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29 viewsKeyword mapping: the term might seem similar to most digital marketing experts, but it is still one of the most underrated techniques out there.
Yes, SEO keyword mapping has the potential to easily fix keyword cannibalization, topic overlapping, etc., from your website in no time.
Besides, this potential technique also provides benefits like content ideation, identifying content gaps, and much more.
That’s why we have decided to put the spotlight on keyword mapping in today’s article.
So, let’s proceed without any further delay!
What is Keyword Mapping?
First, let’s start with the definition of keyword mapping.
Keyword mapping is the process of grouping similar keywords and further assigning these groups to relevant web pages on a website.
For example:
Let’s say your website talks about footwear.
The keywords you will get will vary from sneakers, sandals, shoes, footwear for men, shoes for women, sports shoes for kids, ballet shoes, etc.
You see, there are various categories of footwear for which you can get tons of keywords from any keyword research tool.
Once you start categorizing them, you will automatically understand which keyword map is perfect for which web pages. Moreover, proper keyword mapping SEO can further help you design accurate topic clusters as well.
When To Do SEO Keyword Mapping?
Though conducting regular keyword SEO maps is not a bad idea, but who has the time to conduct new keyword maps for SEO every now and then?
That’s why here are some scenarios when you must design proper keyword mapping to shape your website content.
1. Designing New Content Ideas
One of the scenarios where keyword mapping is of utmost importance is while brainstorming for new content ideas.
Why?
That’s because designing keyword SEO maps can help you organize content ideas and give them a proper structure.
Besides, it is highly recommended to conduct both keyword mapping and generating content ideas simultaneously to avoid topical overlapping.
2. For New Websites
If you have a new website to work on, make sure to conduct keyword mapping before designing content for landing pages or blogs.
This is because SEO keyword mapping will help you formulate web pages that will support the cause and purpose of the content you want to create.
Besides, having keywords beforehand helps you derive a better content structure for your web pages and blogs.
3. Website Migration
Website migration is one of the most crucial processes that requires proper planning and execution, as a single mistake can cost a lot.
You must design keyword SEO maps to ensure proper content migration from existing to new websites.
It would help you arrange the URLs as per the keyword groups and prevent content overlap or missing out on any important piece during the process.
How To Design A Google Keyword Map?
Now, it’s time to learn how to design a Google keyword map, a.k .a. the process of keyword mapping.
1. Keyword Research
The first and foremost step of keyword mapping is to conduct thorough keyword research.
Without researching the keywords, it will be impossible to create a keyword map.
For that, you must first understand the users’ search intent.
Understanding what your target audience wants will give you a direction on how to provide them with a proper solution.
One of the best methods to understand your target audience is by spying on your competitors. It would give you an idea of how they are proposing solutions to the target audience that you can use to your benefit.
RankWatch’s Competitor Analysis is one of the most sought-after features for conducting an in-depth analysis of competitors.
The feature not only discloses the ranking URLs of a competitor but also presents the group of keywords that work on improving the URL’s ranking position, along with other metrics like presence in featured snippets, changes in ranking URLS, presence of keywords in the top 3, etc.
You can simply download the list of ranking keywords and use them while designing a keyword map. The Competitor Analysis feature also contains slots like Ad copies, Local, Organic, etc., each depicting how your competitors perform in different sections.
A thorough competitive analysis gives you a detailed idea of users’ search intent along with a gist of how to create content that will satisfy their search needs.
Now, only using the ranking keywords of your competitors can do more harm than good.
So, it’s better to search for keywords and use them alongside the competitors’ ranking keywords.
Here, RankWatch’s free keyword research tool can be your best friend.
Enter one of the ranking keywords in the dialog box, choose the target location, and then select whether you want a phrase or broad match of the keyword.
The feature is known for providing appropriate short and long-tail keywords, along with the CPC, search volume, and difficulty level of individual keywords.
You can simply export the list of keywords and use them in the mapping process.
2. Categorize Keywords Into Topics
Now that you have the list of keywords, it is time to categorize them per genre or niche.
Now, not all keywords can be used in a single piece of content, right?
So, from the vast list of keywords, select the ones that you want to treat as primary keywords. These keywords will form groups.
Remember to select those keywords that are most relevant to your content ideologies as primary keywords.
After that, start sorting out the remaining keywords into each primary keyword group. These words will act as secondary keywords.
Besides, make sure to use some of these secondary keywords as anchor text for internal linking as well.
You can take the help of our backlink analyzer tool to uncover the popular anchor texts used by your competitors for backlinking.
Moreover, remember not to use the same keywords in different groups, as it can lead to keyword cannibalization.
3. Map Keyword Groups To Web Pages
Now that you have your group of keywords, it is time to map them to matching URLs. There can be two scenarios here: either you have existing content that seems relevant to a keyword group or discover content gaps.
Don’t worry, we are going to discuss both.
Existing Content
If you have a web page that matches the gist of a specific keyword SEO map, you need to check whether the said keywords are already covered in the existing page.
If not, then it is time to upgrade or revamp the web page’s content. Don’t worry; all website owners do content revamping to include new facts, information, and keywords.
By incorporating the keywords in the existing content, you are giving it a chance to improve its ranking position in search engines.
Content Gaps
There are chances of coming across content gaps while doing SEO keyword mapping. If any of your designed Google keyword maps do not align with your existing content, then this is a clear content gap.
Content gaps are opportunities for you to design new and better content by using the keywords in the specified keyword map.
4. Optimizing Selected Web Pages
Once you have aligned all your keyword SEO maps with website pages, it is time to optimize the web pages as per various SEO factors.
Even if you have discovered content gaps, you need to develop new content and optimize it for SEO as well.
The best way to do this would be by using the SEO IQ feature of RankWatch.
- Login to your RankWatch account or take a 14-day free trial.
- Go to the SEO IQ dashboard and then enter the primary keyword from one of the keyword groups, along with the location and webpage URL that aligns with the group.
Once you have filled in the details, the AI-enabled feature will analyze the entered web page URL as per the target keyword and location and provide a score out of 100.
Besides, the tool compares your web page with the top-performing web pages in the same industry, and provides several suggestions on improving your on-page SEO optimization.
Implementing the suggestions will improve your SEO IQ score, which ultimately gives you an idea of how your web pages will perform on search engines.
Likewise, you can check each selected web page on our on page SEO checker and optimize them accordingly.
5. Updating Keyword SEO Maps
Just like there’s no end to SEO optimization, there’s no end to keyword mapping as well. If you think that designing a single keyword map will be enough for the whole month or year, then you are wrong.
It is important to keep updating your existing keyword maps to ensure that all relevant and trending keywords are present while the ones that are not ranking are removed from the list.
Updating your keyword maps will help you keep track of new facts and information about a topic that you can further incorporate into your content.
Wrapping Up…
So that was all about keyword mapping!
We know most people confuse keyword mapping with topic clustering, but they are two very different topics. While topic clustering helps you get content ideas, keyword mapping helps you give structure to your website content.
However, while designing keyword maps, you need a reliable tool like RankWatch that can perform most of the steps within seconds.
Hope that this blog was useful for you.
See you next time!
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