The Digital Marketing Podcast · Daniel Rowles and Ciaran Rogers

Complete Guide to Keyword Research

·24 min·1 clip

What's the point of all this traffic if none of it converts?

1. The Digital Marketing Podcast episode 'Complete Guide to Keyword Research' focuses on keyword research processes for digital marketing. 2. Kieran Rogers, Louise Crossley, and Daniel Rowles host the discussion, and Kieran says he teaches master students at Imperial College. 3. The episode asks how to choose keywords that match personas, brand positioning, and business outcomes. 4. Kieran says each persona searches differently, so keyword research should start with identifying target audience segments. 5. He links keyword planning to user-journey models such as 'see, think, do, care' and 'reach, act, convert, engage.' 6. Kieran says brand positioning matters because top-of-funnel topics depend on what a brand stands for. 7. He gives the example that a brand claiming to be the best online digital marketing learning platform would struggle to attract listeners with a podcast about that claim. 8. The hosts argue that keyword research needs to balance search volume, intent, and competition. 9. Kieran says 'digital marketing e-learning' ranks number one for them, but very few people search for it. 10. He contrasts that with 'digital marketing courses' and 'online digital marketing training' as bottom-funnel phrases. 11. Kieran says 'highest paid YouTubers' drives 15% of their website traffic but almost no conversions. 12. Louise says pages should be judged by whether they convert, not only by year-on-year traffic growth. 13. The discussion includes Google Analytics Search Console reports and funnel reports that track whether people who land on a page later convert. 14. Kieran describes a page that dropped 40% of its traffic and says the loss mattered less because the page did not convert. 15. Louise gives a beauty-cosmetics example where a 'banana peel as an alternative for Botox' blog sent 50% of traffic but did not align with the product line. 16. Kieran says the middle of the funnel often offers the best balance of niche topics, reasonable volume, and achievable rankings. 17. The conversation is practical, collaborative, and full of back-and-forth examples rather than a formal lecture. 18. The pacing is conversational and workshop-like, with tool names, framework names, and quick objections from Louise and Kieran. 19. Listeners focused on SEO, content strategy, and conversion-focused marketing will get the most from it. 20. Listeners wanting entertainment or a narrative story arc may skip it.

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