- How do Search Engines Work?
- The Fundamentals of SEO
- Why is SEO important & why should you invest?
- Google penalties
- A guide to buyer personas and why they’re important
What are Keywords?
Keywords are search queries. Whenever you type (or say) a query into a search engine, that string of words is what is known as keywords. You may also hear keywords referred to as search terms, search queries, or simply searches.
Categorising Keywords by Intent
- Navigational (a.k.a searching for a specific brand)
- Informational (looking for information)
- Transactional (wanting to make a purchase)
The names are self explanatory but are key to how we prioritise our keywords.
Categorising Keyword By Length
What are the objectives of keyword research?
Monthly Search Volume
Competitiveness
Tracking Success
All marketing campaigns need to be tracked and in order to track, we need baseline, or agreed metrics. The ability to track positions related to target keywords provides a key data point on which we can judge the success of our efforts. As we will see, the overall success is not solely reliant on rankings for specific keywords, but it is certainly a good place to start.
A Simple Process for SEO Keyword Research
Step One: Brainstorming
Step Two: Find Relevant Keywords
Finding related keywords through tools



We can also look at more specific keyword research tools like Answer the Public which generates numerous options. You can then take it even further by using SparkToro to explore terminology used by your buyer personas. If you’re so inclined you can also dive into Buzzsumo to see the type of language used by the most socially shared content on a topic.
Finding Related Keywords through Search Engines



The name of this feature would lead you to believe that it is the most useful during this exercise. However, you’ll notice that the listed ‘related searches’ are the same as the Autosuggest. Still useful, but more of a repeated feature.
Rinse & Repeat
Step Three: Categorise Your Keywords
- Intent
- Length
- Search Volume
- Topic
- Relevance
[…] already looked at buyer personas and keyword research. We’ve likely already conducted a portion of competitor research during these phases anyway. […]