Contrary to some advice on the web, you won’t find a website’s keywords by viewing its HTML code or using the “find” function. You will need an SEO tool for that.
Dive in to see how to really find any website’s organic keywords (keywords that it ranks for in Google) and even paid keywords (keywords used to bid on Google Ads).
How to find any website’s organic keywords (yours, your competitor’s, and everyone else’s)
As mentioned above, you need an SEO tool for the job. Here’s how to find any website’s keywords in seconds with Ahrefs’ Site Explorer. You can:
- Enter any website’s URL. Adjust the mode to see keywords for the entire domain, a path, or the exact URL.
- Hit search.
- Go to the Organic keywords report. And there you have it—all keywords the website ranks for in Google.
Along with the keywords, Site Explorer will show you important SEO metrics like current position on the SERPs (search engine results pages), search volume, Keyword Difficulty (KD), and even the ranking history.
Talking about keywords for search ads, let’s see how you can find those too.
How to find any website’s paid keywords
Some SEO tools allow you to see paid keywords (aka Google Ads keywords or Google AdWords). Here’s how you can use Site Explorer for that. You can:
- Enter any website’s URL. Again, simply adjust the mode to see keywords for the entire domain, a path, or the exact URL.
- Hit search.
- Go to the Paid keywords report.
Apart from keywords, this report shows you additional data like:
- The cost of the keyword (CPC).
- Search volume.
- The estimated traffic a page gets from a given keyword.
- The landing page for the keyword.
- The ad for the keyword.
And more.
FAQ
How to find good keywords for SEO?
There are a few methods for that:
- Look up your competitors’ keywords – You can then try to rank for the same keywords or use them to find similar keywords.
- Use keyword research tools – Keyword research tools uncover hundreds of keyword ideas, along with their SEO metrics, based on just one word or phrase.
- Study what topics resonate with your audience – This way, you can discover untapped keywords, topics that you didn’t know about, or topics that are just beginning to trend.
Learn how to use each method in Keyword Research: The Beginner’s Guide by Ahrefs.
What is keyword difficulty?
Keyword difficulty is an SEO metric that estimates how hard it would be to rank on the first page of Google for a given keyword.
At Ahrefs, we measure it on a scale from 0 to 100 (the hardest), and it’s based on the estimated number of websites that link to the top 10 ranking pages. The more domains link to the top 10 pages, the more backlinks you’ll need to get to rank.
That’s the basics. If you want to estimate your chances of ranking more accurately, you’ll need to count in a couple more factors, such as the authority of your website and whether you have the ability to match search intent.
Learn more about the topic in Keyword Difficulty: How to Estimate Your Chances to Rank.
How do I use keywords on my website?
Try to choose one target keyword per page—this will be the topic of the page. You will still be able to rank for many other relevant keywords (no need for keyword stuffing). Then craft your content with these SEO good practices in mind:
- Be relevant by aligning your content with search intent (content type, format, and angle)
- Be thorough by including common subtopics searchers expect to see
- Include the keyword in the title
Learn more about targeting keywords with content in On-Page SEO: The Beginner’s Guide.
Keep learning
Interested in learning more about SEO and keywords? Try our other guides:
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