Ladies and gentlemen and friends beyond the binary, I am thrilled to present the highly requested…keyword brainstorming and research exercise!

If you’ve found your way to my little corner of the internet, it’s safe to assume that you’re interested in Squarespace SEO.

And wouldn’t you know it, keywords are one of the pillars of Squarespace SEO so it’s imperative that you understand what they are and how to use them properly on your Squarespace website!

Keywords show up everywhereeeeeeee - they’re in the settings on the back end of your Squarespace website, they’re included on the pages/blog posts/product descriptions/galleries in the titles, headers, body content, image names, url links, and so much more!

So yeah, keywords are really important and I would not recommend just throwing a bunch of keywords onto your site willy nilly, without have a solid strategy and understanding of what you’re doing and why!

This is where my basic keyword brainstorming and research exercise comes in.

No matter where you are in your Squarespace SEO journey (whether you’re a total beginner or an intermediate who is developing their skills and confidence), keywords still seem to be an area that trips people up.

Everyone knows that they’ve got to figure out keywords, but it’s not something that always makes sense right from the start.

Which, on one hand, I get because keywords can be a little challenging to wrap your head around if it’s not explained to your properly.

BUT the thing is, once the lightbulb goes off and you understand what keywords are - and, more importantly, how to use and include them strategically on your website - things really start moving and you’ll be thrilled with how quickly results and growth starts happening for your Squarespace website!

If you haven’t already, I suggest reading these two blog posts to get a basic understanding of keywords and then come back here and carry on with this exercise.

Great, now let’s carry on with the keyword brainstorming and research exercise.

In case you didn’t know, this is the kind of insider info that I give to my Squarespace SEO consulting clients and students in my signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO. But since I’m not one for secrets and truly want the best for anyone with a website, I’m giving you the goods here totally for free!

To make it super easy to follow along with me in real time, I’ve even recorded a video to go along with this blog post so just scroll down and hit play below!

Ready to make keywords your bisssh? Let’s go!

SQUARESPACE SEO SERIES

I have so many tips to share on the subject that it would have been crazy to put it all in one article! There are many misconceptions about Squarespace SEO which is why I've dedicate so many posts to this topic. Enjoy!

Click to view all posts in the Squarespace SEO Series

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Keyword brainstorming and research exercise for Squarespace SEO

We’re keeping this brainstorming & research exercise simple and easy - but still effective!

The keyword brainstorming and research exercise that I’m about to walk you through is simple and easy, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not going to get you amazing results!

I have literally done this exercise with hundreds of my Squarespace SEO consulting clients and students in my various programs, so I know for a fact that its tried and tested, and best of all that it’s something you can actually do in real time along with me :)

So, let’s make sure we’re on the same page before we begin.

There will come a time in your Squarespace SEO journey that you advance up to paid tools to assist you in your research and help you to really dig deep into the data.

However, if you’re here reading this blog post and watching this video, that’s not what we’re focusing on today! You’re here because you’re fairly new to Squarespace SEO, right? Maybe you’re a beginner or still developing your skills. Yay, that’s fantastic! So don’t jump the gun haha.

Paid SEO tools are fantastic, obviously, but I don’t recommend that you leap frog ahead and start dabbing with them until you reach a more intermediate stage in Squarespace SEO.

So stick with me today and I guarantee that you will still get amazing insights from this simple keyword brainstorming and research exercise for your Squarespace website…. and best of all, its’ totally free - no paid tools required!

Materials you’ll need for this exercise

Grab a pen and paper, open up the notes app on your phone or laptop, pull up a fresh Google doc or sheet.

Nothing fancy, as you can see :)

What is a keyword brainstorming exercise?

What is a keyword brainstorming exercise? What are we trying to accomplish here?

Great questions, and I’m thrilled to answer them.

Let’s get back to basics here and make sure we’re all on the same page - because I never want to assume knowledge, especially when it comes to something as niche as Squarespace SEO!

Keywords, as you’ll remember, are essentially the link between what someone is searching for online (like, the words they type in when they’re doing a Google search) and the words that appear within the content on your Squarespace website.

Google the search engine is going to your Squarespace website and they’re crawling and indexing the content, looking for keywords & keyphrases, so that when someone does an online search, they can refer back to their databases and return the best match with highest quality content that satisfies the search intent.

Keywords & keyphrases can be pretty much anything, for example “ear nose throat doctor in Phoenix Arizona” or “mushroom ceramic mug” or “top 10 tips for backpacking” or “how to create a budget”.

So again, with keywords, we have to think of it as a two sided approach - the content on our websites (meaning the words we use and include) AND what people are typing into Google when they do an online search.

We’re about to get the ball rolling with the good stuff, so let’s keep going!

Step 1: make a simple list of keywords

Grab your pen & paper and start writing down a list of all the things you want someone to type into Google so that they land on your website.

Aim for at least 10-12 keywords or keyphrases here to start!

Here’s some ideas to get you started:

your name or your brand/business’s name
your title or area of expertise is (e.g., for me, I’d put Squarespace SEO expert” or “Squarespace SEO consultant”)
services that you offer (e.g., “custom wedding invitation calligraphy” or “copywriting for SAAS”
products that you offer or sell on your website (e.g., “vegan skin care” or “organic beeswax candle” or “rare seeds from the pacific north west”
type of event that you host or event name
main types of content you blog about (e.g., plus size sustainable fashion or minimalist lifestyle content)

In this step, you’re putting yourself into your ideal audience or target client/customer’s shoes and asking yourself, “what are those people typing into Google?”. Remember, you need to have an idea of what keywords or keyphrases they’re searching for so that you can turn around and make sure they’re peppered around your website (on both the front and back end) if you want all the SEO goodness.

