How to Find the Right Keywords for Your Site

Keyword research means identifying the words and phrases your customers actually type into Google. It is the foundation of any content strategy.

1. Start from your business and your customers

List your products, services and the problems you solve. Note the words your customers use, not just your professional vocabulary. Questions received by email, phone or chat are a goldmine of ideas.

2. Use the free sources

• Google Search Console: the queries you already appear for, often with untapped opportunities.
• Google's autocomplete, related searches and the "People also ask" box.
• Google Trends to compare terms and spot seasonality.
• Forums, social networks, customer reviews: your audience's real language.
• Google Keyword Planner, available with a Google Ads account, for volume estimates.

3. Expand with tools

SEO tools, free or paid, offer related ideas, variants and estimates of volume and difficulty. These figures are estimates: use them to compare keywords with one another, not as exact values.

4. Analyze search intent

Type the keyword into Google and look at the results: guides, comparisons, product pages, local pages? Your page must match the type of content expected.

5. Assess difficulty and value

• Difficulty: who ranks at the moment? Very established sites, or also modest sites like yours?
• Value: does this keyword attract people likely to become customers?
• Volume: a modest but highly qualified volume can be worth more than a large, vague one.

6. Prioritize and assign each keyword to a page

Rank your keywords by potential (value and intent) and feasibility. Map each to a single page to avoid cannibalization, and group close variants on the same page. Start with accessible keywords, then gradually aim for the more competitive ones.

Mistakes to avoid

• Choosing based on volume only.
• Ignoring search intent.
• Stuffing pages with keywords instead of writing naturally.
• Never reviewing your list: searches evolve, so update it regularly.