Keyword Research
Keyword Research
What is Keyword Research?
Keyword research is the process of finding and prioritising the search queries your target audience types into search engines, so you can create pages that match them. It combines discovering candidate keywords, estimating how often they are searched, judging how hard they are to rank for, and understanding the intent behind each one.
Good keyword research goes beyond volume. It groups related queries into topics, maps each topic to the page type that already ranks for it (a guide, a comparison, a product page, a tool), and highlights long-tail queries where a smaller or newer site can realistically compete. Sources include keyword tools, Google Search Console, autocomplete, People Also Ask boxes and competitors' rankings.
Why it matters for SEO
Keyword research decides what you publish. Targeting queries nobody searches wastes effort, while targeting only the most competitive head terms leaves a new site invisible for months. Well-chosen keywords, matched to intent, are the foundation for content plans, internal linking and measurable organic growth.
Example
A project-management startup starts with the seed "project management software", which is dominated by large brands. Research surfaces lower-competition queries such as "gantt chart template for construction" and "how to run a sprint retrospective". It plans a template page for the first and a how-to guide for the second, because those are the formats already ranking for each query.
Free tools for Keyword Research
Put the theory to work
LazySEO researches keywords, writes SEO articles and publishes them to your site on a schedule.