When I research anything in Japanese, the top search results usually come from large companies, and I only find local information when I specifically filter for it. Why is this? Part of the reason is that large companies have the resources to capture search traffic through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) tactics. However, another issue is that small businesses in Japan, unlike in the U.S, often overlook the basic steps that can help them build their online brand.

This, however, doesn't need to be the case. The web is designed to give everyone a voice, and small businesses can find their niche with the right strategy. In this series, we will discuss three essential steps your business MUST take to start building its online reputation. The first, and arguably the most important, is keyword research.

The Power of Keyword Research

In a comprehensive guide by Mailchimp, it is stated that Google's search algorithm uses over 200 factors to rank websites. To give your website the best chance of standing out from the crowd, it's essential to conduct thorough, high-quality keyword research.

Keywords, sometimes referred to as SEO keywords, are terms and phrases used to establish and develop online content. From the potential customer's perspective, they are words entered into the search bar that best describe the products or services they're looking for. For the marketer, the keywords you carefully choose to include in your content directly inform search engines about the information contained on your webpages, providing a way to rank and suggest your website.

The keywords on your website define what your business is about and what you sell. However, the number and quality of keywords included in your content help search engines such as Google determine where to display your website on a particular search engine results page (SERP). The higher you rank on the SERP, the more reach and traffic you will garner.

In fact, the number one result for each search on Google receives approximately 32% of all clicks. Even if you can't be the top-ranking website, it's still worth trying for the first few results. As the number of people searching online for products and services keeps growing, your favorable placement on the SERP will draw in more and more clicks over time. Between 2019 and 2020, the traffic for the 1,000 most visited pages increased by 22%.

Through keyword research, you can find the optimal keywords that are in demand but still niche, guessing what consumers want and providing it to them before they even realize it. Including high-quality keywords in articles, blog posts, or product descriptions can help push your website up the rankings, allowing you to attract a larger audience and beat out the competition. This organic traffic generated from the SERP can outperform even paid traffic or ads, producing leads after publishing for years to come.

Understanding Keyword Research

Keyword research is the process of finding and analyzing what relevant audiences search for in search engines like Google. The goal is to create content that's more likely to rank highly in search results. It's a crucial part of any search engine optimization (SEO) strategy and a necessary step whenever you're planning new content.

Why is keyword research so important for SEO? It tells you what your target audience is looking for and helps you prioritize ranking opportunities. By creating content that satisfies your users' needs, you can earn organic rankings in search results. This means it's beneficial to know the exact wording that searchers use.

Finding relevant SEO keywords for your site is the first step in effective keyword research. There are several ways to do this:

1. Check Your Existing Rankings: If you have a website, it might already appear for some relevant keywords. Tools like Semrush’s Organic Research tool can help you find out your current rankings and build upon them.

2. Search a Keyword Database: The most common way to conduct keyword research is to search a keyword database. Semrush’s keyword database, for example, is the largest on the market—it contains over 25.7 billion keywords.

3. Conduct a Keyword Gap Analysis: A keyword gap analysis reveals keywords that competitors rank for but you don’t. It's an effective way to find relevant keywords you’re missing out on.

4. Look at Search Suggestions in Search Engines: You can conduct basic keyword research by looking at search suggestions in search engines like Google.

Your initial keyword research can yield thousands of keyword ideas, and not all of them will be relevant or important to your brand. To choose the best keywords for SEO, you need to gather useful metrics from SEO keyword research tools and analyze the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) to see what results are shown.

Understanding search intent, looking at keyword search volumes, and considering personal keyword difficulty are crucial steps in this process.

How to Use ChatGPT for Keyword Research

According to an article by Daniel Smullen on Search Engine Journal, keyword research is essential for understanding any topic in minutes, and it can save you time. Smullen argues that anyone not using ChatGPT for keyword research is missing out. ChatGPT, a large language model trained with vast amounts of data, can predict the next word in a sentence and can be used to inspire the topic ideation stage of keyword research.

However, Smullen also cautions against relying solely on ChatGPT for keyword research, as it can make mistakes and even create new keywords if given the right prompt. It's crucial to use traditional keyword research methods and tools alongside ChatGPT to avoid inaccuracies.

Smullen outlines several effective prompts for using ChatGPT for keyword research. For instance, you can generate keyword ideas based on a topic by asking ChatGPT for the most popular subtopics related to your chosen topic. You can then delve deeper into these subtopics for more specific keyword ideas.

You can also use ChatGPT to generate keyword ideas based on a question, using a series of steps to streamline the process. For instance, you might ask ChatGPT to generate questions about a specific topic and then generate additional, non-repeating questions based on the initial set.

Another method Smullen suggests is the Alphabet Soup Method, which involves generating keyword research ideas from Google autocomplete, going from A to Z. You can use ChatGPT to generate popular keywords that include a specific keyword and the next letter of the word starts with a particular letter.

Understanding your target audience is essential for effective keyword research. Smullen suggests using ChatGPT to get an initial understanding of customer personas and then generating keywords and questions based on these personas. You can also use ChatGPT to understand the search intent behind the keywords your target persona may be searching for.

In addition to generating keywords, ChatGPT can also be used for keyword admin tasks, such as categorizing and clustering keywords. However, Smullen cautions against relying solely on ChatGPT for these tasks, as it can make mistakes.

Choosing the Right Keywords

In conclusion, keywords drive everything online, and having the right keywords and keyword strategy can make the difference between your small business getting no customers from online traffic and burgeoning with users. With modern tools, professionals like 1F8, and AI; there's really no excuse not to get this right.

In the next part of our series, we will discuss the next thing you need to do to succeed. Stay tuned!