your competition. This search provides you with a list of keyword and phrase matches, as well as the search volumes for the keywords. Then, you can determine whether or not to use the same information on your content or focus on other areas based on what your competition is doing.

This might also help you find information that expands your SEO strategy, especially if you do not have a large marketing budget and wish to target areas that are under targeted. Sometimes going after your competitors’ keywords allows you to kill two birds with one stone. You can go after keywords that appeal to your target market while also gaining an advantage over competitors vying for the same keywords.

 

Creating Better Content That Owns the Topic

Search engine rankings rely heavily on strong content. It is important to create relevant content that fully includes the nuances and niches of your business, which you now know after researching for keywords. It also needs to match your customers’ expectations for the results from their searches, which you also have a firm understanding of after you have explored keyword research and learned more about how customers use different languages. Additionally, content should be diverse while relevant, full of depth while remaining current.

When you have a complete understanding of all the different words associated with your topic, you will fully own it and create the best content possible.  Keyword research opens up so many new areas of topics on which you can write so that you do not end up continually rehashing the same content over and over again on your blog or other mediums. You can also use them to improve any existing content by adding in some additional language and keyword phrases that help with your rankings.

 

Developing Better Metrics

When creating your SEO and digital marketing strategy, it is important to have a strong method of knowing what to expect. This assists you in creating realistic goals and parameters with which to assess the metrics. Researching into keywords provides you with an understanding of the efficacy of the keywords, as well as the competition. This ensures that your expectations remain realistic as you determine how to view the analytics and determine whether or not your efforts are working.

Also, by tracking the keywords you’re targeting in your content you may be able to identify keyword trends you can capitalize on. For instance, maybe writing about a certain niche product allows you to jump up the rankings quicker than another, more mainstream product. Or even just a certain type of query relating to your products and services seems to provide quicker results. Use your own metrics to help hone in on what keywords are performing better than others and take advantage of it!

 

Boosting Click Through Rates

Speaking of metrics, SEO research into keywords also helps you to improve them. The research you discover leads to creating more relevant pages, connecting better with customers, and developing the best possible content for your digital properties. Using the right keywords improves your traffic by increasing the page rankings. When customers land on relevant landing pages, your bounce rate decreases.

Appropriately using keywords also boosts the number of click-throughs you get from the SERPS. Using keywords correctly in your meta description and title tags does more than just help your rankings. It also matches your customer’s language to increase the chance that they will choose your page from the results page over your competition.

 

SEO Keyword Research: More than Meets the Eye

As you can see, there are many uses for keywords throughout the entire marketing funnel. Because of this, keyword research still plays a vital role in your SEO strategy. Although Google might not search exclusively for keywords anymore, these important phrases still have a major role to play in developing the best SEO strategy to help you reach your business goals.

Need help developing a keyword strategy for your business? Want to see how properly optimized SEO Blog Content can boost your business to the next level? Contact us to find out how we can help!

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important part of the digital marketing mix. It is one of the most reliable ways to increase your brand’s organic visibility online. This has the added benefit of multiplying the impact of other channels. When your business is easy to find, your marketing efforts are more effective. From on-page optimizations to SEO article writing, a good strategy can give your brand a valuable boost.

Keywords are at the heart of all SEO optimization. These words and phrases are how you can target certain search terms that your audience may enter into Google or another search engine. Finding the best keywords to suit your strategy and budget takes time, effort and research. Whether you hire a full-service consultant, buy keyword articles or do it all yourself, understanding keywords and how to find them can help you better guide your brand’s marketing.

Fortunately, you can find many SEO keyword research tools to help you choose the best keywords to include in your content writing, meta tags and more. Of course, picking through all the SEO research tools out there to find the right one for your needs can be difficult. That’s why we’re here to help.

 

The Top 10 SEO Keyword Research Tools (According to Us)

The following 10 SEO article writing tools are among the best available for keyword research. There is no option that is the right choice for everyone in all circumstances. Nonetheless, if you use any of the following, you will be setting your SEO keyword research off on the right foot.

 

1. SEMrush

SEMrush is a comprehensive suite of SEO article writing tools for researching keywords and analyzing competitors. It is one of the most popular SEO research tools on the market because of the in-depth data it delivers.

