Adam Heitzman is a co-founder and Managing Partner of HigherVisibility, a company specializing in SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

Welcome to today’s #SEOChat hosted by Adam Heitzman co-founder of SEO agency Higher Visibility where we are discussing the ever-important topic of keyword research. For many of us, it can be a daunting task to choose the right keywords for our content, and it’s essential to consider several components to ensure we are targeting the right audience.

In this chat, we will hear from industry experts on their favorite methods for choosing keywords, how to prioritize them, and what tools they use for keyword research. So, let’s dive in!

If you’re looking to up your keyword research game, you won’t want to miss Mordy Oberstein’s Keyword Value Index method. By calculating the search volume, CPC, and difficulty, you can determine which keywords have the most significant value to your business.

The world of SEO is constantly changing, and with the introduction of the new Google Updates, it’s more important than ever to stay ahead of the curve with your keyword research.

Join us for #SEOChat to hear from our experts on how they expect their keyword research process to change in light of the new Google updates. Learn about the metrics to watch and how to optimize for natural language queries.

How do you choose your keywords? What components do you look at to determine if you should target this keyword/topic?

Personally, I look at several items: business relevancy, search volume, traffic potential, keyword difficulty, keyword value (conversion potential)

Adam Heitzman

Intent (Most important for me): The intent of the keyword must match the client’s website or content. For example, if the client sells shoes, I may target keywords such as “best shoes for running” or “affordable shoes” to match the user’s search intent.

Megan Newman | eCommerce 

There’s an intersection of 3 things 1. Brand focus / biz goals 2. Traffic potential 3. Long term content strategy #seochat

Mordy Oberstein *winner of laser tag

Now that you have a list of target keywords and potential targets, how do you prioritize keyword selections?

#SEOchat I’m going to let you in on a metric I like to use when performing keyword research. I call it Keyword Value Index. So how exactly do you calculate it? Keyword Value Index = Search Volume * CPC / Difficulty

Adam Heitzman

I typically cover it whilst doing the research. Not all content is equal. Different goals, different value to the business. Terms should be selected based on the positive gains (be that financial, or reach, or influence etc.).

Darth Autocrat (Lyndon NA)

Waaaaay to much it depends on this 1. From available resources to internal priorities to branding to long term strategy…. To user needs and customer satisfaction….It DEPENDS! It freaking depends #seochat

Mordy Oberstein *winner of laser tag*

How do you anticipate your keyword research process to change now that we have seen glimpses of the NEW Google?

Soooo many ways- I don’t even know where to start… think Search Volume ….how helpful will that be even if the volume is accurate who cares …. What I want to know is click propensity on the new SERP #seochat

Mordy Oberstein *winner of laser tag*

CTR is the metric to watch.

D@RWIN

A3: As AI-based algorithms become more prevalent in search, SEO specialists may also need to optimize for natural language queries by incorporating long-tail and conversation-based keywords into their strategy.

Megan Newman | eCommerce 

What is the best tool or suite of tools you use to perform keyword research today and why?

A4.1 #seochat kill 2 birds with 1 stone, use http://soovle.com when you type your long tailed if it shows up above, scroll to the bottom of Googles first page & Google provides some lucrative suggestions, hope it helps

Jaroslaw Pidburskyj

Semrush and GSC, along with parsed crawls of the site and competitors, dumped into a DB and analysed. For me, all the tools are lacking details that the client has to supply, and you have to include those (such as margins etc.).

Darth Autocrat (Lyndon NA)

A4 – I personally tend to use Ahrefs the most, but occasionally use Semrush, and our own Reddit Keyword Tool (keyworddit). #SEOchat

Adam Heitzman

Choosing the right keywords is a critical aspect of SEO. As discussed by the experts in this #SEOChat, factors such as business relevancy, search volume, traffic potential, keyword difficulty, keyword value, and intent should be considered when selecting target keywords.

Moreover, the prioritization of keyword selection should be based on positive gains, different goals, and value to the business.

As the world of SEO continues to evolve, AI-based algorithms and natural language queries are becoming more prevalent, and specialists may need to optimize for long-tail and conversation-based keywords.

Several tools such as Semrush, Ahrefs, Google Search Console, and Soovle can be utilized to perform keyword research and analysis.


Jeremy Rivera

Jeremy Rivera started in SEO in 2007, working at Advanced Access a hosting company for Realtors. He came up from the support department, where people kept asking "How do I rank in Google" and found in the process of answering that question an entire career. He became SEO product manager of Homes.com, went "in-house" at Raven Tools in Nashville in 2013. He then worked at several agencies like Caddis, 2 The Top Design as an SEO manager and then launched a 5 year freelance SEO career. During that time he consulted for large enterprise sites like Smile Direct Club, Dr. Axe, HCA, Logan's Roadhouse and Captain D's while also helping literally hundreds of small business owners get found in search results. He has authored blog posts at Authority Labs, Raven Tools, Wix, Search Engine Land. He has been a speaker at many SEO conferences like Craft Content and been interviewed in numerous SEO focused podcasts.