How to carry out keyword research for SEO?
- 1 What is a keyword? Is this the same as a search query?
- 2 What is search intent?
- 3 What is keyword research for SEO?
- 4 Is this the same as keyword analysis?
- 5 Why is keyword research so fundamental to SEO?
- 6 How do you know if you’ve chosen the right keywords?
- 7 What SEO keyword research tools can you use?
- 8 How do I carry out keyword research for SEO?
- 9 Understand broad vs longtail keywords
- 10 What do I do once completing my SEO keyword research?
- 11 Conclusion: make your SEO a success story with keyword research
- 12 References
When it comes to search engines, keywords (also referred to as search phrases, terms or queries) are at the beating heart of any successful SEO project, so it’s absolutely essential to understand how to carry out keyword research for SEO.
But, before diving into keywords, please check out our guide below to make sure you are familiar with all of the fundamentals:
SEO Basics: The Simple SEO Guide for Website Owners [UPDATED]
Keywords are so important that embarking on a keyword research project is usually one of the very first things you need to do when it comes to SEO. Keyword research is vital both for identifying your keywords in the first instance and improving your ranking in search engines like Google over time.
This guide will discuss how to find the perfect SEO keywords for your website using a range of keyword research and analysis techniques and tools.
Editor’s Note [14.02.25]: The following guide titled Keyword Research for SEO was written in 2020. As with all things related to SEO, the fundamentals remain, but this 2025 update aims to give the tutorial a new lease of life with additional useful information and up-to-date tools and methods, which you will find invaluable to your SEO endeavours.
What is a keyword? Is this the same as a search query?
To be successful in SEO, you’ll need to ensure that users can find your content on Google 1. It might sound obvious but for those wondering what a keyword is, it’s best to first explain what a search query is, i.e. a word or phrase (collection of words) that users will enter into a search engine like Google.
Searching for a keyword in Google
Keywords for SEO are simply the words or phrases that website owners optimise their websites for so that they can be found for the matching search query.
Quite often a keyword is exactly the same as a search query. For example, a website owner looks at their Google Search Console data (a free tool and a must for any website), then realises that they received a single click for the search query “fashional watches for sale”. They then decide to use this search query as their SEO keyword to optimise the page further.
Search engines like Google and Bing crawl the web looking for websites to index and re-index in their search results. As a part of this process, they crawl every page and every word used on those pages. Using clever algorithms, they then decide which web pages in their index match a user’s search query.
One of the ways they do this is by looking at the words (keywords) on the page to determine whether it’s a good fit and then displays them according to relevance, i.e. their ranking position in search results.
What is search intent?
Successful keyword research for SEO isn’t as simple as the above example though.
Quite often, tools like Google Search Console will reveal that a significant amount of traffic is irrelevant and for the wrong keywords. This is nearly always due to the absence of a keyword strategy, but the process should first start with understanding the ‘search intent‘ before diving into keyword research.
Remember, the goal of a search engine is to deliver the most accurate and valuable match to the user. They do this by trying to provide websites that match the user’s search intent.
In other words, search intent is the reason behind a user’s query, reflecting what they hope to achieve or find when searching online.
For a more detailed explanation of search intent for SEO, see our guide below:
What is keyword research for SEO?
Keyword research is largely what it sounds like. It’s the process of discovering the relevant keywords that apply to your site 2 and understanding whether they are worth pursuing.
Optimising your website for these keywords will help people find you, thus boosting your organic rankings in Google and traffic.
If you are unsure how to conduct effective keyword research, ask yourself the following questions.
- What common searches are users adding to Google and are these relevant to my website?
- How can my website help them answer those searches?
- Does anybody else already answer these searches? If so, are they good answers? Can they be improved?
- Is the competition for these searches too great, i.e. are those ranking on the first page global publications or retailers that would be impossible to compete with?
- How popular are these searches and how often do people search for them (search volume)?
- What keywords can I use to make it clear that my website can answer these searches?
- Are there other ways to answer them, e.g. using different words, phrases or angles?
Essentially, keyword research involves understanding what questions or queries your target audience are searching for.
Keyword research is not the only way to improve your rankings on Google, but it is one of the most important tools.
Is this the same as keyword analysis?
Keyword research simply provides you with a list of keywords that will benefit your SEO. You are unlikely to be able to use all of them without sacrificing quality in your copy, though.
Once you have a list of suitable keywords, the real work starts. You then need to understand which of these will benefit your website and SEO strategy most.
Keyword analysis is a deeper dive into these keywords and the impact they will have on your site 3.
Keyword research is only ‘step one’, keyword analysis is just as vital.
Examples of how keyword analysis can be used include checking:
- Which keywords are searched most often?
