Winning Keyword Research Strategies for 2018

Winning Keyword Research
Strategies for 2018
#KnoxHUG knoxville.hubspotusergroups.com

Meet the Knoxville HUG Leader and Co-Leader
Holly Yalove
/hollyyalove
Mitch Transue
/mitchell-transue
www.vieodesign.com
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A Special Thanks to...
HubSpot - HUG Sponsor
HubSpot provides SWAG and funding
to support local HUG events.
Lauren Nelson –
Graphic Designer, VIEO Design
Thanks for your all your help over the
years with our HUG presentations!

What We’ll Cover
• HUG News
• SEO Term Definitions
• How Search Has Changed
• Strategy Prep Work
• Keyword Research Strategies & Tools
• Q&A

HUG NEWS
Future Meetup Dates Planned
• Q2 - Tuesday, June 19, 2018
• Q3 - Thursday, September 13, 2018
• Q4 - Thursday, November 8, 2018
Topics & Speakers TBA
INBOUND 2018: September 4-7, 2018 Boston, MA

By: Holly Yalove
Principal & Chief Strategist
VIEO Design
Winning Keyword Research
Strategies for 2018

SEO Term Definitions

February 2017 - February 2018
88.27%
6.68%
4.08%
0.52%
0.14%
0.10%
Google
Bing
Yahoo
DuckDuckGo
Yanex RU
MSN
0.00% 50.00% 100.00%
Source: StatsCounter
We’ll Focus on Google
US Search Engine
Market Share
Google processes at
least 2 trillion searches
per year (worldwide).
Check your analytics to determine the value any
other major search engines may have to your
strategies.

Search Ranking
Search ranking pertains to the process search
engines use to decide where a page or content
item should appear on a Search Engine Results
Page (SERP).

Search Visibility
Search visibility pertains to how prominently a page or
content item is displayed. Highly visible content = likely
to appear at the top of the search results.
Search visibility is impacted by the many Google SERP
features that exist today.

SERP Features
A SERP feature is a result on a Google Search
Engine Results Page (SERP) that’s not a traditional
organic result.
In the early days, all SERP results looked very
similar - text and links (somewhat like the result
below).

Popular SERP Features
Today, Google offers several different types of results.
The most popular include:
• Universal Results
• Rich Snippets
• Paid Search
• Knowledge Graph Data

Universal Results appear in addition to organic
results. These include things like image results
and featured snippets.

Rich Snippets add a visual layer to an existing
result. These include things like product rating
review stars.

Paid Results include things like AdWords or Google
Shopping. They’re indicated by a “sponsored” notice.

Knowledge Graph
Data like Knowledge
Cards and Panels
appear in the search
results as boxes or
panels.

Why Care About SERP Features?
SERP features should be considered in your keyword research
strategies.
• The presence of SERP features impact click-through-rates (CTR)
• CTR metrics act as ongoing feedback to Google that influence
ranking

How Search
Has Changed

How Search Has Changed
• Searcher habits and expectations have changed
• Search Engine technology and platform options have
changed
• Search device options and usage has changed

Search Phrases: Years Ago
Searchers used fragmented keyword queries.
• In 2012, Google started penalizing spammy SEO tactics like keyword
stuffing. (Penguin Update)
• In 2013, Google began to understand semantic search (Hummingbird
Update)
• In 2014, Google started considering a person’s geographic location and
distance from local businesses.
• In 2015, Google began to understand the context of search queries
using machine learning to analyze people’s past searches and SERP
features began to be served. (RankBrain Update)

Local PackLocalized Organic
Local Search Examples

Search Phrases: Today
• Searchers use complex sentences and natural
language patterns.
• They vary their phrases and questions.
• Search results are impacted by a person’s past
search behavior, search device, and geographic
location as well as real-time events like breaking
news and social posts.

Did You Know?
15% of Google’s daily searches are unique phrases
that have never been searched before.

Devices: Years Ago
Most people used desktop devices and typed in keyword
queries.
• In 2015, Google released the mobile-friendly ranking to boost mobile-
friendly pages in mobile search results. (Mobilegeddon)
• In 2016, Google integrated Accelerated Mobile Pages (AMP) listings into
mobile search results
• In 2017, Google rolled out a penalty to demote sites with aggressive
pop-ups and interstitials (bad mobile user experience)

Devices: Today
An estimated 60% of all online searches are
performed on a mobile device and voice search is
estimated to be up 20% of mobile searches.
• Searchers use a variety of devices from mobile phones to
smart home devices
• Voice search is used in addition to text searches
*Sources: HitWise and Search Engine Land

Swag Time

Keyword Research
Strategy Prep Work
Buyer Personas, Buyer’s Journey, Goal
Setting, and Tracking Measures

