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Each company’s unique buyer journey and marketing goals require a different set of keyword research needs. Understanding the different types of SEO keyword research requires understanding the different types of goals that are achieved with content, and how keyword lists can be custom-created to achieve those goals.
The types of keyword research are closely linked to the different kinds of search queries a website is trying to rank for.
Let’s get to it - what is keyword research?
Keyword research is trying to pinpoint the search terms and phrases that your audience is searching, and how to include those keywords in your content.
For every type of search ranking, you might want to win—paid ads, local search, featured snippets, and more—there’s a different type of keyword required to win it.
Search engines deliver results differently for each user, based on what they have typed into the search engine. There are three main ways audiences tend to search for information.
These are searches made with the intention of learning more about a problem and its possible solutions. For instance, someone looking for a new cell phone provider might search for “cell phone deals” or look for a keyword phrase that includes their city or region to find the best coverage in their area.
These are searches made with the intention of getting to a specific webpage. For instance, if someone needs to find the branded web portal to pay their phone bill, they might search for “PhoneCom payment portal.”
These are searches made with the intention of carrying out a purchase. For instance, someone ready to sign up for a new cell phone plan might search for “PhoneCom sign up page” or information like “cell phone contract negotiation tips."
Understanding why customers are entering the search query they are using is just as important as knowing the keyword phrase itself. If you can address the feelings and thoughts the audience has at the moment of their search, it makes it easier to get their attention. Are they trying to learn more, or just get a task done?
We’ll talk more about the importance of these distinctions from a marketing perspective later. For now, let’s stay focused on the different types of search results a user might get back after they enter a query into a search engine. Results come in different formats, including:
These are just some of the types of ways search results are delivered, with news, eCommerce, and jobs postings also having distinct rules.
Each type of ranking is won with a unique strategy, including the type of keyword research that is needed. Some rankings like paid search and image may require different lengths of keywords, while organic link ranking and featured snippets rely more on examples of keywords in a sentence and answering a user’s questions.
Just like with the types of search queries, the types of keywords are as varied as each user. Some people might search for an entire question while others want to use just one or two words.
Often, as users educate themselves about a topic, they may conduct additional searches for more specific questions or to look for their ideal solution. That is why it’s important to target keywords of all lengths.
You might notice in the above list that our short-tail keyword, cell phone plan, is also included in every single one of the mid-tail and long-tail keywords on the list. This degree of overlap will point companies in different directions to create content that is the most relevant for users.
Speaking of creating content, it’s time to circle back to our question from earlier about what is the purpose of keyword research? The purpose of keyword research is to help companies align their web content, social media presence, blogs, emails, sales operations, and customer support with the needs, worries, and desires of the customer and potential customer.
But of course, those needs, worries, and desires are different at every stage of search.
Remember earlier when we talked about informational, navigational, and transactional search queries? Let’s examine now how each of these relates to marketing:
The different types of keyword research you might need to do depends on the buyer stages you are targeting and the kinds of content you are creating to win the attention of audiences. Maybe you want your videos to target buyers making informational searches, while paid ads are targeted more at those who are ready to carry out a transaction. Each will require its own keyword list.
And remember, whether you are targeting informational, navigational, or transactional keywords, it’s important to have a robust list of varying lengths of keywords. Those options will help you to meet each customer and potential customer where they are—short-tail, long-tail, or in between.
Outside considering the types of keyword research for length and user context, you may also be thinking about how closely the keyword has to match in different search engines. The issue differs for paid and organic search strategies.
In organic search, keywords should match closely, though content creators may also use a few stop words that are generally ignored by search engines to make the content more readable or understandable.
But for paid search advertising, also known as pay-per-click or PPC, different platforms have unique types of keyword matches to be considered during research.
For both Google Ads pay-per-click and Amazon advertising, the initial keyword list must be long enough to give valuable insights for future iteration, while at the same time short enough for the sake of cost efficiency and messaging consistency.
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