- Which keywords convert to the most clicks?
- Which keywords attract the most attention at particular times? “Wimbledon Tennis Final”, for example, will be much more active in July than November
- Which keywords yield the greatest return in advertising and marketing campaigns?
- Which keywords are easier or less competitive? A keyword like “dog” will always attract more attention than “canine”
Keyword analysis is an essential SEO practice upon completing your keyword research.
Why is keyword research so fundamental to SEO?
Simply spamming a single page with relevant keywords surrounded by copy will have a detrimental impact on your ranking.
Gone are the days when a website owner could stuff a page with keywords and see improvements in Google. Believe it or not, this used to work. These days, you are more see your page penalised due to Google’s algorithms. Therefore, it’s essential to consider keywords in a natural way so that your content is readable and adds value to your visitors.
You must ensure that your keyword research is used to answer specific questions.
This will appeal to the latest AI algorithm updates that prioritise search intent and accurately match questions with answers that demonstrate Experience, Expertise, Authority and Trustworthiness (E-E-A-T), a framework Google uses to rank content. Your content must be relevant and fresh!
Google is placing greater emphasis than ever on user behaviour too4. By undertaking appropriate keyword research and understanding the user’s intent, visitors are likelier to click through to your site – and stay put. This means identifying what a user could be searching for and how best to match their search with an answer.
Some typical examples are below:
- Informational searches – “What is”, “How to do”, “What are”, “Examples of” – typically where a user’s intent is to find an answer to a question
- Transactional searches – “Buy a”, “Sell my”, “Purchase a”, “Shop for” – typically where a user’s intent is transactional e.g. relating to buying/selling products or eCommerce
- Visual searches – “Show me”, “View a”, “Present a” – these searches are normally where a user’s intent is to view something visually
How do you know if you’ve chosen the right keywords?
In theory, you will notice as search engines re-index your site and crawl the keywords.
The assumption here is that you’ve selected relevant keywords, used them naturally on your web page and have checked that they have a reasonable search volume.
However, it can take much longer in practice to see results due to other factors including the age/reputation of the website, authority and promotional work undertaken. Sometimes it can take anything between 3-12 months to know for sure.
But once you do know, it’s time to see what tools like Google Search Console, Analytics and Rank Trackers tell you about the the keywords.
Keyword ranking analysis
The first thing to check is your ranking positions. There are a vast array of paid tools available to help you do this, including:
- Google Search Console – A free tool that provides insights into your website’s performance in Google Search, including average keyword positions, impressions, and click-through rates.
- SEMrush – A comprehensive SEO platform offering keyword tracking, competitor analysis, and site audits. Pricing starts at $139.95/month.
- Ahrefs – Known for its extensive backlink analysis and keyword research tools, Ahrefs provides detailed rank-tracking features.
- Moz Pro – Offers keyword tracking, site audits, and backlink analysis.
- SE Ranking – Provides keyword rank tracking, competitor analysis, and site audits.
You can also use Google Analytics in conjunction with Google Search Console to check keyword positions and landing page and various other metrics that are useful to SEO.
How to check the search queries and clicks your website gets using Google Search Console
It’s always nice to see rankings improve for keywords, but this won’t tell you very much without seeing traffic as a result.
When you see your traffic improve using a tool like Google Search Console, you will know that your keyword research is working.
Keyword traffic analytics
However, it doesn’t end with Google Search Console and rank trackers.
Just because you have received traffic doesn’t necessarily mean it’s good-quality traffic. You need the ‘right kind’ of traffic and user engagement.
This is where tools like Google Analytics come in, as they will help you to check important metrics related to user behaviour, such as ‘engagement time’ and ‘engagement rate’.
If you have a poor ‘engagement time’ or low ‘engagement rate’, there’s a good chance that you have the wrong keyword or have made an error elsewhere in your SEO strategy.
If your keyword is ranking well (typically positions 1 to 5 depending on the other results), but it’s not generating any traffic, this is another indicator that you don’t have the right keyword strategy.
Keyword research for SEO and traffic analysis are the building blocks of SEO
By undertaking the keyword analysis that we previously discussed, you’ll gain a better understanding of the impact of your keywords.
You can learn all about this here:
From UA to GA4, Top Google Analytics Tips to Measure SEO Results [UPDATED]
And, for more advanced AI-driven SEO keyword analysis, check out below:
How to use ChatGPT with Google Search Console CSV Data to Uncover SEO Analytics & Hidden Insights
From UA to GA4, Top Google Analytics Tips to Measure SEO Results [UPDATED]
What SEO keyword research tools can you use?
As well as Google Search Console and Google Analytics for checking search traffic, there are many other SEO keyword research tools available.
