How Content Marketing is Different From Inbound Marketing
Praveen Kumar
Jan 24, 2016
10 min read
Marketing in its entirety tends to be very wide and ambiguous sometimes, but merchantable marketers have the answers. Despite the diverse views of Content Marketing and Inbound Marketing, I still believe these both are the same even so, they might come in from different perspectives. Can you differentiate between a presently ripe mango and a consumed mango? The answer is YES, both mangos are ripe but one has been consumed while the other is still awaiting consumption. The same case defines the slight dissimilarity between Inbound Marketing and Content Marketing.
Let’s Take A Succinct Look At Inbound Marketing
Here is what the Popular Hubspot marketing automation gurus have to say about inbound marketing…
Rather than the old outbound marketing strategies for purchasing advertisements, purchasing email records, and appealing to God for leads, inbound marketing concentrates on making quality content that pulls individuals toward your organization and products, where they without doubts need to be. By naturally adjusting the contents you distribute with your to your customer’s benefit, you actually draw in inbound traffic that you can further convert, close, and profit from on the long run."
Let’s also take a look at HubSpot's definition of content marketing "Content marketing is a promotion strategy of making and disseminating pertinent and significant contents to pull in, obtain, and connect with a plainly characterized and comprehended target gathering of people – with the goal of driving gainful client activity."
There are clearly some distinctive expressions and phrasing in every definition, additionally some key similarities, for example, the reference of "value contents" (the backbone for each)”.
Quite understandable, let's dig deeper to unravel more secrets... Do you know that the word Inbound marketing was derived from the integration of Content Marketing and some other strategical practices? Content marketing is obviously the “big fish” in inbound marketing; on the other hand, techniques such as email marketing, lead nurturing, search engine optimization, social media optimization, and other valuable practices are referred to as integrated Marketing Machines.
Content Marketing adequately moves the business owners' products and brand to the desired customers, to increase sales, notice-ability, and conversion. Inbound as the name indicates effectively uses content to attract a customer. The good dissimilarity here is you don't have to do any physical job in inbound marketing. Your creative and persuasive contents do the Job for you; all you needed is sit, watch and welcome your customers while they’re been driven.
Some key benefits of Inbound marketing via super-conceived content includes the following;
Cost-Effective (Save More)
Whenever business promotion comes into the scene, the first thing that is often thought about is cost. Here is where you can deploy Inbound Marketing if you’re swift enough to remember it. Inbound marketing can generate leads and conversions to your business (regardless of size) very consistently than outbound marketing.
Inbound Marketing Is Long Lasting
Did you by chance recollect that the goal of inbound marketing is to build connections with customers? This strategically means that it’s not a once-off relationship, but something that will last long.
When you have the right content in place on your business websites and other promotional platforms, interested and hungry customers would always come for them. And the more you maintain the quality and consistency in distribution, the chances are there that readers will get stuck and come back for more.
Related Articles
Explore our thought leadership articles offering actionable insights, market microtrends, industry news, and digital topics.
