Keyword Research and List Building
Why It's Important
Allows us to drive customer campaigns with a data-driven approach.
Identify what keywords your audience is actually using to find your products
Find keywords where performance just needs a little push
Ensures we are selecting the best work possible for our clients.
It helps us find competitive keyword opportunities to try to rank.
It drives our reporting - Makes ROI Conversations easier
Having a well-maintained keyword list ensures what we track and ultimately report on aligns with what is on the site and therefore, our performance metrics get a boost.
It helps organize your campaign plan into a clear path forward
Makes client transition less painful - Everyone should have a clear idea of what has been worked on and what’s next.
Impact
Selecting work takes less time and the work will be more impactful to the campaign.
Reporting will have fewer steps, freeing up Juniper to work on other tasks, which helps ensure we meet reporting deadlines
Reduces the amount of time updating campaign plans
Drives better results for our customers
Build Your Seed Lists
Based on the information you find on the website, this process will change slightly. You will primarily use the all-inventory page and the filters to determine what types of inventory each dealer offers. That will be used to build our keyword list.
** If there are common variations of terms such as: “Harley Motorcycles” and “Harley Bikes”, add as many as you can think of ***
*** Save these lists. It will serve as a mapping of all the groups and folders you will need to create in AccuRanker.
Multiply Your Keyword Lists
As you are multiplying the terms given the rules below, add your results to a spreadsheet for storage until we get into the keyword planner.
Select the appropriate vertical below.
Use Keyword Planner to Sort and Remove Keywords
You will take your initial keyword list pre-multiply and the additions from multiplication to a spreadsheet and add them to Keyword Planner to get the traffic volume and determine the correct location to target in SEO Monitor.
Navigate to the keyword planner tool.
Select an inactive account, and click “Get search volume and forecasts
Paste your keyword list
From here, you will be able to select a location to target.
SEARCH VOLUME TARGET = Minimum 1,500 Average Monthly for entire keyword list (not per keyword)
Select the most narrow target first, like the city or township where the dealer is located.
If not enough search volume exists for your seed list you will need to expand the target area to either the next closest city or even the state. If a dealer has multiple locations in a state, start with the state.
Once you have found the location Goldilocks zone for search volume you will want to do an export into Google Sheets and eliminate anything that has little to no search volume by sorting by volume and deleting the bottom of the list.
Import to AccuRanker and Start Tagging
Once you have a full list of qualified keywords from keyword planner, you will need to add those keywords to AccuRanker and start tagging them into groups.
Add Keywords
Log into Accuranker and locate the correct domain by making use of the search bar in the top-left corner of side navigation.
Once the domain specific dashboard loads, you will see an orange “+ Add keywords” button near the top left of the dashboard. Click it.
You will paste your keyword list into the keywords field on the top-left of the popup.
Ensure your Search Engine, Locale, and Location setting are all correct
For now, it should be:
US or Canada depending on location
Mobile Google as the search engine
Locations should match the target locations from the intake.
Click “Add Keywords” in the bottom right
It will reload and you’re ready to move on to grouping.
How to Group
How we group keywords relates directly back to the pages on the site. In your inventory catalog, you will have product type pages and brand pages, and then under each of those, you will have further breakdowns depending on dealer inventory. The simple rule to ensure you’re putting a keyword in the correct group is “One Group, One Page”. Having one group for each page on the site helps the Juniper and content teams to know what keywords should be included in the content or on reporting.
We will make use of Accuranker’s tagging function to replicate our grouping from SEOmonitor
Tags- One each for all brands and product types. It allows you to see stats for the whole brand or the whole product type in a roll-up report.
Tagging Guide
Navigate to the correct domain
Click the “Keywords” tab in the main navigation
You can now use the filter search bar at the top of the page to search for keywords
After searching for the keywords you want to group, you can select the keywords you want to add tags to by clicking the checkbox for each keyword row in the site
Once you have selected keyword you want to tag, you will see new options above the table. Click the one that says “✏️ Edit” and then select “Add tags” from the drop-down.
Type the name of the tag and click “Add tags”. Name should be the same as folder names used to be.
Grouping Examples
You will create tags for the following:
Build 7-Month SEO Campaign Plan
Having a 7-month plan is valuable for several reasons, both from a client’s perspective and the SEO rep’s.
The 7-month plan lets us be transparent with our clients about what they can expect at the beginning of their SEO campaign. It allows them to see each month laid out which allows us to have a conversation with them to ensure our proposed focuses align with their marketing goals, consumer trends, and business needs.
As an SEO rep, having each month’s focus already selected allows you to spend more time each month performing more detailed research and maintenance to ensure that the SEO campaign you create is structured in a way that best serves the client.
