Keyword research is vital in today’s online ecosystem, because it affects many different marketing efforts from SEO to content marketing. However the process of doing keyword research can sometimes be difficult, tedious, costly and risky if you’re not sure exactly what to look for. Therefore in order to find the right keywords to make marketing investments successful, you’ll need to find a better way to source initial keywords and inform your research.
Fortunately, market research significantly makes keyword research easier. Here are the 3 key reasons why:
1. Market Research Provides Essential Focus for Keyword Research
One of the most difficult aspects of keyword research is knowing what themes and topics to focus on. This is insight that cannot be fully gleaned from various online keyword research tools, which provide a snapshot of some of the most popular keywords. However, this is not the full picture, and not enough data to understand how to build a comprehensive and functional SEO plan.
What’s more, many of these tools -- and virtually all of the ones available for free -- are NOT accurate and should be avoided! This gives market research the advantage as it puts a functional and practical framework around keyword research, and helps businesses move forward in the right direction.
2. Market Research Goes Beyond the WHAT of Keywords and Reveals the WHY
Market research goes past superficial (and often incorrect and out-of-date!) search statistics by revealing not just WHAT target audiences are searching for, but WHY they are searching. After all, SEO is a means, not an end. Once a prospective customer clicks a search result, they need land on a website/page that is relevant and ushers them forward on the buyer’s journey. Market research reveals what this journey needs to look like in order to drive engagement, build relationships, and ultimately generate sales.
3. Market Research Keeps Keyword Research Future-Focused
Google and the other search engines may compete with each other for market share, but they share a unifying principle: they reward businesses that play the long game. That means establishing dominance for various keywords (i.e. ranking on “page 1”) typically takes several months and involves a mix of strategic content creation and link building.
Market research ensures that businesses do not mistakenly end up ranking for a keyword (or keywords) that is not going to be as popular or valuable in the future as it is today. For example, a firm that specializes in providing hospitals with analytics consulting may determine that the primary keyword it should be targeting is “health analytics company.” However, market research may reveal that aiming for “healthcare report dashboard” is more valuable, since it is the emerging term among its most important and profitable customer base. By aligning their strategy and approach accordingly, the firm can establish dominance of the keyword and be months, if not years ahead of its competitors.
Learn More
To learn more about how market research makes keyword research easier and more effective, contact the Communications For Research team today. You’ll speak with our co-CEO Colson Steber about your business and research opportunities. Then Colson can help give you research advice, provide timelines and estimate a quote for your project.
For more information on how market research can help marketing agencies in many different ways, download our FREE eBook:
