The Art of Keyword Clustering: Maximizing Relevance and Conversion Rates

• Introduction
• What are keyword clusters?
• Understanding the impact of keyword clusters
• Why should keyword clustering be part of a game-changing SEO strategy?
• Simple steps to do keyword clustering
• 10 Best Keyword Clustering Tools to Create Topic Groups

Introduction

In the past, on-page SEO techniques would include optimizing each web page of a site for a single keyword. Copywriters and marketers would create webpages for all possible variations of the primary keyword. However, as Google’s natural language processing gets smarter, single-keyword optimization becomes less effective and outdated.

• Google released the Hummingbird update in 2013, when Google’s algorithm shifted from a keyword-centric to a topic-centric approach.
• In 2015, Google verified the trend by releasing RankBrain, an algorithm that uses machine learning to define themes of search queries and find multiple similar phrases to provide better search results to the user.
• Google introduced a neural matching approach and the BERT update in 2018 and 2019 that emphasize natural language processing and provide better insight into the interrelationships of the on-page content.

With every update, Google has become smarter and more erudite, with the ability to understand how words, synonyms, and prepositions are used in different combinations to express different meanings and intents.

Thus, single-word targeting could be the reason your content isn’t receiving a lot of traffic from Google. By targeting numerous related keywords rather than just one, your page can appear more frequently in search engine result pages.

What are keyword clusters?

Keyword clusters, also regarded as topic clusters or semantic keyword clusters, are groups of keywords that represent searchers with similar search intent.

A topic cluster or keyword cluster is significant for modern SEO. They provide context and support for the pages within a keyword cluster, such as product pages or multiple blogs. They also help to format your internal linking structure within your blogs to make it easy to improve multiple parts of your SEO strategy.

Understanding the impact of keyword clusters

The keywords in the keyword clustering process are grouped on the basis of their semantic similarity, which means how closely those keywords are related in terms of intent and meaning. For instance, “wooden furniture,” “wood furniture,” and “,” are different keyword phrases, but they all represent searchers who want to buy wooden furniture.

Here is another example: Below is the SERP for the keyword “invoicing software”. You can see the top blogs rankings for over 2,000 keywords.

Thus, when your attention is focused on a single keyword, you are losing the opportunity to rank higher for the topics you want to appear high on the search engine results for.

Keyword clustering is a way to make your content more user-friendly. As it tends to optimize content for the search intention topic, readers are more likely to read it.

A single cluster covers a main topic and several related subtopics that point back to the main topic. It allows you to target many keywords per page instead of only one or two, creating additional opportunities to get your content noticed by people and indexed by the search engines.

Why keyword clustering should be part of a game-changing SEO strategy?

The ultimate goal of SEO is to gain traction in search engines and bring visitors to your website. Keyword clustering aids in your search engine efforts by gearing your content towards specific search intents.

Conventional SEO practice was geared towards focusing on and optimizing each page for one main keyword. However, today, keyword clustering is popularly utilized as it allows for targeting multiple keywords on the same page and makes it easy for search engine crawlers to understand the relevance of each page to various queries.

Here are some other benefits of keyword clustering:

Improve rankings for Short and Long-Tailed Keywords

Keyword clustering helps boost rankings for long- and short-tail keywords, which can be difficult to attain with single keyword optimization. These clusters show that you are better able to understand the user’s search intent. It will assure Google that you are able to answer relevant and common search queries,and then Google will promote it in your search results. Keyword clusters combine high-ranking short keywords that the majority of your competitors are vying for with low-ranking long-tail keywords that have less competition.

Increase your Organic Traffic

Keyword clustering can be a powerful tool to increase organic traffic from Google. As search engines get smarter to understand search intent, the SEO industry has shifted its focus to keyword clustering as a way to drive traffic to search engines.When you optimize search intent rather than a single keyword, it works as a surefire way to increase organic traffic to your site.

For instance, if you are just getting started, instead of writing a pillar page for a highly competitive topic, it is recommended to write great content about niche subtopics related to your main topic. In this way, you will face less competition for those related subtopics on search engines, and it will therefore be easier for people to discover your content on search engines.

 Get faster results for SEO

Keyword clustering helps you get faster SEO results. As you have covered all the topics and subtopics and organized them into your SEO strategy, it will help yourise up the rankings faster than other methods of SEO.Let’s say your brand is engaged in selling shoes. You could cluster the following keywords together:

• “mens shoes”
• “womens shoes”
• “kids shoes”
• “athletic shoes
• “casual shoes”

Though all these search terms are related to the topic shoes, but they have different search terms. For instance, some people who are looking for men’s shoes are likely to look for shoes specifically for men. But, when someone is looking for “casual shoes,” they are likely looking for shoes for men and women. When you create content relevant to each keyword cluster, it will increase your chances of getting faster results from your SEO efforts.

Create more Internal Linkage Opportunities

The use of keyword clusters is crucial for more precise planning of your internal linking structure. It improves the links between your various bits of content. They make it simple to increase several facets of your SEO strategy by formatting your internal linking structure on your website or blog.

For the various themes that you want your blogs to cover, you can develop keyword clusters rather than employing just one term and missing out on important internet market share.

By doing so, you can improve your position in the search engine algorithm for the search intention and rank for primary keywords, short-tail keywords, and long-tail keywords on the same blog.

Build authority in your industry niche

When your content strategy is based on topic clusters, it helps to build your credibilityin the eyes of search engine algorithms as well as visitors, and it can even help you become a thought leader in your industry niche.

By clustering the keywords together, you can create content that is relevant to the search intent of each keyword. When you share such content, it provides extensive knowledge and information to the searchers and also demonstrates your expertise in the specific and related

One must always keep in mind that creating clusters requires more than intuition and guesswork. You must have the right tools combined with the right data to make it work for your SEO strategy. Some of the effective tools used for keyword research and keyword clustering are Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, ESLRankPro, etc.

Simple Steps to Do Keyword Clustering

In simple words, keyword clustering is grouping together similar keywords to target them on the same page.Now that you understand what keyword clustering is and why it’s important for your business, let’s take a look at how to do keyword clustering the right way and create your topic clusters.

Step 1: Make Your Keyword List

A keyword list can be prepared by performing keyword research.To begin keyword research, first find keywords by topic, then fill the gaps within competitor research. There are many online tools available that can be used to create your keyword clusters. You can conduct keyword research using the ESLRanksPro tool. It is an easy-to-use and free tool for conducting keyword research as well as to track your site’s ranking.

To begin, enter a seed keyword or a broad term based on your search query. Keep it simple to get the maximum number of keyword results.Then, select your target country and click “Search.”

The tool provides relevant keywords along with trend, volume, cost per click, and SEO difficulty. For instance, if mattress is your primary keyword, the ESLRanksPro tool will provide all the related keyword data. You can select the keywords from the data, create a list named “mattresses,” and save all the selected keywords to the list. You can repeat the process for the same list with different keywords. It helps you find related keywords that can be used in your SEO strategy and find your niche industry’s keywords.

Step 2: Filter Your Keywords into Groups

Once you have acquired your initial keyword data, it can now be organized into groups based on the search intent behind each keyword. With ESLRanksPro, you can select multiple keywords by using a checkbox next to each selected keyword. It allows you to easily cluster keywords that are closely related to each other.

Next, click on the “Export” button. This will export the data for the selected keywords into an Excel sheet.The Excel sheet contains the following columns: keywords, trend, volume, and cost per click and SEO difficulty. It also allows you to export the data in CSV format, something like this:

Step 3: Pillar Pages Creation and Optimization

Pillar content is typically a long-form piece of content that covers a specific topic in depth. Its length is usually between 1500 and 5000 words. It usually provides a great knowledge resource so that your blog readers can gain knowledge on specific topics and subtopics.

It is advised to create pillar pages that are search engine optimized for your keyword clusters. It should be created in a way to provide value to the audience. Optimize the pages by using keyword clusters. Make sure that the keyword density of each keyword is at least 1% to get a measurable impact.

