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SEO 19 min read April 22, 2022

How to Collect the Most Complete Keyword List and Perform SEO Analytics

How to Collect the Most Complete Keyword List and Perform SEO Analytics
Do you often come across articles on how to create a keyword list? The answer is most likely "yes." But unfortunately, editors usually write about the process itself and disregard the result.

We've completed a full-fledged manual on creating a keyword list. Let's get started!
General Workflow
Collecting semantics is a time-consuming and, at times, even an endless process. There are many methods and approaches that allow you to create a keyword list. Unfortunately, we often see only a general scheme of work in different published guidelines, where many nuances are not taken into account. As a consequence, we cannot see the final result.

In this article, I want to discuss in great detail the process of collecting semantics and subsequent analytics, and the decisions made based on semantics.

We proceed with the following scheme when working with clients:
1
analyze the niche and coordinate all details;
2
collect the key queries;
3
develop the site structure based on semantics;
4
specify technical requirements for creating texts.
Today we will dwell in detail on the stage of collecting semantics. To do this, let's mention a real client project — an online store of tourism-related goods, REI Co-op Shop.

Our task is to analyze competitors and find out the situation on the market: products, their types, brands, etc. What is all this for? Thanks to the full picture of the situation, you can become a leader in narrow niches and even compete with common aggregators.
How To Collect A Semantic Core To Cover The Subject
Collecting Semantics: Step-By-Step Instructions
To begin with, it is the "completeness of semantics" that is important for us in dealing with semantics, so our approach is very meticulous. What do I mean by that?

Semantic completeness is an approach to creating the keyword list, which takes into account all queries, even the ones of low frequency. If we are talking about simple themes, then everything is obvious — it's all about synonyms.

But there are different companies, and their spheres of activity can be quite infrequent. If you are poorly informed on a particular subject, then you may not take into account some points, and you will not be able to receive relevant traffic. Therefore, I will describe here below how we approach this issue.
Semantic Completeness
Stage #1: Analysis Of Marker Queries
Marker queries (or markers) are keywords that define the niche theme. They must precisely comply with the page's theme (one marker — one page). Marker queries are often represented on the site by categories and sections. You can expand the semantics on the basis of these queries.

We studied competitors' sites for each category and compiled the first variant of the structure for the client's site.

How do we do it:
analyze the search results for commercial marker queries (travel goods) that define the niche;
collect a list of competitors' websites that are engaged in the same area;
look through all the sites and draft the site structure;
transfer the categories of each of the sites to the mind map and analyze the structure of each category;
pay attention to filters, sorting, tagging, and use all the valuable info from competitors.
To find and analyze competitors, you can use our service. Serpstat will show you all relevant site competitors based on the semantic intersection.

To do this, you need to enter the address of your domain in the search bar of the service and click "Search." Then you go to the sidebar and click on the "Domain analysisSEO researchCompetitors" report.
demonstration of tool
You can also use Serpstat to find competitors for a specific keyword or key phrase. To do this, enter the keyword in the search bar and go to "Keyword researchSEO researchCompetitors."

Read more about analysis of competitors' websites in this article.
demonstration of tool
As a result, we get the site's structure with a set of categories, types of goods, producer countries, and brands. This is when the customer joins, since each store has its own range of products. He must make the final decision about the goods presented on the site.

We start with the simplest mind map: we display marker queries in the category name and go further. Gradually we expand the phrases in order to cover a maximum of this niche.
Fragment of a mind map for a tourism-related site
Fragment of a mind map for a tourism-related site
Depending on the availability of goods and the client's priorities, we make adjustments to the mind map, which will become the basis for collecting semantics. Such adjustments are inevitable since the whole range is possible only with aggregator sites, and the client may have his own priorities.
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Stage #2: Semantic Extension
After the map is ready, we need to build up queries for each element of the structure. To do this, we use SEO tools and collect competitors' semantics with the help of synonyms.

Our task at this stage is to select the end-user queries and find all possible synonyms.
Serpstat will help in the process of collecting semantics. Thanks to the service reports, you can collect the following:
1
all search queries that include the required phrase. You can find them by clicking on "Keyword ResearchSEO ResearchKeywords Selection":
demonstration of tool
2
keywords that are semantically related to the analyzed ones: synonyms, alternative spelling, slang. To do this, go to the report "Keyword ResearchSEO ResearchRelated Keywords":
demonstration of tool
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Contact us! We will provide you with everything you want to know :)
Stage #3: Search Suggestions
Search suggestions are keywords that a search engine suggests when a user starts typing an analyzed query into the search bar.

Search suggestions parsing helps collect as completed keywords list of the site as possible. Furthermore, these phrases are often less competitive. Thus, this is how to elaborate the entire map to the required level after agreeing on all the details with the customer.

At the same time, it is important to evaluate the intersections of semantics among competitors. For example, the more competitors use the key phrase on their site, the more likely the phrase is needed on your site.
Search suggestions most quickly respond to changes in user interest. The phrases for this report are collected in real-time, which means that you can always keep track of the hottest topics and give the audience answers to their questions.