If you want to learn which keywords you are currently ranking for, you can search your URL in SEMrush’s organic research tab. On this page, you can see the traffic you are earning and an estimated value of that traffic. Additionally, you can click to view your positions for different keywords. This will let you know how effective your SEO article writing and other activities are. You may also discover new keywords that you are ranking for without targeting.

The same works for examining competitor’s websites. This is a great way to find some keywords that you wouldn’t have otherwise considered.

You can also get a keyword gap report. This shows you keywords that many of your competitors are ranking for but that you aren’t currently targeting.

 

Pros: SEMrush has a lot of features, including some very in-depth insight such as keyword difficulty. It is also easy to get started with simple reports, such as the keyword gaps.

Cons: SEMrush’s SEO research tools don’t come free. The Pro plan is the most budget-friendly and starts at $83 per month if billed annually.

Verdict: This should be a top consideration for anyone who isn’t sweating every penny of the SEO budget. It offers a lot and can be the linchpin of a mature and effective SEO strategy. For 20% off of annual plans, you can sign up for SEMRush here.

 

2. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is almost the total opposite of SEMrush. It is very simple, with only limited features. However, it is available completely for free provided that you have an AdWords account.

This SEO keyword research tool benefits significantly from being produced by Google. It is one of the most accurate sources of information about keywords and SEO on the market. Even the most expensive paid tools struggle to offer the same level of precise information.

Using the keyword research tool, you can get suggested keywords based on ones you may already be using. You can also research keywords to see insights such as keyword search volume. If you intend to also use your SEO keywords for a paid ad campaign, you can get an estimate of the necessary bid to get your ad seen.

 

Pros: Google Keyword Planner is highly accurate with the few features it offers. It is also available for free for anyone with an AdWords account (which is also free to create).

Cons: This tool is relatively bare bones. Nearly all research tools can offer the same features and more.

Verdict: For anything beyond the most basic SEO strategy, you will likely need something more feature-rich than Google Keyword Planner. Nonetheless, it is so accurate that you could use this SEO article writing tool in conjunction with others to help plan your SEO keywords.

 

3. Serpstat

If you want more than just keyword research, Serpstat should be on your radar. It is a full SEO suite that combines keyword research, website analytics, SERP analysis, rank tracking and more.

Compared to similar SEO research tools, Serpstat is more oriented to individual page analysis. You can define missing keywords on a page-by-page basis or for an entire URL. It has tools for analyzing competitors as well as seeing how your pages are ranking. The unique “tree view” helps you find the search terms for which have nearly reached the top 10 search engine results page. This can help you refocus your article writing.

One of the best features in Serpstat is its filter. You can set parameters to drill down your research and find exactly what you are looking for. SEO keyword research can often involve a lot of data, so having this effective filtering functionality is very helpful.

 

Pros: Serpstat has a great user interface and a lot of functionality. The pricing starts at $55 per month when billed annually. This is relatively affordable among paid SEO research tools.

Cons: The site audit functionality does not offer many unique insights. It also does not have any tools for social media data.

Verdict: Overall, Serpstat offers a lot for a good price. Its keyword analysis is particularly good.

 

4. Majestic

Majestic is another full-suite SEO tool. It helps you track your site’s search engine health over time.

It includes keyword functionality in the most basic plan. The more advanced options have special features for bulk research and API integration.

You can research competitors on individual keywords. It also highlights keywords and phrases that you could easily target. Many users appreciate the backlink history tools (Pro and API), custom reports and the keyword checker.

This is an excellent choice if you want to do more than just keyword research. It can help you with everything from planning your content writing to optimizing your backlinks.

 

Pros: Majestic has a lot to offer, including a particularly strong onsite analysis report. It also provides very easy-to-use keyword research tools.

Cons: Some users have reported missing data on some SEO reports. Additionally, anyone wanting to use the API may struggle with its reliability.

Verdict: Starting at under $42 per month, Majestic has a lot to offer at a reasonable price. However, it is more difficult to get started with than some other tools. Some prior expertise may be required.

 

5. Keyword Tool

For delving into keywords, this is one of the best keyword research tool options available. The very aptly named Keyword Tool can offer in-depth insights into keywords. Unlike with many of the other tools on this list, you can easily view reports for Google, YouTube, Amazon, Bing, social media and more.

In a sense, Keyword Tool is like an upgraded version of Google Keyword Planner. It does not have a full set of SEO research tools. However, it focuses almost exclusively on keyword research and does that very well.