Top 10 SaaS Content Marketing Agencies to Grow Your Organic Traffic
Leveraging effective content writing for SaaS is crucial for driving organic traffic and building a strong online presence. As the demand for SaaS solutions rises, standing out in a crowded market becomes increasingly challenging. Many SaaS companies turn to specialized content marketing agencies that understand the industry's intricacies and plan a saas content marketing strategy to overcome this. In this blog post, we'll explore the top 10 SaaS content marketing agencies that can help your business improve its organic traffic, pay-per-lead, and gain a competitive edge. Learn about what is ppl? Criteria to Choose a Content Marketing Agency for SaaS Businesses When searching for an ideal SaaS content marketing agency for your business, you must meticulously assess candidates based on criteria tailored to your specific needs. Partner with experts who meet and exceed your expectations, bringing innovation and adaptability essential for propelling your SaaS business toward growth. Here is a list of relevant factors to guide your evaluation process: Industry Expertise: Look for agencies with a profound understanding of the SaaS landscape, addressing the complexities of the SaaS industry, a strategic content marketing approach with high quality content should intricately navigate challenges while aligning with the unique needs of the target audience, ensuring relevance and resonance. Proven Track Record: Prioritize SaaS marketing agencies with a demonstrable history of executing results-driven content marketing campaigns for SaaS enterprises. Learn about the agency's saas content marketing playbook. Content Strategy: Evaluate their capability to formulate a comprehensive SaaS content marketing strategy that aligns with your business objectives and resonates with the target market. Assessing their proficiency in crafting a robust SaaS content strategy is pivotal to aligning business objectives and captivating the target market. A competent agency should showcase expertise in tailoring content marketing for SaaS companies, ensuring a deep understanding of industry nuances. Evaluate their ability to provide comprehensive content marketing services, from ideation to execution, emphasizing the creation of impactful content strategies. Look for a strategic approach that leverages industry keywords by keyword research, thought leadership, and engaging narratives to resonate with the target audience effectively. A successful strategy should encompass a mix of blog posts, whitepapers, webinars, and interactive content to ensure a broad reach and sustained engagement. By integrating these elements, the agency can contribute to elevating your SaaS brand's visibility, fostering customer trust, and ultimately driving business growth through a well-crafted and targeted Saas content strategy. Incorporate elements such as b2b content syndication to ensure a broad reach. SEO Proficiency: Ensure the agency possesses expertise in optimizing content for search engines, driving organic traffic, and enhancing search engine rankings. Implementing strategies related to ssaas content marketing examples can further boost visibility. Quality Content Production: Look for agencies that consistently generate engaging, informative, and pertinent content that appeals to your SaaS audience. Follow elements such as saas calendar to ensure content relevance. Performance Measurement: Opt for agencies utilizing data-driven insights and analytics to monitor and assess the performance of their SaaS content marketing initiatives. Collaboration and Communication: Prioritize agencies emphasizing collaboration, providing regular updates, and maintaining transparent communication channels. Flexibility and Adaptability: Select a SaaS agency capable of adjusting its strategies to meet the evolving needs of your business. Transparent Pricing: Choose agencies that offer clear pricing structures and transparent content marketing packages, ensuring visibility and avoiding hidden costs. Client Testimonials and Reviews: Consider agencies with positive testimonials and reviews, indicating their credibility and client satisfaction. Top 11 SaaS Content Marketing Agencies Saffron Edge Saffron Edge is a leading SaaS marketing agency at the forefront of digital transformation, specializing in empowering SaaS brands, Direct-to-Consumer (DTC), and E-commerce brands to achieve exponential growth. With a global presence, it strategically positions us to serve clients across diverse industry verticals in the US and beyond. Learn more about us and our offerings here. Key features Market and Competition Analysis Guest Posting Content marketing efforts requires a skilled content marketing team proficient in content creation, strategy, and distribution. Effective content marketing plan entails expertise in navigating the intricacies of these elements Pros Purpose-Driven Approach: We as a specialized marketing agency, have an approach to digital marketing. Our strategies are not just about increasing traffic or generating qualified leads; they are designed to align with your business objectives, ensuring that every effort contributes to your overall success. Data-Oriented Plans: We believe in the power of data. Our team uses robust analytics and insights to formulate data-driven and highly effective plans. This approach allows us to adapt strategies based on real-time performance metrics, with solid marketing strategy , maximizing the impact of your product marketing. Exponential Growth: Saffron Edge is committed to helping businesses future-proof themselves. Through our services, clients experience exponential growth, lower cart abandonment