How to Pick Keywords for Smarter SEO

Do not index

Picking the right keywords has almost nothing to do with SEO tools, at least not at first. The real work begins with a deep-dive into your audience’s biggest problems and your own business goals. Get this part right, and every keyword you target will feel like a natural fit for a real customer's needs, not just a number in a spreadsheet.

Build Your Foundation Before You Search

Jumping straight into a keyword tool is like trying to build a house without a blueprint. Sure, you might find some cool-looking materials (keywords), but they won’t come together to form a structure that actually serves a purpose. The best SEO strategies are always built on a solid foundation of audience and competitor insights.

This initial, non-tool phase is easily the most important part of keyword research. It filters out all the irrelevant noise from the get-go, saving you dozens of hours chasing keywords that only attract tire-kickers or fail to convert. It forces a mindset shift from "what are people searching for?" to the much more powerful "what problems are my ideal customers trying to solve?"

Get Inside Your Audience's Head

Your goal here is simple: know your audience so well that you can pinpoint the exact words and phrases they type into Google when they’re stuck. You're not guessing; you're gathering field intelligence.

Think like a plumber. They don't just target "plumbing services." They know their customers are frantically searching for "leaky faucet under sink," "how to fix a running toilet," or "emergency plumber near me." That kind of specificity only comes from really knowing your audience.

So, where do you find this goldmine of information?

Customer Interviews: Actually talk to your customers. Ask them about the challenges they were facing right before they found you. What words did they use to describe their problem?

Sales Team Feedback: Your sales team is on the front lines, hearing objections and fielding questions every single day. They know your customers' pain points and the exact language they use better than anyone.

Online Communities: Go hang out where your audience lives online. Dive into forums like Reddit, Quora, or niche Facebook groups. The questions they ask and the frustrations they vent about are your keyword ideas.

This process lets you build a simple customer profile focused on problems and language. It ensures your keyword strategy is customer-centric from day one.

Analyze Your Competitors Strategically

Once you have a handle on your audience, it’s time to see how your competitors are trying to reach them. Competitor analysis isn't about blindly copying what they do. It’s about reverse-engineering their content strategy to find gaps and opportunities they've missed.

Look at the top-ranking content for the problems you've identified. Ask yourself a few key questions:

What specific questions are they answering?

What format is their content (e.g., blog post, video, calculator)?

What's the overall tone and angle? Is it for beginners or experts?

Let's say you sell project management software for small teams. You'll definitely see competitors ranking for "best project management tools." Instead of fighting them head-on, look for a gap. Maybe you could create killer content for "simple project management tools for non-technical teams" or "how to manage a project without a dedicated project manager." See the difference?

This kind of strategic analysis helps you carve out an underserved niche and create content that actually stands out. By understanding what your competitors are doing, you can figure out how to do it better or—even more powerfully—do it differently. That's how you start building real authority.

For a deeper dive into this concept, our guide on what is topical authority breaks down how this approach helps you completely own your niche.

Doing this foundational work transforms your keyword research from a reactive chore into a proactive strategy. It gives you the context you need to make smart decisions, ensuring that every single piece of content you create serves a clear purpose for both your audience and your business.

Go Beyond Words and Master Search Intent

So, you've got a list of keywords. That's a great start, but it's only half the battle. To really win at SEO, you need to get inside your audience's head and understand the why behind their search. This is the heart and soul of search intent—the true motivation driving someone to type something into Google.

Honestly, getting this right is probably the single most important part of picking keywords that actually work.

Think about it. The person searching for "best running shoes" is in a completely different headspace than someone searching "how to clean running shoes." The first is weighing their options, ready to buy. The second just wants a quick answer to a problem.

If you create the wrong kind of content for either of those queries, it's guaranteed to flop. It won't connect with the user, and as a result, it will never rank.

The Four Flavors of Search Intent

When you boil it down, search intent usually falls into four main buckets. Once you learn to spot which bucket a keyword belongs to, you can create content that feels like it was made just for that user.

Informational: The user has a question and they're looking for an answer. Their goal is pure knowledge. Think "what is content marketing" or "how to tie a tie."

