In every marketing campaign, you create, you must inevitably include search engine optimization. You need niche keywords if you want to drive qualified leads and web traffic to your business. However, niche keywords are not generated through guessing because they require research and proper analysis to determine the right ones.
What are niche keywords?
Niche keywords consist of specific key phrases that focus on a particular industry or service expertise. Online consumers usually use niche keywords because they are very specific to their query, generally consisting of three or more search terms. Niche keywords are advantageous to small or start-up enterprises because prospective customers can easily find them near their location. Although the search volume of long-tail keywords is not that high, these industry-specific terms can bring more qualified leads or customers with urgent concerns.
What is an example of a niche keyword?
For example, you are a supplier of organic household cleaning products. Imagine that the keywords used by online consumers are “eco-friendly household cleaning products” or “non-toxic commercial cleaning products.” Such keywords are appealing to a smaller group of people within a large group looking for household cleaning products in your industry. Since not all random customers use non-toxic commercial cleaning products as their keyword, only people interested in this keyword will use niche keywords. You increase your chances of driving customers to your website, mainly by optimizing niche keywords in your content.
Where do I use niche keywords?
You can optimize niche keywords with your SEO strategy and PPC ad campaign. If you use specific keywords in various aspects of an SEO campaign, your website may appear in relevant search results. Since more specific search terms are used here, you will get the most qualified leads from thousands or perhaps millions of online users who may be interested in your products or services. Integrating niche keywords into SEO is valuable because search engines will likely consider your business relevant. Aside from that, niche keywords are also highly incorporated in PPC ads because they help you reach the most relevant leads or interested customers who may need your solution. You allow your advertising ad to appear in search results for the most qualified leads, hoping to receive attention and drive people to your website.
Why are niche keywords important to my business?
Competing with businesses that rank high in broad or short-tail search terms is remarkably difficult. If someone uses broad terms, you can’t immediately figure out what the person’s intent is. If the searcher types organic household cleaning, for example, you will not determine if the person is only looking for information about organic household cleaning or products related to the search term. The search result will display all relevant information about the broad term, making it more difficult for your business to appear in front.
Researching niche keywords is vital because it may convert leads into specific customers with clear search intent. If a customer types in the keyword “toxic-free coloring markers for toddlers,” for example, you know right away that the person’s true intent is to have safe coloring materials for kids. If you use niche keywords, your business may be able to reach the most qualified leads. Although they do not generate massive search volume, niche keywords are less competitive, but you can generate potential leads.
How to find the right niche keywords for your business
Now that you know why niche keywords are so important in business, particularly for those wanting to establish authority in their respective industries, learn how to find the right ones for your industry. Here are some recommendations on generating and maintaining niche keywords that can bring high conversion rates and sales to your company:
Define your niche
If you operate a business, you should know what specific niche you are competing with. Establishing your niche before you do the keyword research process is important because you cannot determine the relevant keywords in your business if you do not know your niche. It would be best if you established your industry first. If you offer home design and construction services, your company belongs either in the construction or real estate industry.
Your products and services also determine your niche because you know the market niche you should serve. A design and build company, for example, will work in the home building sector under the construction industry. In addition to the examples mentioned above, you need to identify existing problems that your business or current skills set can solve. Customers prefer any business or product to resolve their urgent concerns. Once you have established the niche, it will be easy for you to discover the relevant niche keywords that will help put your business in a higher search ranking.
Conduct keyword research to find the best niche keywords
As mentioned earlier, you need to conduct keyword research to find the relevant keywords appropriate to your business model and target customers. Keyword research tools provide a list of specific and relevant key phrases that you can optimize in your SEO and paid ad campaigns. There are many research tools you can choose from, such as Keyword Tool, Ahrefs Keyword Explorer, Google Keyword Planner, and KeywordsFX, among others. You can explore different features of keyword research tools to know how effective they are in generating niche keywords.
Consider using short-tail keywords to generate long-tail niche search terms. If you use the keyword “home design,” for example, you’ll encounter long-tail keywords like “home kitchen design” or “home patio furniture design.” If your services cover these niche keywords, you can attract customers looking for this type of service. However, not all generated niche keywords should be used for your marketing campaign. Only focus on keywords suitable for your business platform and have the potential to generate organic traffic.
