As a blogger, finding the right keyword for SEO is a great way to make sure I get the readers I want to find my site. If you own a photography business you know that word of mouth is a fantastic way to get business. However, getting searches through Google is a great way to reach new clients as well.
Tool to find a keyword for SEO
When I first started blogging I read every blog I could find to teach me about SEO and blogging in general. I found a site that recommended using Google Keywords to help you find a keyword for SEO. Genius! Google has created this tool for Google Ads but as a blogger it is the perfect tool for us.
How it works
1. Go to Google Keywords.
2. Type in possible keywords that you think someone may type to find your blog post.
3. Hit “Search”, this is the information you want to investigate. Your keywords will show up at the beginning and then there is a list of additional keywords that may be useful.
Beside each keyword there is “Competition” which will be “Low”, “Medium”, or “High”. This tells you how many other sites out there are using the same keyword for SEO. In this case, all our keywords had “Low” competition, which is great.
“Global Monthly Searches” shows you how often people all over the world have searched that keyword on a monthly basis.
“Local Monthly Searches” shows you how often people meeting your criteria (I believe what you have put in the “advance filters” section) have searched this keyword.
So for our search you can see that all the keywords had low competition. Next, I look at “Global Searches” because I don’t need my readers to only be local and “how to photograph at night” had the highest hits for a month.
Next you can look at the additional keywords that Google generates for you. Sometimes you can find a better match than what you wrote originally. For example, “night photography” has a much higher “Global Monthly Search” than “how to photograph at night” and they both have “low” competition.
Therefore, I would choose “night photography” for my keyword for SEO if I were writing a post about night photography.
You can use this tool for creating keywords for SEO as a blogger or photographer. Just remember, what would your ideal reader/client search to find your website or blog post.
Great tips Courtney!
Thanks!
I don’t use this…yet! I’ve been pinning articles on this and trying to figure out what it all means- so your post came at the perfect time because of course you can explain it in language I can understand! Keep up the blogging articles- I can’t wait to read more (and learn from the master! Lol)
You are so funny! A master I am not, but I do love to talk blogging ;)
I do this sometimes, but I haven’t figured out if it really helps. I think my Google PR that often even the “low” competition keywords don’t result in traffic. Ironically, the posts that I didn’t even bother to SEO are the ones getting Google traffic! I do want to start being more diligent about using SEO in case my PR increases.
Have you used Yoast to help you with the SEO? I’m going to talk about that plug-in next time. It’s a great one :)
Great post and incredibly useful information! Thanks! :)
So glad to hear that! Thanks!
I’ve known about this tool (I’m a web developer by day ;) ), but have yet to use it for my photo blog. I’m just more interested in writing my posts than worrying about getting traffic…
Maybe if I want some traffic, I should worry about keywords more? hehe
It’s a vicious cycle…great content to get the traffic and keep the traffic, keywords and SEO to get the traffic to your site :)
Great post, Courtney! I was trying to learn SEO and how to use it properly. But all seemed so confusing. But this is such a easy and cool way to understand keywords! I’m sure I’m gonna try this soon. Thanks! :)
Hope this helps make SEO just a little bit easier :)
I have mostly ignored SEO for the (almost) year I’ve been blogging, but it would be nice to get a few more readers to my blog. I’m going to give this a shot and see where it takes me.
Hope you see some positive response from your SEO work. I know it can all be overwhelming :)
Hi there, yes I do but I’m not sure if I’m using them correctly. Thanks for the tips on this and I’ll see if this helps get the word out on some of my blog posts. :)
I’m sure you are doing it correctly…at least we all hope we are ;) Hope it helps :)
I’ve been blogging for awhile now … how am i just hearing about this SEO thing?! Thank you for this article, it gives me a bit of an understanding about how it can increase traffic to my site, but I guess I don’t know how to do this or where to even put a keyword. guess i’m off to do a little research! i’ve pinned this article for after i’ve gained more knowledge! thank you! :)
Tish, check out the Yoast plug-in. That helps with SEO :)
That’s awesome! Thank you so much!!! I will head there now to check it out.
How awesome to find articles like this and what perfect timing. I have just written my second blog post and am trying to learn everything I can. Thanks! :)
How exciting! Welcome to blogging :)
Just saw that my old Twitter name automatically popped up on the message I left, sorry not sure how to fix that.
Thank you very much for this detailed information.It really helps me to get a high paying and high search volume keyword.