rates, growth ,website visitors, marketing and revenue generation that positions them as industry leaders. Services Retargeting Semantic SaaS SEO SEO and Performance Marketing Account Based Marketing (ABM) Technical SEO Content and Email Marketing Strategy Google Ads services Lead generation and Inbound marketing. Kalungi Kalungi is a leading SaaS content strategy firm supporting early-stage B2B SaaS companies in meeting their marketing needs. With a specialized focus on the software industry, Kalungi offers comprehensive outsourced marketing services, ensuring that clients receive tailored and practical strategies to drive growth. Key features On-demand SaaS Marketing Team Fractional CMO for Strategic Guidance Pay-for-Performance Model Proven Playbook and Methodology Extensive Support Growth-as-a-Service Pros Proven Expertise: Kalungi's specialized focus on B2B SaaS companies and extensive experience in the software industry instill confidence in clients seeking proven expertise. Scalable Pay-for-Performance Model: The pay-for-performance model aligns the agency's success with client objectives, providing a scalable and transparent approach to investment in marketing services. Fractional CMO Guidance: Including a fractional CMO ensures clients benefit from high-level strategic guidance, even if they need more in-house marketing leadership. Comprehensive Support: Kalungi's ability to cover both strategic and tactical aspects of marketing offers clients a one-stop solution for their marketing needs. Cons Cost Considerations: While the pay-for-performance model can be advantageous, clients must carefully consider the costs associated with outsourced services, particularly if they have evolving or unpredictable marketing needs. Services Content Marketing Conversion Optimization Digital Strategy Marketing Strategy Branding Email Marketing Deviate labs Deviate Labs is a pioneering SaaS content marketing agency that stands at the forefront of the industry and is renowned for its innovative strategies and unparalleled expertise. With a track record spanning from bootstrapped startups to billion-dollar enterprises across diverse sectors, Deviate Labs has solidified its position as a go-to partner for growth marketing and hacking solutions. Key features Diverse Client Portfolio Proven Track Record Innovative Frameworks Pros Diverse Client Portfolio: Deviate Labs' extensive experience spans diverse clients, showcasing their adaptability and ability to cater to various industries. Innovative Project Success: The agency's success stories include creating unique projects like ImmersiveAudioAlbum.com and DeviateTracking.com, demonstrating their ability to generate innovative solutions. Cross-Industry Expertise: The ability to cross-pollinate marketing tactics across different industries positions Deviate Labs as a versatile agency capable of bringing fresh perspectives to each project. Entrepreneurial Approach: Deviate Labs' holistic, entrepreneurial approach to growth ensures that their strategies are practical and aligned with the dynamic nature of business environments. Cons Potentially Specialized: This may not be suitable for clients seeking highly specialized industry-focused agencies. Broad Focus: Some clients may prefer a more focused agency with a singular service or industry focus. Services Content Marketing Marketing Strategy Pay Per Click Email Marketing Mobile & App Marketing Search Engine Optimization Disruptive Advertising Disruptive Advertising is a digital marketing agency breaking away from industry norms. Committed to delivering sustainable results, the agency thrives on innovation and a disruptive approach. Key features Top Talent Focus Limited Client Count No Silos, Collaborative Strategies Client-Centric Approach Pros Experienced Team: Disruptive Advertising boasts a team that combines experience with a proven track record of success. Holistic Strategies: Collaborative, multi-platform approach. Aligns with overall business goals. Premier Agency Partnerships: Disruptive Advertising holds premier partnerships with critical platforms, ensuring clients can access cutting-edge tools and technologies. Cons Limited Client Count: Strength for the long term may not suit all businesses. Disruptive Approach Suitability: This may not align with all businesses' preferences. Services Pay Per Click Email Marketing Search Engine Optimization Social Media Marketing The shelf The Shelf is a SaaS content marketing agency specializing in influencer marketing. Their all-in-one service includes planning, executing, and optimizing influencer campaigns through a proprietary platform, providing access to millions of influencers across major social platforms. Key features Proprietary Platform Guaranteed Metrics Transparency Pros High-Quality Campaigns: The Shelf is known for crafting high-quality campaigns for various brands, from startups to Fortune 100 companies. Performance-Focused: With a strong emphasis on performance and ROI, clients can trust that their campaigns will deliver tangible results. Proprietary Platform: Using a proprietary platform enhances the influencer selection, ensuring authenticity and effectiveness. Cons Potential Cost: Consideration of potential costs, especially for smaller businesses. Services Social Media Marketing Marketing Strategy Branding Content Marketing Skale Skale is a leading SaaS-based content marketing agency specializing in crafting SEO Revenue Engines for SaaS brands. With a mission to go beyond conventional metrics, Skale drives tangible business outcomes, such as SQLs, qualified signups, and new MRR. Comprising a team of seasoned professionals with extensive experience in the SaaS domain, Skale stands out for its deep