{"id":7902,"date":"2017-05-09T06:56:12","date_gmt":"2017-05-09T11:56:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/?p=7902"},"modified":"2020-09-09T16:24:01","modified_gmt":"2020-09-09T21:24:01","slug":"take-headache-keyword-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hostgator.com\/blog\/take-headache-keyword-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Keys to Keyword Research: 4 Reasons Your Rankings Are Tanking"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Keyword<\/h2>\n

4 Mistakes You’re Making With Keyword Research<\/h2>\n

We live in a content-driven online world, and <\/span>writing for the web is a tricky business<\/span><\/a>. That\u2019s not to say you can\u2019t have great success with the right mix of keyword optimizations and authoritative content resources. <\/span><\/p>\n

Quality keyword research (and how you leverage your findings) can mean the difference between your brand being nobody to Google and <\/span>being on the first page of search results<\/span><\/a>. We’re talking about the difference between tens of visitors and tens of thousands<\/em> of visitors each month.\u00a0Let\u2019s face it: Organic web traffic means money. And who doesn\u2019t like money?<\/span><\/p>\n

I decided to take a look at some of the most <\/span>common mistakes people make when conducting keyword research<\/span><\/a>. We\u2019ll cover some specifics-what tools to use and when to use them-as well as some specific examples of what <\/span>not to do<\/span><\/i> as a business aiming to capture all the keyword volume you come across at the data-collection stage.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mistake #1: You\u2019re Answering Questions You Think<\/em> People Are Asking<\/h2>\n

This is the blogging mistake to rule all web content mistakes: You\u2019re arbitrarily writing what you<\/span> think readers are interested in, <\/span><\/i>rather than writing what you <\/span>know web users are searching for.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

The whole point of keyword research is data-driven decision-making, so don\u2019t assume you have all the answers before doing your homework. Even if you do have all the answers figured out, you can\u2019t possibly know every single question, or who might be asking it and what their background is. This is where keyword tools come into play.<\/span><\/p>\n

A smattering of my favorite tools for targeted keyword inspiration and a pro tip for each:<\/span><\/p>\n