The user experience is very simple. Additionally, you can get up to 750 keywords for free. The pro version offers even more results and more in-depth data. Using the Google Autocomplete API, Keyword Tool will suggest dozens or hundreds of long-tail keywords for a given topic. It also uses Google Suggest to find other relevant keywords.

 

Pros: This is one of the most user-friendly SEO article writing tools on the list. It is also very focused on keyword research. If you need keywords to fuel your SEO article writing, this may be the tool for you.

Cons: It is weak on competitor analysis, and the Pro Basic plan does not include cost-per-click data. Additionally, it is relatively expensive for the number of features.

Verdict: Starting at $69 per month, Keyword Tool is surprisingly expensive for its feature set. However, it has some of the best data within its limited scope.

 

6. Long Tail Pro

Increasingly, long-tail keywords are becoming the darling of the SEO world. They tend to be less competitive and are more likely to convert than shorter keywords. Long Tail Pro focuses on this trend. It is a great way to find high-value keywords to incorporate into your content writing.

Long Tail Pro offers valuable SEO research tools for niche keywords based on seed keywords. The metrics provided are detailed and useful. The program also offers smart recommendations to help you find high-end organic traffic sources. Long Tail Pro can perform over 2,500 SERP look-ups per day.

The user interface is well-designed and easy to understand. Overall, this tool provides a great user experience for both advanced and novice users.

 

Pros: You can get keyword suggestions in bulk with useful scoring. The data is very accurate and easy to use.

Cons: There are limits to the amount of research you can do. The pricing is based around this and starts at $207.90 per year.

Verdict: This is a valuable SEO research tool if you want to delve into long-tail keywords. Few tools are as user-friendly and as effective for this subset of SEO.

 

7. SpyFu

As the name suggests, SpyFu is focused on analyzing competitors and their SEO strategies. It is widely considered to be one of the best keyword research tools for this purpose. If you are working in a saturated niche, SpyFu will help you uncover valuable and relatively untapped keywords to target.

SpyFu is accessible enough for average users to jump in. However, it also has sufficient data and detail for advanced SEOs to use. Additionally, it offers ongoing site monitoring.

This article writing tool isn’t limited to SEO. It also has some valuable insights for PPC ads and variations on campaigns. Let your competitors optimize your campaigns for you by analyzing their work and finding gaps that you can exploit. It is like letting other businesses do your search engine marketing testing for you.

 

Pros: SpyFu offers a deep feature set, valuable reports and good support. It also starts at a reasonable price ($33 per month billed annually).

Cons: It is less optimized for independent keyword research. If you aren’t looking at competitors, this tool may fall a little short.

Verdict: This is an excellent choice with a lot of value for its price. It is especially well-suited for businesses in competitive spaces.

 

8. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is generally viewed as one of the top SEO research tools for professional search engine optimizers. Given that the name is a reference to HTML code, it is probably no surprise that this tool is a little more technical than some of the others on this list. Nonetheless, once you have the hang of it, Ahrefs has a lot to offer.

The data reported by Ahrefs is very accurate, and the scoring provides valuable insight. Additionally, there are helpful metrics for improving click-through rates. You’ll also find in-depth SERP analysis to help you locate keywords that are easy to improve.

Like many other suites on this list, Ahrefs does not offer its keyword explorer separately. Instead, you will get access to the entire set of Ahrefs tools. These include site audits, site explorer, rank tracker and more. There is even a content explorer to help you optimize your content writing.

 

Pros: Ahrefs has among the best feature sets in the business. There is an immense amount of data to mine and analyze.

Cons: The keyword tools are limited in the lowest tier plan. Additionally, Ahrefs does not hold users’ hands. This requires some time to learn.

Verdict: If you buy articles from an experienced SEO team, there is a reasonable chance they are using this tool. It is the go-to for a good reason. However, it is not the best option for beginners. Pricing starts at $82 per month billed annually.

 

9. KWFinder

KWFinder is all about finding keywords. (What a surprise!) It has fewer features than some of the other SEO research tools on this list. Instead, the developers chose to focus almost exclusively on keyword discovery. For this job, it is a very good tool.

As you start your SEO article writing, KWFinder can help you to discover useful keywords with detailed suggestions and ad hoc searches. It also provides SERP-specific tools that will empower you to discover how to improve your rankings.

