While Seed keywords are not a magic bullet for SEO, they are the start of your SEO journey. They are like the foundation on which you build your longtail keywords. By spending some time developing good seed keywords, it’s possible to get better longtail keywords. In this article, we will discuss what seed keywords are, understand their importance, and learn how to identify good seed keywords.
What are Seed Keywords?
A seed keyword, also known as a short tail keyword, is a term or phrase consisting of one or two words. These words describe the topic broadly and are used to grow the list that will become your longtail keywords. The phrases are the most relevant for your niche and are a good starting point for building an effective keyword list.
However, unless you have an authority site, they aren’t suitable to target as they often have a high search volume and high competition, making them hard to rank for. Instead, these are the phrases you enter in a keyword research tool to get less competitive keywords.
Why Seed Keywords are Important to SEO
There are several reasons why seed keywords are essential. They can help you to:
Build Related Topic and Keyword Ideas
As we noted earlier, seed keywords are what you use to find longtail keywords. For instance, a phrase like coffee can have over 100k monthly searches. Now, this is a seed keyword that is difficult to rank for. But you don’t have to give up on it. You can use it to generate other easier keyword ideas that you cna create content on and rank on.
If your site is on the coffee niche, the seed keyword, in this case, is “coffee.” By entering these keywords in a keyword research tool, you will get other keywords such as:
- Espresso
- coffee-making machine
- how to make espresso coffee
- best coffee machine, and more.
Build Topic Clusters
Topic clusters help to build EAT(experience, authority,& trustiness) in the eyes of Google. This means websites with articles that cover a topic comprehensively can outrank others that don’t. You can use seed keywords to generate keyword clusters connected to a parent topic.
For instance, if you have a business that offers business consultancy, entering this keyword on a keyword research tool will help you generate keyword clusters to cover the subtopics of your niche.
Build Topic Authority
You can use seed keywords to establish topic authority. All you need to do is to use additional relevant keywords to write on the topic. When you build a list of the relevant seed keywords, you can streamline your keyword research and organize your content better.
How to Identify Great Seed Keywords for SEO
Here are ideas to help you brainstorm on the right seed keywords:
Site and Niche
There are several questions you need to ask yourself when determining seed keywords for your SEO strategy. These are:
- What is the niche of my site?
- What do I sell?
- What keywords am I aiming to rank for?
- What are the keyword ads for my niche?
- If I was starting on this site, what keywords would I target?
Be Specific
It is important to be specific during seed keyword identification. If you have an automotive repair shop in Utah, you might think “automotive” is a good keyword. However, the true picture is that this keyword is too broad and competitive that you cannot rank for it. So, a better seed keyword idea would be “automotive repair shop” or “automotive spare parts.”
Keywords Already Ranking
If your site is already ranking for particular keywords, you can use these as your seed keywords. These are the keywords that google already thinks are relevant to your site. By doing a keyword performance analysis and using them as your seed keywords, you are likely to easily rank for them.
Using Google Search Console
The Google search console is a great place to identify keywords that you are already ranking for. All you need to do is to go to your performance report to see the queries you are ranking for. Filter the keywords from one to ten and choose the ones with the most impressions.
Analyze Keywords From Your Competitors
Competitor analysis is an important part of keyword research. This is because you will already have similar keywords to your competitors. After all, your goal is to outrank them. You can use a keyword tool like Ahref to enter the URLs of your competitors and see the keywords they are ranking for.
Use Google SERP
While Google SERP lacks much information like search volumes and traffic, it is still a great place to get some good seed keywords. You can look at the “people also asked” section to find questions people are looking for answers to. While questions are often suitable for longtail keywords, these can also provide a hint on high-level topics that you can use as seed keywords.
You will also find related searches at the bottom of the SERP, which can be great seed keywords. Again, you can use Google autosuggest to see seed keywords that Google will suggest in your niche.
Online Communities and Forums
You can research the online communities and forums where people in your niche meet. These can provide great keyword ideas. You can browse Facebook groups, Quora, or Reddit threads and narrow your search to your niche.
Conclusion
Remember that when searching for seed keywords, you will find a lot of difficult keywords that are hard to rank for. To improve your chances of ranking, you will need to use the seed keywords to find long tail keywords.
Overall, a seed keyword is a good place to start your search for keywords in your niche. When you identify the right seed keywords, your keyword research will be easier and faster. Choose them carefully, as they will be the foundation of your site. By following the above tips, you can get seed keywords you can build on.
