{"id":16989,"date":"2019-12-20T09:58:13","date_gmt":"2019-12-20T09:58:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/?p=11224"},"modified":"2023-12-05T11:01:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-05T11:01:13","slug":"5-biggest-keyword-research-mistakes-must-avoid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.improvemysearchranking.com\/5-biggest-keyword-research-mistakes-must-avoid\/","title":{"rendered":"5 biggest keyword research mistakes you must avoid"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keyword research is still one of the most crucial aspects of search engine optimisation. Although search engines have gotten smarter and do not rely as much on specific keywords as they used to a few years ago, having specific keyword phrases in the right places still helps.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.advancedwebranking.com\/ebooks\/SEO-Stats-Report-2017.pdf\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">a study<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, 66 percent of webmasters perform their own keyword research, instead of outsourcing it. Therefore, it is crucial that they know what to do and which mistakes to avoid.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here are the five biggest keyword research mistakes you must avoid to get the best possible results.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><b>1. Ignoring the SERPs<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is perhaps the most common mistake most SEO professionals make. They get bogged down and spend too much time in keyword research tools trying to find the best keywords for their web page. Doing that, they completely forget about and ignore the actual top 10 results in the SERPs.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Using keyword research tools helps, but it is also important to look at actual results and see what\u2019s ranking. It is possible that sometimes Google may serve different content to users, which does not really match the search query.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Make sure to note the following things when you look at the SERPs and the top 10 results:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What type of content is ranking for a particular keyword? Is it a blog post, product pages, or guides?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What is the average content length for the top 3 and top 10 results on the SERPs?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Pay attention to the meta titles and meta descriptions of the results on the first page. Also, notice the main keyword usage in the meta tags.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>2. Not paying attention to searcher intent<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Search intent is perhaps the most important point you need to remember when doing keyword research. The whole point of getting your site ranked on the search engine results page is that it helps users find the information they\u2019re looking for. That\u2019s not possible without taking into account user search intent.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If your web page does not match search intent, it will have multiple negative effects on your website:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">First, your website will have a poor conversion rate.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Second, it will also negatively affect engagement metrics, such as bounce rate, dwell time, etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><b>3. Shortlisting irrelevant high-volume keywords<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">During keyword research, you will find many high-volume keywords. The tip is not to get tempted by them and identify the high-volume keywords that actually make sense for your website and website visitors.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Because not all high-volume keywords \u2014 regardless of how amazing they seem \u2014 will be a good fit for your website.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Apart from identifying the keywords that would make sense for your content, it is also equally important to realize and shortlist the types of queries your website visitors would use to find answers to their questions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In short, do not just look at the search volume. There are other factors that would also affect your content.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>4. Inserting keywords after writing the content<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">While you can include keywords in a few places after the content is written, you can\u2019t slap the main keyword completely after a page is ready.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201cSEOing\u201d a blog post isn\u2019t an effective approach anymore.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Keyword research and implementation happen before you start writing, and it can\u2019t work well if it\u2019s an afterthought.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It is important to identify your main keyword, secondary keywords, and LSI keywords <\/span><b>before<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> you start writing an article. The outline phase is when you need to incorporate all your primary and secondary keywords.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>5. Neglecting long-tail keywords<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Many online businessmen and even SEO professionals dismiss long-tail keywords. It happens mainly because long-tail keywords do not usually have a high search volume.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In comparison, broad or \u201chead\u201d keywords have a high search volume because they represent the top of the funnel. However, with high search volume for head keywords also comes higher competition.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Long-tail keywords give websites a better chance to rank for better rankings in the search engines and may also lead to a better conversion rate.<\/span><\/p>\n<h2><b>Conclusion<\/b><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Driving quality traffic that also converts well on the website is important. And well-rounded keyword research is the first step towards it. Use the above-mentioned five tips to avoid some of the big keyword research mistakes that might hamper your SEO success.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are some of the biggest keyword research mistakes you have noticed? Let us know.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Keyword research is still one of the most crucial aspects of search engine optimisation. Although search engines have gotten smarter and do not rely as much on specific keywords as they used to a few years ago, having specific keyword phrases in the right places still helps. According to a study, 66 percent of webmasters [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":17249,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_oct_exclude_from_cache":false,"inline_featured_image":false},"categories":[33,35],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>5 Biggest Keyword Research Mistakes | IMSR<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Read this to learn five of the biggest keyword research mistakes you must avoid to get the best possible results. 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