Keyword research in 2024 is a lot different than it was 10 years ago.
When we first set up Sycosure, keyword search was a tedious task that involved using a bunch of different tools to estimate volume and competition. The main trick to keyword research back then was to use the Keyword Planner in Google Adwords to get the search volume.
Of course, the real problems with keyword research in 2024 is that you not only need to know what to avoid in the search engine results pages (SERPs), but you also need keyword ideas in order to find the right keywords to target, all whilst properly using the keyword through the page.
How To Get Keyword Ideas
We have a simple solution that won’t cost you a dime: ChatGPT.
That’s right, “AI” or machine learning, is actually a really great way to generate keyword ideas. With the right prompts, you can even use it to generate the keywords themselves. Below, we’ve provided you with a short list of prompts to help you use ChatGPT to come up with keyword ideas. Obviously replace the blank area with the topic you’re researching.
- What do people search for when they want to learn _________?
- What do people look up on Google to find ____________?
- What do people type in on search engines to find ___________?
From there, take the keywords generated by ChatGPT and search for them on Google. Scroll down until you see “Related searches” and take note of those keywords. You can use a tool like WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool to get the search volume as well.
There you go, a simple method to find keywords!
What To Avoid In The Search Engine Results Pages
But wait! Before you actually use those new keywords you just found, there’s one thing you should do. That’s right, you should look them on Google and see what’s already ranking for them. Generally, you should avoid keywords with the following:
- YouTube videos ranking at the top.
- Massive corporations such as Amazon appearing at the top. More specifically, don’t take on “buying keywords” where Amazon ranks at the top.
- Big name competitor websites appearing in the first several results. This is especially the case if those competitors have topical authority.
We used to recommend against targeting keywords with a featured snippet, but a large amount of the SERPs these days have them. Rather than avoid them, just try to strive to replace them.
How To Use The Keyword On Your Page
How to properly do this would require a whole guide, but our tip for how to use a keyword on a webpage is to simply not think about it too much. We find that whenever we were focusing on how best to include a keyword, we would add it in a way that sounds unnatural. For example, you’ve probably read those article where they have keywords like “how to do keyword research in 2024”, so they add that keyword to their article title, all of their headings, etc. Keyword stuffing like this is not an effective strategy, and anyone who reads this content will return to the SERPs not long after arriving on your site, which will hurt your rankings since Google will see it as the user not finding what they’re looking for.