How to Research Keywords for SEO and Pinterest

Jan 13

I want to start by asking you if you have a method to your SEO plan or if you're winging it.

It's okay if you're winging it. I've got something to help you with that! Keep reading.

The thing is, it's completely understandable to wing it when you're just getting started with SEO. But once you know what search topics you want to rank for, it's time to get strategic.

If you're writing blog posts using keywords that no one is searching, it's not going to help you one bit. That's a lot of wasted time and energy, sister and I am not about that life for you!

So I wanted to share a couple of tips with you this week on how to start your keyword research.

I also want to point out that this is kind of an ongoing thing. You’ll want to do some keyword research before writing any new blog posts so you know what you’re focusing on for that piece.

Let’s get started!

This is for you if…

You’re just starting to implement SEO for your content marketing and want to make sure you’re using keywords your audience is using
You’re ready to start blogging regularly to create more evergreen content for Google and Pinterest and need content ideas specific to your audience
You want to start sharing your evergreen content on Pinterest and need to know how to find keywords people are searching
You’re looking for a tool to help you with your keyword planning research so you can start creating content already!

How to Start Your Keyword Research

Brain dump everything you think you want to rank for.

Start making a list and just keep going. Anything and everything under the sun. Some of them will be great keywords. Some of them will suck. The idea here is to think of anything you'd want to write or teach about.

It’s okay if your search terms are a little more broad here. You will want to niche down those keywords, otherwise they’ll be useless to you. And we don’t want that! But it’s okay to start your research using a broader word, and narrowing it down from there.

Research those keywords for both Google and Pinterest.

You want to make sure the keywords you're using are actually worth using. So don't skip this step and just go writing stuff all willy-nilly. Remember, we're not about wasted time and energy around here.

I’m sharing some of my favorite keyword research tools in the next section, but the idea here is to start with those broader keyword terms that you want to rank for, and find more specific ones that fit your audience. It might sound great to use a keyword that has over 200,000 searches per month, but ultimately it will be VERY difficult to rank for a keyword with that many searches.

I like to look for keywords and phrases with a monthly search volume of a few hundred to about 1000 or 1500. You want people to actually be searching those keywords, but you don’t want EVERYONE who’s looking for it. Your focus is reaching those who fit your audience who are searching.

Make a master list of keywords to pull from.

Now for the most part, your content plan will be based around launches, etc and you won't necessarily be choosing a random keyword to write about. BUT, it's still important to have a master list of keywords handy so that when you have that launch coming up around your new cookie recipe book, you know what keywords work best for cookie recipes. 😉

Keyword Research Tools

Ubersuggest

I personally love the Ubersuggest extension for Google Chrome. It let’s you search directly in Google and shows you the search volume, related keywords, and how difficult it would be to rank with a particular keyword, all on the right side of your screen.

Then, you can access more info like questions searched with that keyword over on the actual Ubersuggest website. There’s a wealth of information here and although it’s a bit limited unless you’re on a paid plan, it’s still a great tool for keyword research.

Keywords Everywhere

This is another Google Chrome extension that lets you research directly in Google. Keywords Everywhere is also paid but is pretty inexpensive and worth the cost if you do a lot of keyword research.

It shows you search volume, related keywords, and cost per click of those keywords (if you’re researching for ads). I like using this one to get more specific keywords related to my niche.

Pinterest Keywords

There are a couple of ways to do keyword research in Pinterest. It’s much easier than research for Google, in my opinion!

You can start by using the keyword finder in the Pinterest Ads section. Here you can type in a keyword and Pinterest will tell you how many searches it gets per month on their platform plus related keywords.

Remember, broad keywords may have a lot of searches, but that also means it’ll be more difficult for your content to stand out. So you want to look for keywords with moderate search numbers.

You can also use the search suggestions to find related keywords. Just head over to your search bar and type in the keyword you want to research. You’ll see a list pop up of keyword suggestions.

Check out those suggestions to see if they fit your content and target audience.

Recap

You must do keyword research in order to rank on Google or Pinterest. Writing content that isn’t focused doesn’t help either platform get to know you or your content and it therefore doesn’t learn how to share your content with others.
Braindump the keywords you want to rank for and narrow them down from there to words specific to your audience
Use keyword research tools to narrow down those keywords to ones that your audience is actually searching for. If you’re using keywords your audience isn’t using, they won’t find you.
Keep a master list of keywords handy for future content creation!

xx,
Delana

PS: If you're thinking, "Man, I wish I had some kind of guide or planner to help me with this"... I'm so glad you're still here.

Hot off the press is the Google + Pinterest Keyword Planner. I created this planner to walk you through the keyword research process I share with my clients and use for my own content.

Inside you'll find videos walking you through keyword research for Google and for Pinterest. Worksheets to take notes and write down your new keyword list. Plus a couple of pretty cool bonuses.

Get instant access here.