How To Use SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool For Keyword Research?

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  • Post last modified:November 28, 2022
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Tired of creating content for your website but still unable to rank on search engine result pages? Don’t worry. Today I will share how you can find the best keywords with the SEMrush keyword magic tool to rank higher on Google.

Creating more content probably opens more doors for readers to enter your website. But entering inside is possible only if your potential readers could see these doors.

SEMrush keyword magic tool for keyword research

Content marketing is very competitive nowadays.

Gone are the days when writing a piece of content for fun was enough to rank on Google. Now you need a full-proof content strategy and SEO strategy to make a difference.

And, an integral part of these strategies is the right keyword research.

Proper keyword research plays an important role in ranking the content in SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages).

Those who manage to find the right keywords are the ones who make the most money. Those who don’t know this skill keep struggling throughout.

So, If you want to know how to find the golden keywords using the SEMrush keyword research tool to boost website traffic and rank in search results, this post is for you. This SEMrush keyword magic tool tutorial is a complete guide on how to use SEMrush to find keywords.

What is Keyword Research?

Let’s understand this with an example.

Say you want to make money blogging but don’t know what it takes to start a blog. So you go to Google and search for “how to start a money-making blog from scratch”.

This search term that you used to get the desired result is THE KEYWORD.

As a blogger or digital marketer or content marketer, you need to find these keywords and use them in your content so that it could reach the right audience.

Thus, keyword research is the process of finding those search terms that people type in search engines to get the desired results.

Keyword research helps find those keywords that are worth using in search engine optimization (SEO) and search engine marketing (SEM) campaigns.

Types of keywords Based on Search Intent

Based on what the searcher is looking for, the keywords are categorized as:

  • Navigational Keywords
  • Informational Keywords
  • Transactional Keywords

Navigational Keywords

These keywords are used when someone wants to reach somewhere or looking for the address or location. For example, search query “SEMrush keyword magic tool review and tutorial”.

Informational Keywords

Those keywords that are used to find information about something are called informational keywords. For example How to use the SEMrush magic tool for keyword research?

Transactional Keywords

Transactional keywords are used by the searcher when he is in a buying mood. For example SEMrush price. These are the money-making keywords that content marketers use while creating content.

Importance of Keyword Research

You might be thinking, why do I need to do the keyword research? I already know what people could search to find the solution. But it is not as simple as it looks.

Here are two important reasons for performing keyword research before creating content:

#1 Rank Higher in Search Results

No matter how great your content is, if no one is reading it, it has zero value.

If you’re not in the top 10 of SERP results, you are not going to make any money.

Because most of the readers never go to the second page and 71% of search traffic clicks are captured by the content on the first page only.

If you’re working with a team, you might think of competing with the high-authority websites that are already ranking for this search term.

But if you’re a beginner, working alone, you should stay away from these high-competition keywords.

Instead of this, you should look for different keyword variations of the main keyword that has low competition.

Select the keywords with less competition and decent search volume and try to rank your content targeting these keywords. 

So, using simple search terms directly is not enough. You need to do the research to find the most undervalued keywords that are easy to rank.

#2 To Create Content For The Right Audience

The value of content is determined based on who is ultimately consuming the content. If you’re not targeting the right audience, your content is worthless.

Keywords are used to get the content in front of potential readers.

If readers, only want to know about a product it means you have to target them with informational keywords and content. However, if a customer is in the mood to buy a product he has to be targeted with transactional keywords.

You can’t do the opposite and succeed.

So based on the type of audience you have to research the appropriate keywords.

There is no meaning in serving the content to someone who doesn’t care about it.

Example

Have you ever noticed that when you promote your content on social media platforms like Facebook it gets very few likes and shares? You might have 1000+ Facebook friends but only 3-4 will read your content.

Ultimately you have to create a community (group) where you can directly share the content with like-minded people and potential readers.

So if you want your content to get read and appreciated you must serve it to the right audience who value it.

Now you know what is keyword research, what are different types of keywords, and how important is it to find the right keywords.

Let’s now discuss how you can use the powerful keyword research tool by SEMrush to find awesome keywords.

What Is SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool?

SEMrush keyword magic tool is a powerful keyword research tool that uses 118 databases to provide over 18 billion keywords. More than 6 million users trust SEMrush and use its data to outrank competitors.

The keyword magic tool by SEMrush is one of the most recommended SEO tools in the market.

SEMrush keyword magic tool

It uses various algorithms to track the keywords that different people use as their search queries. As human beings, it is not possible for us to think like different minds might be thinking. 