 The organized keyword list can be used to create a plan for your SEO strategy. It is crucial to create “pillar content” for every post or page you create on your website.Groups of keyword clusters or pillar pages can help you organize your topic clusters and optimize for best SEO practices.

Step 4: Discover Content Gaps and Create a Strategy

Conduct keyword research to identify content gaps within your competitor’s content that you can fill for more online market space. You don’t want to create too competitive clusters, as it will make it difficult to rank for them.

These gaps can be used to create a detailed content marketing strategy that can address the gaps and answer the questions of website visitors.

 Step 5: Reinforce Your Keyword Clusters in the Content

Now that you have found your keyword clusters, start building your web page or blog content that supports those clusters and reinforces your primary keyword in the content.

 Step 6: Track your Result

Once your keyword clustering strategy has been implemented, you need to track your results. It will help you know which clusters are performing well and which clusters need improvement.

10 Best Keyword Clustering Tools to Create Topic Groups

We live in an era where our daily searches are dependent on search engines. These search engines are often the first platform where your potential customers will look for the products and services you are offering.

From finding a product to buying it, search engines play a key role in a potential customer’s keyword clusters.If you are already on the content creation bandwagon but are still lacking results and think you’ll get them once you start targeting keywords one by one,

Finding profitable keywords can help you rank at the top of search engines. However, traditional ways of focusing on one keyword with each piece won’t work in the hyper-competitive internet landscape.

Understanding how keywords are semantically related to each other enables one to target a broad group of keywords in a single article. However, manually working on these keyword groups or clusters can be hectic and time-consuming. This is where keyword grouping tools prove to be immensely helpful. They help you programmatically figure out which keywords belong in a group, either through natural language processing (NLP) principles or with insights gleamed from real-time SERP analysis.

 Why use keyword clustering tools?

Keyword clusteringis a significantSEO technique in the current times when one page is capable of ranking for thousands of keywords. It helps you identify patterns, discover newer content opportunities, and enhance the relevance and visibility of your site on search engine result pages. A keyword clustering tool can streamline the process and provide valuable insights to boost your organic traffic.

• Keyword clustering tools automate the keyword clustering process.
• These tools typically use natural language processing to group keywords.
• These tools save you time and effort and are scalable compared to manual clustering.
• The best keyword clustering tools include Keyword Insights, Moz, Ahrefs, ESl Ranks Pro, and more.

Below, we have discussed some of the popular tools that make keyword clustering quick, accurate, and scalable compared to manual clustering.

1.     Keywords Insights

Keyword Insights is a paid clustering tool that combines natural language processing and search engine results data to aid keyword grouping. You simply need to upload your keyword list into Keyword Insights, and it will analyze the search engine result pages to group any keywords together where the ranking URLs are the same or similar.

Features & Key Strengths

• Classifying search content for your keywords
• Hub and spoke analysis to define silos of articles that can be interlinked to each other.
• Exporting your keyword clusters to a spreadsheet
• Track your progress over time.

Pricing   

2.       SE Ranking Key Grouper

SE Ranking is one of the best all-around SEO tools. Its “Keyword Grouper” is a keyword clustering tool that aids keyword clustering and SEO architecture planning. It uses search engine results data to group keywords. The tool provides great flexibility for the user. For instance, you can choose keyword grouping accuracy (i.e., the minimum number of URLs in the SERP to group keywords).

Also, it defaults to three URLs, but you can increase or decrease the accuracy. On top of all that, it allows you to select between hard and soft keyword reviews.

Features & Key Strengths

• Accuracy
• Flexibility
• Keyword difficulty scoring
• SERP analysis
• Select to run soft or hard analysis.

Pricing

3.     Keyword Cupid

Keyword Cupid is a natural language tool that uses natural language processing and real-time SERP data to formulate its groups based on their meaning and content. It has a large community of users and mature software that uses machine learning models to quickly and accurately carry out all the heavy lifting for keyword clustering.

