Keyword research turns customer language into a page plan. Start with services, products, problems and locations you actually serve. Add phrases from customer conversations and your existing Search Console data. Research tools can broaden the list, but their volumes and difficulty scores are estimates.
Group queries by the need and page they belong to. “Small business bookkeeping” and “bookkeeping for small companies” may be served by one strong page. Creating a separate near-identical page for every variation adds maintenance work and can make the website confusing.
Prioritise with judgement
Assess business relevance, intent, what the current results require, and your ability to offer a credible answer. A smaller, well-matched opportunity may matter more than a broad term with a large estimated audience.
Check whether a suitable page already exists before proposing a new one. Record whether you will improve, consolidate, or create. Keep informational supporting pages connected to the service they genuinely help explain.
Apply it
- List 15 customer phrases for one priority offer.
- Group them into three to five distinct needs.
- Assign each group a primary page and an appropriate page type.
- Record related phrases without turning them into repetition targets.
- Rank the work by relevance, usefulness and implementation effort.
Your deliverable
Use the keyword map template in the resource library. Include the target audience, intent, existing URL, proposed action, supporting questions and priority. Search-volume figures are optional; if you include them, record the tool, market, date and uncertainty.
Record your work in the SEO workbook. Your notes and progress save only in this browser; keep a copy of important work.
Further reading: Official guidance ↗