Procedure
To choose a focus for months 3-7 we will utilize intake call notes from the account manager, look at the inventory the dealer carries, research search trends, and look at search volume in the dealer’s target areas. Creating a strong initial keyword list is important so we have valuable keywords to show for each month. Use tools like Google Trends and the Keyword Planner Tool (open in SEO Chrome) to help find high-value keywords for each of your proposed focuses.
Things to keep in mind when selecting each month’s focus:
Seasonality: What are people searching for now? What will they search for 6 months from now? Seasonal topics should be optimized 3 months prior to their peak search season to give Google enough time to start ranking them higher before people start searching for them.
Industry competition: How competitive is their region for their industry? Do they have a lot of competing dealers near them or are they the only business in the area?
Demographics: Who is their target audience? What would be their motivation to visit a site?
Local Vernacular: How do people search for things in their area? Do they call it a UTV or Four Wheeler? Are they searching for Vancouver, Canada or Greater Vancouver Area?
What potential roadblocks are there? Perhaps on their intake the dealer said they’re going to carry a new brand, but they’re not sure when they’ll get inventory uploaded to the site.
Website Structure: With a new site you have a blank canvas. Based on the inventory the dealer has, what is the optimal site structure that will make the most sense?
Intake Notes & Dealer Inventory
From the intake notes, you should be able to tell which manufacturers, vehicle types, and categories are most important to your client. Looking at the dealer’s All Inventory page, see which vehicle types, categories, and manufacturers they have the most amount of inventory of—this will help you prioritize which pages you will create first.
Google Trends
Using Google Trends you’ll be able to see what the popular search trends in your dealer’s area have been over the past 5 years. Look at search trends for their top manufacturers, vehicle types, and categories.
Think about seasonality when creating your 7-month plan. What is going to be important for your client in 6 months? What will have a lot of searches in 6 months? Consider creating those pages first so they have plenty of time to be crawled and indexed by search engines.
Keyword Planner Tool
The Keyword Planner Tool is useful for checking the average search volume and competition for keywords in a target location. Use this tool to find and select keywords relevant to your 7-month plan to track in SEO Monitor.
Content & YouTube
Content
Requesting content for your client varies from new to old packages. For new packages, content begins in the very first month of the client’s SEO campaign. In the old packages, content begins in the third month of the SEO campaign. Be sure that your campaign accounts for the correct package and content type in order for all deliverables of a client’s SEO package to be fulfilled.
Refer to the Content Request SOP for more info:
YouTube
For old package clients, depending on the type of SEO package, YouTube videos begin in the third month of the client’s SEO campaign.
Third-Seventh Months
The campaign plan presents to the client each month’s proposed focus. These focuses should be based on the research done above. Each month, the account manager should check in with the client to make sure the proposed focus aligns with their needs and goals.
Understand that these focuses are not set in stone. Clients know their business and trends better than anyone. Have a conversation with them to make sure your SEO strategy complements their business. If they’re getting a new brand in or they get a lot of traffic for a specific vehicle type in a particular month be ready to change your proposal to reflect their needs.
After running through each of these tasks, you will have a filled out 7-month SEO campaign plan.
Focus Justification
Why
Justifying why you’re doing something is just as important as actually doing the thing in the digital marketing space. We say we make data backed decisions, but are we really? Following this guide will give you a standard analysis tool set and formatting guide to ensure we are providing data backed proposals.
Impact
This will alleviate some unnecessary communication back and forth from CS and Content. If they can clearly see the reason we chose a piece of work it will give CS the confidence to speak to it on reporting calls and give the content team piece of mind that they can trust the rep’s decision.
Plan
This table will break down each stat and explain how to make use of each factor. There are many complex relationships between each of these stats but I will focus on the most basic for now.