This is a good tool for competitor keyword analysis. It includes filtering that will eliminate keyword results that aren’t going to be profitable for you.

 

Pros: The keyword tools are very strong and provide plenty of actionable and useful information. You can explore keyword variants, long tails and domain keywords.

Cons: If you ever want to expand beyond keywords, this is not the right tool for you. It has limited features for anything beyond keyword-specific queries.

Verdict: For planning the keywords in your content writing strategy, this can be a great choice. With pricing starting at under $30 per month, it is affordable. Just don’t expect a full suite of features.

 

10. Moz Keyword Explorer

Moz has firmly established itself as a go-to resource for learning about SEO. Many people use their guides to help start their first SEO article writing efforts. So, it is probably no surprise that the Moz Keyword Explorer delivers some excellent functionality.

This SEO article writing tool offers two unique data points that set it apart from some others on this list. The first is the organic CTR score. This is a relative scoring of the number of clicks you can expect to receive. The second is the priority score. By combining and analyzing factors such as CTR, volume and difficulty, Moz provides scoring to help you find the best terms for your needs.

Users can get started with Moz Keyword Explorer for free with 10 queries per month. Upgrading to Moz Pro, starting at $99 per month, will provide significantly more queries (up to 30,000 for the top plan).

 

Pros: Moz Keyword Explorer provides some very helpful metrics that aren’t available elsewhere. Additionally, the Moz Pro plan comes with many other features.

Cons: Moz is relatively expensive compared to others on this list. It is also not quite as intuitive as a few competitors.

Verdict: You won’t go wrong with Moz if you have the budget for the pro version. This is a great SEO research tool backed by some of the top experts in the field. It can help fuel your SEO article writing strategy.

 

Implement Your Content Strategy With SEO Article Writing Tools

Once you have done the research to plan out your content writing strategy, you are ready to start putting it into place. Use these SEO research tools to help you find, create and monitor the keyword phrases you want to target in your campaigns. Consistently creating high-quality blogs, articles and other SEO optimized content can help you realize the full potential of your keyword research. In many cases, it is a good idea to buy articles from expert writers to get the best possible results.

BKA Content provides SEO article writing services that will help you create and execute an effective strategy. Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can help your brand thrive online.

You can’t believe everything you read online these days, which is why it’s so important to assure your readers that you do, in fact, know what you’re talking about. Telling them that isn’t going to do much good, but showing them can have a more positive effect. In order to do that, you need to become an authority. You can do that by using authoritative marketing.

 

What is Authority Marketing?

Authority marketing is the process by which you establish yourself as an expert in your industry. If people look to you as a leader in a certain field, they are much more likely to use your products, services and counsel. Online brand marketing (whether personally or as a company) can build longevity in your business and help you pull away from your competition.

Being known as an authority in your industry is a key element when developing your digital presence. You want people to know who you are. However, you don’t want them to recognize you as a business that pilfers the content of other companies and is considered unreliable. The feedback you receive from customers should be positive if you can help it.

While this is a constant concern of companies, there are many ways you can take control of your growing popularity. One of the best and easiest ways is to engage in authority marketing. You can establish yourself as a leader in the field by writing authoritative content and staying consistent with posts, brand image and company values. Content authority speaks for itself.

 

How Do You Create Authoritative Marketing Content?

You can build authority for your persona, brand or company as a whole by creating authoritative content. The way you portray data, properly cite sources and use charm can affect the way readers view you. If they like what they read and begin to trust you, they’ll keep coming back for more and support what you have to say.

We’ve included some of the best content marketing strategies for establishing content authority. If you want to develop and improve your digital presence, here are the methods you need to incorporate into your writing today.

 

1. Offer Proof

As an expert in the industry, you will have many claims, facts and opinions that will be surprising or controversial to readers. Be sure to always back up your authoritative marketing content with evidence from sources that are already considered trustworthy, such as .org and .gov sites. Citing your sources is an automatic sign of credibility in any article online.

Work with your content marketing agency to ensure that any bold statements are backed up with proof. This is especially important if you’re discussing topics that are controversial but should be used with concrete statements.

Providing legitimate third-party confirmation of your opinions increases your reliability and decreases the chance you’ll be accused of faulty information. It also shows that you have research to back up claims, subliminally passing on the message to the reader that you’ve done your homework and aren’t just speaking on a whim.