Navigational: The user knows exactly where they want to go online and is just using Google as a shortcut. Searches like "Outrank login" or "Starbucks near me" fit this mold.

Commercial: This is the investigation stage. The user is thinking about buying something and is busy comparing products, reading reviews, and trying to find the best option. Queries like "Ahrefs vs Semrush" or "best CRM for small business" are classic examples.

Transactional: The user has their credit card out and is ready to pull the trigger right now. These keywords are gold and often include words like "buy," "deal," or "coupon," like "buy Nike Air Max" or "Outrank pricing."

Knowing the difference here stops you from, say, writing a 2,000-word "how-to" guide when all the user really wants is a product page with a big "Add to Cart" button. It’s all about matching your message to the user's specific moment.

How to Decode Intent Straight from the Source: Google

Forget fancy tools for a minute. Your best detective for figuring out search intent is Google itself. The search engine results page (SERP) is basically a treasure map showing you exactly what Google thinks people want to see for any given keyword.

Here’s how you do it. Open an incognito browser window (so your own search history doesn't skew the results) and pop in your target keyword. Now, put on your detective hat and analyze what you see.

What types of pages are ranking? Are you seeing blog posts? Product pages? Category pages from e-commerce sites? Videos? If the top results for "kitchen remodel ideas" are all super-visual, image-heavy blog posts, your text-only article is dead on arrival.

What SERP features are popping up? Is there a "People Also Ask" box? An image pack? A video carousel or a bunch of shopping ads? These little features are huge clues about what kind of information people are craving.

What do the titles and meta descriptions say? Pay attention to the language. Titles packed with words like "Guide," "How To," and "Tips" are screaming informational intent. Phrases like "Compare," "Review," and "Best of" are clear signs of a commercial investigation.

For instance, if you search "best email marketing software," you're going to see a wall of comparison articles, top-10 listicles, and review sites. That tells you the intent is commercial. The user doesn't want to land on a single product page; they want an expert to help them weigh their options.

Getting this analysis right is fundamental. It's the bridge that connects your keyword list to a great user experience, which is what modern SEO is all about. In fact, solid customer experience optimization begins by nailing search intent from that very first click. It's also a huge piece of the puzzle for what is semantic SEO, helping search engines understand the deeper context of your content.

Find High-Potential Keywords with the Right Tools

Once you’ve got a solid grip on who your audience is and what they’re trying to accomplish with their searches, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and get into the tools. The mission here isn’t to drown yourself in a spreadsheet with thousands of random terms. It’s about being strategic and finding the keywords that actually have the potential to move the needle for your business.

This all starts with what we call seed keywords. Think of these as the broad, foundational topics that are core to your brand. If you sell hiking gear, your seed keywords are the obvious ones: "hiking boots," "backpacking gear," or "waterproof jackets." They’re the simple starting blocks from which all your more specific ideas will branch out.

Starting Your Search with Core Tools

Most SEOs, myself included, have a go-to toolkit, and for good reason. Platforms like Ahrefs and Google Keyword Planner are absolute powerhouses for transforming those simple seed keywords into a massive, actionable list of ideas.

Let’s imagine you're launching a new online coffee subscription service. You might kick things off with a seed keyword like "specialty coffee beans."

Pop that into Ahrefs' Keyword Explorer, and you’ll instantly get back thousands of related terms. From here, you can start slicing and dicing the data to find the good stuff.

Question-Based Keywords: Keep an eye out for queries like "how to grind coffee beans without a grinder" or "what is the best coffee for french press." These are golden opportunities for creating helpful blog content that catches your ideal customer long before they're ready to buy.

Comparison Keywords: Terms like "arabica vs robusta beans" or "burr grinder vs blade grinder" signal clear commercial intent. The searcher is actively comparing their options, making this prime territory for a detailed comparison guide that positions you as the expert.

This initial deep dive with a core tool will build the foundation of your keyword master list, giving you a bird's-eye view of your entire niche.

In fact, 94.74% of all keywords see 10 or fewer searches per month. While that might sound tiny, these super-specific, long-tail keywords often convert like crazy because the user intent is so precise. This analysis of search behavior statistics breaks down even more of these trends.

