Keyword research gives you valuable insight into what your target audience is searching for. If you know the words they are using when they look for solutions, you can use this data to find them when they are actively in the market for your products and services. For many small businesses and entrepreneurs, it can be difficult to figure out where to get this data and how best to approach keyword research. Here’s some great places to get started:

 

Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free-to-use feature within Google Ads for generating keyword ideas and bid estimations to help you plan your marketing strategy. 

As with all Google products, they offer great guides and tutorials to get you get started and use them effectively.  They break the process down into 5 key steps in this detailed guide, How to use the Keyword Planner tool effectively. If you prefer a video walk through, Google also offers a slightly older video guide to Using Keyword Planner in Google AdWords (rebranded as Google Ads).

 

 

These guides are great if you’re already a Google Ads customer running paid ads, but if you are focusing on organic search or doing other research, there are other tools you can use that don’t require you to run paid ads. 

 

Hubspot

And if you’re new to search engine marketing overall, it might help you to start with a better overview to get you started – Hubspot offers a great one with their How to do Keyword Research for SEO: A Beginner’s Guide.

 

 

Free Keyword Research Tools

And if that is not enough reading for you, Search Engine Journal has compiled a great list of free tools you can use for keyword research with 44 Free Tools to Help You Find What People Search For.

 

Google Search Trends

Keyword research tools help you see what people have searched for in the past. But a great tip is to look for keywords that are growing consistently in volume. Google offers up this information for free with their Google Trends tool, to help you understand your industry and monitor relevant trends and consumer behaviour. 

 

New to Google Ads? Some help to you started: How to advertise with Google.