Keyword Research In 2022 And Beyond

Keyword research is an essential part of any effective SEO strategy. But how will keyword research in 2022 and beyond change, and how can you adapt in order to stay successful?

Today we are covering four important keyword research strategies you should consider. These strategies will help you stay successful now and far into the future.

Keyword Research In 2022: How To Succeed

1) Understand Search Intent

The first idea to keep in mind about keyword research is the importance of matching your content with search intent. While you can check out Yoast’s post on search intent for more information, it basically means the “end goal” of any given search.

For example, let’s say you run an online baked goods store and are looking to upgrade your content. You want to write the best post on the internet about chocolate chip cookies.

Now, when you type “chocolate chip cookies” into Google, what do most of the results look like? Are they recipes that people can try at home, or are they links to websites where you can buy them online? Because of Google’s sophisticated algorithms, the type of result you see most should be the sort of content you make for that search term. 

There are four general types of intent for searches. These include:

• Informational. People are only looking for information and probably don’t want to buy anything. 
• Transactional. People have a specific intent to buy something.
• Navigational. People are looking for directions to a specific place.
• Commercial. People potentially have the desire to buy something, but right now they are just comparing options.

Match your content to this kind of search intent you see most often for your search phrase. This ensures you are giving people what they want.

2) Focus On Keywords Related To Your Product Or Service

Understanding search intent is only the first step of keyword research in 2022. As we point out in our ultimate guide to SEO, you also need to make sure you are targeting keywords and phrases that are somehow related to the product or service that you offer.

Otherwise, you are going to be making content that is mostly unrelated to your brand. This makes it difficult to make the jump to offering a sale.

Let’s take another example from the online baked goods store. Let’s say, for whatever reason, they create the best post on the internet for the term “lasagna recipe.” While this post could very well be incredible, they are going to have a hard time transitioning to a pitch for their cookies.

Keep this in mind when planning your own content based on keyword research. Just because a search term is high volume and (hopefully) relatively low competition, it might not be worth your time if it’s not related to your own products and services. You want to tackle topics that make it easy to introduce your paid offer. Otherwise, the content you make is great but doesn’t really drive meaningful results for your company!

3) Plan For Voice Searches

More and more people are using the “voice” feature on their phone to conduct their searches. Why does this matter, and how does it change your keyword research strategy?

Just think about how you type a search vs. how you conduct a voice search. Typing your search term is likely much shorter and to the point. Voice searches, meanwhile, will be long tail and maybe even a bit rambling. People simply use more words when speaking, and their searches reflect that.

This means that you should consider longtail search terms in your content. Include questions that people might typically ask in your blog post, or at least target words in your content that people would say in a search that they might not otherwise write.

Sound tricky? That’s because it is. If you want to optimize your pieces of content for voice searches, give our post a read. In it you will learn about specific strategies that you can implement right away.

4) Target Keywords That Allow You To Create Incredible Content

The entire purpose of keyword research is to find topics that your audience cares about. This allows you to create content in different formats in order to satisfy their search for valuable information. This is the fundamental pillar of good SEO.

But it doesn’t mean much if your content isn’t great. The fact is, it’s no longer enough to throw up a blog post or a half-baked video. Many companies are now engaged in content marketing, and a lot of them are doing it quite well.

While this means more competition for you, it will also force you to step up your game. If you aren’t creating content is awesome (10x content, as Ahrefs calls it) then you aren’t going to be getting the results you want.

This is why it’s important to zero in on topics that you really think you could create something wonderful around. What are the topics you have specific expertise about? What are some of your own experiences that you think your audience would get value hearing about? Can you think of certain insights you could bring to the table, or creative ways of approaching specific topics that haven’t been done before?

These are all questions that are worth your time to consider.

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