Steps of an Effective Keyword Audit

A keyword audit doesn’t happen randomly. It requires a structured approach to reveal the most relevant and actionable information. Here are the essential steps to successfully conduct an effective audit.

Define Audit Objectives

Before diving headfirst into data analysis, it’s crucial to clearly define the objectives you want to achieve with this keyword audit. This initial step will determine your analysis direction and help you focus your efforts on the most important aspects for your SEO strategy.

Here are some essential questions to ask yourself to define your objectives:

What is my website’s main purpose? Increase sales, generate leads, inform users, strengthen brand awareness? The answer to this question will guide your keyword choice and their performance evaluation.
What are my site’s most important pages? Identify pages that contribute most to achieving your objectives. The audit will help you optimize these pages for relevant keywords.
What is my keywords’ current performance? Are they well-positioned in search results? Do they generate qualified traffic? Do they convert visitors into customers? The audit will help you identify your current strategy’s strengths and weaknesses.
What are the growth opportunities? Are there relevant keywords you’re not targeting yet? Can you improve your positioning on existing keywords? The audit will help you discover new opportunities to attract more traffic and prospects.

Identify Your Website’s Current Keywords

This crucial audit step involves making a complete inventory of keywords for which your website is currently visible. Don’t focus only on what you think are your target keywords. The objective is to discover the reality of your positioning in search engines.

Here are the most effective methods to identify these keywords:

Google Search Console (GSC): This is your gold mine if you don’t have a budget for a paid tool. GSC reveals the exact queries users use that lead them to your site. Carefully analyze the “Performance” and “Queries” sections to identify keywords generating impressions, clicks, and traffic. Pay particular attention to average positions. A keyword in position 15, for example, has enormous improvement potential (it’s at the gates of Google’s page 1).
Google Analytics (GA): Although GA no longer provides as much organic keyword data as before (due to “not provided”), it remains useful for understanding best-performing landing pages. By identifying these pages, you can deduce associated themes and keywords. Cross-reference this information with GSC for a more precise overview.

Manual site analysis: Browse your website’s different pages and identify main keywords and expressions present in titles, descriptions, Hn tags (H1, H2, etc.), body text content, and image alt tags. This analysis will help you understand each page’s targeting intention.
SEO audit tools: Tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz Keyword Explorer can help you identify keywords your site ranks for, as well as search volume, keyword difficulty, and ranked URLs. These tools also help identify your main competitors and keywords they target.

Once this data is collected, organize it in a spreadsheet. Indicate for each keyword:

Associated landing page.
Search volume (estimate).
Average position in Google (from GSC).
Average CTR (from GSC).
Search intent type (informational, navigational, transactional).

This database will serve as your starting point for following steps of your keyword audit.

Ideally, invest in a tool like SEMRush, which will allow you to extract all this information automatically.

Current Ranking Analysis

After identifying keywords your site is visible for, the next step is to deeply analyze your current ranking. This analysis is crucial for understanding your keywords’ performance and identifying improvement opportunities.

1. Average Position:

Average position (as reported by Google Search Console) is a key indicator. However, it’s important not to rely solely on this figure. Analyze each keyword’s position over a given period (for example, the last 3 months) to identify trends. A keyword that has gained position is more promising than a keyword whose ranking is declining.

2. Click-Through Rate (CTR):

Good positioning doesn’t guarantee high traffic. CTR (Click Through Rate) measures the percentage of users who click on your link when it appears in search results. A low CTR may indicate your title or description isn’t attractive enough, or that the landing page doesn’t match user search intent. Analyze CTR by keyword and position to identify pages needing optimization.

3. Performance by Intent Type:

Segment your keywords by intent type (informational, navigational, transactional) and analyze each group’s performance. For example, if you target transactional keywords but your conversion rate is low, this may indicate a problem with your sales process or landing page.

4. Cannibalized Keywords:

Check if multiple pages on your site rank for the same keywords. This can create “keyword cannibalization,” where your own pages compete with each other, diluting your overall ranking. Identify these cases and consolidate your content on one page, or clearly differentiate each page’s targeting. Clearly, if you’re here, the solution will be through internal linking (we’ll discuss this more in another guide).

In summary, current ranking analysis involves carefully examining positioning and CTR data, segmenting your keywords by intent type, and identifying cannibalization problems.

