How to Do Intent-Driven Keyword Research for Your Courses

Every day, more and more online courses are being created. With so much competition, how can your course stand out? That’s where Search Engine Optimization (SEO) comes in. It is all about your strategy to get your course in front of the right students.

When people are searching for courses like yours, you want to make sure they can find you. This guide will walk you through the process of keyword research, helping you connect with the students who are looking for exactly what you offer. 

Why SEO is essential for your online course business

When your students are looking for a course on a specific topic, they start with a search engine. If your course does not appear in the results, they might never know it exists. That is a huge missed opportunity.

Your SEO efforts help your course appear higher in search results, making it easier for potential students to find you. For example, if you’re offering a photography course for complete beginners, you will want to show up when people search for “beginner photography classes” or “how to take better photos.” With the right keywords and optimization, you increase your visibility and attract more students who are already searching for what you offer.

Plus, SEO brings long-term benefits. Once your course performs well on the search engine results page, it continues to attract visitors to your website. As a result, you get potential leads organically. 

Besides, SEO help you to

• Understand your audience better

Search engine optimization is not just about rankings. It is about learning what your students really want. For instance, let’s say  you notice people searching for “how to improve study skills” and your course covers that topic. In this case, you can adjust your content or create new lessons to match their needs. This is a better way to connect with your students and give them exactly what they’re looking for.

You can use on-page optimization tools and other free and paid tools for this purpose. 

• Enhance user experience

Did you know Google prioritizes user experience in its rankings? By following SEO best practices, you are not only helping your site rank higher but also making it easier for students to navigate. Imagine how much better the experience is when learners can easily find the information they need and engage with your content seamlessly!

In reality, there are many more benefits of search engine optimization, so applying it is no longer an option but rather a necessity.

Understanding user search intent in SEO

A search intent or a user intent is the goal users have in mind while typing their requests in the search bar.

It matters a lot because Google matches user queries to specific results based on 

• how people search and what keywords they use,
•  what they hope to achieve (intent), 
• how well each particular page can satisfy their needs.

The content on your website can satisfy four primary search intent types.

• Informational. Users with informational intent are seeking knowledge or answers. For instance, a query like “how to create engaging online courses” shows they’re looking for guidance. This is a great opportunity for you to provide valuable content, like blog posts or free resources, that can lead them to your course offerings.
• Transactional. A user wants to purchase something, though they may not know exactly what and where they want to buy. At this point, the prospect’s levels of interest and conversion potential are the highest, which makes it crucial to capture them here. An example of a query is “Buy English language online course.”
• Commercial. Users have decided and know what they want to buy, but they want to compare different options and make a more informed decision. An example of a query matching this goal is “Best English courses for beginners online.”
• Navigational. Users with navigational intent are looking for a specific brand or site they already know. For example, if someone searches for “Khan Academy graphic design courses,” they want to go directly to that platform. 

Now, how can you use these types to rank your course higher?

As you can see, the tone and formulation of a keyword range significantly depending on the type of search intent.

What does this suggest? When you want to capture your students at different stages of their decision path, you want to target different relevant queries AND create different types of content that best match their needs.

For example, you may want to create helpful blog articles and how-tos for potential students for the informational intent. 

The next thing is to find out what exactly the students are looking to find for that query. 

Eventually, this can help you diversify your content, boost visibility, drive more traffic, and convert more prospective students.

Using SEO tools to analyze user intent and discover keywords

SEO software plays a significant part in streamlining optimization processes and adding accuracy to them. Various on-page SEO tools can help you accomplish multiple goals at once, including:

• Audit your site to assess your current SEO efforts and outcomes.
• Tap into an SEO strategy your competitors use and learn valuable lessons from it.
• Test your site's technical performance, including its mobile-friendliness, loading speed, and other aspects that affect user experience.
• Identify content gaps and measure the overall quality of your content.
• Assess domain trust and quality of backlinks.

There are several great tools you can use for your course’s keyword research. Examples of these are Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest, and Google Keywords Planner. These tools provide insights into keyword volume, competition, and related terms. 

If you want to start with a free option, you can start on Google Keywords Planner. It is an excellent starting point for anyone new to SEO. To use it, you will first need to create a Google Ads account, which does not require you to run any ads.

You can start by entering a few keywords related to your course. Let’s say you make courses about cooking in general. 

In this case, type in some keywords your students are likely to search for. For example, “online cooking courses.” 

When you click “Get Results,” and you’ll see a list of related keywords along with their search volumes and competition levels. For instance, you might find keywords like “easy online cooking classes,” “culinary certificate online,” and “online chef classes.”

Take note of the keywords with high search volumes and low to medium competition. These are your targets. You can then categorize them based on intent. Some may be informational, while others could be transactional.

Next, use these keywords in your course content. Incorporate them into your course title, descriptions, blog articles, and other website pages. This way, when potential students search for that term, your content will have a better chance of showing up in their results.  
 

Identifying keywords aligning with user intent

Once you find keyword ideas, you will need to select the keyword you want to use. 

Now, here, it is crucial to emphasize that not all words and phrases are the same. They may have a different power. So here is what you need to pay attention to when doing your keyword research for your online course. 

• Relevance. 

Choose queries that perfectly align with your course program’s topic. If you are offering English learning opportunities, be sure to pick queries that reflect that. They need to include words like “English,” “language,” “grammar,” etc.

• Volume. 

The search volume of a keyword shows the level of interest people take in it. In the case of Google Keyword Planner, that is the average monthly search results. So, if you can make your course content, or any of your content, perform for a higher volume keyword, you have more chances to attract the right students. 

• Competition. 

Although the search volume matters for your SEO, the most searched queries also tend to have incredibly high competition. This means that many other sites are targeting it. Ranking high for the most competitive keywords would not be easy. 

• Difficulty. 

This metric defines how hard a particular term is to rank for. Basically, this metric represents a balance of search volume and competition. The general guideline for keyword difficulty is as follows:

• Low difficulty (0-30). These terms are the easiest to rank for. They usually have low competition and low volume. 
• Medium difficulty (31-60). These queries have the perfect balance of competition and volume. They are effective to target if your site already has some authority to compete with others.
• High difficulty (61-100). These terms offer the lowest likelihood of ranking high for them because they typically have incredibly high search volumes and are already dominated by high-authority sites. 

Keep all these metrics in mind when conducting keyword research, and they should help you target the most high-potential queries for your marketing needs. Most importantly, be sure to pick keywords that align with your business’s resources and authority, as well as the goals of your SEO strategy. 

Now, you have your keywords selected. And what is then?

• Create descriptive meta titles and descriptions using your primary keyword for every site page. 
• Generate lots of high-quality content for your site that matches different user intents, including blog articles, guides, landing pages, etc. In your content, focus on delivering value first and integrate keywords organically.
• Include those keywords in your course descriptions and titles. 
• Integrate target terms into your URLs where possible. 

This seems like a lot to handle. However, there are still tools you can use to save yourself from technical trouble. 

For example, if you host your courses on Uteach, you will have the opportunity to optimize your courses and content on your website. It also has integrations with Google Search Console and Google Analytics, so that you can gain more insights into performance. 

Learn more about Uteach features and start free. 

Conclusion

As you now know, the value of SEO for course creators is simply huge. When handled right, search engine optimization can boost your visibility on the web and drive many visitors who have the potential to convert into your students. On top of that, optimization can help boost your authority and trust. Not to mention, it can help you deliver better experiences to your students and grow their loyalty.

Of course, there are countless ways to boost your rankings. Still, keywords remain at the heart of it all. Use the keyword research tips from this guide to find and target the right queries that perfectly match your prospects’ search intent.