All you need to do is to click on "Keyword ResearchSEO ResearchSearch Suggestions" and the "Questions Only" tab.
demonstration of tool
Also, read the article on how to use Serpstat API-based script to find tips automatically.
Stage #4: Keywords Refinement And Clustering
As a result of collecting queries, we received a list of keywords. Initially, collected semantics are sorted by decreasing request frequency. Therefore, the next step in collecting semantics is to purify and group phrases into specific pages.

Clustering is the division of the list of key queries into groups (clusters). It is carried out in order to simplify the creation of useful content later. Thus, query sorting is the final and most important step in working with semantics.

Ultimately, we get clusters formed according to the map created in the first stage.
demonstration of tool
Serpstat allows you to cluster key queries automatically. You simply upload phrases, and the service itself builds them into a hierarchical structure: phrases are combined into groups — clusters, which form higher-level groups — superclusters. And superclusters, in turn, are combined into protoclusters. The resulting structure can be correlated with the hierarchy of the site pages.
In addition, you can conduct text analytics of clusters, and evaluate the text relevance of pages.
Stage #5: Creating A Site Structure
Site structure is a logically arranged markup of information on the site. It is necessary to create a user-friendly interface that will meet the user's requirements. A user-centric structure greatly increases the chances that visitors will quickly find the required information or product they are looking for on the site.

Keywords list is an excellent base for building the site structure. Thanks to this set, you can create a site that will meet the requirements of both users and search engines.

Site structure is prepared in the following form: categories, subcategories, product pages, filtering (product parameters). Let's specify the URL:
existing pages;
scheduled pages;
pages to be improved.
A technical requirements document is compiled for each page with data for the client: queries, frequency, competition, and link parameters. If he does not have a team of SEO specialists who can implement these requirements, we provide our assistance in the next stage: it's creating pages for the site structure based on semantics.
How to Create a Site Structure based on Semantics

Analytics After Collecting Semantics

Then comes the most interesting part, we get to "Semantic Analysis." Based on the collected semantics, we carry out profound text analytics to determine which keywords and where will be most effective.
We collect all the semantics when our site is already at the top, analyze its rankings in search results and see where and for which keywords the positions are low.

For example, we see that the site is in the 7th position for some queries, and there is practically no conversion. We plan further actions accordingly.

When there is a complete list of queries with data on competition and aggregators at the top, we perform semantic scoring and filter out keywords that are difficult to promote. It is better to prioritize queries that no aggregators and complex commercial projects rank for.
Very important point: text analysis tools are not always reliable. Therefore, double-check different tools on different topics and compare them manually with the search results.

Another important point: if your site was created recently, you have to eliminate trusted competitors when analyzing.

You don't know whether they are in the top search results due to text or link factors. Therefore, if it is possible to avoid the analysis of such sites (regarding the new sites at the top), then skip them.
How To Increase The Text Relevance Of Site Pages: Serpstat Text Analytics Tool

What to do if the website is ranked in the 8th place, but you need to get to the Top 3?

Since the site page is already at the top, everything is okay with it with regard to the commercial component. This means the page is relevant to the query.

If we have a text component and page fragments, we begin to gradually insert keywords into the page and track changes after each edit. For a certain number of such iterations, we will reach the point where there is a lot of spam and roll back in positions. With the help of such iterations, we will get the desired result.
important tips

How to deal with unique niches?

Google has a huge number of ranking factors. They can be divided into several categories: textual, behavioral, commercial, etc. It's not possible to use only one factor — to buy links and believe that you will rank higher on SERP.

It would be best if you took several of them into account. In many competitive companies, the process is often arranged as follows: collecting a complete keyword listbuilding a structureconducting audits to fix website errors (SEO, Technical, and User Experience audit) → analysis of competitors and their search pressure points.


It is important to write a promotion strategy based on the overall site condition assessment and competitors' strategies. If the site is trusted, you go beyond limits and use all queries.

When working with a young site, it is necessary to perform semantics scoring and find the simplest queries for promotion in order to bring traffic and show concrete results in the first stage of work. After that, you can concentrate on complex keys and subsequent steps.

What is important here is not to screw up with semantics to save money and not spend them on key queries in which we won't even get the Top 10 in the coming year.
Conclusion
Now let's walk through all the points described above again. To collect a high-quality keyword list, we take the following steps:
1
Niche analysis and coordination of details with the client.
2
Collection of marker queries.
3
Making of a mind map based on the marker queries.
4
Extension of semantics, based on the mind map.
5
Collection of search suggestions.
6
Clusterization of collected keywords, getting rid of garbage.
7
Formation of the site structure based on semantics.
9
Semantics analysis.
8
Making an adjustment with subsequent addition.
Well, that's it!

We strongly hope that this article brought much clarity to the issue of collecting the keyword list. Nevertheless, we are always more than happy to help you :)
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