How to Conduct Keyword Research for Better Rankings

Keyword research remains the foundation of any successful SEO strategy. Whether you’re running a blog, an e-commerce store, or a service-based website, understanding how to uncover and utilize the right keywords can directly impact your organic search visibility. Done correctly, keyword research doesn’t just improve rankings — it aligns your content with what your audience is already searching for.

In this article, you’ll learn the step-by-step process for conducting keyword research, choosing the right tools, evaluating keyword difficulty, and building a long-term strategy to boost your website’s visibility and authority.

Understand the Purpose of Keyword Research

Before diving into tools and tactics, it’s important to understand what keyword research is trying to achieve. At its core, keyword research is the practice of identifying specific words and phrases your potential audience uses when searching online.

These search terms offer a window into user intent. Some keywords signal a desire to buy (“best winter jackets under $200”), while others indicate informational intent (“how to fix a leaky faucet”). Knowing the difference allows you to produce content that meets users at every stage of the buyer’s journey.

Begin with a Broad Topic and Expand

Start by thinking about your website’s niche. If you’re running a pet supply store, some seed topics might be “dog food,” “cat toys,” or “aquarium filters.” These broad topics are a starting point — not the destination. Your goal is to expand these into more specific, lower-competition, and higher-intent keywords.

Use brainstorming techniques like:

Thinking about the problems your customers are trying to solve
Listing out common questions your sales team hears
Reviewing your existing blog posts and product descriptions for recurring themes

The broader the starting topic, the more keyword possibilities you’ll uncover.

Use Keyword Research Tools to Uncover Ideas

Once you’ve listed several seed topics, plug them into keyword research tools to generate more ideas. Some of the best tools available include:

Google Keyword Planner – Free with a Google Ads account, great for basic search volume data
Ahrefs Keywords Explorer – Offers deep data on difficulty, traffic potential, and content gaps
SEMrush – Excellent for competitive keyword research and SERP analysis
Ubersuggest – Useful for smaller websites or beginner marketers
AnswerThePublic – Helps you understand how users phrase questions around your keywords

Each tool allows you to generate lists of related keywords, search volume, competition scores, and potential click-through value. Don’t just look for keywords with high search volume — instead, find the intersection between volume, competition, and relevance.

Focus on Search Intent

Search intent refers to the reason behind a search query. Is the user looking for information? Comparing products? Ready to make a purchase?

There are generally four types of search intent:

Informational – “how to groom a poodle”
Navigational – “Chewy pet supplies”
Transactional – “buy large dog bed”
Commercial investigation – “best dog food for sensitive stomachs”

Identifying search intent allows you to match your content with the user’s goals. A blog post works well for informational queries, while a product page is better suited to transactional searches.

Ignoring search intent can result in high bounce rates and poor rankings — even if your keyword appears relevant.

Analyze Keyword Difficulty and Competition

Ranking for competitive keywords takes time, especially if your site is relatively new. That’s why evaluating keyword difficulty is essential. Most research tools assign a difficulty score to each keyword, typically based on how strong the top-ranking pages are.

Look at factors like:

Domain authority of ranking pages
Quality and depth of content
Number of backlinks pointing to each page
Whether the pages are commercial (e.g., product pages) or informational (e.g., blog posts)

Try to strike a balance between keywords that bring in meaningful traffic but are also realistic to rank for in the short term. Long-tail keywords — those that are more specific and usually longer — tend to have lower competition and higher conversion rates.

Spy on Your Competitors

One of the smartest ways to accelerate keyword discovery is by analyzing what your competitors are ranking for. Tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush allow you to plug in a competitor’s domain and reveal:

Their top-performing pages
The keywords driving traffic to their site
Keyword gaps — terms they rank for that you don’t
New opportunities based on shared audiences

This type of analysis helps you identify missed opportunities, uncover untapped content ideas, and benchmark your performance.

Group Keywords into Topics or Clusters

Modern SEO favors topic relevance over exact keyword matching. This is where keyword clustering comes into play.

Group similar keywords into thematic clusters — for example:

Cluster: Dog Grooming at Home

how to groom a dog
best dog grooming tools
dog grooming tips for beginners
grooming a long-haired dog at home

By organizing your content this way, you can create comprehensive articles that address multiple related keywords, improving your chances of ranking for a wider array of search terms.

In addition, internal linking between cluster pages strengthens topical authority and helps search engines better understand your site’s structure.

Prioritize Keywords by Business Value

Not all keywords are equally valuable to your business. A keyword that aligns with your product or service will likely convert better than a loosely related informational phrase.

To determine business value, ask:

Does this keyword attract my target audience?
Will ranking for this keyword lead to more leads, sales, or sign-ups?
Can I create content that provides genuine value on this topic?

Use this filter to avoid wasting effort on keywords that bring in unqualified traffic or don’t lead to conversions.

Map Keywords to Content Types

Once you have a solid keyword list, map each one to the most appropriate content format. For example:

Blog post – Best for educational or how-to keywords
Landing page – Ideal for high-intent or promotional keywords
Product page – For transactional or branded search queries
Category page – Suitable for broad commercial-intent keywords

Creating the right type of content for the keyword ensures better alignment with user expectations, improving engagement metrics like time on site and bounce rate.

Update and Refine Regularly

Keyword research is not a one-time task. Search trends evolve, competitors adapt, and Google’s algorithm changes. Make it a habit to review your keyword strategy quarterly.

Use Google Search Console to monitor which keywords are currently driving traffic, and identify new opportunities from growing impressions or click-through rates.

Also, update old content with fresh keyword data. Improving existing content can often be more efficient than starting from scratch.

Effective keyword research is both an art and a science. It blends data analysis with human intuition, technical SEO with creative content planning. By focusing on search intent, keyword difficulty, competitive analysis, and business alignment, you’ll position your website to capture high-quality traffic that actually converts.

With a well-researched keyword strategy in place, your content can do more than just appear in search results — it can dominate them.