What To Do After Keyword Research - A Step-By-Step Guide

So, you’ve found your best SEO keywords that’ll rank your website in Google and other search engines.

But now… what? What to do after keyword research?

Now, your search engine optimization adventure begins!

After Doing Keyword Research, What Is The Next Step

There are 4 essential steps to take after keyword research.

• Step 1: Organize and group your keywords
• Step 2: Create a keyword map
• Step 3: Prioritize your keywords for content creation
• Step 4: Keep tracking your keywords

Let’s get down to it.

1. Organize Your Keyword List In Topics, KD & Personas

Group your keywords into small, meaningful sets that resonate with your SEO and marketing strategy. There are different ways to categorize your keywords. For instance:

• By topic
• By search volume and keyword difficulty
• By query type
• By buyer/client persona
• By business/marketing goal

But don’t get carried away. Because above all, though, your prospects need to be able to find you.

You must also provide valuable information that answers your visitors’ questions and aligns with their expectations. This will urge them to spend more time on your website and eventually move down your sales funnel or spread the word about your brand.

2. Map Your Keywords To Pages/Posts For Best Results

Using keyword mapping will help you see which topics/subtopics (i.e., keywords) can fit into your existing content and which ones are missing.

A keyword map can be as simple as a spreadsheet where you jot down your live URLs on one side - matching them with keyword(s) on the other. Then, allocate the remaining keywords to new pages. Set a publishing date for each one.

Treat your new keywords with respect.

They are actually topics your users are looking for and your competitors rank for - but missing from your content.

In essence, keyword mapping helps you to:

• Identify valuable keywords you already have
• Spot opportunities for easy keyword optimizations
• Pinpoint keyword gaps in your content
• Plan what keywords to focus on first
• Detect how keywords align with your marketing objectives
• Avoid keyword cannibalization
• Ensure each page/post targets unique keywords

For best results, each page should be optimized for a specific keyword - or a small group of nearly identical and/or semantically related keywords.

3. Compare Target Keywords & Prioritize

Which keywords should you target first?

Start with keywords that offer the biggest ranking potential.

Some things to consider:

Long-Tail Keywords

For SEOs, long-tail keywords are small treasures! They typically have a lower search volume and low keyword difficulty - thus, lower competition. Long-tail queries usually offer higher rankings in keyword-dedicated posts.

Valuable Content

See for which search terms you are qualified to write the best content around. Where can you demonstrate authority and expertise? How can you provide more valuable information than what’s already ranking well?

Niche Keywords

Focus on searches that perform best for your target audience. These are your niche keywords. The smaller your target group, the better your chance of reaching them if you incorporate the proper search terms in your website.

Existing Rankings

Uncover opportunities within your low-ranking pages and optimize them to reach top results. Having 2 or 3 first-page results works much better than having loads of content on page 10.

All in all, you need to strategically assess which keywords need new content and which ones you can incorporate into existing pages. Then, plan all these additions and changes in an SEO content calendar.

4. Keep Tracking Your Keywords

SEO takes time.

So, keep tracking your keywords to see how well (or poorly!) they serve your marketing and SEO objectives and in what way.

You can then re-adjust your keyword/content strategy to improve your SEO results.

Still not convinced?

Here’s A List Of Benefits For Keyword Tracking

• Understand your overall SEO performance.
• Monitor competition in relation to your existing keywords.
• Improve SEO ROI by comparing keyword performance data with traffic shifts and website conversions.
• Discover market trends and stay ahead.
• Optimize your content further by enhancing high-performing topics and bridging gaps.
• Localize and personalize content in line with regional and demographic keyword performance.
• Build credibility and authority by tracking prominent, industry-related topics you can optimize for.

Analyzing your keyword performance is vital for an effective SEO strategy and a well-performing site that converts.

If you want to maximize your keyword research efforts and increase your website’s ROI, Atropos Digital is your best SEO partner for strategic search engine optimization. Schedule your free discovery call to explore our content services.

Have More Keyword Research Questions? Read Our FAQs

Keyword research is vital to search engine optimization. If you are new to all this, here are some frequently asked questions to help you get started.

What Is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the process of identifying and analyzing search terms that people use when searching for topics relevant to your industry and offerings. It helps you create optimized content and drive traffic to your website.

Why Is Keyword Research Important?

Targeted keyword research helps you rank higher in SERPs for queries related to your website’s products or services. It also helps your content reach your target audience.

What Are Keywords In Research?

Keywords in research are the terms one uses when researching a database for information sources. Whether looking into academic sources in a university library or googling for hotel reviews, keywords added in the database search box significantly impact search results.

In a typical database, like IMDb (Internet Movie Database), you’ll need to use (some) exact words of your movie title in order to find it.

Similarly, in a Google search, you’ll need to type in words commonly used to describe your topic. However, Google is smart enough to understand the intent behind your query even without exact matching keywords.

Is Keyword Research Free?

Keyword research can be free if you do it yourself with the help of various free keyword tools available in the market. However, paid tools have many more functions to perform in-depth keyword research. Similarly, professional SEOs are better qualified for results-driven keyword research.

What Is The Difference Between SEO And Keyword Research?

SEO, among other things, optimizes a website to rank higher in SERPs for search terms related to your business. Keyword research helps you find what these search terms are.

How Long Does Keyword Research Take?

In SEO, keyword research can take from a few hours to a few days. It all depends on your project's complexity, your competitors, and your goals.

After creating a list of keywords, you must strategically incorporate them into your website. You also need to keep monitoring your keyword performance so as to update and revamp your content accordingly. Keyword research is an ongoing process, really.