Keyword Research
The process of finding what your target audience actually searches for. The foundation of any SEO strategy. Get this wrong and everything you build on top of it is wasted effort.
Why It Matters
Every SEO campaign starts with keyword research. It tells you what your audience wants, how they search for it, and how competitive those searches are. Without it, you're guessing - creating content that might target phrases nobody searches for, or competing for terms you can't realistically win.
Good keyword research doesn't just find high-volume terms. It uncovers the intent behind searches, identifies gaps your competitors haven't covered, and maps keywords to your business goals. It's the difference between a random collection of blog posts and a strategic content plan.
In Practice
Start with seed keywords related to your business, then expand using tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or even Google's autocomplete and People Also Ask. Look at what competitors rank for that you don't.
Group keywords by intent. Informational keywords ("how to fix crawl errors") need educational content. Commercial keywords ("best SEO agency") need comparison or service pages. Transactional keywords ("hire SEO consultant") need conversion-optimised landing pages.
Map every target keyword to a specific page on your site. If no page exists for a valuable keyword, that's a content gap to fill. If multiple pages target the same keyword, that's cannibalisation to fix.
Related Terms
Glossary
Search Intent
The reason behind a search query - matching it is more important than matching keywords.
Glossary
Long-Tail Keyword
Longer, more specific search queries - lower volume but higher intent and easier to rank for.
Glossary
Keyword Difficulty (KD)
A tool-generated estimate of how hard it is to rank for a specific keyword.
Glossary
Keyword Cannibalisation
When multiple pages on your site compete for the same keyword, splitting authority.
Glossary
Content Cluster
A group of related pages around a core topic, connected by internal links.
Know the Words.
Now See Them in Action.
Free teardown. No jargon. Just what's broken and how to fix it.
Get The Teardown