This resource is intended to help you use rankings reports and keyword research while writing the new copy for your website. 

What information is in the rankings sheets?

Our default scope includes this deliverable, which is a list of your site’s rankings and your competitors’. We export the data from our SEO tool (SEMRush), format it, and share it with you in the “Google Analytics & Competitor Keyword Analysis” Basecamp thread. 

How to Read the Columns

  1. Keyword is the exact query that is entered into a search engine
  2. Position is the average position of your page in search results, from 1-100, for that specific keyword
    • The average is within that month and within that country
    • Google used to show 10 results per page, but now often shows fewer depending on ads, videos, and other features
    • Positions 1-3 get the most clicks, with significantly fewer clicks for results below position 5 
  3. Search Volume is the number of times that exact phrasing is searched per month, averaged over 12 months
  4. Keyword Difficulty is an estimate of how hard it would be for a new site to rank on the first page of search results for that exact keyword, on a scale of 1-100 (1 being easiest)
  5. Traffic % is an estimate of how much traffic this specific keyword drives to your site each month, expressed in the ratio of your total visits
    • This tool doesn’t have access to your Google Search Console or Google Analytics data, this is a rough estimate
  6. Number of Results is the total number of Google search results for that exact phrasing
  7. Competition is how competitive this keyword would be for PPC ads, on a scale of 0-1 (0 being easiest) 
  8. URL is the URL on your site that is ranking in that position, for that query 

What are the rankings sheets good for? 

These are a great way to quickly see how your site ranks, and how it stacks up against the competition. 

1. Look for Keywords to Improve

You may see great news in the sheets, like a lot of top-three and page-one rankings. 

This is a sign that you’ve been on the right track and should try to preserve your existing optimizations as much as possible. When writing the copy for your new site, don’t change too much in your page titles and headings. And while adding more content is great, be cautious about cutting out content sections.  

2. Look for Keyword Gaps

You might be surprised to see that you don’t rank for certain keywords that are important to your business—and your competitors are ranking for those words. 

This is usually a sign that Google doesn’t understand your site, either because it isn’t well-optimized or there isn’t enough content supporting those keywords. 

If your competitors rank for those queries, look at the pages that are ranking. See how they are optimized (although sometimes Google will rank a terrible page and we will never know why). Another way to assess these queries is to type them into Google and study the top 3 search results. This will tell you what kind of content Google’s algorithms deem the most relevant. 

What information is in the advanced keyword research?

Advanced keyword research is a separate deliverable for clients who purchase this add-on.

In addition to the rankings sheets, our expert SEO strategist does extensive research into the best keywords for your main pages and your products or services. This might include keywords for which you are ranking lower than you should be, or new keywords for which you aren’t ranking. 

You can also request that we explore additional keywords, and we’ll provide feedback on their value.  

What is the advanced keyword research good for?

This deliverable should be referenced heavily when you’re writing the new copy for your main pages and product or service pages. 

Look for opportunities to use these keywords in your pages (more on that in the last section of this resource). 

If we’re also doing copywriting for you, we will use the advanced keyword research to optimize the pages we write.  

Which keywords are the best to target?

We recommend a couple of strong combinations:

  • A mix of low- and higher-difficulty keywords: Depending on your site’s existing authority, it may be extremely hard to get your pages or articles to rank for keywords with a difficulty of 50 or higher–but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try. Blending easy-to-win keywords into the strategy will help you build authority, which can help you climb the rankings for the difficult keywords later on. 
  • A mix of low- and high-volume keywords: High-volume keywords mean more people are searching for that term, so in theory you have a higher chance of being seen and earning a click. But that’s assuming you’re ranking at the top of page one for those queries. Low-volume keywords don’t have as many people typing them into Google, but often the keywords are highly specific (and sometimes also lower difficulty), making the searcher more likely to click and convert.  
  • A mix of broader and long-tail keywords: The shorter the keyword, the broader it is. A query with only two words is likely to have extremely high competition, but it’s useful to help search engines understand what your site is about. Long-tail keywords are quite niche, which indicates that the person knows exactly what they want and, like with low-volume keywords, they’re more likely to take action.  

Where should I put keywords in my content?

First and foremost—always write for humans first. We don’t recommend stuffing keywords into your content in the pursuit of targeting them. Google rewards helpful, useful content. If your page reads awkwardly due to excessive keyword usage, it won’t be either of those things and can even be flagged as spam.  

These are the best places to put keywords, assuming they fit naturally: 

  • Page titles
  • Page header body text
  • Headings
  • Other page body text
  • Image filenames
  • Meta descriptions 

Use variations of your keywords, including synonyms and, if it suits your branding, conversational phrasing. This is especially useful for capturing long-tail searches done by people using voice assistants. 

Don’t put keywords in your image alt text, unless they actually help describe the image to a person who can’t see it.