Existing Content Inventory

After listing keywords your site ranks for and analyzing their performance, it’s time to examine existing content on your website. This inventory aims to understand how your current content matches keywords you target and identify potential gaps.

Start by listing all pages on your website. For each page, note:

Page’s main topic. What theme is addressed?
Page’s target keywords. What keywords have you intentionally included in the title, description, Hn tags, and body text content?
Page’s actual keywords. What keywords does this page actually attract, according to Google Search Console?
Content quality. Is content original, informative, engaging, and up-to-date? Does it respond to user search intent?
SEO optimization. Is the page optimized for search engines, with well-written title and meta description tags, structured Hn tags, optimized images, and relevant internal linking?

Then analyze relationships between your keywords and your content. For example:

Uncovered keywords: Are there keywords relevant to your business for which you have no dedicated content?
Obsolete or low-quality content: Are there pages with obsolete, low-quality content or that don’t respond to user search intent?
Poorly optimized pages: Are there pages targeting the right keywords but not sufficiently optimized for search engines?

I know, I know, it looks like ant work, seems long and painful, and the truth is it is!

For this reason, don’t hesitate to invest in a tool like NeuronWriter or Yourtext.guru, which will both help you detect your content’s semantic optimization degree.

It’ll cost you a small fee, but it’ll save you enormous time! Prioritize keywords generating lots of traffic initially, sorting with difficulty index (we’ll discuss this more below).

Extracting Target and Secondary Keywords

Once existing content inventory is complete, the next step is to clearly identify target and secondary keywords for each page on your site. This distinction is crucial for structuring your SEO strategy and focusing your efforts on the most relevant terms.

Target keywords: These are the main keywords you want to associate with a specific page. They should be directly related to the page’s main topic and have significant search volume. Ideally, the target keyword should be included in the page title, meta description tag, URL, and first sentences of content.

Secondary keywords: These are complementary keywords that reinforce the page’s relevance to the main topic. They can be synonyms of the target keyword, long-tail variations, or related terms that specify user search intent. Using secondary keywords in body text, Hn tags, and image alt tags helps optimize the page for a wider range of queries.

To extract these keywords, carefully examine each page’s content and ask yourself these questions:

What problem does this page solve for the user?
What terms would users use to find this page?
What keywords are my competitors targeting for similar pages?

Use previously mentioned SEO audit tools (Semrush, Ahrefs, NeuronWriter, Yourtext Guru) to identify keyword variants and analyze competition.

Create a list of target and secondary keywords for each page, considering their search volume, difficulty, and relevance to your business. This list will serve as a guide for optimizing your existing content and creating relevant new content.

In-Depth Research of Potential Keywords

Once your current keywords’ state of affairs is established, the next step is researching potential keywords. This phase involves identifying new terms and expressions your target audience actively uses to search for information, products, or services related to your business. The objective is to expand your reach and attract more qualified traffic to your website.

Brainstorming and Audience Analysis

Start with thorough brainstorming. Put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes. What are their needs, problems, and aspirations? What words and expressions would they use to express them and search for solutions online? Involve your sales and customer support team, as they’re in direct contact with your customers and know their concerns.

Also consult forums, online discussion groups, and social media where your target audience is active. Analyze questions they ask, topics they discuss, and terms they use. This valuable information will help you identify specific and relevant long-tail keywords.

Keyword Research Tools

If you want to save time, use Semrush’s Magic Keyword Tool, Google Keyword Planner, or Ubersuggest, which are all excellent starting points. These tools will allow you to:

Identify related keywords: Enter a base keyword and the tool will offer a list of similar keywords, synonyms, and variants.
Analyze search volume: Determine keywords’ popularity and estimate potential traffic you can attract.
Evaluate keyword difficulty: Measure competition for each keyword and identify the most accessible opportunities.
Discover competitor keywords: Analyze your competitors’ websites to identify keywords they target that generate traffic.

With this, you’ll see, your keyword audit will become (almost) child’s play!

Competitive Analysis

Don’t neglect competitive analysis. Identify your main competitors and analyze their keyword strategy. What keywords are they targeting? What type of content are they creating? What are their strengths and weaknesses? This analysis will help you identify opportunities you might have missed and refine your own strategy.

