Most SEO tools will identify specific keyword information and conduct analysis to identify what areas are best to invest resources. Ideal keywords include: - High volume, low competition - Medium to low difficulty keywords - Keyword search volume of 500 or more If you’re doing everything right, within 6 months of starting your SEO strategy you will be ranking on the first page for all your top keywords. However, it can take many months to build up the content that generates that domain authority and ranking potential. To make this process go faster, invest in quality SEO tools. One of the best comprehensive SEO tools is SEMrush. SEMrush includes every single research and analysis tool, as well as a rank tracker, competitor analysis tool, and social media optimization widget. If you don’t have the budget for SEMrush, there’s a number of free tools to consider such as Google Keyword Planner, Keywords Everywhere, WordStream’s free keyword tool, and a few others. If you’re just starting out with keyword research, sign up for a number of free trials to try SEO tools for a short period of time. Look for and only select tools that provide you with comprehensive research, rank tracking, and competitive analysis. Finally, when looking at keywords, you should separate them into “high competition” and “low competition” buckets. You can use Google Keyword Planner within AdWords to see which keywords are more competitive. These keywords typically have higher keyword difficulty scores, over 70, while lower competitive keywords will have scores under 50. You ideally want high volume, low competitive keywords, but these can be difficult to find. Many SEOs have witnessed that new content with long-tail keywords can use highly competitive keywords, so long as you incorporate variant phrases and publish content frequently on the topic. However, it may take months to rank for highly competitive keywords. Even if you update your blog every day and share content via social media as often as possible. The truth is that you’ll have to research your top keywords, rank them by difficulty, then look for opportunities to rank up based on SERP analysis.