We’re really focusing on creating a list of keywords & keyphrases that covers all our main offerings, products, services etc. here. It should be a pretty simple first step!

Step 2: Look at Google’s related searches

Ok now we are going to dig a little further and turn to Google for assistance! We do this because A) maybe we forgot something lol and B) Google has a nearly infinite amount of data to draw from so if they say something is a suggested or related search, obviously we are going to believe them!

This step is also simple and I want you to follow along with me here.

First up, go to Google and type in your target keywords or keyphrases, one at a time. For example, let’s start with something like “Cape Cod wedding photographer” like I demo’d in the video.

From here, you’re going to scroll down to the bottom of the results page and see what comes up in the Google’s Related Searches section, which looks something like this:

As you look at what comes up in Google’s related searches section, it might give you ideas of keyword-rich content that you can include on your website - either on your main pages, or else for new blog posts!

So, in the example above, maybe I love the “cape cod wedding venues” related search because that gives me great ideas for blog posts I can write! Something like “our favorite venues to shoot weddings in cape cod” or “five different weddings we’ve shot at VENUE NAME” or “our favorite weddings at VENUE B” so potential clients can see examples of your work and portfolio that might interest them! See what I mean?

Or maybe you look at that same list above and think hey, people are typing “cape cod engagement photographer” and you realize you don’t have a section on your website that talks about engagement photo shoots.. Right now, the only place you cover engagement photos is on your primary wedding photography page, it’s just a little section thrown in. That might show you that it could be a valuable service to offer, so you’d create a specific page on your site for engagement shoots and then create even more blog posts that highlight those keywords and link back to your portfolio pieces! It’s all starting to come together, non?

Step 3: Pinterest Searches

In this third step, we’re going to do a basic search on Pinterest, another wonderful free tool! In case you didn’t know, Pinterest is SOOOO much more than just a place to save cute pictures - it’s actually one of the largest search engines and it gets a crazy amount of search traffic so don’t sleep on it.

We’re going to do the same thing as we did above in step 2 - run each keyword or keyphrase through Pinterest’s search tool one at a time.

So, as you did above, you’d put “cape cod wedding photographer” into Pinterest and start scrolling down to see what gets returned.

This should give you ideas of blog posts you can write, because they’re keyword rich and related to stuff that your target audience is already searching for!

For example, one of the first items that comes up is about tented weddings so this might give you an idea to write a blog post that highlights any tented weddings you’ve photographed in Cape Cod.

Or another example is that oceanfront wedding in cape cod comes up in Pinterest’s search results, so how about you create a blog post about “oceanfront weddings you’ve photographed in Cape Cod?

Or a third example that I show in the video, you see Pinterest has a “something blue” post come up in their search results so how about you create a blog post that showcases various “something blue” moments from weddings you’ve photographed? You could include links out to all the full portfolio galleries too :)

Make content that is as good as or better than what’s currently ranking well

Work smarter, not harder my friend!

If you see that a certain type of web page or blog post is currently showing up at the top of Google’s search results, related searches list or in Pinterest’s search results, then your job is to make content on your own website that is as good as or better than what’s currently ranking.

This means that you might have to go back to old existing content on your site (web pages, blog posts, etc.) and improve what’s already there so that it’s mroe SEO-friendly and competitiive.

On the flip side, if you’re starting fresh with a brand new page or blog post, then you would put your own spin on the topic and make it even better than whatever is currently ranking. Maybe you make it a longer post, add more value, more images, more links to other parts on your text, etc. Whatever it takes so that Google will see your new post and think “yep, no brainer, this is the best so we’re going to show it at the top of our search results”.

You don’t always need to reinvent the wheel, ya dig?

Final Thoughts

There you have it, my tried and true keyword brainstorming and research exercise for Squarespace SEO!

Like I said, this is the exact step by step process that I do with all my private Squarespace SEO consulting clients and with students in my programs (like Top Squarespace SEO and the Level-Up program). It’s simple but highly effective, and guaranteed to give you a ton of clarity with keywords and how you’re going to use them on your Squarespace website!

So my big recommendation is for you to actually DO THIS EXERCISE!

It will take you like 10 minutes max, start to finish.

And trust me, that’s time well spent.

Now go forth and prosper with those keywords, my SEO hunni! You’ve got this and know that I’m cheering you on every step of the way.

xox

Charlotte

Exciting news : my signature online course, Top Squarespace SEO, will be opening for enrollment again soon - sign up for the TSS waiting list here!

You can also sign up for my newsletter (right here or below), where I often share Squarespace SEO tips, tricks and high-quality exclusive content. I send out emails to my list every Wednesday, mostly focused on Squarespace websites and SEO, and I can guarantee that you’ll find the newsletter topics interesting, entertaining and worth your time. #humblebrag

Finally, shameless plug: hit me up with any specific questions you have about Squarespace SEO and your website because I’m your girl. You can reach out to me directly if you’re interested in working together on your website and we can talk about whether or not you would be a good fit for my consulting and ongoing services. I can’t take on every request to do Squarespace SEO consulting but I do pick a few websites and businesses to work with every month and I’d love for you to be one of them.