So you’ve optimized for the top keywords and you’re running out of ideas on what to focus on next. Well, if you’re getting tired of the search, you might be thinking of hiring SEO professionals to finally get the job done—and the only thing holding you back is the cost involved.
Before you go that route, you should probably try these simple yet reliable alternatives.
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1. Look into Google Autocomplete
The top search engine offers all sorts of suggestions as you key in your search terms.
While you’re probably aware of this, have you actually tried finding keywords through it?
It’s among the best tools if you’re looking for some long-tail ones since it continuously gives even more specific suggestions as you type.
For example, say you’ve been using “candy” as the main keyword for your content. Now key in that word into Google and you’ll immediately be given suggestions like “candy crush” and “candy cane”.
Assuming that your business is selling sweets, you could look for longer keywords by keying in strings like “candy cane for sale” into the search box.
2. Utilize the Keyword Planner
Regardless of whether you’ve been spending on Google Ads, you could always benefit from the search giant’s own Keyword Planner.
Accessed through the Google Ads platform, this tool provides a list of keywords related to the one you provide. What makes this potentially better than relying on Autocomplete, however, is that it offers valuable metrics.
Upon being provided with a list of related keywords, you’ll also be presented with data on monthly searches and degree of competition.
With this, you’ll be able to choose among the keywords based on what’s most suited to your site’s current standing. If your site isn’t that established yet, for example, you could go for low competition keywords.
3. Emulate Customer Behavior
It’s vital that you don’t forget about one part of the SEO equation—those who search the web for the very things you offer.
So, acting as if you’re among them should yield several interesting and useful keywords, right?
After all, they’re essentially the ones who drive search engines into preferring certain sites over others in the SERPs.
If you’re having trouble acting like a customer when doing searches, consider asking yourself a few questions.
If you were a customer, what things would you like to learn about?
Would you be using a certain language or slang in doing searches? What other things would you typically be searching about on the web?
4. Reveal Your Competitor’s Keywords
Assuming that you’ve pinpointed the top sites you’re up against, it’s time to pay them a visit and look under the hood.
Yes, you can actually check the keywords being targeted by other websites without exerting much effort.
To do this, pick a browser that supports page-source viewing, such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome.
- Once you’ve got the right browser installed,
- head on to the website you wish to check out and press the right mouse button.
- Select “view page source” and a new tab should appear.
- In that tab, search for the term “keywords”.
- Soon enough, you’ll be looking at a list of keywords that may contain something you haven’t used yet on your pages.
5. Use Alexa’s High Impact Queries List
There’s another less intrusive way of checking your competitor’s keywords. As you probably know, Alexa (or Alexa Internet) gives valuable traffic and analytics data.
Just open Alexa’s Find Web Traffic Statistics page and key in the URL of the site you’d like to learn more about. Hit enter and you’ll be presented with various popularity related information.
Scroll down the page.
Below the engagement metrics, you’ll find a list of the top keywords from search engines.
You should be able to see the five top keywords related to the page or site you’re looking into.
Well, yes, five is the limit for free users. There’s really no need to spend on the subscription or membership though, given that you’re getting the top keywords already.
6. Come up with a List of Topics
Your business or niche should have all sorts of topics related to it. And these topics can serve as excellent, highly relevant long-tail keywords.
If you’ve been writing content for your website, coming up with new topics should be easy. You don’t? There’s no need to worry—it’s as simple as doing a bit of brainstorming.
Say you’re selling baked goods, some topics related your pursuit would be: organic ingredients in bread making, the most popular kinds of pastry, and the highest-selling cake designs.
As you’ve probably noticed, each of those topics can have subtopics. Taking the first topic listed, an appropriate subtopic would be the advantages of going organic.
7. Check out Google Correlate
Listing topics and subtopics firsthand can be difficult, especially if you’ve been churning out content for years.
If that’s the case, you should probably consider using Google Correlate in your search for fresh keywords.
This tool is easy to use as you’ll only have to enter a keyword (such as the main term you’re trying to rank for) and clicking on the Search button.
If you’re looking for entirely new keywords (those that don’t have your existing keyword in them), you should tick the Exclude Terms box.
By the way, those numbers on the left of each keyword represents the level of correlation.
The closer the value is to 1.0000, the stronger the link between the keyword you provided and the one on the list.
8. Browse Keyword Databases
Sometimes, it helps to use third-party tools in your search for fresh keywords. Among these solutions are keyword databases.
Some of these use data provided by Google while keeping their own list of keywords as well as ranking and metrics data. Others develop and maintain their own keyword database.
Using these tools is often as simple as keying in an existing keyword and viewing the resulting list of related search terms and volume data.
Do keep in mind, however, that while these keyword databases are quite useful in finding new keywords, you shouldn’t put too much value on the statistics and figures they provide—again, they don’t solely reflect actual search data.
9. Dig into the Questions in Quora
It’s common for netizens to type questions directly into the search bar. And that’s why Quora, being a popular question-and-answer site, can to be valuable in your search for more long-tail keywords.
Carrying out a basic search in Quora should yield dozens and even hundreds of questions waiting to be turned into keywords for your content.
As you browse those questions, however, you’ll realize that some won’t really work as a keyword.
For example, “how do you uninstall an old computer driver” is unlikely to be used by an actual person during a search.
It’s just too long. In cases like this, you could refine the lengthy string into a much shorter set of words, such as “uninstall old computer driver”.
10. Try Unified Keyword Suggest Tools
While most people prefer to work specifically on their site’s visibility on Google’s SERPs, there are other search engines that can bring in traffic.
Bing, Yahoo, and DuckDuckGo are alternatives that anyone who’s doing SEO should consider tapping into.
Platforms like YouTube and Facebook have their own search tools that can also be harnessed to generate more hits.
Most unified keyword suggest tools follow the same design and function.
You’ll be presented with a search box and several tabs, each representing a different platform.
A location menu for more specific searches may also be present.
Just type in your keyword and you’ll get access to a list of related keywords, as well as volume, competition, and trend data.
Fresh Keywords without Spending
As you’ve discovered, there are several ways of finding new keywords for your content and pages. Even if you don’t have the budget to hire an SEO professional, you always have the opportunity to expand your list.
With enough patience and eagerness, you’ll eventually find the most profitable keywords in your industry.