Types of Keywords to Target

Diversify your approach by targeting different keyword types:

Generic keywords: Broad and popular terms, but very competitive.
Long-tail keywords: Specific and detailed expressions, with lower search volume, but clearer search intent and less competition.
Informational keywords: Terms used to search for information, advice, or answers to questions.
Transactional keywords: Terms used to make a purchase or perform a specific action (e.g., “buy [product],” “register [service]”).

Brainstorming and Idea Generation

New keyword research often starts with a good brainstorming session. The objective is to think outside the box and generate as many ideas as possible, even if some may seem far-fetched at first.

Brainstorming Techniques:

Word associations: Take your existing keywords and let your mind wander. What words or concepts come to mind when you hear “digital marketing,” for example? Write down everything, without censorship.
The “why, what, how”: For each product or service, ask yourself: Why would a customer buy it? What problem does it solve? How would they use it? The answers are all leads for keywords.
Customer perspective: Put yourself in your ideal customer’s shoes. How would they describe your products or services to a friend? What questions would they ask before buying?

Using Tools to Amplify Brainstorming

Once you have a base of ideas, use online tools to enrich them.

AnswerThePublic: This tool generates questions, prepositions, and comparisons related to a given keyword, giving you insights into your audience’s concerns and queries.
Google suggestions: Type a keyword in the Google search bar and examine suggested proposals. These suggestions are based on users’ actual searches.
Wikipedia: Explore Wikipedia articles related to your industry. Terms used and internal links can inspire new keywords.

Don’t forget, this phase is primarily exploration. Don’t worry about relevance or search volume at this stage. The important thing is to create the most exhaustive list possible, which will be refined during following steps.

I repeat: the more you exploit tools like Semrush’s Keyword Tool, Google Keyword Planner, or Ubersuggest, the more you’ll be able to discover new opportunities: don’t forget these tools are connected to Google’s API, the data they provide are automatically updated, and they’re highly relevant.

Search Volume and Competition Analysis

Once you have a solid list of potential keywords and have spied well on your competitors ;), it’s time to dive into data analysis to evaluate their real value.

Two key metrics come into play: search volume and competition level. Understanding these two aspects is crucial for identifying keywords with the greatest potential to generate qualified traffic to your site.

Search volume: measuring query interest

Search volume indicates the average number of times a keyword is searched on search engines during a given period (generally monthly). High search volume suggests strong interest in the topic, but this doesn’t necessarily mean it’s easy to rank.

Interpreting Search Volume

High search volume suggests strong demand for information or the product associated with this keyword. However, it’s crucial not to focus solely on this metric. A keyword with high search volume can also be extremely competitive, making it difficult to rank in top search results.

Conversely, low search volume doesn’t necessarily mean a keyword should be discarded. Long-tail keywords, for example, often have lower search volume but target very precise search intent, which can lead to higher conversion rates.

Competition: assessing ranking difficulty

Competition index evaluates difficulty ranking high in search results for a given keyword. High competition means many quality websites are fighting for the same positions, making ranking more difficult.

SEO audit tools thus offer “Keyword Difficulty” metrics that help quantify this competition. It’s not just about looking at competitor numbers, but also their authority (based on backlink number and quality).

Factors Influencing Keyword Difficulty

Several elements contribute to keyword difficulty:

Domain Authority (DA) and Page Authority (PA) of competitors: These metrics, provided by tools like Moz, indicate a website’s and specific page’s link profile strength. The higher the authority, the harder to surpass them.
Competitor Content Quality and Relevance: Search engines favor high-quality content that precisely responds to user search intent. Complete, well-structured, and informative content is harder to dethrone.
Number of Backlinks pointing to competing pages: Backlinks from quality websites are an important ranking factor. The more relevant backlinks a page has, the more it’s perceived as a reliable information source.
Competitor On-Page Optimization: Optimizing titles, descriptions, Hn tags, and body text content plays a crucial role in ranking. Careful optimization makes ranking more difficult.
Competitor Brand Strength: Established and recognized brands often enjoy a ranking advantage, as users tend to trust them.

Interpreting Difficulty Scores

SEO audit tools generally assign difficulty scores to keywords, ranging from 0 to 100. The higher the score, the more difficult to rank. Keywords with low to medium difficulty scores are generally more accessible for beginner websites or those with limited domain authority.

