Good keyword research remains the cornerstone of any successful SEO or content marketing strategy. The process of finding and targeting the right keywords—with appropriate search intent and search volume—is critical for driving the right type of traffic to your website. By understanding what your target audience is searching for and aligning those insights with your commercial goals, better keyword targeting can attract more relevant potential customers and achieve measurable growth. In 2025, as Google’s algorithms continue to evolve and user behaviour becomes increasingly sophisticated, search marketers need to continuously improve their game when it comes to keyword research and organic search.
What is Keyword Research?
In layman’s terms, keyword research is the practice of identifying, analysing, categorising the most relevant search terms that people enter into search engines when looking for products or services that are relevant to your company. Identifying the most relevant keywords enables companies to understand the specific words and phrases their target audiences use to search for information, products, or services. It also allows SEOs to form a strategy for best targeting and ranking for these keywords in search engines like Google with On Page SEO tactics. However, a key part of good keyword research also involves finding keywords that not only have a high search volume but which also align with a search intent that is relevant for your commercial goals (e.g., to buy or research your products/services).
Why is Keyword Research Important?
Keyword research is vital because it ensures that your SEO and content efforts are aligned with user intent and search demand for products and services that are relevant to your company’s offering. Without proper keyword research, businesses may waste time creating content that doesn’t attract their target audience and therefore rarely gets seen. More than just a data gathering task, an effective keyword strategy is also about asking questions like:
- What are my target audience(s) searching for?
- Why are they searching for these terms?
- Which keywords are most relevant to my commercial offering (e.g., products or services)?
- What content is Google actually serving for these keywords?
- How hard will it be to rank for certain keywords?
- Where can you outperform competitors and gain visibility?
By understanding these elements, businesses can create content that not only ranks well but also resonates with users, driving traffic that converts into leads and customers.
How to Do Good Keyword Research
Good keyword research involves a combination of tools, techniques, and critical thinking. Here’s a brief summary of things you’ll want to consider:
- Use reliable keyword research tools like Google’s Keyword Planner.
- Understand search intent behind keywords.
- Group related keywords into clusters.
- Focus on both high-volume and long-tail keywords.
- Assess competition and seasonality trends.
- Monitor your current keyword performance and analyse competitors.
Below, we delve into 11 actionable tips and strategies to help you improve your keyword research in 2025.
1. Use a Good/Accurate Keyword Tool
The foundation of good keyword research starts with the right tools. Google’s Keyword Planner remains one of the most reliable sources of real-world keyword data because it pulls directly from Google’s search records. While AI tools and keyword estimators like Semrush (or even AI) can provide creative keyword suggestions, they often come with limitations. AI-generated ideas rely on predictions, and their search volume estimates may not always align with reality.
Using inaccurate keyword data can lead to targeting the wrong phrases, which could result in wasted resources and missed opportunities. For example, if a tool overestimates search volume, you might invest heavily in content that garners little traffic. Always validate keywords using trusted platforms like Google Keyword Planner to ensure your strategy is based on accurate, real-world data.
2. Filter Keywords for Intent
Not all keywords are created equal—their intent is key. Keywords can reflect a variety of intents, including informational, commercial, navigational, or transactional. To determine intent, use tools like Semrush and search Google in Incognito Mode to observe what results come up for specific keywords.
For example, the keyword “Property Services” might reveal mixed intent. Some users may be searching for a definition of property services, while others may want specific offerings like property management, estate agency services, or property consultancy. By analyzing search results, you can understand how Google interprets intent and ensure your content aligns with what users are looking for. In an example like this, you may also want to target keywords with a more relevant or specific intent to your products or services – especially if you can see that the search engine results pages (SERPs) for broader keywords are dominated by less-relevant search results.
3. Keyword Clustering
Keyword grouping—also called keyword clustering—is an essential step for maintaining an organised SEO strategy. Grouping similar keywords with shared intent allows you to target multiple variations effectively without diluting your efforts.
For example, if you have keywords like “property management services,” “property management company,” and “best property managers,” these may be grouped under a single category. After you have sourced all of the relevant keywords, use tools like Google Sheets or Excel to tag and filter keywords into clusters. This approach makes it easier to plan content, reduce duplicate efforts, and track progress across keyword groups.
4. Avoid Over-Optimising Content
Over-optimising content (also known as ‘keyword stuffing’) is (or at least should be) a thing of the past. Over-optimisation of content can harm your keyword rankings rather than help them. While it’s important to include target keywords naturally within content, forcing too many keywords into a page can make the content sound spammy and negatively impact the user experience.
To avoid over-optimisation:
- Use keywords naturally in titles, headers, and body content.