Features & Key Strengths

• Ease of use.
• Flexible pricing plans.
• Device-based filtering of keywords.
• Interactive mind map for keywords.

Pricing

4.     KWFinder 

KWFinder is a keyword research tool with a feature for keyword clustering. It uses search engine results data and natural language processing to group keywords together. It helps users find long-tail keywords with low competition and high search volumes.

Features& Key Strengths

• Keyword difficulty scoring
• SERP analysis
• Intuitive

Pricing

5.     Ahrefs

Ahrefs is a popularly used SEO toolkit that includes a keyword clustering tool. The tool uses search engine results data to group keywords together, and it also offers features such as keyword research and backlink analysis. Ahrefs is a paid tool, so users are required to pay a monthly fee.

 Features & Key Strengths

• Accurate
• Easy to use
• Beginner friendly
• Versatile
• Export your keyword clusters to a spreadsheet
• Add notes to your keyword clusters

Pricing

6. Semrush Keyword Manager

 Semrush Keyword Manager is another popular keyword clustering tool that uses search engine results data to group keywords together. Apart from that, it also has features such as keyword research and backlink analysis. The Keyword Manager provides a deeper analysis of up to 2,000 keywords at a time. This tool allows users to automatically generate keyword clusters. They can view clusters in a mind map and refresh metrics in real-time. Automatic clusters come organized with data, so users can easily prioritize which topics to focus on first when creating content. When you refresh metrics, you’ll see if any SERP features or top competitors for a keyword have changed since Semrush’s last update. However, it is available only with a paid subscription.

Features & Key Strengths

• Accurate
• Easy to use
• Versatile
• Up to date
• Integration with tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console for comprehensive website performance view

Pricing

7.     Moz

MOZ is a popular SEO platform that provides a keyword clustering tool as part of its subscription plans. It offers capabilities like keyword research and backlink analysis and leverages SERP data for keyword clustering.

 It allows users to group keywords based on lexical similarity, making it quick and easy to locate subtopics and pre-categorized clusters of search terms within the parent keyword.After you’ve created a list of keywords, Moz Pro will provide the distribution of rich SERP characteristics for each keyword as well as the monthly search volume totals, anticipated available CTR for organic results, and keyword difficulty scores. Consider ranking keywords by country and looking for keyword suggestions to improve your international SEO efforts.

Pricing

8. KeyClusters

 Features and key strengths

• Intuitive
• Flexible
• Versatile
• Results in real time without blocking queries
• Keywords cluster based on device, geo-location, and language
• Integrates with Ahrefs and Semrush

Pricing

9.     SerpStat

SerpStat is an SEO management tool with plenty of features such asbacklink analysis, keyword research, SEO keyword rank tracking, competitor analysis, keyword clustering, and site audits.

It is an easy-to-use tool for keyword clustering that automatically groups up to 50,000 keywords according to SERP similarity. It asks users to add the required parameters for grouping and provides a list of clusters created and a list of keywords included in each cluster.

By matching URLs in the top 30 search results, it enables you to compare keyword volumes and assess their interconnectedness. However, its backlink metrics are not very good, and it may be slow in American time zones.

Features & Key Strengths

• Strong keyword research
• Detailed SERP analysis
• Great site audit tool

1. ESLRanksPro

ESLRanksPro is a comprehensive SEO toolkit that is primarily used to check and monitor a website’s SERP rating. It offers easy-to-use and free tools for conducting keyword research and keyword grouping, so you can outperform your competition. It also includes trends, volume, cost per click (CPC), and SEO difficulty (SD), along with pertinent keywords. One can easily select numerous keywords at once simply by using a checkbox next to each chosen keyword. It also enables you to quickly group together keywords that have a similar meaning. For grouping, you need to select “Export” from the menu. The data related to all selected keywords will then be exported into an Excel document.

Features & key strengths

• Beginner friendly
• Export keywords to a spreadsheet
• Free to use tool

Pricing

Selecting the best keyword clustering tool will depend on your budget, needs and your level of expertise. It is always recommended to determine your needs, read reviews and compare features before making a decision