Using Google Search For Keyword Research

Doing keyword research?  Go straight to Google.

Google has some excellent ways of doing keyword research that will help you find – and refine – niche phrases that are relevant to your particular business.

If you delve a little further, there are also tools that will provide insights as to how often certain words and phrases are searched for and the search trends for those keywords over time.  They’ll reveal changes in consumer behaviour and consumers’ search intent so you can adjust your SEO strategy accordingly to increase traffic and improve your website’s rankings and visibility in the search results.

All of this information is absolutely crucial in helping you distil your list of potential keywords into a shortlist of highly relevant, niche keywords that will deliver results.  But remember, keyword research isn’t a once-off exercise.  The search engine world is dynamic and your research has to be on an ongoing process to ensure you stay relevant in this ever-changing space.

Ways to Use Google Search for Keyword Research

As a start, before looking at other keyword research tools, you can try these easy ways of using Google for keyword research:

Do a Google Search on Your Own Keywords

Type in one of your keywords into Google and then press the Space bar.  A list of related search phrases will appear and you can then jot down any that are relevant to your business.

Scroll Right to the End of the Google Search Results Page

Type in one of your keywords into Google and instead of pressing the space bar, press Enter and then scroll to the bottom of the page.  Here you’ll find a list of ‘searches related to {whatever your original search term was}’.   This could also be a source of more useful ideas.   And for a bonus tip here – type in some of those related search terms and scroll through their related search terms for any possibilities.

Use Google Search to Find ‘People Also Search for’ Information

To do this, firstly do a Google search for one of your keywords.  When the results come up, click on one of your competitors’ websites, then click on the Back button to get back to the search results.  This page will now display a box called ‘People Also Search For’ or ‘People Also Consider’ which contains more keywords that could be relevant to your business.

These lists are slightly different for each website, so go through the process for a couple of competitors and look closely at the results.

Google Your Competitors

Use Google search to look at what keywords your competitors are using.  Again, type in one of your keywords and see what websites come up and what their title tags are.

A word of caution here.  While you will be able to see the keywords that your competitors are using, remember that they may not have done thorough keyword research -so you will need to qualify this information by making sure that people are actually searching for those keywords.  In other words, doing your keyword research properly!

As you can see, there’s a wealth of information on Google which you can use as part of your keyword research and there aren’t any complicated procedures or sign-up requirements to follow either.  Best of all, it’s free.

It’s a really useful resource to help you draw up a list of possible keywords and phrases which you can then go on to refine into niche and highly relevant ones which you can target for your SEO.   Thumbs up for Google!

Check out my new online, self-managed course, The SEO School, which takes you through all the key tools and techniques of a successful SEO strategy.  The course is great for business owners, website managers and anyone who wants hands-on learning about all the essentials of SEO from an industry expert.  Find out more about The SEO School here.

Karen Dauncey

Karen Dauncey has been working in SEO since 2003. She specialises in helping businesses get found online through Google using Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) She is the founder and creator of The SEO School an online SEO Course to help teach business owners how to do their own SEO. She regularly delivers educational programs for both Local, State and Federal Government and is an advisor for the ASBAS Digital Solutions Program. Karen’s passion and commitment to help small business owners get found online is the driving force behind her online school, making SEO advice accessible to all with free resources and online courses.

Karen's wealth of SEO knowledge and practical digital marketing experience comes from running her own SEO and Google Ads agency, Blue Cherry Online Marketing since 2008. Karen has optimised over 1000 websites, managed millions of dollars' worth of spend on Google Ads and has a solid understanding of the constantly shifting industry of digital marketing and SEO. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business. This gives her a unique advantage when it comes to being able to recommend the right online marketing strategies for your business. She was recently recognised as an SEO Expert for the popular course creation platform, Kajabi as well as appearing on ABC Radio
for her expert opinion on the ACCC's investigation into search engines.

Karen has attended search engine conferences in London, Stockholm, Adelaide and Sydney, and was also invited to attend a pilot Business Coaching Course at Google’s Head Office. She has a Diploma in Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing in the UK.

She is also the co-owner of the Digital Experts Directory, an online directory for female serviced-based businesses to promote their business (with a great backlink for SEO).

To keep up to date with the latest in SEO, join her Facebook group The SEO School Community or follow her on Facebook or LinkedIn.