Point of diminishing returns for keyword research?
-
Hey, something I've been thinking about lately is "where is the point of diminishing returns for keyword research detail?" I get that keyword research is important for finding out stuff like "people generally search for 'doctor' way more often than they search for 'licensed medical professional'", but what about after that? Is there much useful information to be found by sifting through spreadsheets of stats about "doctor" vs "dr" vs "doctors" vs "physician" vs "physicians" etc? Especially when Google seems to treat a lot of those as interchangable?
Or another example: If a remodeling company did basements, do you think there's much to be gleaned from AdWords data comparing "basement remodeler", "basement remodelers", basement remodeling", "basement remodeling contractor", "basement remodeling contractors", "basement renovation", "basement renovations", "basement renovators", "finished basements", "basement finishers", "basement finishing", etc.? Should those variations be analyzed and each targeted by their own sets of pages and pieces of content (e.g. a blog post that specifically targets "basement remodeler" and a blog post that targets "basement finisher" and a third blog post that specifically targets "renovated basement")
Or should the takeaway be "there aren't any combinations that people overwhelmingly prefer to use, so let's just make content about basements and topics relevant to basements. Keyword research complete."
-
Hey, something I've been thinking about lately is "where is the point of diminishing returns for keyword research detail?" I get that keyword research is important for finding out stuff like "people generally search for 'doctor' way more often than they search for 'licensed medical professional'", but what about after that? Is there much useful information to be found by sifting through spreadsheets of stats about "doctor" vs "dr" vs "doctors" vs "physician" vs "physicians" etc? Especially when Google seems to treat a lot of those as interchangable?
I wouldn't worry too much about "doctor" vs "dr" vs "doctors" - those are synonyms and the intent of the user doesn't change much.
Or another example: If a remodeling company did basements, do you think there's much to be gleaned from AdWords data comparing "basement remodeler", "basement remodelers", basement remodeling", "basement remodeling contractor", "basement remodeling contractors", "basement renovation", "basement renovations", "basement renovators", "finished basements", "basement finishers", "basement finishing", etc.?
Should those variations be analyzed and each targeted by their own sets of pages and pieces of content (e.g. a blog post that specifically targets "basement remodeler" and a blog post that targets "basement finisher" and a third blog post that specifically targets "renovated basement")
This example is different. The intent behind "basement remodeler" and "basement remodel" are rather different. The first is looking for local businesses, the second is looking for general information about remodels. To confirm this, all you need to do is look at the search results. Remodeler has a big local pack and list of local companies when I search it. When I search for the "remodel" version, I get a big photo pack, then local businesses, then People Also Ask questions, so there is clearly multiple search intent scenarios behind that example.
I wrote a bunch more about viewing the SERP closely to measure and classify intent here: https://www.contentharmony.com/blog/classifying-search-intent/ in case you're interested in diving deeper on those approaches.
To your point regarding targeting separate pages for it, yes and no. A local business should try and rank for one but may not be as focused on the second one. But it is worth creating a page that captures one overall intent and then figuring out which other keywords match it.
Or should the takeaway be "there aren't any combinations that people overwhelmingly prefer to use, so let's just make content about basements and topics relevant to basements. Keyword research complete."
Nah you need to be more specific or intentional about it than this.
-
So if I understand what you're saying correctly (and please correct me if I don't), once you get to the point where you're dealing with words that Google treats as synonyms and variants, then you're generally safe to use any/all versions interchangeably as a single "topic"? And by extension, continuing to dig into the numbers of these different variants (assuming there aren't any huge discrepancies in things like competitiveness or search volume), isn't especially useful?
-
When you write a good and complete blog post about 'basement remodeler', it will be automatically quite difficult to write another one with good and unique content about 'basement finisher' since these or more or less synonyms.
Concentrate on writing good and fluent copy about a topic. Your keywords will appear naturally throughout the text. Google is smart enough to recognize synonyms, plurals, small variants etc., so don't worry too much about having to use all of these a minimum amount of times.
As Joe said, search volume and keyword SEO difficulty are important factors you should take into consideration.
-
Generally use as many keywords as you can, as long as it's relevant to the business & meets searcher intent. Also factor in search volumes & competitiveness too.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
How to find low difficulty keywords
how to find informative low difficulty keywords. how can I get content ideas? I have lots of content ideas but it's not good search volume on google. I have a kitchen-related affiliate website called https://gloryspy.com
Keyword Research | | MalikJan0 -
Bulk Keyword Position Checker - Urgent
Can anyone recommend a good bulk search engine keyword position checker.
Keyword Research | | seoman10
I need to check a few hundred keywords against our own domain. Thanks in advance.0 -
Keywords with different spelling depending on country.
Hello, My product sells in both USA and UK, childrens sleepwear. I am not quite sure whether my onsite optimisation should be for "pajamas" or "pyjamas", or do I need both terms? Can someone please advise the best option? Thanks Astrid
Keyword Research | | Lilala_Kids0 -
Target multiple keywords on homepage?
Hello. I've got a situation in which I could use some help. A client is in the business of auto parts for European cars. He is VERY stubborn in wanting his homepage to rank 1st page for a keyword for each car brand, for example: audi autoparts bmw autoparts mercedes benz autoparts jaguar autoparts Basically, 15 keywords (one per brand) in total. How would you guys handle this? I can't seem to find a natural way to optimize a homepage for all these keywords at once. I've suggested landing pages for each brand/keyword, but he won't accept it. Is there anyway to do this or will this be a dispute with my client to convince him about the landing pages idea? Thanks a lot!
Keyword Research | | EduardoRuiz0 -
How can I "target keywords"?
Hello everyone, Could you please explain how can I "target keywords"? So from my understanding, I do a research on keywords, then find those which I can rank for easily, and then what? Do I build links to my website pages with these keywords? Or do I create different articles on the website with this keyword?
Keyword Research | | moneywise_test0 -
Error Being Displayed While analyzing keyword Rankings
While searching for Rankings for a couple of NEW keywords I got this message : (Whoa! We're dusting off the cobwebs from your keyword history. Don't worry, your data is fine. Check back soon to see your updates.). I don't know what this means, can somebody please provide some info on this error message as to what it means
Keyword Research | | Arfath0 -
Site Wide Keyword Extractor
I need a tool or a method that will let me know what a search engine thinks the overall theme of the site is about. Sort of like the keyword extractor, but on a site-wide basis. Does anyone have any sugestions?
Keyword Research | | waynekolenchuk0 -
How to do geo research for keyword phrases?
I'm working on a landing page for a client (music instrument rentals) and want to optimize for terms related to: music instrument rentals in San Francisco music instrument rentals in Seattle music instrument rentals in St. Louis music instrument rentals in Minneapolis/St. Paul How can I find the most popular terms based on a variation of the main term (music instrument rentals) and geo area? In other words, maybe 'Where to get Instrument rentals in San Francisco' is best? Thanks for your input! Mike Corso
Keyword Research | | mikecorso0