Authoritative marketing makes every source and claim count. In fact, it shows readers that you know where to find the right information. If they need to know something, they can trust that you have resources that can help them. Offering proof is one of the quickest ways to build your content authority.

 

2. Use Research

Research isn’t as hard to conduct as you may think and can be a great addition to your content marketing plan. It helps readers understand the importance of certain facts or methods. You can conduct surveys of your current subscribers, blind tests with random participants and comparisons with competitor products.

Once you’ve collected enough information, you can use the results to create multiple pieces of authoritative marketing content. Videos of the tests happening can be great evidence and graphs detailing the results of the surveys can enforce your position. Don’t forget to use infographics that can easily be shared across social media platforms and websites.

 

The Power of Data

Numbers, in and of themselves, aren’t too exciting. But when they’re used to back up data, they become very meaningful and paint a more thorough picture than a statement without it. They help readers see the bigger picture, and they give you more credibility.

For instance, did you know that research-heavy content articles like white papers are shared by B2B buyers 79% of the time? Authoritative marketing content that proves authority through research tends to be shared more regularly with the right people than thin content.

 

3. Cite Case Studies

Another great tactic for your authority marketing strategy is to develop case studies. When you find a user who really believes in your product, request permission to share their personal story with your audience. Their personal testimonial can inspire others to seek out your product.

Connection is very important in authoritative marketing, so seeing the face and name of a relatable customer can go a long way in boosting your authority. In fact, case studies are cited by Search Engine Journal as being one of the best online brand marketing strategies. These case studies allow similar customers to envision how they could be helped by your product or service and end up selling themselves.

Using customer reviews doesn’t just help with promotion, but it also builds trust in potential clients. People will have more confidence in you when others seem to enjoy your services and opinions. When you build a community around your brand, you also put yourself in better lighting. You need the help of others to truly be recognized as an expert in the industry.

 

4. Ask Other Experts

To become well recognized, you need to use the wisdom of others who have gone before you. This is especially important if you are new in your field and relatively unknown. As part of your authoritative marketing strategy, post, share and discuss the knowledge that other experts in your field have shared. As you properly cite sources and recognize those you are highlighting, using their knowledge and advice can be a great asset.

Ask your content marketing agency to incorporate periodic roundup posts so that you can increase your authority with readers as well as with Google. These types of authoritative marketing posts are also much more likely to be shared by other influencers in the industry, helping to boost your branding even more.

If you struggle to find things to write about, this is a great option. In fact, Curata created this infographic which shows that social media and curated content can make up the largest portion of your content marketing pyramid:

These experts go on to state that 25 percent of all content you post should be curated from other experts in your field. In addition to utilizing external links and creating a reciprocal relationship with other bloggers, you’re also setting yourself up as an expert who is not only knowledgeable about your industry but also in-the-know with fellow professionals. Knowing the answer is helpful but knowing who to ask for help is necessary when it comes to authoritative content.

 

5. Use Trends

Although you may have plenty of topics that you love writing about, one of the secrets to becoming well-known among readers is to talk about what they are thinking about. What topics are circulating right now? What are people searching?

Thanks to hashtags, you can easily see which topics are trending on just about any social media site. There’s a good chance that you can bend a current news story or person of interest to support your business, or simply drop the name somewhere in your authoritative marketing content piece to attract the attention of search bots. For instance, here’s an example of a “Trending Now” box from Yahoo.com’s home page:

You’ll usually find a slew of celebrities and recent news stories, plus a few random topics (like foreign currency and online slots seen here). Chances are that you’ll be able to bend at least one of them to fit your business.

For instance, if you own a home remodeling company, you could talk about a recent revamp job one of the celebrities performed on his or her home or summer holiday deals you’re currently offering. By forming your topics around current trends, you’ll not only prove that you know what you’re talking about, but that you also know what’s buzzing right now. It will also increase the chances that someone searching one of the hot topics will come across your site.

Also be aware of any keyword trends. For instance, some seasonal products/services are more searched for at different times of the year. Knowing when these keywords see an uptick in search volume could help you to know when to put your authoritative marketing blog posts out. Consider developing a content calendar so you post certain articles at the peak of their reader value.