Uncovering Hidden Gems Beyond Traditional Tools

Here’s the thing: if you only rely on the big-name SEO tools, you're fishing in the same pond as every single one of your competitors. The real magic happens when you go off the beaten path to find the keywords everyone else is overlooking. These are often the raw, conversational terms your audience uses every day.

Your own website is a fantastic place to start. Dig into your internal site search data. What are people already on your site looking for? This is a direct line into what they expect to find but are currently missing.

Next, you have to go where your audience actually hangs out.

Reddit: Find subreddits related to your niche (like r/coffee, in our example). Scan the post titles and the questions buried in the comments. You'll find absolute gems like "best coffee for cold brew beginners" or "is a gooseneck kettle worth it."

Quora: The entire platform is built on questions. Search for your seed keywords and look at all the related questions that pop up. These are direct insights into the problems your audience needs help solving, straight from the source.

Want to go even deeper on this? Our guide on how to find search volumes for keywords has more advanced techniques you can use.

When you blend the powerful, quantitative data from a tool like Ahrefs with the raw, qualitative insights from community sites, you end up with a truly comprehensive keyword list. This list will have a healthy mix of different keyword types, each playing a unique role in your content strategy.

Keyword Type Analysis and When to Use Them

Not all keywords are created equal. Understanding the different types and their strategic purpose is crucial for building a content plan that actually drives results, from brand awareness all the way to a final sale.

Here's a breakdown to help you make sense of it all:

Keyword Type	Primary User Intent	Search Volume	Conversion Potential	Best Use Case
Informational	"I want to know..." (e.g., "how to brew pour over")	High to Medium	Low	Top-of-funnel blog posts, guides, and how-to articles.
Navigational	"I want to go to..." (e.g., "blue bottle coffee login")	Varies	N/A	Ensuring your brand and login pages rank for your own name.
Commercial	"I want to compare..." (e.g., "best coffee grinders")	Medium to Low	Medium to High	Comparison guides, reviews, and "best of" listicles.
Transactional	"I want to buy..." (e.g., "buy ethiopian yirgacheffe")	Low	High	Product pages, category pages, and service pages.
Long-Tail	Highly specific query (e.g., "light roast single origin coffee for espresso")	Very Low	Very High	Niche blog posts, FAQ pages, and highly targeted product pages.

By mapping your keyword list to these categories, you can ensure your content strategy is balanced. You'll have content that attracts new audiences, helps them make decisions, and ultimately converts them into customers.

Turn Your Keyword List Into an Action Plan

So you've got a massive spreadsheet filled with keywords. Now what? A sprawling list isn't a strategy—it's just a source of overwhelm. This is where the magic happens, where we turn that raw data into a clear, actionable roadmap for your content.

Instead of getting bogged down by thousands of terms, we’re going to filter them through a simple framework to find the gems. The goal is to move from a giant list to a prioritized plan, quickly spotting the immediate opportunities (your "quick wins") and the ones that are part of a longer game. This way, every single piece of content you create has a purpose and a real shot at ranking.

This decision tree gives you a simplified path for kicking off your keyword discovery, guiding you from a single seed idea all the way to using powerful research tools.

Ultimately, what this shows is that whether you start with a keyword you already know or need to research your niche from scratch, the process always leads to dedicated tools to expand and sharpen your list.

Prioritize Keywords With a Simple Framework

To figure out which keywords to go after first, you need to evaluate each one against three critical factors. Forget complex formulas; this is a practical gut-check for potential.

Business Relevance: How closely does this keyword actually connect to a product or service you offer? A high-relevance keyword is a direct line to what you sell. For our business, a term like "AI content generator" is way more relevant than "what is a blog."

Authority to Rank: Let's be honest—can you realistically compete for this keyword right now? Your authority is your site's overall SEO strength. If you're a new blog, trying to rank for a keyword dominated by giants like Forbes or HubSpot is a recipe for failure.

Traffic Potential: Does this keyword get enough searches to even matter? While chasing massive volume isn't always the answer, targeting a term with zero searches won't move the needle. You're looking for that sweet spot: reasonable volume with manageable competition.

