AI search and working with a developer
What is Keyword research?
Keyword research is finding the queries your buyers actually type, and judging which you can realistically win. For a site with no authority the second half matters more than the first — volume you cannot compete for is not opportunity.
Also called: keyword analysis
Sources that cost nothing
- Search Console query data, once you have any impressions — the best source there is, and free
- Autocomplete and People Also Ask, which are literal records of what people type
- The questions clients ask on calls, which almost nobody mines
- Competitor page titles, which show what they decided to target
Judging whether you can win
- Search the term and look at what ranks. Brands or independents?
- Check whether the top results genuinely answer it, or merely mention it
- Ask whether you can produce something better, not merely equivalent
- Prefer specific over broad. Ten winnable long-tail terms beat one head term you will not reach
The allocation discipline
One primary keyword per URL, decided before writing. Two pages targeting the same term is cannibalisation, and it is far cheaper to prevent at planning time than to diagnose six months later.
Where this is covered in depth
A definition can only go so far. The 35 types of SEO, explained without the padding covers this properly — 6 minutes, free, no email required.
Who wrote this
Anas Bin Masud builds e-commerce sites and does technical SEO for businesses in the UK, Canada and Pakistan. These definitions come from client work rather than from a content brief — where an entry describes a mistake, it is usually one found on a real site. More about how I work.