How to Perform Keyword Research for New Websites

Are You Launching a New Website?

Launching a new website can be both exciting and overwhelming. As you focus on designing an intuitive user experience and creating compelling content, one critical factor to keep in mind is keyword research. Without proper keyword research, your website risks being invisible to search engines, making it difficult for potential customers to find you.

Our digital marketing team is here to walk you through proper keyword research for your new website. If you’re looking for highly-rated digital marketing services, contact our SEO team today at (858) 333-8950.

Why Keyword Research Is Crucial for New Websites

Before diving into the “how-to” of keyword research, it’s essential to understand why it matters. Keyword research identifies the search terms your target audience uses when looking for information, products, or services like yours. This is the first step in search engine optimization (SEO), allowing you to create content that aligns with user intent.

For new websites, keyword research serves as the roadmap for content creation and site structure. Since you don’t yet have the benefit of existing traffic data, keyword research helps you:

• Identify your audience’s needs and pain points.
• Uncover niche opportunities to stand out from the competition.
• Optimize your content to rank higher in search results, driving organic traffic.
• Improve your chances of conversion by aligning your content with user search intent.

Step 1: Define Your Website’s Goals and Audience

The first step in performing keyword research for a new website is understanding your website’s purpose and your target audience. Ask yourself:

• What is the main goal of your website?
• Are you trying to sell products, promote services, or provide information?
• Who is your ideal audience?
• What problems are they trying to solve?

Knowing your website’s goals and audience helps you choose the right keywords. For example, if you’re launching an e-commerce site that sells sustainable beauty products, your keywords should reflect the eco-conscious buyer’s journey.

Buyer Personas

Developing buyer personas can help refine your keyword research. These fictional characters represent your ideal customers and include information such as:

• Demographics (age, gender, location)
• Goals and challenges
• Search habits and behaviors

When you understand who you’re targeting, you can better align your keyword strategy to attract the right users.

Step 2: Brainstorm Seed Keywords

Once you’ve defined your goals and audience, it’s time to start brainstorming seed keywords. Seed keywords are the basic terms that broadly define your niche. These are short, simple phrases that describe your products, services, or content offerings. At this stage, don’t worry about refining the keywords. Focus on generating a long list of potential search terms based on your website’s core offerings.

Some of the strategies you may use to generate seed keywords include:

• Think like your audience: What would they search for if they were looking for your services or products?
• Use your competitors’ websites: Look at competitors in your niche and analyze their content and keywords.
• Use forums and social media: Platforms like Reddit, Quora, and social media groups can provide insight into what your audience is discussing.

Step 3: Use Keyword Research Tools to Expand Your List

After you’ve brainstormed seed keywords, it’s time to expand your list using keyword research tools. These tools provide data on search volume, competition, and related keywords, helping you identify the most valuable search terms. Some of our favorite keyword research tools include SEMrush, Moz Keyword Explore, and SE Ranking.

To get the most out of your keyword research tool, we recommend focusing on:

• Search Volume: Focus on keywords with a good balance of search volume. While it may be tempting to target keywords with thousands of searches, these often have stiff competition. For new websites, a keyword with a moderate search volume and lower competition is usually more attainable.
• Keyword Difficulty: Many tools provide a difficulty score that estimates how hard it will be to rank for a particular keyword. Prioritize keywords with a lower difficulty score, as they offer better chances for a new website to gain visibility.
• Long-Tail Keywords: These are longer, more specific keyword phrases (“best workout routines for beginners”) that may have lower search volume but often come with less competition. Long-tail keywords also tend to capture users who are further along in the buyer’s journey and closer to conversion.

Step 4: Analyze Search Intent

Understanding search intent is crucial for successful keyword research. Search intent refers to the reason behind a user’s search. Are they looking for information? Trying to make a purchase? Comparing products?

There are four primary types of search intent:

1. Informational: The user is looking for information (“how to start a fitness routine”).
2. Navigational: The user is looking for a specific website or page (“Nike homepage”).
3. Transactional: The user is ready to make a purchase (“buy a yoga mat online”).
4. Commercial Investigation: The user is comparing options before making a purchase (“best fitness tracker for runners”).

For a new website, it’s often best to target informational and commercial investigation keywords to attract users at the start of their journey. As your website gains authority, you can start targeting more transactional keywords.

Step 5: Group and Prioritize Keywords

Once you have a solid list of keywords, the next step is to group them into categories. This will help you organize your content strategy and ensure you’re targeting the right keywords on the right pages. When it comes to grouping your keywords, there are a few ways you can do this:

• By topic: For example, if your website is about fitness, you might group keywords under topics like “cardio,” “strength training,” and “nutrition.”
• By search intent: You can create pages or blog posts that target keywords based on their intent (informational blog posts for how-to searches, product pages for transactional searches).
• By funnel stage: Group keywords based on where they fall in the buyer’s journey (awareness, consideration, decision).

After grouping your keywords, it’s important to prioritize them. For a new website, start with keywords that are easier to rank for—typically low-competition, long-tail keywords. As your site gains authority, you can gradually target more competitive keywords.

Step 6: Create Content Around Your Keywords

With your keyword groups prioritized, it’s time to create content. Each page or blog post on your website should be optimized for a primary keyword, but it’s also essential to include related terms to provide context for search engines and users. Best practices for adding keywords into content include:

• Focus on one primary keyword per page: Each page should have a clear focus on a specific keyword.
• Use your keyword naturally: Avoid keyword stuffing. Use your keyword in the title, meta description, headers, and throughout the content, but always prioritize readability.
• Incorporate related keywords: Include LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) keywords or synonyms to provide search engines with more context about your content.
• Answer user intent: Ensure your content fully answers the question or provides the information the user is seeking. This helps improve dwell time and reduces bounce rates, both of which can boost your rankings.

Step 7: Monitor and Adjust Your Strategy

Keyword research for new websites isn’t a one-and-done task. It’s essential to monitor your performance and adjust your strategy as needed. Use tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics to track which keywords are driving traffic and how well your content is ranking. As your site gains traction, you can revisit your keyword research to find new opportunities and adjust your content strategy to target more competitive terms.

Are You Ready to Launch Your New Website?

Keyword research is an ongoing process, but for new websites, it lays the foundation for SEO success. If you’re launching a new website and need expert assistance in keyword research and SEO strategy, Now Media Group can help. Contact us today at (858) 333-8950 to get started and ensure your website is set up for long-term success!