SEO Checklist: Assignment One Keyword Refinement

Create a fresh copy of your keyword research template.

Remember to record the details of it using the form fields below.

Grab one I made for you in csv by clicking here, download it and upload it to Google Drive

If you're making your own, make sure to freeze the first row!

Here are the images to get you going in Google Drive, navigate to the new button.

Click on the File upload and select the csv from your computer and put it in your Google Driv

This one's an easy start because you know what you're writing about.

Just describe the topic you're writing about in a few words. Record it in both the spreadsheet and the form field below.

Examples of related topics that are keywords include:

• Ethereum
• Blockchain

By Googling your keywords, you can see what Google suggests at the bottom of the page. Remember to record your initial keywords using the form field below.

Some suggestions are just obvious variations, but some are related topics and totally different keywords.

Add all relevant suggestions to your sheet.

While some words just mean exactly what they mean — especially specific jargon terms — some are more universal.

In my list, I find I have 'mining', so check for synonyms of 'your keyword'.

Wikipedia is perfect for well-written content that explains concepts in terms people understand and search for.

Go to Wikipedia and search the topic of your page.

Quality related keywords will be both in the text and as suggested categories. For example:

Add these categories and keywords as new entries to your sheet, and see if you can create new keywords by combining them with existing entries.

UberSuggest scrapes the suggested searches from Google for a seed keyword. 

Put in UberSuggest your shortest, broadest, most relevant keyword. For me, it's cryptocurrency.

Here's what I got, and what I did with it:

Grab all the +'d keywords and paste them in your sheet. Don't check for duplicates, don't calculate anything else, just build the list.

Repeat this for other derivative keywords if you like.

Open the surprisingly named Keyword Shitter. (I apologize for the name - I didn't create it, I just use it)

Take your current list of keywords and paste them into the 'Positive filter' box of this gracefully named tool.

Type your root keyword into the main box then click the button.

There will be a lot of duplicates, but these will be removed in bulk next.

Since we’re working inside Sheets, this is easily done with the Remove Duplicates addon. Install that, then go to the Add-ons menu in Sheets and select the 'Remove Duplicates' section.

You will want to select this option on the 4 of 4 options. 

Delete Rows Within Selection

Press 'Next' the whole way through, then 'Finish'.

Open your downloaded Google Keyword Planner sheet.

Delete everything apart from the Keyword, Volume and Competition columns, then paste it back. If there’s no volume data, then don’t bother. Those keywords aren’t popular enough and that really helps us narrow down our list.

You are certain to get a lot of keywords from the automatic generators that aren't grammatically correct English. Remove these keywords, recording your progress with the sub-checklist below.

Remove keywords that don't make sense in a sentence. For example, 'network security how to' and 'network security basics youtube'.

Remove keywords that are branded. For example, 'apple network security' or 'microsoft network security'.

Remove non-evergreen keywords. For example, 'network security best practices 2012'.

At this point, it's likely you're down to just 1 or 2 options. The final decision, all else being equal, goes to the keyword with the highest volume. Record the final keyword, along with a copy of the final keyword research document, using the form fields below.

Highlight that in a triumphant shade of green on your sheet. We have a winner!

We're going to be taking the findings you have here and exporting this so that I can view what you have compiled. 

Make sure you have cleaned it up and made sure there are no duplicates, keywords with under <10 searches a month and grammatical or spelling errors. 

TURN IN A PDF INSTEAD OF AN XLS - I WILL BE JUST VIEWING IT NOT TWEAKING IT

You're going to want to create a cover page for this assignment, make sure that it is free of grammatical mistakes and in APA formatting. 

What you will be turning in along with your spreadsheet is a short (150-word minimum) reflection with an explanation of what you found from doing this research & something you learned from using these tools.

Did you see a lot of new keywords that you would have never thought about?

What did you have the most trouble with?

Did you find anything interesting from researching the competition? Elaborate and provide examples!

Once you have everything complete and ready to turn in, please zip up your documents and upload to FSO

What is needed for a good grade:

1. The refined keyword list

2. The write-up about what you have learned from this process

3. APA formatting, citations of sites used for the exercise, free of grammatical errors and spelling errors.