A content marketing strategy has never been more important than it is in the second half of 2019. There are currently over 1.7 billion websites online. Each one is competing for the coveted first page positions on the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Posting blindly is an incredible waste of time, money, energy, and resources.
Keyword planning and keyword research shed light into your respective industry. They let you know not only what your audience is looking for, but when and where they’re looking for it, as well.
That just leaves you to deduce why they’re searching for a certain keyword or phrase. Answer that question and you can bring real value to your audience, leading to actual engagement, increased brand loyalty and awareness, and enhancing audience trust.
A content marketing strategy begins with keyword planning and research. Google’s Keyword Planner has just gotten a new update to help refine your content marketing strategies.
How Google’s Keyword Planner Update Can Help Your Content Marketing Strategy
Google’s marketing tools have all been getting major updates this year. Google Ad Planner has been expanded to include up to 10 keywords. They’ve also included the ability to group ideas to create powerful and comprehensive content marketing strategies.
First let’s take a look at the Google Keyword Planner update. Then we’ll talk a bit about how to integrate these insights into your own content strategy.
Google Keyword Planner Update
The main update to the Google Keyword Planner is the inclusion of relevant keywords. The Google Keyword Planner now shows the most relevant keywords based on the seed keyword you provide.
For instance, if you look up ‘content marketing strategy,’ Keyword Planner returns ‘content marketing,’ ‘content marketing agency,’ ‘content marketing agency,’ and ‘b2b content marketing,’ as relevant related search terms.
Google also added two additional features that will further help refine your content marketing strategy. They’ve included the ability to filter ideas for your website and how to exclude branded content.
Website Filtering
The website filtering function of the Keyword Planner allows you to filter results for keywords most closely related to a particular website.
Brand Filtering
The brand filtering function of the Google Keyword Planner lets you exclude keyword results that feature branded content from your competitors.
How To Set Up Your First Google Keyword Planner Campaign
If you’re new to Google Ads, it can be a bit confusing to get started. The Landing Page is set up for marketers looking to start an ad campaign. Setting up an ad campaign requires putting a credit card on file. If you’re still investigating the Keyword Planner, deciding whether or not it’s useful for you or your company, you might not be ready to start spending money.
It’s still possible to just use the Keyword Planner without setting up an ad campaign.
Here’s how to get started with the Keyword Planner.
Sign Up For Google Ads
Signing up for Google Ads only requires an email address and a business name. You don’t even need a website, per se, as you can create ads using Google’s smart campaigns, the default Google ads you see at the top of the SERPs.
Sign Into Your Google Ads Account
Once you’re signed into your Google Ads account, go to g.co/etoaw. This takes you to the Google Ads main page without having to create a search campaign. Go to the ‘Tools’ tab, which will take you to the Keyword Planner.
Once you’re signed in, you’ll be able to mess around with the Keyword tools, including the Grouped ideas and new features.
Why Keyword Research Matters
It’s widely accepted knowledge that you should create content with users in mind, not web crawlers. That’s only part of the story.
Google’s constantly updating its algorithms in a bid to bring the most relevant content for its users. That means you need to at least consider the technical side of the equation, as well, if you want people to find your content.
Back in 2012, Google launched their ‘knowledge graphs.’ Their motto is ‘Things, Not Strings,’ which is to say they’re not just returning random links any longer, simply because a piece of digital content contains the search query.
Instead, Google evaluates a number of different criteria in an enormous database to provide context for a search query. For instance, the search term ‘Venus’ could be in reference to the planet or the Roman Goddess of love.
This database is used to help ascertain user intent. It’s no longer enough to simply create a bunch of content using the relevant keyword you’re hoping to rank for. Instead, Google gives preference towards authoritative content based around a user’s intent.
Keyword research also helps you avoid trying to rank for keywords with too high of a difficulty rating. Getting noticed for the phrase ‘content marketing’ is going to be difficult, most likely. Keyword research lets you know that ahead of time so you could focus on long-tail keywords instead, such as ‘content marketing in Portland,’ for example.
Keyword research helps eliminate wasted time, energy, and resources. It lets you focus on what your audience is actually looking for instead of blindly guessing.
It’s also an endless source of ideas for new content, helping you further your brand or business, becoming an expert in your industry, and create real connections between you and your audience.
Do You Need Content Marketing Services?
As someone working exclusively online for the better part of a decade, I’ve written about anything you could possibly imagine in every conceivable industry, from auto insurance to home repairs to FinTech, daily deals, round-ups, and recaps.
I also stay on top of the latest changes to SEO and digital marketing, to help my clients flourish in their respective fields.
Whether you’re looking for content writing for your website, from blog posts to landing pages, or digital marketing services, from social media marketing to SEO optimization, I’d love to work with you and help establish your brand or business.
If you’re looking for passionate, knowledgeable, authoritative content on a budget, get in touch today!
If you want more content marketing news, thoughts, tips, and updates, you can also follow me on Twitter, Instagram, or connect with me on LinkedIn.
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