understanding of SaaS marketing metrics, SaaS-specific SEO tactics, and impactful product growth strategies that significantly benefit SaaS brands. Key features Holistic Approach SaaS Expertise Customized SEO Engines Product Growth Strategies Pros Business-Centric Approach: Skale's commitment to driving meaningful business outcomes sets it apart, making it an ideal choice for SaaS brands looking beyond superficial metrics. Specialized SaaS Knowledge: The agency's specialized knowledge in the SaaS domain ensures that strategies are tailored to the unique dynamics of SaaS marketing, maximizing effectiveness. Customization: Skale's focus on developing customized SEO Revenue Engines ensures that each strategy aligns perfectly with the goals and challenges of individual SaaS brands. Cons Specialized Niche: Limited appeal outside the SaaS industry. Cost Consideration: Specialized expertise may come at a higher cost. Services Link Building SEO Content SEO Migration SEO Managemen Codeless Codeless is a SaaS content marketing agency that empowers businesses to thrive in the fiercely competitive online landscape. With a seasoned team of SEO experts, dedicated account managers, and a proven methodology, Codeless specializes in creating high volumes of top-tier content that attracts traffic and converts leads into sales. Key features Strategic Approach Comprehensive Production Optimization Excellence Strategic Link Building Pros Proven Strategy: Clear roadmap for content creation aligned with business goals. End-to-End Service: From strategy to strategic link building. Expertise: Team of writers and editors for deep, quality content. Strategic Partnerships: Collaborations with uSERP enhance link-building capabilities. Cons Long-Term Results: While Codeless focuses on the long-term benefits of content marketing, some businesses may seek quicker, short-term gains. Cost: The premium services offered by Codeless may be positioned at a higher price point than some competitors, making it more suitable for businesses with larger budgets. Services Content Marketing Marketing Strategy Search Engine Optimization SingleGrain Single Grain is a digital marketing agency that propels businesses to new success through innovative digital strategies. With a dedicated and passionate team of digital marketers, the agency strives to deliver exceptional results and ensure the best return on your investment. Key features Funnel Optimization Dynamic Video Production Holistic Strategy Bot Development Pros Diverse Expertise: Comprehensive digital marketing solutions for a holistic approach. Results-driven: Obsessed with delivering measurable results and the best ROI. Strategy Focus: A complete marketing strategy aligning with business goals. Cons High Demand: Periods of high demand may lead to longer onboarding times. Cost Consideration: Premium services may be higher for businesses on a tight budget. Services Search Engine Optimization Pay Per Click Conversion Optimization Digital Strategy Accelerate agency Accelerate Agency is a cutting-edge SaaS content marketing agency dedicated to revolutionizing the growth strategies of fast-moving companies. With a focus on digital analytics and AI, this agency leverages innovative technical marketing to propel businesses to new heights, helping them gain a competitive advantage. Key features Digital Analytics Mastery AI-Powered Strategies Automation for Efficiency Comprehensive Services Pros Strategic Innovation: Continuous delivery of cutting-edge strategies for industry differentiation. Customized Solutions: Customized tools addressing unique business challenges and goals. Efficiency through Automation: Faster results without compromising quality. Cons Learning Curve: AI-centric solutions may require adaptation for clients new to these technologies. Tech Dependency: Solutions rely on advanced technologies; traditional methods may be challenging to adapt. Cost Consideration: Premium solutions; businesses with tight budgets must consider the investment carefully. Services Search Engine Optimization Content Marketing Digital Strategy HAWKSEM HawkSEM is a digital marketing agency driven by the belief that "Results Are Everything." Their unique ConversionIQ System focuses on driving SMART conversions, prioritizing quality over quantity. Key features ConversionIQ System: 3-step approach. Comprehensive Digital Marketing Services Success and ROI Focused Pros Proven Results: Tangible and measurable outcomes showcasing our effectiveness. Conversion-Driven Approach: Dedication to driving high-quality conversions for impactful revenue. Complete Service Offering: Solution for diverse digital marketing needs. Cons Cost Consideration: Premium services may be higher for businesses on a tight budget. Services Pay Per Click Search Engine Optimization Social Media Marketing Nogood NoGood is a growth marketing agency. As the growth squad behind iconic brands, they have curated a diverse team of growth leads, creatives, designers, engineers, and data scientists to unlock rapid growth for businesses. Key features Full-Funnel Growth Diverse Expertise Industry Innovation Strategic Partnerships Pros Innovative Strategies: Always exploring new strategies and technologies for a forward-thinking edge. Cross-Disciplinary Team: Diverse skill set for an effective approach. Proven Track Record: Growth squad behind category-defining brands, showcasing effectiveness. Cons Niche Specialization: While NoGood excels in specific sectors such as consumer, SaaS, retail, and healthcare, it might limit NoGood's appeal to businesses outside of these specific sectors. Services Content Marketing Pay Per Click Search Engine Optimization Social Media Marketing Video Production ...