By scoring each keyword on these three pillars, you can sort your list in minutes. The ones with high relevance, beatable competition, and decent search volume shoot straight to the top of your priority list.

Group Keywords Into Topic Clusters

Your prioritized keywords shouldn't live on an island. The smartest way to build authority and deliver real value is by grouping related keywords into topic clusters. This strategy involves creating a central "pillar" page on a broad topic, then surrounding it with "cluster" content that dives into more specific subtopics.

Let's say your pillar topic is "small business accounting." Your cluster content could look something like this:

"how to choose accounting software for small business"

"small business tax deductions checklist"

"quarterly estimated tax payments guide"

Each of these cluster posts links back to the main pillar page. This sends a powerful signal to Google that you have deep expertise on the entire subject, helping you build the topical authority needed to rank for more competitive terms down the road. You can get the full scoop on this powerful strategy in our guide explaining what is keyword clustering.

Consider Localization and Language

As you build out your plan, don't forget that search is global. Localization is no longer a "nice-to-have"—it's essential. The stats are pretty staggering: 75% of users prefer to buy products in their native language. It's no surprise that websites adapting their keyword strategies for different cultures can see organic traffic jump by as much as 70% within a year.

This means if you serve an international audience, a direct translation of your keywords just won't cut it. You have to research how people in different cultures actually search.

Use AI to Future-Proof Your Keyword Strategy

Keyword research isn’t what it used to be—a static game of finding terms and climbing the ranks. Search is in constant motion, and AI is behind some of the biggest shifts we’ve seen in years.

This doesn't mean your old-school keyword skills are useless. Far from it. But it does mean we have to think smarter and more proactively. Treating AI as a strategic partner is the only way to stay ahead of the curve.

The idea isn’t to hand over the reins completely. It’s about using artificial intelligence to sharpen your own expertise, helping you see around corners and get inside your audience’s head like never before.

AI tools can crunch massive datasets to pick up on subtle trends and patterns a human could never spot. This is how you stop reacting to what people searched for yesterday and start anticipating what they’ll be looking for tomorrow.

Generate Creative Angles and Keyword Clusters

One of the best ways to get started with AI is for simple brainstorming and expansion. You’ve already done the hard work of identifying your core topics, and now you can use AI to explore every possible tangent. This is where you find those golden, untapped opportunities.

For instance, instead of feeding an AI tool a generic prompt like "keywords for content marketing," get specific. Try something like, "Generate a list of long-tail keywords for a small business owner who is new to content marketing and worried about the cost." Suddenly, you have a list of highly targeted, intent-driven keywords you might have otherwise missed.

AI is also brilliant at creating logical groupings, transforming a messy spreadsheet of keywords into clean, structured topic clusters. Because it understands the semantic relationships between terms, it’s the perfect assistant for building out a pillar and cluster content strategy. You can give it 100 keywords and ask it to sort them into five distinct thematic groups.

Understand Deeper Layers of User Intent

We all know search intent is king, but AI pushes this concept to a whole new level. It can analyze the subtle nuances in language to predict not just what a user wants, but their emotional state or the specific context behind their search. This is especially powerful for conversational and voice search.

Think about someone using a smart speaker. They might ask, "Hey Google, what's the best way to get a coffee stain out of a white shirt right now?" That little phrase, "right now," signals urgency. An AI-powered analysis would flag this, telling you to create content that offers a quick, scannable solution—not a 2,000-word guide. That’s how you create content that truly hits the mark.

The integration of AI is one of the biggest shifts in modern keyword research, and it’s a massive market. The AI industry is projected to hit $190 billion by 2025, with a huge slice of that going toward marketing and SEO applications. You can discover more about future-proof SEO trends to see just how much these changes are shaping our day-to-day strategies.

Predict Future Trends and Stay Agile

Here’s where AI really shows its power: future-proofing your strategy. By constantly analyzing search data, social media chatter, and industry news, AI models can spot emerging topics long before they hit the mainstream.

This predictive skill lets you create content for keywords while the competition is still low. It’s the classic definition of skating to where the puck is going, not where it’s been. By exploring some of the top AI-powered SEO tools available today, you can give your team the tech they need to find these hidden gems.