Factors | What Is It | Where to Get It | How to Use |
|---|---|---|---|
Search Volume | The average monthly search volume for the keyword group. | AccuRanker - You can look at the tag group for page you’re working on and it will give you a localized and aggregated average monthly search volume for keywords in that group. | There isn’t much use in targeting keywords that no one is searching for and so, we want to make sure that our chosen focus has decent search volume. Ideally you want to start with pages that represent the most search volume first but you will also need to consider their inventory as well. |
Inventory Count | Total inventory units for the inventory page you’re working on. | Directly on the webpage you’re looking to optimize using inventory filters or the inventory feed from a website. | We want to make sure we are focused on optimizing pages where the dealer has inventory to sell. Ideally the page would included more than 10% of the total inventory count. This can be difficult with low inventory dealer so you may have to optimize showroom pages instead. |
Current Ranking | Current localized ranking for the main keyword(s). | AccuRanker - You can look at the tag group for page you’re working on and it will give you a localized and aggregated average ranking for keywords in that group. | The third factor to consider is the current rankings of tracked keywords. Some of the best keywords to target for new content are those that are already ranking on the first and second page since they already perform well and a little content can results is significant gains. |
**Bonus: CTR | Total number of times a keyword had a result clicked over the total number of times it was shown | AccuRanker - I would focus on the main keyword’s CTR as it should be included in the meta title for maximum effect. | The last main stat to consider for justification is the CTR for your tracked keywords. If you’re keywords have a lower relative CTR than the rest of the site you’re content could add value in two main areas the attractiveness of the link on the SERP and the relevancy of the content on the page to a larger percentage of searches. |
**Bonus: Competition Summary for the Main Keyword | Brief about the other competitors on the SERP for the main keyword | AccuRanker - You can see the organic competitors for each keyword by clicking the top competitor for the keyword in the table. | This summary can give an idea of our chance of beating the current top performers for a given keyword. If it’s all big box stores, directories, and large brands our chances may not be very good or we should consider alternative strategies to win there. However, if it’s all local results we might be able to close the gap much faster. |
**Bonus: Seasonality Summary | Brief about timing of work and relation to seasonal search trends. | AccuRanker - Search Trends graph on the dashboard once you’ve selected the keyword group | This should give the explanation of why you chose to work on something that will have it’s peak search season in the next 3-6 months and how content needs the time to cook. |
Formatting
Now we need to take a look at what goes in the box on the Fufillment Work Done Record.
Dealer Request Flagging
If a piece of content was requested by the dealer that should be the first thing in the Justification field.
**Dealer Request** - Would be a good way to start it out so that it is clearly seen and different from the rest.
Main Statement
We want to write something that incorporates the above stats into a quick and easy to digest snippet.
Some solid examples include:
** Dealer Request **
"Class A Motorhomes" feature a monthly search volume of 25K, a ranking on the second page of search results, a CTR of 3%, and high inventory levels. The competition mainly consists of small to medium-sized retailers.
"Adventure Motorcycles" have a 10K monthly search volume, account for 10% of the inventory, and are currently ranked on the third page. The SERP features competition from medium-sized brands.
"Side-by-Side ATVs" are supported by a 15K monthly search volume, represent 20% of the overall inventory, and have an average CTR of 2.5%. They currently rank just outside the top 5 positions amongst a variety of competitors.
"Luxury RVs" are identified with a 30K monthly search volume, make up 25% of the total stock, and have a CTR of 1.8%. They are positioned on the lower first page in a field of relatively weak competition.
"Trail Motorcycles" see an 18K monthly search volume, comprise 12% of inventory, and have a 5% CTR. Their current ranking is on the second page, facing moderate competition.
"Electric Scooters" noted for a 22K monthly search volume, make up 18% of the total inventory, and struggle with a 1.2% CTR. They hold a position within the top 10 search results, facing competition from small to medium brands.
"RV Solar Panel Kits" are highlighted by a 20K monthly search volume, 20% inventory level, and a 2.3% CTR. They have a first-page ranking amidst a competitive but navigable market environment.
"Waterproof Riding Gear" is calculated with a 17K search volume per month, holding 15% of inventory, and a CTR of 2%. They are just shy of the top 5 rankings, competing against a mix of niche and large-scale competitors.
Fulfillment Work Done (FWD) Campaign Plan & Content Fields
Part 1 of the FWD Record:
The WD-# and Account are automatically created and filled in when you add a new line through the account level. (*NOTE: If you add new lines through an individual report you created, you must add the account yourself or the record will be orphaned.)
Status:
Blank for previous months
Completed for published work and be sure to update the “Completed Date”
Planned for future months
Report Date: Start with the 1st of the month and all deliverables for the month should have an ascending date. (Example: 1/1/2024, 1/2/2024, 1/3/2024)
Content Type: Pick from the drop-down the type that most accurately represents the work for the month.
*Reminder: Header & Footer is no longer a viable option. Each type should have its own row.
Content Focus: The topic for the content type you just selected.
Content Link: Where the URL for the completed page or content piece will go before reporting. (ONLY fill out when the content is live on the site)
Part 2 of the FWD Record: Content Fields
Justification: This is why you’ve selected this focus. (*This is required for ALL FWD records, not just the content foci.) - /wiki/spaces/DMSRV/pages/4823089233
Content Notes: These are notes related to the focus that you have for the writer. This is also where ARI H2s & Custom Page information will be placed.
Secondary Keywords: This is optional. These are high-ranking keywords from AccuRanker that you would like the content team to include in the piece.
Resources: This is an optional field to share any outside resources or pieces from the Rewrite Index with the content team.
Destination URL: The URL for where the content should be posted. This must be filled out for any page that exists on the site. If the page doesn’t exist yet (Example: Local Page), you may leave the field blank.
Completed Piece URL: This is where the content team will put the link to their completed draft.
Image Link: This is where Juniper or the content team will put the link to the image(s) for the piece.
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