Analyze your keyword list.
You should not just stop generating keywords because you must also know which of them to prioritize. You don’t have to utilize all the keywords on your list. Instead, analyze which among the keywords are relevant to your business and have the potential to rank. Remember that generated keywords are existing key phrases that your competitor may already use or are in demand with customers. You can start your analysis with the monthly search volume of a particular keyword to know how often the user uses it when searching for information.
Expect high search volume on broad terms while niche keywords typically generate lower search volume, indicating less competitive but highly valuable for growing businesses. Also, consider checking the keyword difficulty level to optimize niche keywords in your SEO and PPC ad campaigns. Keyword difficulty measures how difficult it is for a keyword to rank in the middle of intense market competition. If you find the scale high, consider converting the generated niche keywords into something unique.
For your PPC ad campaign, pay attention to the information available from the cost-per-click section. This section will find out the average amount a company or competitor pays when someone clicks on their online ad using that keyword. You can use niche keywords for your marketing campaign and content optimization. The more specific the keywords to be used, the higher the chances of getting the most qualified leads.
Monitor and adapt your niche keywords as necessary.
Continuous monitoring is needed to evaluate whether niche keywords integrated into SEO strategy and PPC ad campaigns are effective. When you apply niche keywords to SEO strategy, don’t expect immediate results because you need to monitor their performance for a few months. If you ever notice that your optimized pages are not ranking, consider implementing page optimization more. It’s not enough that you put impressive niche critical phrases in your content since the result still depends on the search rank and number of conversions your website generates.
Perhaps you need to do extra link building and content optimization tactics to satisfy the ever-evolving requirements of search engines. If your keywords are not performing well in PPC ads, you need to consider going back to your keyword research stage and generating other niche keywords instead of forcing the keywords to rank. Once you’ve developed a new keyword list, re-optimize it and evaluate the performance once again. Because you take enough time to monitor your keyword performance, you will eventually know which keywords will bring the best results for your business.
Start ranking for niche keywords today
If you want to get qualified leads and organic traffic to your website, you need to take some precious time to find the most relevant niche keywords. Niche keywords will increase your chances of ranking well in your industry, as long as you follow some SEO tips discussed earlier. Although niche keywords are less competitive, they can help your business compete with big fishes in the market and reach customers who may need your expertise. If you are unsure where to start, HOWPO can help provide the necessary information regarding the importance of niche keywords, whether in your current profession or business setup.
Use a Keyword Research Tool to Find Niche Keywords
Niche keyword generation is becoming in-demand as customer behavior and the business landscape continue to evolve. Of course, you can’t start niche keyword research if you have not identified your niche yet. Regardless of how familiar you are with an industry or field, it is still challenging to determine which keywords will be profitable for you. Keyword research tools will help you determine a wide range of keywords, including those that you think are less attractive but have the potential to generate traffic in the future. If you don’t have an existing website yet, you can start listing down keywords relevant to your business format or products.
There are many keyword research tools available in the market today that can potentially provide valuable keyword suggestions. You will often encounter keywords that are not common or keywords that you have not thought of while making an initial listing. You can try some popular keyword research tools like WordStream, Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, KWfinder, and more. Keyword research tools can generate a lot of niche keywords. Unfortunately, not all key phrases will likely be valuable for the exact needs of your marketing campaign. But you can choose certain keywords relevant to your business and possibly drive qualified leads and sales.
Refine Your Niche Keyword List
No matter how many niche keywords you generate from your research tool, your list does not gain any value unless you refine it. The generated keywords are just suggestions, and whatever you do with the keywords will matter, especially in SEO optimization. When you enter a keyword or URL into a keyword research tool, it generates a comprehensive list of keywords or searches queries that are relevant or less valuable to your industry. It will also display Google search volume, keyword difficulty level, cost-per-click, click-through rate, and more valuable details.