So, using SEMrush for keyword research is a wise decision.

Keyword research with the SEMrush tool provides a list of the most relevant keywords in a single click that helps in boosting your search engine rankings and get more organic traffic.

How To Use SEMrush For Keyword Research?

Here is the 3 step approach for finding the best keywords using the SEMrush keyword research tool.

Step 1. Start With SEMrush Topic Research

Go to SEMrush topic research and type about anything you want to cover in your blog or website.

If you already have a topic or a keyword in your mind, that’s great. You can skip this step and directly go to the next step and start using the SEMrush keyword magic tool to explore the main keyword.

semrush topic research

For example, if your blog is about pets you can type dog food, select your target country, and click on get content ideas.

Semrush will explore its database, find the most relevant keywords around it, and give the best content ideas around your search query.

topic research on semrush

With this cool SEMrush feature, you will get tons of awesome content ideas.

It will help you decide on what topic to cover next and what keyword to focus on.

Now, let’s learn  How To Use SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool for Keyword Research.

Step 2. Use the SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool (Tutorial)

Go to Keyword Magic Tool and enter the seed keyword. Make sure to select your target country and then hit the search button.

The SEMrush keyword finder will find thousands of relevant keywords for you.

SEMrush keyword magic tool results

 

Reading all these keywords would be time-consuming and you won’t use all of them.

So make use of match modifiers, question filters, and advanced filters to easily find the most relevant keywords for SEO.

Using Keyword Modifiers and Filters

SEMrush match modifiers are,

SEMrush modifiers

Broad match keywords: Broad match keywords are shown as the default report in the SEMrush keyword magic tool. These keywords are variations of your main keyword in any order.

Phrase match Keywords: Phrase match keywords are those keywords that use exact keywords or keyword phrases of the main keyword in any order.

Exact match keywords: These keywords are the exact match of the main keyword or keyword phrase used in the exact order. 

Explore these match modifiers to find out how your seed keyword looks in different forms.

However, for one time you can think of skipping the match modifier usage but you can’t afford to ignore the related keywords, question filter, and advanced filters.

Related keywords: These are the keywords that are similar to your main keyword. They are super important as they give a list of low-competition long-tail keywords.

For example, your main or seed keyword is dog food brands and its related keyword can be the best pet food brands.

SEMrush-related keywords is a great way to come up with new profitable keyword ideas.

Question filter: The usage of a question filter is highly recommended. This is because the keywords that come out of this filter are question-based keywords.

semrush question filter-min

People often search for questions on Google to find the solution or answer. For example, how to use the SEMrush keyword magic tool?

Advanced Filters in SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool

Advanced filters in the SEMrush keyword magic tool allow making highly targeted keyword research and narrowing down the keyword report.

As you can see in the screenshot above, you can adjust different keyword metrics in the SEMrush tool for keyword research by using the filters. 

semrush advanced filters-min

You have the option to include keywords and exclude keywords

Word Count: Using the word count filter you can set the number of words you want in your keyword list. This helps you to easily find long-tail keywords.

Volume: The volume filter helps to find the keywords based on the number of monthly searches. However, the more the searches better it is but more searches cause more competition.

KD% stands for the keyword difficulty percentage. It ranges from 1% to 100% and the more the KD percentage, the more difficult it is to rank for that keyword.

If you’re a beginner, you should go for the SEMrush keyword difficulty of less than 60 percent. This way you can find low-competition keywords with decent searches.

You can also use other filters namely CPC, competitive density, SERP features, and results in SERP.

CPC stands for cost per click. It represents the amount an advertiser is ready to pay for one click on an ad shown for a particular keyword.

Competitive density represents the level of competition between the advertisers for a keyword.

Focusing on keyword search volume and keyword difficulty is important from an SEO point of view. Whereas, cost per click and competitive density are important for a PPC campaign.

These filters make the keyword data in the report highly pruned by removing the poor keywords. The keywords that come out after applying these filters are highly valuable and super powerful.

Analyzing Keywords

Whatever you did till now will give the list of keywords that are highly relevant to your content plan.

Now you have to analyze the keywords, based on SEMrush keywords metrics, to finalize a few of them.

Important keyword metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC, and competitive density have already been discussed above. 

Use these SEMrush keyword metrics to select a list of final keywords.

The SEMrush keyword magic tool also shows the trend of each potential keyword. You can also use this metric to decide the long-term keyword strategy.

Your final SEMrush keyword list must include the keywords that have decent search volume, low competition, and high CPC.

The next step is to select the final keywords and add them to the SEMrush keyword manager. 

