Are you struggling to develop an effective keyword strategy for your B2B? Look no further than seed keywords—the foundation of successful keyword research. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your existing approach, understanding and using seed keywords is crucial to achieving higher search engine rankings and effectively reaching your target audience.
What are seed keywords?
Before we jump into how to find seed keywords, let’s make sure we’re all on the same page about what they are. Essentially, seed keywords are the starting point of your keyword research—the basic, one- or two-word phrases that describe your content’s core topics and themes.
Think of seed keywords as the foundation of a building—they provide the support and structure upon which everything else is built. Without a strong foundation, the building (or your SEO content strategy) will be shaky and unstable.
Some common examples of seed keywords might include “marketing,” “technology,” or “finance.” These words are broad, but they give you a general sense of what your content is about. From there, you can start to build out your keyword strategy by generating long-tail keywords and identifying B2B content marketing opportunities.
Related Reading: The Ultimate Guide to Search Engine Marketing
How to find seed keywords
When it comes to generating seed keywords, there are several techniques you can use to get started. The first and most obvious is brainstorming. Set aside some time to think about the topics and themes that are most relevant to your business or industry, and jot down any words or phrases that come to mind. Don’t worry about whether they’re good keywords or not—the goal here is just to get as many ideas down as possible.
Another technique is to look at your competitors’ content and identify the keywords they’re targeting. This can give you a sense of what’s already working in your industry and provide inspiration for your own keyword strategy. There are several tools available for this, such as Ahrefs or SEMrush, which allow you to see what keywords your competitors are ranking for. Working with an SEO expert or agency is also a great option to help you determine which seed keywords work best for your industry and individual business.
Once you’ve generated a list of potential seed keywords, it’s important to evaluate their relevance and potential impact on your SEO efforts. Are these keywords specific enough to your business or industry? Are they being searched for by your target audience? Answering these questions will help you identify the most promising seed keywords to focus on.
Using seed keywords effectively
Now that you’ve identified your seed keywords, it’s time to build upon them to develop your keyword strategy. One way to do this is by generating long-tail keywords from your seed keywords. Long-tail keywords are more specific and targeted phrases that can help you rank for more niche search queries. For example, if your seed keyword is “finance,” a long-tail keyword could be “B2B finance management platform.”
Another way to use your seed keywords is to identify content opportunities based on user intent. What are people searching for when they use your seed keyword? Are they looking for information, products, or services? Understanding user intent can help you create content that meets their needs and matches their search queries, which can lead to higher website traffic, engagement, and authority.
As you map out your keyword strategy, consider how each keyword can be paired with another to create more specific and relevant phrases. For example, if you’re a software company, you could combine “software” with other words like “platform,” or “SaaS.” You can pair those keywords with ones that tie to your target buyer personas, like “B2B,” or “B2C,” or to the functions or features of your software, such as “dashboards,” “scheduling,” “automation,” and so on.
By using your seed keywords effectively, you can build out a comprehensive keyword strategy that helps you rank higher in search engine results and connect with your audience in meaningful ways.
Related Reading: 8 Reasons to Implement Keyword Clusters in Your SEO Strategy
Refining seed keywords
As with any aspect of SEO, it’s important to continually refine and evaluate your keyword strategy. One way to do this is by tracking your rankings for your target keywords and identifying areas where you can improve. While you can do this with digital tools, partnering with an SEO expert or agency will give you the best insights into how to refine and leverage your seed keywords.
Refining your keyword strategy also means analyzing your website analytics to see which keywords are driving the most traffic and engagement. This can help you identify which seed keywords are most effective and provide insights into how to optimize your content for those keywords.
It’s also important to stay up-to-date with industry trends and changes in search algorithms. As search engines become more sophisticated, they may place greater emphasis on user intent, which can impact how you use your seed keywords. Keeping an eye on these changes and adjusting your strategy accordingly can help you stay ahead of the competition.
Seed keywords are a fundamental component of a successful keyword research strategy. By understanding what they are, how to find them, and how to use them effectively, businesses can develop a comprehensive keyword strategy that helps them rank higher in search engine results and reach their target audience effectively.
Related Reading: Search Intent: A B2B Marketer’s Guide to What Users Want
Evaluating the impact of seed keywords on SEO
As your foundation, your seed keywords heavily impact the way you craft your overall SEO strategy. They help you determine the direction you want to go, and the types of words you target. Including seed keywords that aren’t relevant, or missing highly relevant seed keywords, can result in targeting keywords that don’t align with search intent.
While seed keyword identification may seem obvious or easy, as industries adjust and develop new standard jargon is developed, which can impact search behavior. For instance, in the B2B influencer marketing industry, many are trading in “influencers” for “content creators” and “brand ambassadors.”
A well-executed keyword strategy can help you stay ahead of the competition. By identifying seed keywords that encapsulate your brand, you can create an effective SEO strategy that helps you garner more traffic for your website, answer your audience’s key queries, and identifies your brand as an authority in the industry.
Need help building a comprehensive B2B SEO strategy off of your seed keywords? Reach out. We’d love to help.