read more4 Things To Take Care Of When Buying Advertisements Programmatically
Marketers opting for advertising programmatically is on an all-time high! According to a recent study by eMarketers, by 2019, as much as 84% of total digital advertising spend will be made programmatically, which is projected to reach $46 Billion. And it makes sense as well, programmatic advertising gives 10x better control to advertisers and publishers over their digital assets as compared to traditional advertising. While we have already talked about why programmatic is the way to go in the future if you’re looking to advertise digitally and mentioned some common threats to the programmatic industry as well. Today, we will talk about some things to take care of when you’ll be actually buying advertisement spaces over the web programmatically, which will help you spend your marketing budget wisely. So, when it comes to programmatic ad buying services, here are some things you should take care of to get the best out of your efforts - Defining a clear strategy Defining a clear, cut strategy before venturing into the world of programmatic is an absolute must not just for buying advertisements programmatically, but marketing in general. You must know well in advance the type of ads you want to vouch for, the biddings you are willing to make, the audience you want to target and the type of creatives you’d create that would resonate with your target audience. Doing this would help get you the most bang out of your advertising bucks. In programmatic, it’s not just about buying banner spaces on publisher’s websites, you can place your ads on Youtube videos, Facebook in-stream advertisements, mobile ads and every other form of advertisements you see on the web. So, making a strategy and choosing the right platforms is important. Moreover, you can choose to go for a RTB approach, buy advertisements from private marketplaces or directly buy advertisement spaces from advertisers through direct programmatic. While each of these buying methods involves different approaches, selecting the best method is vital for efficiently spending your marketing budget. Also, knowing in advance the audience you want to serve will help you choose the best platforms in the marketplace to actively advertise on. DMPs or data management platforms can help you with that and most of the DSPs are integrated with DMPs as well to provide a holistic view to advertisers of their audience. They combine first and third party data to form look-alike audiences for your campaign which you can use to attract more customers. Focus on your audience When it comes to defining a programmatic strategy, you absolutely have to focus on impressing your audience with your creatives. And that includes having stunning visuals and stellar content on all your Ads that resonates well with your target audience and makes them click! Fail on doing that, and your audience will not even bother to give your ad a second look. So, creating buyer personas is important to target the kind of audience you want to reach and it requires extensive audience research as well to figure out where your audience really resides on the web. Again, DMPs can come to your rescue here as they usually have all the audience information you’d require to create great ads that would resonate well with your target audience. Focus on understanding your audience more than the quality of your creatives. Don’t get me wrong here, while quality visuals are important for your ads, it will not be beneficial to you in any way if they are appearing at the wrong places and in front of the wrong people. Include a mix of creatives It’s all about the creatives when it comes to making people click on your ad. But like most of the advertisers out there, don’t fixate all your programmatic efforts on a single ad creative. Instead, make 5-6 creatives for a single campaign with different visuals & content. That way you can easily A/B test the performance of each of your ad by making small tweaks to the ads that are not performing well. Doing this will give you a better idea about what kind of content works best with your unique audience and you can double down on that information by reiterating everything that is currently working with your audience in all your future digital advertising campaigns. Monitoring performance is key Talking about A/B testing, one of the main advantage of going programmatic is the impressive analytics DSPs provide for measuring performance of your each and every running ad, which was never heard of before in traditional advertising and probably is the reason why a majority of marketers are shifting to programmatic ad buying and you should too! Monitoring performance is not just necessary to excel