Strategies for targeting difficult keywords

If you want to target keywords with high difficulty, you’ll need to adopt a long-term strategy that includes creating high-quality content, obtaining relevant backlinks, and optimizing your website for search engines. Focus on associated long-tail keywords, which are often less competitive, and gradually build your domain authority.

Finding the ideal balance

The objective is to find keywords with decent search volume and manageable competition level. Long-tail keywords, though less searched individually, often have lower competition and higher conversion rate, as they target very specific search intent. A balanced approach, combining generic and long-tail keywords, is generally most effective.

To give you a reference point, a keyword with difficulty index below 30 is generally accessible. Above 50, it becomes very complicated, and above 70, it becomes impossible (or almost).

Beyond the numbers

Keyword research tools (Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, Semrush) provide search volume estimates. It’s important to note these figures aren’t always 100% accurate. They offer a general indication of keyword popularity, but it’s advisable to cross-reference data from multiple tools for a more precise view.

Local vs. Global Analysis

Search volume can also vary considerably based on geographic location. If your business targets a local market, it’s essential to analyze search volume for this specific region, rather than relying on global data. Most tools allow filtering data by country, region, or city.

Segment and Group Keywords

After collecting and analyzing your keyword data, the crucial step is organizing them logically and actionably. This is where segmentation and grouping come into play. This step transforms a raw keyword list into a structured content and optimization strategy.

Don’t forget numbers don’t tell the whole story. Understanding search intent behind a keyword is just as important. Are users searching for information, products to buy, or specific websites? Make sure the content you create matches this intent.

Why segment and group?

Identify main themes: Group keywords by topic to reveal your business’s central themes and your audience’s needs.
Structure your content: Facilitate creating relevant and coherent content by grouping keywords by search intent.
Optimize your website: Improve navigation and user experience by organizing your pages around clear themes.
Prioritize your efforts: Focus on keyword groups with greatest potential to generate qualified traffic and conversions.

Segmentation and grouping methods:

By search intent: Informational (information search), navigational (specific site search), transactional (purchase search).
By theme: Group keywords by main topic (e.g., “content marketing,” “technical SEO,” “social media”).
By customer journey stage: Attract prospects at each stage, from awareness to conversion.
By product/service type: Organize keywords by category of products or services you offer.
By “head” vs “long-tail” keywords: Generic keywords attract a broad audience, while long-tail keywords target specific needs.

Tools to facilitate segmentation:

Spreadsheets (Excel, Google Sheets): Create tables to organize and categorize your keywords.
Keyword management tools: Some SEO tools (SEMrush, Ahrefs) offer grouping and tagging features.

We can also mention tools like LowFruit, which helps easily detect “holes” in search results pages.

Identifying long-tail keywords

Within each thematic keyword group, particular attention should be paid to long-tail keywords. These expressions, often longer and more specific (composed of 3 or more words), represent very targeted user queries. Identifying and targeting these keywords can bring numerous benefits.

Why target the long tail?

While you must certainly pursue main keywords one way or another, “small streams make big rivers.” Long-tail keywords will be a significant source of traffic.

Less competition: Competition for generic keywords is fierce. Long-tail keywords, being more specific, are less competitive, increasing your chances of ranking quickly and effectively.
More qualified traffic: People using long queries generally know precisely what they’re looking for. By meeting their specific needs, you attract traffic more likely to convert into customers.
Better conversion rate: With clearer search intent, visitors from long-tail keywords are often closer to purchase decisions.
Targeted content opportunities: Long-tail keywords provide valuable insights into your audience’s questions and needs, making it easier to create hyper-relevant content that directly addresses their concerns.

How to identify long-tail keywords:

Use keyword suggestion tools: Most SEO tools (SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz Keyword Explorer, Ubersuggest) offer options to filter keywords by length or identify questions users ask.
Analyze your audience’s questions: Examine forums, social media, blog comment sections, and your website’s FAQs to identify frequently asked questions by your customers.
Consider product/service variations: If you sell products or services with different characteristics (color, size, model, etc.), use these variations to create long-tail keywords.
Think about problems and solutions: Identify problems your products/services solve and transform them into long-tail keywords. “How to repair a broken smartphone screen” is an example.