What they search and how they search
impact your keyword research strategies.
§ Are they local, national, or international?
§ What problems are they trying to solve?
§ What phrases are they likely to use?
§ Do they use your industry jargon?
§ What device are they most likely using when
conducting a search?
Prep Work: Define Your Buyer Persona

Understanding what your buyer
may search for early on versus
later in their journey will give you
insights into the queries they might
perform in each phase.
Prep Work: Map Your Buyer’s Journey

What high-level goals are your SEO activities
trying to solve?
• Easily “getting found” by existing customers?
• Getting discovered by new prospects?
• Selling more of a specific product or service?
• “Beating” your competitors online?
Prep Work: Establish Your Goals

Are tools and tracking in place to measure
current state and future progress?
For Example:
üGoogle Analytics
üGoogle Search Console / Webmaster Tools
üSEO and keyword research tools
üLead tracking and conversion tools (like HubSpot)
Prep Work: Evaluate Tracking Measures

Winning Keyword
Research Strategy

• What’s your mix of organic search traffic today?
• What geographic locations send the most traffic?
• What are your top entrance pages?
• What devices are used by organic visitors?
Evaluate Current State

Google Analytics tracks traffic acquisition
channels and sources, geographic locations,
device mix, and landing pages where visitors
entered your site from a search.
Tools You Can Use

Evaluate Current State
• Which keywords/phrases/topics do you rank for
currently?
• What are your top ranking pages?
• Are these what you want your company, business, or
organization to be known for?
• Where are there gaps for topics related to your area
of expertise?
• What’s the CTR on your top queries?
• Which queries drive the most impressions, clicks,
and conversions?

Did You Know?
Universal “rank” for a keyword is no longer a reliable
SEO key performance indicator (KPI)?

Warning!
• Don’t get hyper-focused on rank for a specific keyword or short phrase.
• Modern tactics consider how search has changed.
• Shift focus to topic clusters and content relationships (via hyperlinks) to spot
content creation and optimization opportunities.
• Use ranking as a benchmark not your main KPI.

Google Search Console provides Google search
analytics insights including impressions, CTR, average
ranking position, specific queries and which page
URLs ranked for those queries.
Tools You Can Use

Alexa offers tools
that measure who
has the most
“Keyword Share of
Voice””.
Tools You Can Use
Keyword Share of Voice = the percentage of searches for a keyword that sent traffic
to a website.

Check Out the Competition
• What do your top competitors rank for organically?
• What insights can you glean from their ranking
results?
• Do you have other online competition you hadn’t
considered before?
• Are the top ranking sites difficult to beat?
• Are your shared keywords/phrases difficult to rank
for?
• What topic niches could you ”own” that they don’t?

Alexa, SEM Rush, Moz,
HubSpot, and others
provide various
competitor
assessment tools to
evaluate metrics like:
• Domain authority
• Inbound links
• Current rank
• Related topics
• Ranked pages
Tools You Can Use

Alexa and SpyFu have
nifty tools that help
discover new online
competitors with
audience and keyword
overlap.
Tools You Can Use

Tools You Can Use
Moz, Alexa, SEM Rush,
and others also have
keyword assessment
tools to evaluate
estimated metrics like:
• Search volume
• Keyword difficulty
• Organic CTR
• Related
topics/keyword
suggestions

Second Warning!
• Don’t get hyper-focused on rank for a specific keyword or short phrase.
• Create quality content geared to help your visitors instead of trying to
game search engines.
• Use ranking as a benchmark not your main KPI.

Tools You Can Use
HubSpot new Content
Strategy tool doesn’t
ignore keywords but
focuses users toward:
• Topic clusters
• Sub-topic and main
topic content
relationships
• Content gaps and
opportunities

Back to Winning
Keyword Research
Strategy

Consider all your previous prep and research
üCurrent state
üCompetitors
üNiche opportunities
üBuyer personas
üBuyer‘s journey
Create a Topics-Content-Keyword Map

• Select your main focus and secondary topics and
keywords
üRelated to your expertise
üWhat you want to be known for
üCatered to potential searches by your persona
üConsidering search volume and difficulty
üConsidering potential SERP features

•Map your topics to existing content
üMain site pages
üBlog posts
üAdded media
•Identify any major content gaps
üPrimary “Pillar Pages“
üSupporting sub-topics

X Don’t “keyword stuff” pages with a single
keyword.
ü Use keyword groups clustered around a
specific topic.
ü Choose a primary keyword representing your
#1 ranking goal for each page
ü Choose a secondary “long-tail” keyword
ü Choose related supporting keywords
ü Evaluate additional content needs
Content Optimization Tips

Q&A

Future Meetup Dates Planned
• Q2 - Tuesday, June 19, 2018
• Q3 - Thursday, September 13, 2018
• Q4 - Thursday, November 8, 2018
Add these to your calendars!
INBOUND 2018: September 4-7, 2018 Boston, MA
HUG NEWS

Winning Keyword Research Strategies for 2018

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