Published: February 22, 2023

Author: 3Q/DEPT

Picking search engine optimization keywords is a tough task for any marketer, but it doesn’t have to be an over-complicated process. Our how-to guide shows our process for picking the best SEO keywords, choosing content topics, and prioritizing what keyword target you should go after.

Step 1: Build Your SEO Keyword List

There are a bunch of useful SEO tools to help you come up with more keyword ideas, such as:

• Ahrefs
• SEMrush
• Keywords Everywhere
• Answer the Public

Don’t forget about paid search data. If your client has paid search or uses a paid search company, you can easily determine which non-branded keywords are driving sales and which are not. 

Step 2: Look for SEO Keywords in a Paid Search Term Analysis

If you have an e-commerce website, the first place we want to look is within the search term analysis. It’s important to understand which specific keywords drive good traffic and which don’t.

When doing a paid search term analysis, you want to get a long streak of historical data. You might want to talk to the paid search analysts to ensure that you’re not looking at something that you shouldn’t be, specifically if things have changed drastically over time and the CPA on a specific keyword has changed a lot. Other things to consider are if the cost acquisition, CPO, or cost per lead has changed significantly in the account due to external factors, like a macro domain.

Many things can affect your numbers. Generally, you are…