What Are Organic Keywords?
Organic keywords are search terms used to attract free website traffic through search engine optimization (SEO). This differs from pay-per-click (PPC) keywords, which are auctioned in Google Ads, formerly known as Adwords.
Use this guide to quickly learn how to:
- Find Your Website’s Organic Keywords
- Discover Your Competitor’s Organic Keywords
- Optimize Your Website For Organic Rankings
- Improve Rankings Using Keyword Research Tools
Find Your Website’s Organic Keywords
There are several methods that make finding your website’s keywords super easy.
One option is to use SEMrush’s Organic Research Report, which provide a keyword overview…
And it also provides an in-depth look at specific keywords.
Another option is Google Search Console (also known as GSC)…
It’s a free option to explore and filter through specific keywords for your site.
Search Console makes things easy, but tools like SEMrush provide a TON of tools and features.
Discover Your Competitor’s Organic Keywords
This includes their Organic Competitor and Positioning Reports.
SEMrush automates the process of identifying competitors using keyword overlap.
This report details other websites that also rank for your organic keywords, and can also be used to identify keywords gaps – keywords your site does not rank for, but your competitors do.
Pro Tip: For local businesses on a budget, use this Keyword Generator Template to find quickly find highly relevant keywords.
SEMrush’s Domain Overview Report can also be used to find organic keywords for any website.
Optimize Your Website For Organic Rankings
Ranking organically means free traffic…
And that means free leads (or sales).
To get your website ranking in organic search results…
Follow these 5 simple steps:
Step 1: Determine KPIs
The first step is to determine how progress will be tracked.
This might include the following KPIs:
- Increase/Decrease in Organic Traffic
- Increase/Decrease in Organic Rankings
- Increase/Decrease in Leads/Sales
- Increase/Decrease in Profit or Revenue
Google Analytics and Google Search Console are two free tools that can make evaluating these metrics easier.
Knowing these KPIs and having tracking in place before making optimizations evaluate performance.
Step 2: Keyword Research
Perform keyword research to discover new opportunities to get traffic.
Pro Tip: Use this SEMrush keyword research template to find keyword opportunities and generate content ideas for your website.
Step 3: Map Keywords To Target Pages
Be sure that each organic keyword is “mapped” to a specific page.
This means that each page should target a single keyword or group of related keywords.
Step 4: On-page Optimizations
Optimizing a web page is referred to as On-page SEO.
A BIG ranking factor here is relevancy.
Increase relevancy by using organic keywords in the website’s Title, Meta Description, H1s, Subheadings, and within the copy.
Pro Tip: Document when optimizations occur using annotation in Google Analytics, which can easily be later referenced.
Step 5: Review Progress
Review KPIs after optimization are made to evaluate the impact of changes.
Depending on your site, target query, and overall traffic changes are generally noticeable within 2 weeks.
Improve Rankings Using Keyword Research Tools
Keyword research tools make competitor analysis, keyword research, and keyword tracking super easy.
Here are some of my favorite keyword research tools:
Free Keyword Research Tools
Paid Keyword Research Tools
Using these quick insights, you should now be able to do some quick keyword research, and be able to start making some decisions about future efforts.
Happy SEO-ing 🙂