If you’re keen to learn how to use keywords effectively, you should investigate some – or even all – of these tools:
- Google Keyword Planner
- Google Trends
- Sovle
- SE Cockpit
- Moz Keyword Explorer
- Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
- SurferSEO Keyword Research
There is no shame in getting help with your keyword research. These tools will help – and, naturally, the SEO team at Opace are ready to assist whenever necessary.
How do I carry out keyword research for SEO?
To conduct the most impactful SEO keyword research and analysis, first refer to our search intent article above. Together, these two articles will act as the ultimate how-to guide to keyword research and understanding your target audience.
We’ve given some ideas above, but if you’re unsure how to practice effective keyword research, try these top tips:
- Think of relevant words and questions that relate to your business
- Ask others to brainstorm their keyword ideas
- Research related terms and synonyms, i.e. other ways people may search
- View the sites of high-performing competitors, noting their use of keywords
- Take inspiration from Google’s “People also search for” and “People also ask” boxes
- Group and cluster your keywords around relevant, relatable themes and questions – this will help you to form part of your content creation strategy and develop Topical Authority.
For more help and advice on these tips, make sure you visit below. Together, these guides will help you to understand what is meant by Topical Authority and how to use AI tools like ChatGPT to come up with keyword ideas and undertake research.
Using AI For SEO: “Mind Blowing” ChatGPT SEO Guide [UPDATED]
Understand broad vs longtail keywords
You should also master the difference between broad and longtail keywords 5.
The main difference here is that broad keywords are usually more competitive words or phrases and tend to generate more traffic. Longtail keywords, as the name suggests, are longer multi-word phrases and tend to be more specific to your business. This makes your site likelier to rank well as a result of algorithm updates like Hummingbird and RankBrain.
With longtail keywords, users are more likely to stay on your site longer as you will have been able to answer their search directly.
Here are some examples of how broad and longtail keywords can attract similar visitors:
| Long Tail | Broad |
| “What time is the new James Bond movie showing at my local cinema?” | James Bond Movie Cinema |
| “How to bake a loaf of bread using yeast in an oven” | Bake Bread Yeast Oven |
| “Are size 42 running shoes a size 8 in the UK?” | Running Shoes Size UK |
| “How to carry out keyword research and improve my SEO performance?” | Keyword Research SEO |
As you’ll see, the longtail keywords answer a very specific question and are far more likely to provide the answer needed.
The broad keywords may do so, too – but equally, they could take a visitor down an unrelated rabbit hole of content that results in poor user behaviour metrics. The visitor will quickly leave the site and your SEO is likely to be impacted as a result.
If a user is searching through Siri or Alexa, they are likelier to use longtail SEO terms
A successful website needs to strike the balance between using these twin techniques – especially in the age of voice assistants, where more users may conduct Google searches verbally rather than through typing.
What do I do once completing my SEO keyword research?
Once you have completed your keyword research for SEO, it’s time to move on to keyword analysis and use this to perfect your SEO strategy.
But what next? Following your keyword research and analysis, you’ll need to put them to work.
This means taking the time to carefully consider the meta tags to accompany each page and each keyword:
How to Write the Perfect Meta Title and Description Tags for SEO [UPDATED]
You’ll then need to write keyword-optimised content while focusing on providing useful and helpful information:
Why Good Content Matters: SEO Content Creation Guidelines [UPDATED]
Finally, you’ll need to review the performance of your SEO keywords, plan and re-plan your SEO efforts to capitalise on what’s working well and tackle areas that offer opportunities for improvement.
This completes our guide to keyword research for SEO, but remember, keywords are just one part of the SEO puzzle. For more SEO quick wins and advice, check out below:
Conclusion: make your SEO a success story with keyword research
The key to success in SEO is taking the time to master the art of SEO keyword research and analysis.
Once you understand how to do this, you will see your rankings improve, traffic increase and overall SEO performance grow. With search engine algorithms changing all of the time, getting your keywords right is more important than it has ever been.
Opace are specialists in the field of keyword research and SEO management. Our team is are always on hand to help, so if you are struggling to see results feel free to get in touch.
Just remember, identifying keywords is not sufficient on its own, you need to also understand how to use them.
References
- searchenginejournal.com/SEO-101/why-keywords-important-SEO
- moz.com/beginners-guide-to-SEO/keyword-research
- ahrefs.com/blog/keyword-research/#analyzing-keywords
- neilpatel.com/blog/the-advanced-guide-to-user-behavior-data-and-how-it-affects-search-rankings
- verticalrail.com/kb/the-difference-between-long-tail-broad-keywords
Image Credits – www.pexels.com/fauxels; www.pixabay.com/tumisu; www.pixabay.com/mohamed_hassan
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