Keyword Research
The process of finding, analysing, and selecting keywords for SEO and content strategy.
In brief
Keyword research is the foundation of SEO. It involves brainstorming, collecting queries from various sources (Wordstat, Google Keyword Planner, suggestions), evaluating search volume, difficulty, intent, and then grouping and prioritising keywords for page optimisation.
What is Keyword Research
Keyword research answers: 'What is my target audience searching for?', 'How often?', 'Can I rank for these queries?', and 'Which pages should I create for each query?'. Without proper research, you risk creating content that no one searches for or entering high‑competition niches unprepared.
Keyword research steps
- Brainstorming – list main topics, services, customer problems.
- Keyword collection – use scrapers (KeyCollector), Wordstat, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, search suggestions.
- Metric analysis – volume, difficulty (KD), CPC, seasonality.
- Intent determination – informational / commercial / transactional.
- Clustering – group close queries under one page.
- Prioritisation – select keywords with the best (traffic / difficulty) ratio.
- Mapping – assign clusters to existing or new URLs.
Popular Keyword Research tools
- Yandex Wordstat – free, essential for Runet.
- Google Keyword Planner – for international markets, requires Google Ads account.
- Ahrefs Keywords Explorer – detailed KD, long‑tail, SERP history.
- Semrush – comprehensive keyword analytics, competitive gap analysis.
- Ubersuggest – budget option with basic metrics.
- AnswerThePublic – generates user questions.
Prioritisation formula: `Priority = (Search Volume * Relevance * Conversion Potential) / Keyword Difficulty`. Relevance and Conversion Potential are subjective scores (1–10).
FAQ
Common questions
From a few dozen for a landing page to hundreds of thousands for a large e‑commerce store. For a blog, 100–500 seed keywords are fine.
At least every 6 months, or when new products/services appear, or when strategy changes.
Not mechanically, but organically. Try to answer each question behind the query, use synonyms and LSI terms. The key is to avoid keyword stuffing.
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