After you’ve found a great keyword worth targeting for your website (i.e., it has a low KD score, higher search volume, and high CPC value), you’ll then need to keep track of it.
Some keyword research tools have a feature that allows you to save the terms you find into a list for later recall but this option doesn’t help much with building out a long-term content publishing strategy. And some tools don’t even allow you to check off keywords after you’ve written an article about them so you don’t make the mistake of accidentally targeting them again.
So the best thing you can do after finding a good set of keywords is to copy them into a keyword tracking template of your own. This method will allow you to collect all the important keyword metrics for later sorting when you get to the next stage of creating your content publishing schedule. Plus, you own that data without any risk of losing the metrics if you ever decide to stop using a particular keyword research tool.
Now, you can create your own keyword tracking template with software like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets based on the list of keyword metrics below. Or, you can grab a copy of the pre-made tracking spreadsheet I’ve developed to be used alongside this playbook so you don’t have to make it from scratch by purchasing the Keyword Accelerator Cheatsheets & Tracking Templates Add-On.
The spreadsheet includes a downloadable file you can open and use in Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets to track all of the optimal keywords you’re uncovering during the keyword research process.
Below are the most important metrics your keyword tracking template should include, which should make up the top header columns in the spreadsheet.
- Keyword
- Type
- Search Volume
- KD Score
- CPC Value
- Scheduled
Sample Keyword Tracking Template
| Keyword | Type | Search Volume | KD Score | CPC Value | Scheduled |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| how to grill ribs on charcoal | Informational | 320 | 20 | $2.14 | Yes |
| how to grill frozen burgers | Informational | 400 | 25 | $1.84 | Yes |
| best infrared grills | Transactional | 550 | 13 | $23.58 | No |
| when is charcoal ready to cook on | Informational | 110 | 7 | $1.19 | No |
| flattop grill for bbq | Transactional | 1300 | 18 | $31.23 | No |
A few notes about these columns:
- The “Keyword” column should just contain the search term.
- The “Type” column should contain variables for “Informational”, “Transactional”, and “Navigational” so you know what type of content the article is targeting.
- The “Search Volume” column should only have the average monthly searches as reported in the keyword research tool.
- The “KD Score” column should include the keyword difficulty score if your keyword research tool shows that metric. If it doesn’t, you can use your own rating system like a scale of 1-10 if you’re using a tool like LowFruits that shows the number of Weak Spots in the top 10 SERP positions rather than a specific KD score.
- The “CPC Value” should contain the reported cost-per-click that advertisers are willing to spend on a particular keyword.
- The “Scheduled” column is used to keep track of the keywords you’ve chosen to add to your Content Publishing Schedule Template, which is explained in the next section of this playbook. This Schedule field should contain a “Yes” or “No” next to each keyword in the list to indicate which keywords have already been assigned to your Content Publishing Schedule Template so you don’t write more than one article based on the same keyword.
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