What Is Keyword Research?

In SEO, a keyword is a word or phrase that describes a user's search.

For example:

• crm system
• what is a crm system
• crm systems in latvia
• crm integration with a website

All of these searches relate to the topic of CRM, but the person's need can be different in each case.

That is exactly why keyword research is not just about finding similar phrases.

The most important thing is to understand search intent.

Search intent is what a person actually wants to achieve with their search.

For practical content planning, searches can be grouped, for example, like this:

This is not the only possible way to classify searches, but it helps you understand in practice what kind of page to create for a specific search.

For example, someone searching for "what is a CRM system" shouldn't immediately be shown only a sales page for a service.

On the other hand, for a search with clear commercial intent, a glossary article may not be the most suitable result.

In practice, the process can be divided into several steps.

1. Identify the main business topics

Start by identifying the products, services and problems the business deals with.

For example, for Brandsite the topics might be:

• website development;
• WordPress;
• e-commerce;
• web applications;
• CRM and ERP integrations;
• SEO.

These topics are the starting point for the initial keyword list.

2. Find real searches

Next, check how people phrase these topics on Google.

Useful sources include:

• Google Search Console;
• Google Keyword Planner;
• SEO tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush;
• Google search results and suggestions;
• competitors' content;
• frequently asked questions from clients;
• Google Trends, if you need to assess changes in a topic's popularity or trends.

If the website is already live, Google Search Console is especially valuable.

It can show searches for which the site already receives impressions or clicks, even if the business has never deliberately targeted that phrase.

3. Determine search intent

Before choosing a keyword, check what Google already shows for it.

If the results are dominated by:

• definitions - the user most likely wants an explanation;
• product categories - the intent is more closely tied to buying;
• comparisons - the person is weighing up options;
• service pages - the search has a more commercial intent.

This helps avoid a situation where a business tries to compete for a search with the wrong type of page.

4. Assess the keyword's potential

Search volume matters, but it is not the only criterion.

You should assess:

• business relevance - whether the search relates to what the business offers;
• search intent - what the person wants to find;
• search volume - how often the phrase is searched;
• competition - how strong the current results are;
• business value - how important the search may be in the customer journey;
• existing visibility - whether the site already gets impressions for this query.

A keyword with lower search volume can be far more valuable to a business than a very popular but overly general search.

Metrics such as Keyword Difficulty are calculations made by specific SEO tools, not a universal difficulty score set by Google. They are useful for comparison, but shouldn't be used as the only basis for a decision.

5. Group keywords by topic and intent

Not every keyword needs its own page.

If several searches mean practically the same thing and Google shows similar results for them, one high-quality page can often cover them all.

On the other hand, one broad topic can include several different search intents that need separate pages.

The CRM example shows this well.

Let's say the starting topic is:

CRM system

During the research, we find several related searches:

what is a CRM system

CRM systems in Latvia

how to connect a website to a CRM

CRM integration

They are all about CRM, but they are not the same search.

"What is a CRM system?"

The intent is informational.

The person still wants to understand the concept itself.

The most suitable content:

a glossary article - "What Is a CRM System?"

"CRM systems in Latvia"

Here the user already knows what a CRM is and wants to look at or compare options.

More suitable content:

a comparison article - "CRM Systems: Popular Choices for Latvian Businesses"

"How to connect a website to a CRM?"

Here the person's question is already practical.

More suitable content:

a practical pillar on connecting a website to a CRM or ERP.

"CRM integration"

This search may have a stronger commercial intent.

Depending on the actual Google results, a service or integrations page may be a better fit.

As a result, from one topic:

CRM system

we don't end up with one huge page that tries to fit in every keyword, but with a clear content structure:

definition → comparison → practical guide → service

This is one of the most important outcomes of keyword research.

One of the most common mistakes is choosing keywords based only on the principle:

"Which one has the most searches?"

The highest search volume doesn't always mean the highest business value.

For example, a very broad search can:

• be ambiguous;
• attract the wrong audience;
• be highly competitive;
• be far from a purchase or enquiry.

A more specific search, on the other hand, may attract fewer people but match what the business offers much more closely.

So a more important question than "how many people search for this?" is:

"Why are they searching for it, and can our business give them the best answer?"

No.

Google can understand different phrasings of the same concept, so there's no need to create a separate page for every minor variation of a phrase.

For example:

• what is seo
• seo what is it
• what does seo mean

can be variations of the same search intent.

They are not three separate content topics.

What matters more is creating one strong page that fully answers the shared question.

Keyword research is not only for blog articles.

It helps you plan:

• service pages;
• product categories;
• e-commerce structure;
• blog articles;
• glossary content;
• comparison pages;
• FAQs;
• internal links;
• page titles and headings.

It can even shape the structure of the entire website.

If a business only starts finding out what people actually search for after the website has been built, it may turn out that there are no suitable pages for the topics that matter.

Once a keyword has been chosen, the goal is not to repeat it as often as possible.

What matters more is making it clear what the page is about.

The main keyword or a natural variation of it can appear in:

• the SEO title;
• the H1;
• the introduction;
• relevant H2/H3 headings;
• the URL, if it makes sense;
• the body content;
• internal link anchor texts.

But the text still needs to read naturally.

There is no need to mechanically repeat every possible keyword variation on one page.

If a website is already live, keyword research shouldn't be done in isolation from existing data.

Google Search Console can show:

• which queries the site already gets impressions for;
• which pages already have visibility;
• which searches are close to better positions;
• where one page appears for several related searches.

That is why an SEO audit can help connect keyword research with the existing website's technical condition, content, page structure and current organic visibility.

This makes it possible not only to build a new keyword list, but to understand what should be improved on existing pages and where new content is genuinely needed.

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is the process of finding out what people search for on Google, what their search intent is, and which page of a website should answer that specific search.

How do you find keywords for your business?

Start with your business's products, services and customer problems.

Then expand your ideas using Google Search Console, Keyword Planner, SEO tools, Google results, competitor analysis and frequently asked questions from clients.

Should you choose the keywords with the highest search volume?

No.

Search volume is only one of the criteria.

It is also important to assess search intent, relevance to the business, competition and potential business value.

How many keywords does one page need?

There is no single right number.

One page can have one main search intent and several closely related keywords and phrase variations.

What matters more is whether they all address the same user need.

Does every keyword variation need its own text?

No.

Different phrasings of the same question can often be combined on one high-quality page.

You don't need a separate article just because people phrase the same question slightly differently.

How often should keyword research be done?

There is no need to restart your entire keyword strategy from scratch on a fixed schedule.

It is worth reviewing when:

• the business's offering changes;
• a new website is being built;
• a new market is being developed;
• a new content cluster is being planned;
• new searches appear in Search Console data;
• existing content has stopped growing for a long time.

Keyword research is not only an initial SEO task, but also a way to regularly spot new content opportunities.

Keyword research helps you understand what people search for, why they search for it, and which page of your website could best answer that need.

A good result is not the longest possible keyword list.

A good result is a clear decision:

which search intent we target → with which page → and why that particular page.

That is how keyword research becomes the foundation not only for SEO content, but also for a well-thought-out website structure.