10 suggestions for Creative Keyword Research

The following 10 Easy tips to help you with creativity in keyword research from Search Engine Workshops highlight a creative approach which will give you to use Google's keyword research tools more effectively. 

 

1. Stop guessing at which keywords you might think are most valuable. 

Much of the time I notice that new and experienced optimizers tend to create their content first than try to find keywords relevant to what they already wrote.

It's much easier to research all of the data first for keyword search behavior that is in high demand and then creatively create content that satisfies the audiences need.

2. Look beyond the obvious keywords for phrases that "tell a story."

For example, a travel agent may only be guessing at phrases like "cheap travel" or "affordable travel."

If you are researching and come across a phrase like "things to do" may be much more pulling when you add in a destination. People are always looking for things to do whenever they visit somewhere.

e.g.. Things to do in Alaska
Things to do in Calgary
Things to do in Hawaii

3. Try researching beyond the obvious by researching unusual data

The more you "think like everyone else thinks" (usually drawing keywords that are already lodged into your mind based upon your experiences), then the more you will be thinking like the rest of your competition. 

Never assume you know how any word is being used based on its seeming lack of connection or importance.

4. Be creative in exploring very ordinary words

By exploring the plain ordinary every day terms that may even sound flat and boring, you may just hit a fabulous brand new range of search phrases that 99% of the other Webmasters will never find. The reason you find things this way, is simply because nobody else ever takes time to really research them.

 

 

5. When in research mode, don't forget to test for opposite extremes. 

This takes some practice, but often by exploring an opposite extreme you can find even more opportunity than looking at a phrase in just one way.

If you are checking on a term like “old” don’t forget to allow yourself the liberty to test the extreme opposite “new.”

Examples:

10 Best - 10 Worst
Start - Stop
Above - Below
Create - Destroy
Nearest - Farthest
Men - Women
Over - Under

6. Explore root words that involve some type of "replaceable" elements

• types of batteries
• anything with parts or components that wear out
• something as niche as barbeque knobs
• something that has a specific component – springs or propellers

7. Explore Words related to “color”

Don’t just explore common colors but dig a little for niche colors. We think in terms of naming colors like red, blue, green, yellow, etc. There are many other shades of color that you just may never think of. Just because we do not have a common vocabulary when it comes to color does not mean that there are not searches for all types of colors other that the spectrum limited to our vocabulary.

Remember, we may be thinking of a color like orange.

What if we did some research on colors like:

• auburn
• goldenrod
• amber
• burgundy
• cinnamon

What if we did some research on colors like:

• denim
• azure
• ultramarine
• peach
• sepia
• silver
• tangerine
• teal
• pink
• salmon
• violet

8. Don't forget to test words that are prepositions

A preposition links together nouns, pronouns and phrases to other words in a sentence.

For example, “Pride comes before a fall.” (before is the preposition)

e.g.. About
From
Inside
Beneath 
With 
From
For

This list is by no means a full list of prepositions. It is just meant as a starting point to help you think of these types of words so you can explore and find people’s search interests.

9. Take advantage of those who use questioning searches.

Try searching for a questioning term such as 

• How to 
• When will
• Why do
• Where
• What

10. Stop putting yourself under pressure

Stop putting your research up against the clock and stop feeling like you need to be extremely logical. 

Release yourself from stress and treat it more like a mission of exploration. If you remove the pressure it will often make room for you to think much more creatively. 

Allowing ourselves to be creative when exploring human behavior can open up huge rifts that might otherwise and often go completely undiscovered. Hang on to your hat, because as you allow yourself the liberty to be creative and reduce all of the usual stresses of a client’s expectation of high performance, there is new liberty to observe things that you might have ordinarily missed.