Using SEMrush for keyword research

SEMrush is a globally recognised SEO tool and it’s one of the best in the business. Using it can be very daunting to navigate because of its vast amount of features. Here’s a guide that I’ve made specifically for people getting stuck using SEMrush, particularly for ‘keyword research’.

SEMrush: Keyword magic tool

Let’s start by discussing the ‘keyword magic tool’, one of the more simpler tools on SEMrush. It allows you to enter a keyword and will use ‘third party data’ to give you a set of keywords that are related to the one you searched.

Along with its keywords, the keyword magic tool pulls in some useful information which could help you in choosing the correct keywords. Such as;

• Volume
  Volume gives you data on how many searches a particular keyword gets.If a keyword has high volume it means that it generates a lot of traffic, however a keyword with high volume also comes with high competition which makes your website harder to rank for that keyword.
• The KD (keyword difficulty)
  This column gives each keyword a score depending on how much competition surrounds the keyword. This information can be really useful because it allows you to target keywords which have high volume and a low KD.
• SERP (ranking on search engine page)
  SERP shows the relative ranking based on how high a keyword ranks on a search engine results page. This can be particularly helpful as it helps you think twice about a keyword before implementing it.

Client example

Here at Bluehoop we did some keyword research for a cleaning firm in Leeds. Using the keyword magic tool we searched ‘office cleaning Leeds’ into the search bar. The reason we did this is because the company is based in Leeds in the UK and they specialise in office cleaning. The process of choosing keywords to search at the beginning is simply by using our initiative and typing what we think the end user might be searching into google.

Also something to remember each time you do a search is to change the country to the UK.The reason why this is important is because search engine results can vary from country to country.

Once you’ve searched your keyword SEMrush will give you a list of the keywords related to the one you’ve entered. Usually we make a list and then either search a keyword from the list or if the keywords are not adequate enough we would just think of a separate keyword and start the process over.

Another way to choose keywords is by researching a competitors keywords into SEMrush by using the keyword overview tool.
Using the key word overview tool you can enter a competitor’s URL, and see what types of keywords will come up under their website. This could be a good source of inspiration on the types of keywords you could use.

In summary SEMrush is a great tool for keyword research and as part of the SEO process. It and can help your website rank higher in search engines. Thanks for reading and I hope this guide was helpful.