Unlike many business leaders, SEO experts understand the importance of proper keyword research and implementation for the success of your content, PPC, and digital strategies in general. No matter if you’re launching a new business venture, or if you’re running a well-established operation and are trying to develop your competitive advantage, it’s imperative to rank for those terms that are relevant to your industry, business, and niche in order to elevate your brand’s visibility and reputation.

That said, successful SEO is not just about ranking for those general industry-wide keywords that everyone is searching for, instead, it’s about discovering those niche longtail keywords that will attract the right customers, put you on the first page of Google, and incentivize people to venture onto your site. With that in mind, here are the five effective ways to find and implement niche keywords into your digital presence.

Brainstorm topics related to your industry

Of course, there’s always the easy way, and then there’s the right way to do keyword research. You could simply pop a few general phrases into the Google Keyword Planner and act on the results it dishes out, but just keep in mind that your competitors will probably get the same results, the same suggestions, and therefore make similar if not identical decisions to yours. That’s no way to rank high for niche keywords or to get ahead in the competitive industry.

This is why you need to get creative (rather, your digital agency needs to get creative), and brainstorm alternative ways to get a hold of niche keywords. The goal of your marketing team should be to identify the smaller niches that are relevant to your business and your industry.

These sub-segments will yield interesting and unique topics that have their unique, niche keywords. It’s important that you put yourself in the minds of your customers, and think about the niche phrases they might be typing into the search engine. You can then plug those niche keywords into your keyword tool and see how they stack up.

Integrate a keyword research tool

If you’re not using a keyword research tool, then you’re just playing the guessing game, and chances are that your guesses are wrong. This will invariably lead to subpar performance and will fail to rank you higher in the relevant search engines, so you shouldn’t leave such an important element of your digital presence to chance. Now, there are many popular keyword tools out there, and many of them are free to use, however, you need to choose the best one for your needs.

Most keyword tools will display a basic list of relevant search terms, one that’s not broad enough to provide you with all of the phrases you could use in your copy. No, you need a whole host of niche keywords that you weren’t able to come up with on your own, so be sure to test out several tools to see how they compare, and choose the one that delivers the biggest number of keywords while preserving keywords quality.

Use niche keywords in your content strategy

Once you have managed to discover some intricate longtail keywords, it’s time to integrate them into your content strategy. This doesn’t just mean that these keywords should find their way into your blogs and articles, it means that you should integrate them into your entire digital presence, including your site’s headings and meta tags, PPC campaigns, landing pages, and more.

It’s important that this content is created by people who are knowledgeable about your niche and business, to make it as natural and appealing as possible. For example, law firm SEO content should be written by real lawyers in order to make the content as credible and authoritative as possible, and optimized by law SEO strategists to maximize the site’s ranking within its niche. Keep this important tip in mind when optimizing the content for your own business with niche keywords by having experts from your niche guide it to fruition.

Prioritize keywords according to your needs

When you’re optimizing your content, it’s important to prioritize your niche keywords. You can try to integrate every single keyword you found into the copy of every page on your website, but chances are that you will get penalized for keyword stuffing, and you might even get penalized for trying to rank pages that aren’t relevant to the keyword. That’s why you have to prioritize and know where to put your keywords.

Start by grouping keywords according to the types of services or products you offer. You should put niche keywords on the pages that are relevant to the phrase – such as “windshield repair “on the “auto glass repair” page instead of the homepage or the “about us” page. Bottom line, be sure to sprinkle niche keywords throughout your site wherever it feels natural, but make sure it’s relevant to the page.

Consider running an SEO audit

And finally, keep in mind that keywords, especially longtail ones, are constantly evolving with the online trends. This is why they require continuous monitoring and optimization. SEO is a long-term investment and a long-term commitment, so it’s important that you perform regular SEO audits and track the performance of these keywords on your site and assess whether or not they are helping you reach your goals. If not, it’s important that you act instead of hoping that things will change on their own, because you don’t want to lose precious time on the keywords that aren’t converting. Simply repeat the research process, and integrate new keywords into your content and site.

Wrapping up

While it is important to integrate those general industry terms everyone is searching for into your digital presence, finding and integrating niche keywords becomes even more important if you’re trying to surpass your competition and develop a strong competitive advantage. With these tips in mind, you can discover those keyword opportunities that your competitors haven’t found yet, and integrate them into your content with professional optimization to build brand awareness and reputation, boost organic traffic, and incentivize conversions.