Keyword Research: How to Find Keywords Worth Targeting

Keyword research is the most important input into any SEO strategy — and the most commonly done wrong. The mistake isn't a lack of effort; most businesses produce long lists of keywords. The mistake is optimising for the wrong criteria: chasing high-volume keywords without assessing competition, or targeting keywords with search volume but no commercial intent.

Good keyword research is about finding the intersection of three things: queries your potential customers actually search, queries with achievable competition for your current domain authority, and queries where ranking will produce business value, not just traffic.

The keyword evaluation framework

Every keyword you target should pass a three-part test before it makes it onto your content calendar:

1. Intent match: is the searcher likely to be a potential customer? A post about 'how to do your own SEO' attracts DIYers, not buyers. A post about 'how much does SEO cost' attracts buyers researching agency fees.
2. Competition reality check: open the SERP and look at who ranks on page 1. If the top 5 results are all DR70+ sites with thousands of backlinks and you're a DR30 new site, you will not rank for this keyword in the near term.
3. Business value: if you ranked page 1, would this keyword drive leads or sales? Traffic for its own sake has no business value. 500 monthly visitors who don't buy are worth less than 50 monthly visitors who do.

Finding seed keywords

Start with what your customers say, not what an SEO tool suggests. The best seed keywords come from: direct conversations with customers about how they describe their problem, the language in your incoming email enquiries, questions asked at sales calls, and review language on your own profiles and competitors'. These reveal the real vocabulary of buying intent — which often differs significantly from industry jargon.

Competitor keyword gap analysis

Your competitors have already done keyword research — you can benefit from theirs. Using tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Moz, run a competitor keyword gap analysis: find keywords your direct competitors rank for that you don't. Filter by keywords with commercial intent and competition you can realistically achieve. This shortcut identifies proven, valuable keywords without starting from scratch.

Search intent: the most important dimension most keyword tools ignore

Every keyword has an intent: informational (I want to learn), navigational (I want to find a specific site), commercial (I'm researching before buying), or transactional (I'm ready to buy). Matching your content type to the intent of the keyword is the most important keyword decision you make.

A transactional keyword like 'buy project management software' needs a product or pricing page, not a blog post. An informational keyword like 'how does project management software work' needs an educational article. Getting this backwards — writing a blog post for a transactional keyword — is one of the most common content strategy mistakes, and it's why pages with strong content still fail to rank.

Building your keyword map

A keyword map assigns one primary keyword (and 2–5 related terms) to each page of your site. No two pages should target the same primary keyword — this creates keyword cannibalism, where your own pages compete against each other and neither ranks well. Every new piece of content should start with: what single keyword does this page own?

Prioritising your keyword list

Once you have a validated keyword list, prioritise by the combination of: business value (how much is this worth if we rank?), competition achievability (can we realistically reach page 1 in the next 12 months?), and time to impact (quick wins first, then longer-term competitive targets). Start with keywords your domain can rank for now, build authority through those early wins, then progress to more competitive targets as your site's authority grows.