Keyword Research is Market Research

Want to know what your customers want – and how they’re asking for it? You could spend big on a focus group…or you could get similar insights using nothing but search engine data (and your noggin).

Keyword research?!?! I can hear the groaning already. After all, the only people who like keyword research are search marketing wonks, right? Wrong. I’m a writer, editor and content strategist (a what?), and I love keyword research so much I want to kiss it on its big ugly spreadsheet mouth.

Why? Because keyword research tells me tons about what people want to read about, shop for, use and enjoy. It tells me what they’re most interested in. It tells me which terms and phrases they’re most familiar with.

But to get there, you’ve got to look at the data a bit differently than you would for building an SEO or PPC campaign. Instead of looking at keywords individually, we analyze, categorize and aggregate them to understand what tends to be most important to your audience, and what types of terminology they use to talk about it.

As the talented Mike Corak mentioned here recently, we call this process verbal cue analysis. But you’ll call it brilliant (really, I swear).

What’s it good for?

It’s simple: Relevance. The more your customers can relate to what you’re saying and how you’re saying it, the more likely they are to become engaged in your product, service or information. And the more engaged they are, the more likely they are to buy, click, share, subscribe, visit or generally do whatever it is you want them to.

Personally, I use this data most often for content strategy and web writing, and to help inform information architecture decisions – like “Should we call this page ‘Restaurants’ or ‘Dining’?” or “Which navigation item should come first, ‘Shoes’ or ‘Handbags’?”

But that’s not all it’s good for. We also use verbal cue analysis to determine what language to use when crafting key messages or brand platforms. We use it to help us name new products or services and create effective ad campaigns. We even use it to clean up spills around the office, remove stains and repair the cracks in our windshields. It’s that good.

What about SEO?

Verbal cue analysis uses keyword research tools, but isn’t about keywords, per se – and it doesn’t take the place of an SEO strategy. That’s because verbal cue analysis looks at linguistic trends at an aggregate level, rather than individual keywords and phrases.

But while verbal cue analysis won’t tell you which long-tail phrases you should add to your page or whether you have the opportunity to rank for a specific keyword, it can and should inform search engine optimization, identifying at the front end of a project which categories of keywords and types of messaging are likely to resonate – which in turn will make your SEO campaign better (and easier to implement).

Are focus groups dead?

Not even close. Focus groups, surveys and other market research tools still have their place – but they can be pricey, and they don’t always tell you everything you wanted to know. Verbal cue analysis provides you with some of the same information, often at a much lower cost than other research options.

Put in other terms: if you can’t afford a big research budget, consider verbal cue analysis the biggest bang for the smallest buck. And if you do have the budget for research like surveys and focus groups, great – but search engine data should still be used as a complement to those other research methods, helping you support findings or identify areas for further investigation.

So how do you get started?

Check out Mike Corak’s post on keyword research tools for tips on available resources. Some are free, like the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, while others cost some coin. Then, start cataloging all the data you can find about topics relevant to your company – we typically look at thousands of unique keywords.

It’s a lot of data, so it can get a little overwhelming. But if you keep digging in, categorizing and sorting, trends will emerge, the pieces will fall into place, your skinny pants will fit again, your hair will grow back and…well, you get the point.

Need help? Contact us and we’ll show you how to make it happen.

About the Author: Sara Wachter-Boettcher

As the Director of Interactive Content & Marketing Strategy, Sara leads a team of content, social media and marketing specialists to develop communication strategies across interactive disciplines – including websites, mobile, social media, and email. An outspoken advocate for creating thoughtful, meaningful web experiences, she focuses on engaging storytelling across media. Sara graduated from the University of Oregon with a bachelor's degree in journalism and German, a mouth like a sailor, and a penchant for ridiculous self-descriptions.

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