By integrating long-tail keywords into your SEO strategy, you can attract more qualified traffic, improve your conversion rate, and gain a significant competitive advantage. You’ll just need more pages than you initially planned, but hey, that’s what blogging is for!

Prioritize Keywords

After segmenting, grouping, and thoroughly analyzing your keywords, you find yourself with a potentially very long list. It’s now time to make strategic decisions and prioritize keywords on which you’ll focus your efforts. This step is crucial, as it allows you to optimize your time and resources to get the best results.

Factors to Consider for Prioritization:

Traffic Potential: Evaluate keywords’ search volume and estimate potential traffic you can attract if you rank high in search results. Favor keywords with sufficient search volume to justify the investment.
Difficulty: Consider difficulty ranking for each keyword. Very competitive keywords may require significant investment in time and resources, with uncertain results.
Relevance: Ensure keywords you target are relevant to your business and match your target audience’s search intent. Unqualified traffic won’t bring you conversions.
Search Intent: Consider search intent behind each keyword. Transactional keywords (e.g., “buy [product]”) are generally more likely to generate conversions than informational keywords (e.g., “what is [product]”).
Current Performance: Identify keywords for which you’re already well-positioned and that generate traffic. Focus on optimizing these pages to further improve their ranking and conversion rate.
Business Objectives: Align your keyword strategy with your business objectives. If your goal is to increase sales, favor transactional keywords. If your goal is to strengthen brand awareness, focus on informational keywords.

Prioritization Methods:

Priority Score: Assign a score to each keyword based on factors mentioned above. Use a 1 to 5 scale for each factor and calculate a total score for each keyword.
Impact/Effort Matrix: Position your keywords in an Impact/Effort matrix. Keywords with high impact and low effort are highest priority.
Marketing Funnel Stage Prioritization: Adapt your priority to customer journey stages. Focus on acquiring new visitors with “informational” keywords, then guide them toward conversion with “transactional” keywords.

Typically, if you have pages close to first page that can capture lots of traffic, work on them first, and do others later: always deploy your effort where you’re sure to have quick return on investment.

Document Audit Results

Documenting your keyword audit results is an important, often neglected, but essential step to transform your analysis into a viable and measurable SEO strategy. It’s not enough to have intuitions, you need proof! Clear and complete documentation will help you track your progress, identify missed opportunities, and effectively communicate your recommendations to your team or clients.

Why document results?

Clarity and transparency: A well-documented report offers a clear and transparent overview of your keyword strategy’s current state, your site’s performance, and identified opportunities.
Progress tracking: Documentation serves as a reference to track your performance evolution over time and measure your SEO actions’ impact.
Facilitated collaboration: A clear report helps your team quickly understand recommendations and effectively collaborate on strategy implementation.
Informed decision-making: Precise and documented data facilitate making strategic decisions based on facts and analysis, rather than intuitions.
Investment justification: A detailed report justifies SEO investments and demonstrates your work’s value.

Elements to include in documentation:

Executive summary: A concise overview of audit’s main objectives, key conclusions, and recommendations.
Current keyword inventory: A complete list of keywords your site ranks for, with their performance (positioning, search volume, CTR, etc.).
Competitive analysis: A summary of your main competitors’ analysis, including keywords they target and their content strategy.
Potential keyword list: A list of new identified keywords, with their search volume, difficulty, and relevance.
Segmentation and grouping: A description of how you segmented and grouped your keywords, with justification of your choices.
Keyword prioritization: A justification of priority keywords, based on their traffic potential, difficulty, and relevance.
Specific recommendations: A list of actions to take to improve your keyword strategy, with specific recommendations for optimizing existing pages, creating new content, and obtaining backlinks.
Action plan: A calendar of actions to take, with clear responsibilities and deadlines.

Documentation format:

Use a clear and easy-to-understand format, such as a Word document, PDF, or PowerPoint presentation. Integrate tables, graphs, and screenshots to illustrate your points and facilitate data understanding. Make sure documentation is well-structured, with clear titles and subtitles.

By carefully documenting your keyword audit results, you transform a simple analysis into a concrete action plan to improve your online visibility and achieve your SEO objectives.

Next article: Essential tools