programmatically, doing it will help you optimize your each and every marketing effort in general. Keeping a close eye on the actual performance of your ads will help you discard in an instant the ads that are not performing up to their mark and save a few extra bucks of your advertising budget. Like I said above, when you closely check the performance of all your ads, you can easily point-out the ads which are not performing optimally and tweak it a bit to bring it back on track, which is always a good thing to make sure the ROI of your whole campaign doesn’t take a hit! So, there you go! Before you step into the complex but extremely quick-paced world of programmatic, keep in mind the above-mentioned points to take the results of your programmatic efforts to a whole another level. Work on your strategy, figure out the people you want to target who are interested in availing your services and platforms where they actively hang out on the web, create an intriguing ad (and 4-5 versions of it) for them and constantly measure its performance based on KPIs that matter and watch your programmatic efforts bring in a ton of exposure for your business… and users of course! But which top platform should you use to begin advertising programmatically? Stay with us as we’ll be tackling this exact question in our next blog where I’ll tell you about some of the best DSPs out there that will make programmatic a piece of cake for you! ...
read moreHow to Find The Best Keywords With ‘Ahrefs’ and ‘SEMrush’
<!-- <img class="aligncenter wp-image-10769 size-large" src="/uploads/2018/05/joao-silas-74207-unsplash-1-1200x800.jpg" alt="Book With Pen" width="1140" height="760"> --> Who doesn’t like free traffic from Google? I do and I am pretty sure you fancy a lot of traffic coming to your website from Google as well. And a thorough keyword research is probably the best way to get it. Obviously, if all your website content is wrapped around keywords that boast a high search volume, you are bound to receive some extra traffic. Moreover, merging the power of digital marketing with your keyword optimized content will have you reaching new heights of exposure and traffic coming to your website, which is never a bad thing for your business, right? Think you don’t have the required knowledge or time to conduct a proper keyword research? You’re wrong! It could have been the case 10 years back but in this tech-savvy world of today, doing keyword research is a piece of cake. How? By using the best keyword research tools out there. As you would have guessed it from the title, we will be diving deep to research the best keywords in both Ahrefs and SEMrush - which are undoubtedly the best keyword research tools out there.. But first, we need some keywords before we begin with our actual research. How to find the right keywords? Finding the right keywords to rank is crucial as the ranking of your blog/webpage will be based on the keywords targeted through the content wrapped around it. Accordingly, there are many ways to ascertain the aptest. keywords for your business. Let’s look at some of them - 1. Know who you serve If you are doing keyword research for a client or doing it for your own product, knowing who and what a website serves to its visitors is a crucial step in finding some relevant seed keywords. You can have a look at the title tags and H1 tags of any webpage to get a gist of the keywords to be chosen. For example, if you are a digital marketing agency, digital marketing or online marketing or marketing should be the keyword your homepage must be built around on... 2. See through your user’s eyes It’s important to get into your user’s shoes and think about their intent when searching for your services online. Say, a searcher wants to buy ‘shoes’. His searches would be something like this - ‘nike shoes’, ‘casual shoes’, ‘best formal shoes’ or something similar. So, if you sell shoes, it makes sense to add these search strings to your keyword list. 3. Use a tool You might need around 30-40 apt keywords for your research. And using a tool like Keyword Planner can come in handy when searching for keywords with high search volumes. But using Keyword Planner requires a Google Adwords account which can be a trouble if you don’t have one. Don’t worry though, there are other tools that deliver this functionality as well. And probably the most used keyword finder, after Keyword Planner, is Keyword Tool This tool literally bombards you with all the relevant keywords there are in accordance with your query. Suppose, you want to write a blog post for currently the most trending keyword in the UK - GDPR. Let’s see what keywords the tool throws at us - The search resulted in 538 unique keywords for the query. You’ll need the paid version