Tick the boxes next to keywords and then click to add to the keyword manager.

You can also export the list of SEMrush keywords to a CSV file.

semrush keyword manager

This completes the process of finding a list of the best keywords with the SEMrush keyword magic tool.

But this is not all.

There are still many other opportunities to find unique keywords that your competitors are using to rank in Google.

Step 3. Find Competitor Keywords With SEMrush

SEMrush competitor keywords analysis is a smart hack to get valuable keywords with less effort.

Using the SEMrush keyword magic tool you probably have chosen the best low-competition keywords.

But you must remember that many of your competitors are already ranking for these keywords and many others are trying to do so.

Your competitors have already done the hard work for you. You only need to steal their best keywords smartly and build your own SEO strategy.

SEMrush has awesome tools that can help you analyze your competitor’s best keywords.

SEMrush Organic Research:

The organic research tool by SEMrush shows the top organic competitors of your website and collects the data for you about the top-performing organic keywords that are bringing the most traffic to your blog. 

organic research by SEMrush-min

With a few clicks on SEMrush tools, you can easily uncover your competitor’s keyword strategy and plan the SEO strategy for your own blog or website.

SEMrush Keyword Gap Tool:

SEMrush keyword gap analysis helps you compare your keywords with your competitors. You can compare up to 5 websites at a time.

You need to select the type of keywords you want to compare among these rival websites.

semrush keyword gap tool-min

The data reveals where you stand in comparison to your competitors. It shows your unique keywords, overlapping keywords, and the keywords that your competitors are using but you’re not.

SEMrush organic research tool and keyword gap tool help you scan your competitor’s websites.

Also, they let you see your competitor’s SEO and SEM strategies, show you opportunities to rank in Google, and boost your blog traffic.

Note: Whenever you do keyword research, always do the competitor keyword analysis. This will provide some of the most amazing keywords that you might never find otherwise.

Keyword Research Tips

#1 Know your Audience

Audiences are the ultimate customers. They are the ones for whom you’re putting all your SEO efforts.

If you know your customers, half of your work is already done.

You must study your customers before starting the keyword research. Be aware of what they are searching for online and what are their pain points. If you know what they want, it will be very easy for you to serve.

Based on the customer search intent, you can target the right keywords to get the best conversion.

#2 Analyze the Keyword Trend

The keyword trend is an important metric that you should always consider using while searching for keywords.

SEMrush keyword magic tool shows you the trend for each SEMrush keyword based on their search in the last 12 months.

You should go for those keywords whose search queries are rising over time. SEO and content strategies are made for the long term. So it won’t be clever to create content that no one will search for in the future.

#3 Don’t ignore the Keyword Difficulty

Beginners often make a mistake by ignoring the keyword difficulty. They only focus on search volume. Thinking that higher keyword search volume will get them higher traffic, they underestimate the keyword difficulty score.

Higher search volume means higher competition and higher keyword difficulty.

It is not possible to rank as a new blogger or marketer or agency unless you’re exceptionally great at what you do.

SEmrush keywords with a difficulty score of 60-80 have average competition while those with a score of 80-100 are highly competitive.

So you should target keywords with a SEMrush keyword difficulty score of 60 and below.

#4 Always add LSI Keywords

LSI (latent semantic indexing) keywords are super important for creating great content. You can not use your main keyword again and again in a single piece of content.

Google doesn’t like keyword stuffing. So you should choose some keywords that are related to your main keyword, which gives Google the idea that the content is talking about a particular thing.

For example, if our seed keyword is SEMrush review and tutorial, we must include words or keywords like SEO, SEM, keyword-finding tools, competitive keyword research, and backlinks.

#5 Use Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are easy to rank for and they are highly targeted. The conversion rate of long-tail keywords is more than short keywords.

If you’re a beginner blogger or a newbie digital marketer, this is probably the most important keyword research tip for you.

You may get confused that why I am advising you to go for these keywords as they have a lower search volume.

You must see that they are low-competition keywords and only a few people are targeting them. So you have a high chance to rank for long-tail keywords than their shorter counterparts.

SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool For Keyword Research: Summary

Putting the nail on the wall would be so hard if you have to do it without using tools like a hammer or a drilling machine.  Similarly, searching for the perfect keywords is so much hard work. It takes a lot of time to choose the right keywords.

That’s why you need the right tool for better performance and desired results. The SEMrush keyword magic tool makes the process of keyword research simple and easy.

So, if you want to create the ultimate content to boost your search traffic and ranking, go for SEMrush. You can start with a free SEMrush trial if you don’t want to spend money until you start earning.