 

6. Be Personable

While the word “authoritative” may sound lofty and superior, it really just means you know what you’re talking about. To truly be an expert, you need to insert some charm into your content. Someone can know the facts and details of their topic, but if the article isn’t relatable and enjoyable to read, nobody is going to suffer through it.

Instead, be sure that your content writing agency keeps things entertaining while giving away a wealth of information.

 

Tips For Writing With More Appeal

Are you nervous that readers won’t enjoy your content? Everyone’s writing style is different, which is something to be celebrated. However, you can spice up your content by trying to be a little more casual in your writing. Aim to relate with readers and show that you care about their interests, needs and concerns. As part of your authoritative marketing strategy, try to help them feel comfortable while reading and interacting with your website.

Along with writing well, it’s a good idea to change things up. Using different types of media and writing approaches on your website can interest and engage more readers. Here are a few examples that can improve reader retention and help visitors see you as a connoisseur:

• Create a fun video where you (the expert) share your knowledge in a unique way.
• Use stories and anecdotes at the beginning of your posts to engage readers right from the get-go.
• Display infographics and exclusive pictures
• Offer surveys and quizzes

Keeping things light can make your content easy to read and more likely to be shared. While some topics will require a more serious tone, most can be tweaked to include unique angles, methods and stories that will attract readers who want to be entertained in addition to educated.

In essence, content authority can sometimes be established just by connecting on a personal level with your reader. If they can relate to you, laugh at your stories and appreciate the media and content you create, you’ve got a better hold on them and on future clients.

 

Incorporate Authoritative Marketing Content into Your Strategy!

While using authority marketing has a lot to do with the way you say things, it has just as much to do with how you portray yourself, cite your sources and interact with others. Readers want to know who you are. With these methods, you can share more authoritative content, develop your digital presence and show visitors that you care about them.

Incorporate a few of these tips to create the best authoritative marketing strategy possible. They can develop your digital presence and assure your readers that you are a voice they can trust. Need help creating authoritative content? Our team of writers can help you get started.

Keyword research is an essential aspect of staying visible in Google searches. With new technology and updates to the Google ranking algorithm, the standard for keywords and content on websites is elevated to be as helpful to users as possible. Luckily, there are simple steps you can take in your content marketing plan and keyword research methods that may help you avoid a low ranking for your website.

Cater to Localized Searches

Keywords and content go hand-in-hand; it is important to target local keywords with consideration to the content you will provide. With Google search updates such as Possum prioritizing local searches, being as geographically specific as you can be with your keyword research may help your business retain visibility.

Exposure aside, the content must do the work that is promised in the keyword. Google identifies the quality of webpages based on their helpfulness to users. It is one thing to attract customers with search results and another to provide useful information and content at the end of those searches. One way to keep up with relevant keywords is to use rank tracking software like SEMrush to help produce location and content-specific keywords.

Anticipate Updated Algorithms

To avoid a low-quality ranking from Google, consideration to areas of your website such as keywords and content should play a part in your content marketing plan. However, the best content marketing strategies include being aware of and literate in the various Google-ranking updates and tailoring your content to the specifications they look for. Pay attention to algorithm changes and how they affect traffic. For example:

• Phantom 2: The Phantom update is suspected to target “thin” content on websites, which in turn decreases search traffic. Sites that contained little content quality received 10% deficits in search traffic with this update.
• Fred Update: Google’s confirmed algorithm update cost some sites up to 90% of their organic traffic. Like Phantom, this update monitors the quality of website content and ranks those sites accordingly.

Understanding the structure that these Google updates use to rank the quality of websites is a good way to strategize the kind of content you can provide in order to stay ahead.

Craft Quality Content With Google in Mind

You must provide useful content and keywords that meet Google’s current standards in order for your website to gain a high-quality classification. The following content marketing strategies will help you take advantage of Google’s updated algorithms:

• Intuitive Internal Structural Links: Your internal links should act as a tour guide, helping you navigate the architecture of your website page by page and displaying the hierarchy of relevant information. Google flags excessive use of internal links as low quality. Links should be given rhyme and reason, and always act as effective tools for website navigation.
• Useful Content: In keeping with the Fred Update, it is important to prioritize the quality of your content. Google wags its finger at over-monetized content that is designed to deceive users and search engines with distractingly placed ads, auto-play videos, and download buttons. The content your website provides should be thorough, well written, and useful to your audience in order to maintain a higher quality ranking.
• Compromise with Ads and Affiliate Links: Many websites are not without their fair share of ads. Though ridding your site of all ads and affiliate links is unreasonable, cutting back and putting content at the center is a great way to boost quality classification. Ads should linger in the margins of your website, a presence that does not sully the user experience. Deceptive ads and affiliate links that are disguised as part of the main website content are noticed by Google and penalized accordingly.
• E-commerce Hygiene: Building e-commerce trust is a big checkmark in the high-quality box. Financial transactions take place on a daily basis. It is shown that as many as 95% of Americans use online shopping yearly. Google requires that websites comply with proper e-commerce hygiene by providing pages for refunds and returns, delivery information, and terms and conditions within the financial transaction page. These matters should be handled with extreme attention, as many websites simply use duplicates or automatically generated It is imperative for websites to handle all financial-related pages with thoroughness and provide quality content that goes beyond replicating pre-existing information.

Conclusion

Google’s ever-updating algorithms for monitoring web quality set a new standard for websites. Keeping up with the specifications of content marketing and keyword research is a big part of maintaining organic traffic and appealing to users. By strategizing with Google’s updates and effectively catering your content to the user experience, your website should stay out of the low-quality danger zone.

With online presence as a hefty factor in a company’s success in the world today, search engines have become the lifeboat of exposure for businesses. In order to keep afloat, one must grant easy access and possess significance to the modern audience. Executing proven keyword research methods through a content marketing plan is the surest way to secure passage for your customers through the ever-turbulent waters of the web.

Concocting a Keyword

You may be asking yourself why keywords are so important. If you provide a service, shouldn’t users be navigating the proper channels to your site? With an average of over 6 billion searches made each day, the chances of appearing on the top page of search engine results are more than slim without making use of effective keyword research strategies. When crafting a keyword, there are important things to consider:

1. What Are Your Goals?

Every business needs a well-thought-out plan to increase revenue or attract more long-term consumers. Use these goals as a rubric to shape the type of online content you put out. Then, simply find the language to incorporate those goals into keywords that will take the proper steps toward achieving them.

2. Who Is Your Audience?

Determining your audience is crucial in gaining traffic to your site. You don’t want to be shouting information into the void. Rather, you want to be directing your information to a specific demographic. This means getting inside the mind of your target consumers. What lingo do they use? What questions are they prone to asking? What kind of information do they prioritize?

Stay away from generic keywords. Strive for the language of the consumer by inhabiting a niche and employing the words common to that niche. It narrows the search to the kind of audience that is looking for exactly what you are advertising.

3. What Information Can You Provide?

Your keyword should be informative. Vague keywords will get lost amid the large number of competing keywords. By providing a straightforward and informative keyword, you’ll have a better chance at ranking higher and traffic to your site will increase.

4. Are You Being Relevant?

Keywords must be relevant not only to an audience but to the content that you are producing. Say you hook the right audience with a keyword and reel them in. How likely are they to stay if the subsequent information is not relevant? How likely are they to return? Make sure the keyword and the content match up.

5. Consider the Questions Audiences Ask

Questions are among the most common types of searches. It’s important to anticipate the kinds of questions your target audience may ask, and cater keywords and keyword phrases to those questions. If a reader asks, “How does Jane Eyre end?” flagging a summary of chapter 3 is only going to upset him or her and send that person looking elsewhere for answers.  

Creating a Content Marketing Plan

Keywords are incomplete without content. In order to gain more traffic to your site or business, a content marketing plan is crucial. There are big factors to keep in mind while drawing up the blueprints.

1. Publicize

In order to get more brand recognition, you must advertise on the appropriate platforms. Social media is the headliner for publicizing webpages and businesses. By tailoring your content to mobile-friendly and social media-enabled spaces, traffic to your website is bound to increase.  

2. Get Literate in Target Demographics

Your audience is a big part of the plan. Getting to know consumers’ interests, ages, geographic locations, and other information is helpful in planning the kind of content that will cater to them and determining the keywords that will draw attention to your brand.

3. Produce Quality Content

Produce content that connects with your keywords. Content marketing is about building a clientele. Providing content specific to that clientele is crucial in managing it. Long-form content exceeding 1000 words is more often shared and linked than shorter forms of content. Be sure your content provides value and is not just full of fluff to make it longer. Taking as much care with content as you do with keywords will help you get visitors who keep coming back.

