Keywords and how to optimise them is an extensive topic that can’t be covered in one read. However, this blog post covers keyword research for affiliate marketing, and how to get started on your own keyword research to select the best niche for your affiliate marketing business.
With that being said, I encourage you to stay updated and constantly learn as much as you can about keywords. Such knowledge will only improve your business now and later on.
Keywords are often associated with being for websites, but regardless of your chosen main platform, you need to do your keyword research regularly. Even if you don’t have a website or plan to have one, keywords are still a cornerstone of your online presence on social media platforms.
Why do you need keywords?
Keywords are the words you type on search engines when you search for something online. The keywords you need to define for your niche and business are the words that are commonly searched for on the internet.
When you create content to promote products you’re an affiliate for, you use these keywords to help your audience find your content when they search on Google, YouTube, and any other search engine.
Long-tail vs. Short-tail Keywords.
Keywords are categorised as long-tail keywords and short-tail keywords.
Short-tail keywords are usually one to three words, and are highly searched on the internet.
Long-tail keywords are more than three words and are very specific (thus have lower search volume).
Affiliate Marketing is a short-tail keyword that is very popular, while Free affiliate marketing training is a long-tail keyword.
Every niche will have a primary short-tail keyword (self-development, digital business, healthy food, etc). These are typically the most obvious ones and are very directly related to the niche in question. Checking the search volume for these keywords (using keyword research tools) is a great way to see how popular the niche is.
When thousands of people are looking for the keywords you select, it means there is high demand for them. Don’t be intimidated by the high numbers. This just means that there is a market and a need for you to build a business.
Keyword Research Tools.
There are many available tools that will help you identify the keywords that you should focus on.
UberSuggest offers daily-limited free access.
Google Ads offers a great keyword research tool (you don’t need to run any ads, but if you create an account and then pause the campaigns, you will get access to their Google Keyword Planner for free). Here, you can type in search terms and see how many searches exist. Keyword tools will also suggest variants of keywords and give you ideas for long-tail keywords that you can add to your target keyword list.
Keyword research tools will also provide you with an indicator of how competitive your keyword is based on how many other businesses are trying to rank for it.
Besides the two tools mentioned earlier, there are more costly tools like Ahrefs.com or moz.com that will give you access to more features that are needed for advanced keyword research.
These are just some of the tools available. There will be plenty out there that I’ve never even heard of. I recommend you to Google “keyword planner” or “keyword research tools” and check out if you find something that stands out for you. If you need ideas for keywords, a good suggestion is to simply go to Google and type in some main keywords. Usually, Google will suggest other searches, giving you a hint of where you could go from there.
Keyword Research For Affiliate Marketing.
The importance of keyword research for Affiliate Marketing is born from the fact that the business model itself relies on creating content that promotes products or services within a specific niche. You want your content to show up when people are searching for the keywords you select. You also want your content to be as relevant for them as possible so they end up purchasing the products you’re promoting. This is as relevant for social media as it is for websites.
The Affiliate Marketing
Formula
A comprehensive package of affiliate marketing resources, tools and personalised training to equip you with all you need to build your affiliate marketing business independently and thrive in your online business venture. - Affiliate Marketing Online Course.
- Action-based Affiliate Marketing Book.
- Personalised Affiliate Marketing Training.
- Affiliate Marketing Tools & Resources.
- Support & Feedback Sessions.
Keyword Research & Your Niche.
Let’s say that you are interested in three different niches to build your affiliate marketing business. All these fit into the criteria for profitable niches and you’re equally interested in building an affiliate business around them. This is where keyword research helps you identify the right niche to select, which is the niche with the highest demand and the lowest competition.
To cover keyword research for affiliate marketing niche selection, we will use Weight Loss, Digital Marketing and Mental Health as three niche examples, and use the Ahrefs keyword research tool.
Niche (1) - Weight Loss.
Start with the first niche you have in mind (weight loss in my example) and select the research location.
I selected Denmark for this research as an example. You can select your own target market’s geographical location if you’ve already defined it, or test different locations using the tool. Most keyword research tools also provide global search volume regardless of which country you select.
It’s worth mentioning that you don’t have to select a target market in a specific country, especially if you are to focus on digital products that do not require any shipping. Your target audience can be located anywhere. If you start to run paid ads later, you will need to specify the geographical location based on where most of your current audience is located.
The tool shows that there have been more than a thousand searches for weight loss in Denmark during the last thirty days, and almost half a million searches globally. It also shows the Keyword Difficulty being super hard (92). Difficulty means how hard it is to get your website to rank on the first ten search results on Google.
It’s important to choose a niche that has a lot of searches, but also doesn’t have too high of a difficulty score.
A high difficulty score means there are a lot of other people and websites out there trying to create content around this niche and you may have a tough time getting any visibility. This is something to consider when picking your niche. You have to find a balance between the number of searches and the difficulty. Sometimes, it’s worth picking a less popular keyword if it’s easier to rank high on search engines.
The bottom left section shows Keyword Ideas and how many searches there are for each one. Here is where the tool suggests different short-tail and long-tail keywords for you to consider for your list of target keywords (will be covered later).
The top right section shows the Global search volume for weight loss during the last month. The United States shows the highest search volume with a largely significant increase compared to Denmark. This should raise the consideration of whether the US market is much more profitable to focus on than the Danish market in this example.
Niche (2) - Digital Marketing.
As for digital marketing, there are more people searching for this keyword in Denmark (1.7K), and the tool shows that it is much easier to rank for this keyword than to rank for weight loss.
Niche (3) - Mental Health.
Finally, mental health shows the lowest search volume in Denmark with only a few hundred, and really high competition.
Keyword Research Conclution.
Based on this research example, Digital Marketing seems like the best niche to select of all three if I am to build an affiliate marketing business and my target audience is located in Denmark. It has a lot of searches which means there is a high demand for it, and doesn’t have a high competitive score.
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