To make this work for you, think of AI as a tool for validation and discovery:

Validate your ideas: Found a keyword you think has potential? Run it through an AI tool to analyze related topics and see if there’s enough substance for a full topic cluster.

Discover new niches: Ask AI to find sub-topics in your industry that show growing interest but have very little quality content available.

Optimize for conversation: Use it to generate question-based keywords that sound like how people actually talk. This gets your content ready for voice search and AI chatbots.

Bringing AI into your workflow ensures your keyword strategy isn't just effective today, but nimble enough to handle whatever comes next in the world of search.

Common Keyword Research Questions

As you get your hands dirty with keyword research, the same questions always seem to pop up. It’s a process, and it’s rarely a straight line from A to B. It's easy to get bogged down in the details. Let's walk through some of the most common hurdles I see people run into, with straightforward answers to help you move forward.

Trust me, even seasoned SEO pros double-check their gut feelings on this stuff. Getting these fundamentals right saves you hours of second-guessing and gets you from research to ranking much faster.

How Many Keywords Should I Target Per Page?

This is easily the most common question I get, and thankfully, the answer is simpler than you might think. For any single page or blog post, you should have one primary keyword. This is your North Star—the phrase that perfectly captures the core topic of your content.

But here’s the magic: a single, well-written page should and will rank for dozens, sometimes hundreds, of related secondary keywords and long-tail phrases.

Think of it like this: your primary keyword is the sun, and your secondary keywords are the planets orbiting it. If your primary keyword is "best home espresso machine," your content will naturally include and rank for related terms like:

"espresso machine for beginners"

"what to look for in an espresso machine"

"affordable home espresso setup"

"semi-automatic vs automatic espresso machine"

Your job isn't to cram these phrases into your article. Instead, your goal is to cover the main topic so thoroughly that you naturally answer every related question a user might have. When you do that, you'll organically incorporate all those secondary keywords, creating a piece of content that Google sees as a genuinely helpful resource.

Should I Target Keywords With Low Search Volume?

Yes. A thousand times, yes. One of the biggest mistakes you can make is chasing only the high-volume "vanity" keywords. It’s a recipe for frustration. Keywords with massive search volume, like "content marketing" (14,000+ searches/month), are almost always dominated by industry giants who have been around for a decade.

Low-volume, long-tail keywords are your secret weapon.

A keyword like "content marketing strategy for SaaS startups" might only get 50 searches a month, but the intent behind it is razor-sharp. The person typing that into Google is a highly qualified lead, not just someone browsing for a quick definition.

This approach lets you rack up quick wins, build topical authority in a niche, and attract an audience that is much, much closer to making a decision.

How Do I Know if a Keyword Is Too Competitive?

Figuring out the competition is a critical gut-check before you pour hours and money into creating content. While SEO tools give you a "keyword difficulty" score, that number is just one piece of the puzzle. To get the real story, you need to do a manual check of the search engine results page (SERP).

Open an incognito browser window, search for your target keyword, and analyze the top-ranking pages. Ask yourself these questions:

Domain Authority: Are the top spots dominated by huge, household-name brands like HubSpot, Forbes, or Wikipedia? If the whole first page is a who's who of industry titans, it's going to be an uphill battle.

Content Quality: Is the content already there amazing? If the top results are 4,000-word ultimate guides packed with data and custom graphics, you'll need to create something demonstrably better to even have a chance.

Title and URL Relevance: Do the top results feature the exact keyword in their page title and URL? This signals strong, direct optimization that can be tough to beat.

On the other hand, if the SERP is filled with smaller blogs, forum threads, or articles that look like they were written in 2015, that's a huge green light. That's your opportunity. For a complete guide on this, check out our post explaining what is keyword difficulty. Answering these questions gives you a realistic feel for the effort it will actually take to rank.

Ready to turn your keyword research into high-ranking content? With Outrank, you can generate SEO-optimized articles and custom images with AI, helping you scale your content strategy and capture more organic traffic. Simplify your workflow and start publishing exceptional content today. Get started with Outrank.