How to Find the Right Keywords to Skyrocket Your Website Rankings

SEO keyword research is the process of discovering and analyzing the search terms users enter on search engines. It’s a critical step in strategizing to drive traffic to your website, helping you achieve higher rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs).

Additionally, keyword research provides valuable insights into user intent, enabling you to create targeted content that resonates with your audience’s most pressing questions and interests.

This guide will simplify your keyword research process using Ahrefs, a powerful SEO tool. Let’s dive into how to make the most of it!

Brainstorm Initial Keyword Ideas

Start by creating a list of “seed” keywords based on the main topics related to your business, products, or niche. These serve as the foundation for your research.

For example, if you are running a fitness blog, terms like “workout,” “fitness tips,” and “home exercises” are good starting points.

To expand your list, tap into customer reviews, FAQs, and comments to identify common phrases or terms. Additionally, analyze competitors’ websites to uncover the keywords they target.

Using Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, input your seed keywords to generate related keyword ideas and broaden your list.

Analyse Search Intent

Search intent refers to the purpose behind a user’s query—what they aim to achieve by searching. Understanding this helps you create content that aligns with their expectations.

Types of Search Intent

• Informational – Looking for information such as tutorials and guides
• Navigational – Looking for a specific website or page
• Transactional – Ready to buy something
• Commercial – Researching for products and services

For example, someone searching “how to bake a cake” likely seeks informational content, while “buy baking supplies” indicates transactional intent.

You can use Google’s auto-suggestions and the “People Also Ask” section to identify common questions and phrases.

In Ahrefs, the SERP Overview feature helps you analyze the top-ranking pages for a keyword, revealing the dominant intent. For example, informational queries are best served with blog posts or guides, while transactional queries suit product pages or sales funnels.

Assess Keyword Metrics

Not all keywords are equal—prioritize those with the right balance of relevance, competition, and traffic potential.

Key metrics to focus on using Ahrefs:

• Search Volume – How often a keyword is searched monthly
• Keyword Difficulty – How competitive it is to rank
• Traffic Potential – An estimate of the organic traffic a keyword can drive
• Referring Domain – Number of external websites that refer to your site with backlinks

Analyse Competitor Keywords

Studying your competitors’ keywords is vital to improve the SEO rankings of your website, outperform competitors, find areas to improve your SEO strategy, and leverage valuable keywords that could be related to your business.

Head on over to Ahrefs Site Explorer to input a competitor’s domain and uncover the keywords driving their traffic.

Pay attention to their top-performing content and analyze gaps in their strategy.

For instance, if your competitor ranks for “best supplements for muscle loss,” but doesn’t mention “B12 for muscle loss,” this presents an opportunity. 

Group and Prioritise Keywords

After compiling your keyword list, group similar terms into clusters based on themes. This simplifies your content creation process.

For example, if you have keywords like “best laptops”, “budget laptops”, and “top laptops 2024”, you can group them under “Laptop Reviews”.

Use the Ahref’s Keyword Difficulty so you will be able to prioritise keywords in groups based on relevance, intent and competitiveness.

Mapping these keywords to specific pages or blog posts ensures your content is targeted and avoids keyword cannibalization, where multiple pages compete for the same term.

Monitor and Update Keywords

Keyword research is not a one-time task. You need to do regular updates on keyword performance as the search trends, competition, and algorithms evolve. 

Ahrefs’ Rank Tracker lets you monitor your keyword rankings over time and identify fluctuations. For example, if a keyword drops in rank, investigate competitors’ strategies or adjust your content.

Updating your keyword list quarterly or semi-annually helps you stay ahead of trends and incorporate new, high-performing keywords.

Conclusion

Effective keyword research is the foundation of a strong SEO strategy. By understanding your audience, analyzing search intent, and leveraging tools like Ahrefs, you can discover opportunities to attract and convert visitors.

At NewNormz, we specialise in keyword research services tailored to your business needs. From analyzing user intent to identifying low-competition keywords, we’ll help you increase traffic, engagement, and conversions.

Ready to grow your business online? Learn more about our services today and let’s start building a strategic SEO campaign to boost your visibility and success.