You may not be aware, but if you’ve written a blog or done keyword research, you’ve previously seen seed keywords. This is because they are one of the first items you will require for your website’s content.
Finding and generating seed keywords is critical for a successful keyword research strategy. Developing a seed keyword list provides a solid basis for your content strategy.
In this post, let’s go through what seed keywords are and how to find wide seed keywords for use in your SEO approach.
What Are Seed Keywords?
A seed keyword has no modifiers, often known as a short-tail keyword. It often consists of one or two words and receives a high monthly search traffic. And there’s a lot of competition.
Think of seed keywords as the foundation of a website optimization plan. They cover your site’s most significant subjects and are the beginning point for keyword research, influencing your SEO approach.
You supplement seed keywords with other terms. This generates either a medium-tail or long-tail keyword, having the seed keyword at its core. Identifying them is the foundation of keyword research.
Modifiers added to a seed term, such as a specialization or region, typically explain or characterize it more thoroughly.
For example, the term “marketing” may be modified to “product marketing” or “marketing strategy“.
Here are some further examples:
Essentially, seed keywords generate all of your other keywords. This is the primary reason why they must be done correctly.
How to Choose Seed Keywords?
There are various methods for collecting seed keywords, ranging from publicly available information in search engines to identifying head terms used by your rivals. Identifying broad-level keywords is a rather simple task. The most crucial factor is identifying the major issues your business deals with.
Here, we’ll review the best strategies to choose seed keywords for your search engine optimization plan.
a. Generate Seed Keyword Suggestions For Your Primary Topic
The most obvious technique to identify seed keywords is to consider the core issues with which your organization is related. We propose you write down the most common broad-level terms you want your audience to know about your company.
This will provide a starting point without overwhelming you with an analysis of your rivals’ websites or popular postings.
The core topic of your website is most likely something you already know. For example, if your site is about keto diets, type the topic into the Keyword Research Tool.
The keyword generator will create hundreds of relevant keyword suggestions for your site, together with statistics on search traffic and keyword difficulty.
Because seed keywords are popular phrases with high search volume, you may filter the list from highest to lowest search volume.
This will bring up similar head keywords at the top.
b. Find Competitor’s Keyword
If you are unfamiliar with the sector and need suggestions, check the keywords that comparable sites rank for.
When using Ahrefs’ Site Explorer to find seed phrases, I mostly use Organic keywords and Top page reports.
Here’s why:
- Looking through Ahrefs’ organic keyword data is one of the simplest ways to find possible seed keywords.
- For example, suppose I wish to explore the topic “beards.”
- So, first, choose a site connected to the issue.
- For the sake of this example, we will use BeardBrand.
- When I check into the organic keywords it ranks for, I find “mutton chops,” which is a term that does not immediately come to me when I think of terms linked with beards.
If I had only searched for the seed “beards” in Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer, I could have overlooked this related keyword.
Continuing with the issue of “beards” and remaining within the Organic keywords report, I’ll also create a filter to eliminate any keywords that contain the term “beard”:
Why do this?
Because I want to see possible keywords that I may have missed, and this is a fantastic method to do it quickly.
There are two advantages to employing this method:
- Your rivals have researched for you, allowing you to quickly complete your tasks.
- When you run out of ideas, utilize Ahrefs to locate new rivals and try again.
c. Use Information in Google’s SERPs
If you seek to rank on Google—and let’s be honest, you are—one of the finest locations to obtain additional information is the SERPs.
Search one of your seed term ideas and browse the pages for inspiration.
Here are some ideas to check into:
1. People Also Ask
The People Also Ask (PAA) boxes are a Google SERP feature. They explicitly answer queries about a search query. Answers are gathered from webpages, with Google giving a clickable link to the source.
In terms of discovering seeds, you may check through PAA boxes for reoccurring phrases:
2. Related Searches
At the bottom of the SERPs, you’ll notice Google’s “related searches,” revealing other potential search phrases connected to your initial keyword search:
For certain searches, you’ll even get a list of relevant companies to possibly utilize as seeds:
3. Page Titles & Meta Descriptions
Every SEO understands (and should put into practice) how to incorporate the intended keyword into a page title.
So it makes obvious that title tags might be a wonderful source of seed keywords:
Remember to check the meta descriptions. These may also include potential seeds.
Of course, if you want to take it a step further, go to those sites and go through the subheadings for more potential seed terms:
4. Pay Attention To Online Forums & Communities
Find out the forums and websites your target audience frequents. These can be a wealth of information that you won’t find in the SERPs or anyplace else. What better way to receive it than from your audience?
Begin by browsing Facebook Groups, Reddit, or Quora, and then go further into your specialty community. For example, the SEO community on Reddit is obviously valuable to us for the same reasons. There are several talks on keyword optimization and Surfer’s Tools.
You may use search operators to identify online pages that contain your seed term. Enter [intitle:forum keyword] or [inurl:forum keyword] to retrieve page titles or URLs that include your seed keyword.
These talks might help you come up with seed keywords for your keyword research and content creation.
5. Look Into Google Search Console
You may use Google Search Console (GSC) to determine your most critical search queries. Consequently, will discover that your content already ranks for specific keywords in search engine results. You may also utilize this information to identify more seed keywords.
To locate terms in Google Search Console, go to the left panel and select Performance > Search Results. The Queries tab on the right displays a list of keywords for which your content already ranks.
Although there is no specific filter for “seed keywords,” I discovered that sorting the Impressions column in descending order typically places seed keywords at the top.
You may use this list to search and find appropriate seed keywords for your site.
6. Talk To Sales & Support Team
Don’t underestimate the value of communicating directly with your customers and customer-facing personnel. It’s critical to understand the terminology and phrases people use when discussing the problems your product may assist solve.
Make time to chat with sales representatives and customer service representatives to learn about the most common issues that consumers face. Use this information as seed keywords to create content that is more relevant to your target audience.
Final Thoughts
Creating a list of seed keywords provides a good basis for your keyword research. Seed keywords are not a replacement for proper keyword research. However, they do boost your chances of finding more useful keywords.
If you begin by finding seed keywords, keyword research will be a lot simpler. Choose them carefully since they will serve as the cornerstone for your content strategy and assist you in organizing subject clusters. Choosing the correct seed keywords increases your chances of ranking and obtaining organic visitors.
FAQs
1. What are seed keywords and why are they important for SEO?
Seed keywords are the basic terms or phrases that determine a website’s principal emphasis. They are necessary for SEO since they direct keyword research, allowing the development of relevant and focused content. By optimizing for seed keywords, websites may increase their search engine ranks and attract the correct audience.
2. How do I generate a list of effective seed keywords for my website?
To create a list of excellent seed keywords for your website, begin by contemplating business-related buzzwords. Use Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, or SEMrush to discover relevant keywords and assess their search volume and competitiveness. Consider your target audience’s language and search habits.
3. How can seed keywords help in creating a successful content strategy?
Seed keywords aid in the development of a successful content strategy by offering a starting point of phrases related to your business. These keywords help you create tailored content, improve search engine rankings, drive organic traffic, and address your audience’s unique requirements and interests.