The essentials
- Definition: keyword research means identifying the queries your customers type, measuring their volume and difficulty, and deciding which page of the site will answer each one.
- Six steps: list the subjects, collect the queries, qualify the intent, measure volume and difficulty, group by page, prioritise.
- The rule: one page per intent, not one page per keyword; Google ranks a page on dozens of variants.
- Tools: Search Console and the Keyword Planner, free, to start; Semrush, Ahrefs or Ubersuggest for difficulty and competitors.
Keyword research is the starting point of any SEO strategy: it decides the pages to create, the subjects to cover and the order of priorities. Done badly, it leads to producing content on queries with no traffic or out of reach. This six-step method takes two days for a small business and ends in a plan of pages ranked by value and by effort.
Step 1: list the subjects, not the words
Start from your offer and your customers: the services, the problems they solve, the questions asked before buying, the objections, the comparisons with alternatives. For a heating engineer, the subjects are "heat pump installation", "boiler servicing", "renovation grants", "heating breakdown". Each subject will become a group of queries. Five to fifteen subjects are enough for a small business; lists of 200 keywords with no structure serve no purpose.
Step 2: collect the queries
| Source | What it gives you | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Search Console (the Performance report, 16 months) | The queries the site already appears on, with impressions, clicks and position | Free; see the Performance report |
| Google Keyword Planner | Monthly volumes (in bands without an active campaign), query ideas, seasonality | Free with a Google Ads account; see the Keyword Planner |
| Google suggestions, "People Also Ask", related searches | Real phrasings and questions | Free |
| Semrush, Ahrefs, Ubersuggest | Precise volumes, difficulty, competitors' keywords, gaps | €30 to €140 / month |
| Google Ads search terms | The queries that actually convert | Free if you run SEA |
| The sales team, customer service, customer reviews | The customers' vocabulary, the recurring questions | An hour's conversation |
Export everything into a spreadsheet with the columns: query, subject, source, volume, current position. At this stage, 300 to 1,000 rows is normal; the sorting comes next.
Step 3: qualify the intent
Every query expresses an intent, and Google shows different results according to it. Assigning the intent lets you choose the type of page that can rank.
| Intent | Examples | Suitable page |
|---|---|---|
| Informational | "how a heat pump works", "heat pump price" | A guide, an article, a FAQ |
| Commercial (comparison) | "best air-to-water heat pump", "Daikin Altherma reviews" | A comparison, a category page with advice |
| Transactional | "heat pump installer Nantes", "heat pump quote" | A service page, a local page, the Google listing |
| Navigational | "Daikin customer service", "GreenRed login" | Nothing to do unless it is your brand |
Check the intent by typing the query: if Google shows guides, a sales page won't rank, and vice versa. Local transactional queries trigger a local pack, which changes the strategy; see local SEO and classic SEO.
Step 4: measure volume and difficulty
- Volume: the number of monthly searches. The tools differ by 30 to 50% from each other; use them to compare queries with each other, not as absolute values. A well-targeted query with 50 searches a month is often worth more than a generic one with 5,000.
- Difficulty: the authority of the sites ranking on page one. The tools give a score from 0 to 100; compare it with your domain's authority. Below 30, a small business can rank with good content; above 60, links will be needed; see earning backlinks.
- Current position: the queries where you sit between 5th and 20th (Search Console) are the quickest wins: the page exists, it needs improving.
- Value: the Google Ads CPC shows what advertisers pay for that query, and therefore its commercial value.
Step 5: group by page
Google ranks a page on every variant of the same intent: "heat pump installer Nantes", "heat pump fitting Nantes", "heat pump company 44" all target the same page. Group the queries by intent and by subject; each group gives one page, with a main query (the most searched) and secondary ones (to place in the subheadings and the body). Two groups that would produce nearly identical pages must merge: that is cannibalisation, where two pages compete for the same query and cancel each other out. The result is a list of pages: existing ones to optimise, new ones to create. Organising them into topic silos is described in the topic cluster.
Step 6: prioritise
| Priority | Criteria | Action |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Transactional or commercial intent, accessible difficulty, an existing page between 5th and 20th | Optimise the page (title, content, internal links) this month |
| 2 | Transactional intent, accessible difficulty, no page | Create the service or local page |
| 3 | Informational intent tied to the offer, decent volume | Create one guide a month, linked to the service pages |
| 4 | High difficulty, high value | A 12-month objective, with a link strategy |
| Set aside | Outside your offer, navigational for a third party, no volume | Nothing |
A small business sustains a pace of 2 to 4 pages a month. The keyword plan is revised each quarter with Search Console data: the queries rising, the ones appearing, the ones competitors are taking. Tracking is described in tracking your SEO rankings.
The frequent mistakes
- Choosing queries on volume alone: the biggest are the most competitive and the least qualified.
- Creating a page per variant: ten thin pages instead of one complete page.
- Ignoring intent: a sales page on an informational query doesn't rank.
- Forgetting Search Console: your best opportunities are the queries where you are already on page 2.
- Never revising: queries change, especially with conversational searching; see keyword research for GEO.
How GreenRed helps
Rather than juggling several tools, GreenRed's SEO keyword tracking brings these metrics together in a single dashboard, compares them over time and tells you which actions come first. You can try it free, with no card, from the Pricing.
Frequently asked questions
How many keywords should a small business site target?
One main query and 5 to 15 secondary ones per page, and one page per intent. A 10-page brochure site therefore covers 100 to 150 queries; it is the structure that counts, not the length of the list. Add pages at a pace of 2 to 4 a month.
Which free keyword research tool should you choose?
Search Console for your existing queries, Google Keyword Planner for volumes and ideas (with a Google Ads account, without spending), and Google's suggestions. Those three sources are enough for a first plan. Paid tools add difficulty and competitor analysis.
How do you judge a keyword's difficulty without a paid tool?
Type the query and look at page one: if it is occupied by well-known national sites, marketplaces or Wikipedia, it is difficult. If small business sites, local pages or forums rank there, it is accessible. Also look at whether ads appear: many advertisers signal a high-value query.
Do keywords still matter with AI engines?
Yes, in a different form: assistants rephrase users' questions into classic queries to search for sources. A page ranking well on its subject's queries is also the one that gets cited. Queries are becoming longer and more conversational, which favours pages structured as questions and answers.