Building an effective search engine optimization strategy is just one part of a broader content marketing effort these days, but it remains a very valuable approach. Knowing who and where to target can make a difference between content that is never seen and content that seemingly spreads itself.

One of the most basic tasks with respect to finding SEO opportunities is keyword planning. There are many unique tools and resources available to help brands better understand and utilize this strategy, but what exactly can you expect to gain by researching keywords and planning accordingly?

Below, we’ll look at these benefits and let you in on why so many websites, blogs and brands make keyword planning a priority component of their SEO endeavors.

Keyword Planning Identifies Opportunities

Arguably the most important reason to utilize keyword research and planning in your broader content and marketing strategies is due to the opportunities it can provide. Even experienced brands with dominance in their niches may be missing out on valuable opportunities if they do not consistently use keyword research.

Various phrases and keywords – both for organic and paid campaigns – may be under- or over-contested. If your brand is pinging links aimed at niches that are too difficult to compete in, then all of that effort may be going to waste. A proper keyword research plan will help unveil niche areas where you can more effectively target and attract traffic. This, ultimately, leads to more clicks, visits, sales and other beneficial actions.

Keyword Planning Organizes Your Strategy

Implementing and maintaining a solid marketing and content strategy can be challenging over the long-term. Covering a litany of topics and angles can gradually lead many blogs and brands astray, resulting in content that might not conform to previous strategies that were both sustainable and effective.

With keyword research and planning being a consistent part of a brand’s SEO efforts, you’ll consistently be reminded of which SERPs and niches you should be targeting. This helps guide your content creation process more effectively and results in content that is always related to the area(s) you’re targeting. As such, you’ll be pinging links more efficiently and more frequently in targeted niches, which generally leads to more benefit in SEO.

Keyword Planning Simplifies Marketing

Whether you’re using traditional search engine results, social media or paid search campaigns, keyword research can help formulate a stronger overall marketing campaign. Most powerful SEO campaigns focus on generating results in organic and paid methods: by targeting both, your visibility in SERPs is greatly increased. This can have a notable effect on improving your SEO effort’s impact.

This can also further help unite your marketing efforts across multiple channels, helping to build better name recognition and brand consistency. These elements, in turn, can help increase traffic to brand-specific search results and increase the size of your loyal audience in time.

Using the tools and resources available to plan your keyword strategies can produce a variety of beneficial results. Besides making your marketing efforts more streamlined, it also helps keep your SEO strategy on the right track and provides insight into new opportunities and areas in which your brand can dominate.