Learn to Perform an Easy & Effective Keyword Analysis

Whether you are pulling lists of your top keywords on your own or receiving reports, you are likely staring at a list of 20–100 terms. Some reports will show keyword movement, some show associated landing pages, and some show how many clicks they drove.

And then what? You probably move on with your day and don’t give the rankings another thought.

Even though the data is present — does your keyword list mean anything to you?

Fortunately, it’s simple to group keywords in ways that drive meaningful insights and action items. Here are four steps to conduct a useful keyword analysis leveraging Search Console.

1. Group keywords by landing pages

Review reports of landing pages and the keywords they rank for. Below is an example of filtering by a specific URL and reviewing its queries.

A Search Console Report of keywords ranking for a specific landing page

What are you looking for?

Do the keywords “match” the landing page? Ensure the content on the page is relevant to search queries, providing readers with helpful information.

Some issues you might find include:

B2C pages ranking for B2B terms
Purchase pages ranking for general terms
Pages ranking for products you do not offer
Pages ranking for low search volume keywords and missing out on more valuable rankings

Next steps

Re-optimize pages that rank for irrelevant or low-value keywords.

2. Group keywords by themes

Group keywords by topic, product lines, persona, or whatever themes you choose. For instance, I might group Content Land keywords by my core topics: career growth, SEO, content strategy, and blogging.

What are you looking for?

Here are the types of insights you might draw from a theme-based keyword report:

A group of related keywords are dropping, and you need to create new content to target them.
You are building thought leadership in a key topic.
The keywords driving traffic are only related to one persona or buyer group.
One product is dominating the rankings, but others are lacking.

Next steps

Now you can decide if you’d like to double down and dominate a theme or switch your keyword (and content) focus to under-performers.

3. Group keywords by funnel phase

Often referred to as “keyword intent”, you can understand people’s thought process by examining their search queries. Learn to group keywords by the marketing funnel (or buyer journey) to understand why people find you.

High-funnel keywords — When someone is aware of a problem (that your product can help solve), they will use high-funnel terms.

Do I have a cavity?
Signs of cavities
Cavity pain

Mid-funnel keywords — In this consideration phase, people start exploring various solutions for their problem.

Foods that prevent cavities
Natural remedies for cavities
Mouthwash for cavities
Toothpaste for cavities

Low-funnel keywords — At the end of the funnel, people have chosen your solution. Now, they’re comparing the different brands available.

Crest vs. Colgate toothpaste
Best toothpaste for cavities
Cavity prevention toothpaste

What are you looking for?

This analysis is much less straightforward - you’ll have to manually group keywords by buying intent to see how you’re performing in the funnel.

Next steps

Note where your strengths lie within the marketing funnel. Ultimately, you will want to start your keyword strategy with low-funnel keywords to be efficient. Skipping to the end of the keyword funnel gets you closer to the purchase. Plus, high funnel terms require further marketing nurturing and follow-up before they’re ready to buy.

After you cover your low-funnel bases, expand your strategy by backing your way through the funnel.

4. Create a group of “low-hanging fruit”

Sort your keyword rankings and their relevant pages in descending order. If you’re using Search Console, click “position” on the right.

A Search Console report of keywords sorted by position

What are you looking for?

Scroll down to find your page two keywords. Anything ranking 11–30 might be considered an easy win. Small, low-effort tweaks can bump you up to page 1, lending a considerable increase in visibility/

Note — you will need to also look at the page that ranks for each term to come up with your plan of attack (step 1).

Next steps

Add more content to these pages to expand on keywords, improve meta tags, or add some internal links with keyword anchor text back to the page. Implement easy wins to stabilize the keywords, lock in your rankings, and potentially move up.

Just be careful - you don’t want to disturb any page 1 rankings when making these changes.