How do you find the right keywords for your blog?

Keywords are nothing less than a magic wand.

You find the right keywords for your blog, and the world will find you. The question is how do you find the right keywords for your blog?

First, you should know what keywords are.

Keywords are search words that people use to find content of their interest. If the keywords chosen by you happen to be popular search words then your article will become visible to a large number of people.

Second, you should know that keywords are also knows as tags. So, do not get confused if you are asked to enter the right tags for your bog post.

Third, you should know that there are two kinds of keywords. The first are keywords that form the short tail of search. They comprise of one or two words, and invariably, beginners use such keywords.

For instance, a new blogger will enter media school or journalism college as keywords for an article on media schools. These keywords, in the absence of a school name or place name, can only form the short tail of search.

To be part of the long tail, the keywords must be more specific. That is why seasoned bloggers will use  media school in Noida or journalism college in south India as the keywords. These keywords are more targeted, and are more likely to propel their articles to top positions on the search page.

You may ask what is the advantage.

Research has shown that the short tail is made of 30% of web searches. The remaining searches – that is 70% — happen in the long tail.

This is why you must make sure that your keywords figure in the long tail.

How do you find the right keywords?

The web has several sites that help you find the right keywords. But most of these charge a fee. Till a few years back you could use Google Keywords Planners to find hot keywords. Unfortunately, Google now allows only Ad Words customers to use this tool.

But you need not lose heart. There are still several free tools that can help you.

Google Autocomplete: The first is Google Autocomplete. This tool generates suggestions that are based on popular searches. Explains Google:

Autocomplete predictions are automatically generated by an algorithm without any human involvement, based on a number of objective factors, including how often past users have searched for a term.

This is why Autocomplete is a useful way to locate the right keywords.

Google Related Searches: The second is Google related Searches. These suggestions appear at the bottom of the Google search page. They are meant to help searchers narrow their searches.

Google Trends: The third is Google Trends. It’s another great tool deployed by Google for the common web user. This tool tirelessly collates the search words used across the world, and by select countries. You can enter the keywords you plan to use. Immediately, you will get to know if your keywords are the search words being used or you need to modify them. The tool also indicates which keywords are rising in popularity.

The tool has great value for Indians because the Google tool collates search words entered by Indians. This makes your keywords better targeted at Indian readers.

You have two more powerful keywords tool that are free.

Keywordtool.io: You can use the search field of www.keywordtool.io to generate 750 possible keywords.

Ubersuggest: This tool also generates keyword phrases. You can access it at www.ubersuggest.org

What more do you want?

Use these free tools to find the right keywords.