to get the metrics as well but we won’t be needing them as all the data will be exported to Ahrefs. Now, combining the keyword results from the above-mentioned methods, export them to an excel sheet and delete some that you deem irrelevant. Getting down to the research Copy and paste the keywords to Ahrefs or SEMrush to begin your quest of choosing the best keyword. Both of these tools are great. Both are quite similar in pricing as both the tools offer a basic subscription of $99 and provide almost the same level of functionality (limited in free accounts) but all the difference lies in how they present data to users and that can sometimes make all the difference. I personally like Ahrefs more because of the sheer simplicity of the platform when it comes to keyword research and they also present their data in a more intuitive way (which you’ll see through screenshots as you’ll further read this blog). Which is probably the reason why we use it for our SEO purposes as well. But the only downside of using Ahrefs is that they don’t provide a free account. In the remaining part of this blog, I will be telling you how to research keywords both on Ahrefs and SEMrush so it completely depends on you which tool you want to use and spend your precious marketing budget on. But before we begin, it’s important to know about some of the metrics that we will be basing our keyword research on to find the most profitable keywords, which are: Keyword difficulty Ranked from 0 to 100, it is an estimate of how hard it will be to rank in the top 10 of search results. Volume Denotes how often a target keyword is searched by users per month in a given country SERP Features This metric shows us the different SERP features present on the search results such as Ads, top stories, related questions, AMP carousels etc. Clicks This metric reflects the total number of clicks in a month on a particular keyword Cost per click It is an estimated cost-per-click value of a keyword. Clicks per search Shows how many search results people click on for a particular keyword. Return Rate Tells us how often search for a targeted keyword again. Now that you know all the metrics to look for in your perfect keyword, we will start off with Ahrefs first: Researching Keywords on Ahrefs Go to the ‘Keywords Explorer’ tab and paste your sheet containing all the remaining keywords on the search tab.You’ll be limited to a hundred keywords here. So, make sure you paste the best of the bunch. After all the keywords are processed, you’ll see a screen which looks something like this: This is the overview page. It gives an idea of the total search volume and clicks of your chosen keywords. But this is not where the gold is. To get a better idea of which keywords to choose, we will click on the metrics tab to get a better idea of how each of the keyword is performing on the SERPs. On the metrics tab, you get detailed information of all the searched keywords. Of all the metrics, you need to primarily focus on Keyword difficulty, volume, and clicks. The perfect keywords to capitalize on would be the ones which are easier to rank and receive a decent amount of search volume and clicks, I like to call them the ‘money keywords’, In this case, those money keywords will be ‘GDPR compliance checklist’, ‘GDPR checklist’ and ‘GDPR for dummies’.So, if you were to write a blog about GDPR, ranking for these 3 keywords would be enough to get to the first page of Google as there’s not much competition.But there will still be some publisher ranking on the top spot for all these keywords and having a look at what they have done to reach to the top can give you an idea of what you need to do better to outrank them. Ahrefs provides for this as well. When you’ll further click on a keyword, it will give you an overview of the keyword with all its metrics and it’s SERP overview.Say, we need to have a look at the competition on the SERP for the keyword ‘GDPR compliance checklist’, to do that, when you’ll click on the keyword, you’ll see something like this: Scroll down and you’ll see a fully detailed SERP overview for the keyword: Having an idea of what content already is out there gives you an opportunity to put on your creative hats and provide the kind of value to searchers that isn’t available yet, which I think can give you a certain edge.So, the best keywords we found on Ahrefs are - ‘GDPR compliance checklist’, ‘GDPR checklist’ and ‘GDPR for dummies’Let’s see what SEMrush brings to the table... Researching Keywords on SEMrush (free account) Ahrefs and SEMrush are on the same level when it comes to functionality but to unleash the full potential of SEMrush you’ll have to spend some bucks on its subscription (just like Ahrefs). But the good part is that SEMrush lets you