You should not be overwhelmed by the number of keyword suggestions. Instead, consider the most relevant keywords that can potentially help your marketing campaign. In other instances, you may even discover keywords that you had not thought of when you created the initial keyword listing. You may also encounter keywords with purchasing patterns, user behavior, and target age to help your content creation process. When considering a keyword research tool, make it a habit to compare features and results to determine the suitable platform that can provide the most specific search queries.
Determine How Competitive Your Niche Keyword Phrases Are
Once you have established your niche and a list of relevant keywords for your business, conduct continuous monitoring and evaluation to find out how they are performing on various online platforms. You can do in-depth keyword analysis by determining the ranking difficulty for each niche keyword. You can use the keyword research tool, which has built-in proprietary algorithm features, to determine the level of competitiveness of a keyword in an industry or how often online consumers use those terms. It assesses the viability of the keyword within the context of your SEO and other marketing campaigns.
A keyword research tool refines highly competitive keywords to ensure that the keywords you implement are only relevant to your business. After filtering out niche keywords, consider optimizing them for your website and PPC ad campaigns. However, keyword integration does not stop there since you constantly monitor your keywords’ performance on various pages. Whenever possible, niche keywords should be monitored in line with your business goals so that you can come up with your high-performing keywords.
This does not mean that when you generate niche keywords from the research tool, you will convert from organic traffic or deliver results instantly. You need constant monitoring and may require immediate adjustments if your website is not appearing on search results. If you ever notice that your niche keyword is not ranking high enough, you should not lose determination, instead, go back to keyword research and generate a new list of niche keywords.
Finding the Right Long-Tail Keywords
Once you have identified your niche, it is time to determine the right long-tail keywords that will help your business become visible online. As mentioned earlier, long-tail niche keywords often contain clear search intent from potential customers. It would be best to put yourself in the customer persona to imagine what possible keywords they might type in the search bar, which your products and services can directly offer. Since niche keywords components are more specific, you will most likely target specific customers who might be looking for your expertise. Aside from the self-generation of niche keywords, it would be best to consider using a keyword research tool to make the entire process a lot easier.
Google Trends:
There are essential SEO tools that allow you to explore what customers around the world are searching for. With user-friendly SEO tools, you get anonymous and unfiltered samples of various search requests along with the type of category and some important technical data. SEO research tools identify the common interest and can be as narrower as a specific city. You can use the valuable insights you gain from gathered data to understand a particular business’s actual consumer behavior and needs. Check out some of the popular niche generator tools to find out what keywords are considered trending in your industry:
SEMrush
If you have limited SEO experience or experience as a digital marketer, you will surely appreciate this SEO tool because of its user-friendly features. This keyword planner can identify niche keywords that seem suitable for your niche. SEMrush audits the current setup of your website to help you optimize niche keywords for better organic traffic generation. It also provides a comprehensive keyword strategy report of your closest competitors, so you can use the information to develop your marketing plan further.
Ahrefs
If you prefer an all-in-one SEO toolkit that can deliver guaranteed results, why not give Ahrefs a try? Ahrefs has a keyword explorer that allows you to generate niche keywords appropriate to various business forms. It can track the content strategy of your closest competitors to help you further enhance your current SEO strategy. You can also identify which content is being shared on various platforms through its content explorer feature. Not only that, Ahrefs can provide a comprehensive SEO report on the current performance of your website, so you will know ahead where it needs adjustments. You will also receive notifications regarding non-performing backlinks and the profile of the backlinks you receive from other websites.
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic provides long-tail keywords that online searchers often use to find a specific site they need. In this keyword tool, you may acquire useful data such as search volume, relevant category, and backlinks to use as valuable insights for your succeeding marketing strategy. You can utilize niche keywords to create informative blog posts, answering the inquiry of your target customers. You can also see in AnswerThePublic the actual performance of your content optimization and the level of competitiveness in your industry that you must face.
FB Search
Finding specific keywords has been made easier by Facebook. You can find relevant and updated niche key phrases from millions of Facebook pages related to your industry using FB Search. The FB Search tool helps you explore and sort outperforming long-tail keywords that rank on various social media channels and other essential FB pages. All you need to do is type in the keyword, and you will receive a listing of popular niches related to your keyword via Facebook posts, referral links, comments, and announcements. Unfortunately, it is not as comprehensive as other keyword finders that are popular in the SEO industry.