Content Marketing Makes a Difference

A marketing plan is no good if you don’t put it into action. There are several content marketing methods that can get you closer to your target demographic.

1. Go Beyond Droning, Jargon-Jumbled Information

When text is too hard to follow, an audience sees it as a waste of time. Jargon-heavy content is intimidating and uninformative. Simplicity is a key element for keeping an audience’s attention and garnering their trust.

2. Provide Valuable Information to the Reader

Go beyond parroting information. Audiences appreciate originality. Your content should be unique and offer a new lens through which to view the material. Originality begets curiosity, and value builds loyal consumers.

3. Have a Conversation

A lot of information-based content can separate an author from its reader. Rather than simply getting information out, approach content writing as a conversation. Engage the audience with examples, stories, and tips from your own experiences. Encourage your viewers to join the conversation. Human interaction is filled with persuasion, information, and education. When content incorporates these elements, it means more to the consumer.

Integrating the Best Content Marketing Strategies

Often, the best content marketing strategies consider the visual draw to content that will increase web traffic. The internet is an interactive space in a fast-paced, technologically expanding generation. Create a space users will want to return to and tell their friends about.

1. Hook and Headlines

Creative headlines intrigue the audience and aid in getting visitors to the site. Coupling creative headlines with a good hook in the introductory sentence is a great recipe for continued reading and multiple visits.

2. Visual Appeal

Despite old sayings advising us otherwise, we really do have a habit of judging books by their covers. Visual appearance and aesthetic appeal are huge contributing draws to content. Even using a single image within content increases clicks and search engine rankings. Illustrating your content with good graphics can make all the difference.

3. Update Old Content

Because of the speed of the internet, information changes quickly. Recycling old blog posts and content is an effective strategy to hone. In fact, updating and republishing old content with new images and information can increase traffic by 111%.

Listen to Your Audience

Knowing your audience is the key to implementing effective keywords and content marketing methods. Starting with the needs of the consumer helps you create the kind of content that can brave the biggest of waves. By following these guidelines and taking advantage of various keyword research tools, your content has a much better chance of glowing happily from the first page results of any search engine.

Every good SEO knows that keyword research is an essential part of coming up with relevant and competitive topics for creating great content.

However, not all keyword research tools or methods are created equal. Some methods can point you in the right direction but lack the deep analytics that SEO’s can really benefit from.

SEMrush is one of the most well-known keyword research platforms in the industry. The world’s leading companies such as Disney, Amazon, Ebay, and more choose SEMrush for their keyword research.

Good tools often come at a higher price, but we have great news! BKA Content has partnered with SEMrush to offer customers 20% off of their annual plans!

When you consider all of the features you get with SEMrush, it’s easy to see that 20% off is an incredible deal. Here are a few features that we like to highlight as they relate to content creation:

Analyze Your Competitor’s Keywords

SEMrush has an advertising research feature which gives you access to your competitor’s top performing keywords. Why is this helpful? It’s helpful because it can show you which words are worth going after based on how competitive they are.

Too often companies try going after keywords that are unattainable in their content. This feature helps you to zero in on keywords that are much more realistic to win.

 

Keyword Research

SEMrush allows you greater insight into the keywords that you want to target and even keywords that you haven’t thought of targeting. The keyword research dashboard shows you CPC, volume, the number of results, trend, and ad copy information for each queried term.

The dashboard will also show you which of the biggest players on the web are targeting and using each keyword, which can be extremely helpful in deciding if it’s a keyword worth targeting in your content.

Our favorite feature is the ability to gather related keywords and phrase matches. The related words are ranked by Bing and Google as well as providing you with a list of different synonyms and variations relevant to the queried keyword to help you grow your keyword pool. These new ideas also help you to better know how to use keywords in your content.

 

Knowledge is Power

The amount of information that SEMrush puts together is pretty impressive. Don’t believe me? Put your domain into the box below to see just how powerful SEMrush is when it comes to data collecting and presentation.

Conclusion

If you are not using a keyword research tool, or if you are unhappy with your current keyword platform, BKA Content makes it easy to switch with our 20% discount on all SEMrush annual plans.

Using SEMrush can only improve your SEO efforts, so what are you waiting for?