play with their tool ‘a little’ to get a gist of how it functions. If you are unsure whether to spend your marketing budget on the platform or not, I seriously recommend you to test their platform before making the final decision. You’ll be limited to 10 searches per day in your free account which I think is just enough to get a feel for the software. Note: Both the platforms are different in how they search for keywords. While Ahrefs can search for multiple keywords (100 max) in one go, SEMrush can search for a single seed keyword at a time and kills the need to use the keyword tool we mentioned earlier.Just go to their website and search for a seed keyword you want to rank for. In our case, we will go with the term we chose for Ahrefs - GDPR. After you click ‘Start Now’, you’ll be redirected to it’s ‘Keyword Overview’ tab in ‘Keyword Analytics’. The ‘Overview’ tab in SEMrush is just like that of Ahrefs, displaying the total search volume, number of results and the search trend of the keyword overtime. But we searched for a seed keyword and not keywords which we will be actually wrapping our content around. For finding keywords that have some untapped potential, you’ll have to click on ‘Phrase Match’ and ‘Related Keywords’ tab to get more results.Here’s what came up when I clicked on ‘Phrase Match’... And on ‘Related Keywords’... You’ll be limited to 10 results while using a free account. You could’ve played with their filters and stumbled upon the most relevant of keywords for free but SEMrush now requires that you pay to add filters as well… sigh! So, you’ll have to choose the best keywords from those 10 results based on the same metrics we chose in Ahrefs. Go for the keywords that have high search volume and low keyword difficulty.With a free account, unfortunately, that’s all that you can do with SEMrush when it comes to keyword research.Now, we move on to the better things…. Researching Keywords on SEMrush (paid account) With a paid account, you’ll be able to see all the results there are in the searches we did above on the free account.Other than that, you’ll get access to it’s ‘Keyword Magic Tool’ (beta).... sounds interesting, doesn’t it? But what exactly is it? Simply put, it is a new feature that saves researchers using the platform a lot of time as it shows the best keyword results there are that go well with the seed keyword and lets them add them straight to a ‘Keyword Analyzer tool’ that evaluates and analyzes all the selected keywords, kind of like how Ahrefs does things in the first place, but SEMrush does it in a more personalized way. Let me show you…Just go to the ‘Keyword Magic Tool’ tab and search for the seed keyword you want to rank for. Which in our case is… yep, you guessed that right… GDPR. Once you search for your seed keyword, it will automatically create a list and show you all the keywords there are that relate to the seed keyword in any way. Bear with SEMrush for their blank metrics as this feature is still in beta.The next step that comes in our keyword research using this new feature is to select the best keywords and adding them to ‘Keyword Analyzer’. To do that, just click the green plus sign beside a keyword to add it to the Keyword Analyzer list for further research. Once you’ve selected the keywords you like, click on the green ‘Go To Keyword Analyzer’ button on the top right. And you’ll be redirected to the Keyword Analyzer tool which will place all the selected keywords together with all its metrics. You can further decide the final keywords to choose from here. In this case, I chose ‘GDPR Compliance’ and ‘GDPR Summary’ as the chosen keywords as they have a lower keyword difficulty than others so it will be easier to rank for these keywords. And with this, we are done with finding the perfect keywords in SEMrush as well. After using both the platforms, we have finally stumbled upon 5 keywords full of opportunities. If I was to select a title for my blog on GDPR, using all the keywords, it would look something like this - ‘GDPR for dummies: Your GDPR compliance checklist is here!’ and the blog would summarize the whole GDPR thing to make use of the ‘GDPR Summary’ keyword as well.Like I said before, with all these advanced tools at our disposal, keyword research is not what most of the business owners and marketers think of it.Doing keyword research with the help of Ahrefs or SEMrush will hardly take you 20 minutes and you’ll be on your way to creating highly keyword focused content that will bring in traffic for a lifetime.. a lot of it!Hopefully, with the help of this guide, you’ll find using these tools a lot, lot easier! ...
read moreSubscribe to our newsletter
Get fresh stories, case studies, and
advice
from successful creators and industry experts.