You need to follow some existing businesses that are actively using Facebook. This way, you can see what strategy worked with them and generate your ideas to enhance. Introduce new information to gain an advantage over other market competitors. The FB Search tool can help provide valuable information from trending posts, advertisements, and images that you can use in your marketing campaign.
How Do You Use Long-Tail Keywords Effectively in Your Content?
In every successful marketing campaign, offering a long-term solution to customer inquiries determines its level of success. And you can only do this if you can create highly informative content related to what you offer using long-tail search terms. If you remain consistent in using the right keywords for your content, you can establish your authority in the industry while becoming noticeable to search engines. However, to help your business climb up the ranks, make sure that you only produce easy-to-understand content, offering valuable resolution to potential customers.
Understanding the current competition enables you to use niche keywords in the right approach for your target audience. Consider conducting a competitor analysis to determine which keywords are highly competitive or in-demand with prospective customers. Only produce unique content that can be useful to customers, displaying fresh ideas that customers cannot find anywhere. Consider being proactive in resolving content gaps and ineffective link building through continuous niche keyword monitoring.
Strategically Place Micro Niche Keywords in These Six Places
When you plan to open a new business, you must know your area of expertise very well. This includes familiarizing yourself with different but related industry niches where your business might be actively competing. But if you can optimize more specific areas within the broader spectrum of your website using micro niche keywords, your chances of reaching a decent spot in the search results significantly increase. Here are six valuable areas of the website that you need to focus on when optimizing micro niche keywords:
URLs
The URL to be used should be relevant to what customers are looking for on a website. Optimizing niche keywords in the URL will help search engines notice your site and reward a good ranking. Algorithms and users appreciate concise URLs while helping your site reduce high bounce rates.
Title tags
Search engines depend on title tags when discerning topics you feature on your pages, so it is crucial to use rich niche keywords to increase online visibility. Even browser tabs and bookmark descriptions use title tags to help users instantly recognize website content. Whenever possible, limit the title tag between 55 and 60 characters (6 to 8 words) to strengthen its optimization. Google cuts off long title tags, making them unnoticeable in search results.
Meta descriptions
Meta description alone is not a crucial ranking factor for search engines, but users use it to determine the content of your website. Algorithms use the meta description and title tag to create a compelling search snippet for your content, referring to written excerpts from your web pages placed under the title. Your click-through rate will increase if you optimize your niche keywords well, and search engines will notice it. Just make sure your meta description is relevant to the website to motivate customers to stay longer.
Page content
Content creation offers the best opportunity to promote your business and expertise. It is imperative to use micro niche keywords in creating content, but make sure the keywords naturally flow in the article. If your content is saturated with keywords, search engines may view it as a scam, thus weakening your website ranking, in addition to the penalty that will be given to you. Your content should also provide a solution and meaningful information to meet customers’ needs while helping your website generate more leads.
Headings and subheadings
Search engines focus on headings and subheadings when ranking a website. These areas are great for optimizing niche keywords. You directly help algorithms better discern what your content can offer to your prospective readers. As with other keyword inclusion in your pages, you cannot overdo keyword placement because you may be penalized by search engines.
Image Alt Text
It is not easy for search engine crawlers to discern images, so labeling them with niche keywords is imperative. Visually impaired users are also given access to understanding what the picture is all about. Alt-text is important for search engines to determine the relevancy of images to your industry.
Suppose you are starting with your search marketing initiative. In that case, whether you are an affiliate marketer or someone about to open a new business, it is very important to use niche keywords to establish genuine authority within an industry. Finding the right niche keywords may need trial and error. Still, once you have established them, it will be easy for your website to generate organic traffic amid fierce market competition.
Owner at Be Visible Media
Dale Basilla is a content writer for various niches, SEO (Off-page & On-Page), and lives in a location where there are lots of beaches in the Philippines. He loves to watch anime, TV series (mystery and solving crimes), and movies. In his spare time, he plays chess, plays the guitar, and spend time with his ever busy girlfriend.