- Prioritise readability, user experience and user value over keyword frequency.
- Answer the question implied in the keyword and give the user what they’re seeking.
- Avoid optimising a single page or piece of content for multiple keyword groups.
- Focus on selecting the best, most relevant keywords rather than trying to include every variation.
5. Look Out for Seasonal Trends
Keywords often fluctuate in popularity depending on the time of year. By analysing seasonal trends in search volumes for your target keywords using tools like Google Trends or Keyword Planner, you can identify when to implement specific SEO strategies.
For instance, search terms like “Christmas decorations” peak in November and December, while “back-to-school supplies” trend in August. Understanding seasonal shifts allows you to prepare content in advance and capitalise on the increase in search traffic at these times.
6. Check the Competition Level
Some keywords are harder for some websites to rank for because of intense competition. Use tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz to evaluate metrics like Keyword Difficulty (KD) which will help you to assess whether ranking competitively for any target keyword is likely to be realistic for your website in the short term. You may also want to do a quick incognito Google search for the keywords you are thinking of targeting – if you find a large number of very (user-)relevant results from high performing websites then this may also suggest that the level of competition to rank for that keyword is high.
When deciding on your priority keywords it is important to be realistic and consider whether your website has the potential to rank for very competitive keywords in the top positions right away. For example, if your website has a low domain authority then targeting highly competitive keywords might not yield strong results. If this is the case, you may want to invest in building your website’s authority in search engines with tactics like link building and content marketing to make it more competitive in the SERPs. In the short term, you may want to focus on prioritising mid-range or low-competition keywords where you can see that the intent to find products or services like yours is still high. You may have a better chance of ranking for these in the short term. Over time, as your authority grows, you can prioritise more competitive terms.
7. Do Not Discount Long-Tail Keywords
Long-tail keywords, while often lower in search volume, can be highly valuable. They tend to reflect specific user intent (as the user reveals more of what they are looking for in the keyword string) and are typically less competitive than broader terms. For smaller businesses or niche products, long-tail keywords can drive highly relevant traffic that converts.
For example, instead of targeting “property services,” a long-tail keyword like “best property management services for landlords in London” may attract a smaller but highly targeted audience.
However, balance is crucial. Do not totally discount the more competitive keywords. If they have a high search volume, it may be that case that a decent number of users still delve deeper into the search results where you can be found.
8. Check Out What Competitors Are Ranking For
Analysing your competitors’ keyword strategies and current keyword rankings can uncover opportunities you may have overlooked. While you won’t be able to see their real-world keyword rankings in Google Search Console (without their permission), third party tools like Semrush and Ahrefs provide estimated keyword ranking positions and traffic. These are usually fairly accurate. Analysing this data allows you to see which keywords drive the most (and most relevant) traffic to competitor websites.
This can help you to discover new target keywords and any keyword gaps where your website may be underperforming. You may also discover keywords where your competitors are underperforming, which may present an opportunity for you to double down on targeting those keywords. For example, a competitor might rank for “commercial property consultancy” but ignore variations like “business property advisory.” By addressing these gaps, you can gain visibility and attract traffic that your competitors miss.
Carrying out a competitor keyword review can also help you to prioritise target keywords by providing additional insights on how different keywords are (or are not) effective at driving traffic to your competitors’ websites.
9. Analyse Keywords Driving Current Traffic
Your most valuable keywords might not be what you expect. Using Google Search Console and Google Analytics you can identify the keywords currently driving the most traffic (and goal completions) to your website and key product/service landing pages. This data reveals which terms are most commercially valuable and can guide your future SEO efforts.
For example, you might discover that a specific long-tail keyword—like “best property consultants in Manchester”—generates the majority of your leads. Understanding these insights helps you refine your strategy to focus on high-performing, revenue-generating keywords.
However, don’t only rely on this approach if your website is currently underperforming generally, as you may miss other keyword / search opportunities.
10. Think Outside of the Box
Don’t limit yourself to the obvious keywords. Customers may search for your products or services in ways you don’t expect. For example, a “property consultancy” might find customers searching for terms like “property advice,” “real estate consultants,” or “property advisory service”. Be open minded as it is often the case that the way customers search for businesses is different to how companies describe themselves and their products/services.
Use tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, AnswerThePublic or explore Google’s “People Also Ask” section in the SERPs to uncover related searches. Then double check that people are searching using these keywords in decent numbers by running them through Google’s Keyword Planner. This approach broadens your keyword strategy and ensures you capture a variety of search terms that resonate with different segments of your audience.
11. Map Keywords
Keyword mapping is essential for preventing duplicate content and SEO cannibalisation. Assign specific keywords to specific pages to ensure each page targets a unique search query or similar group of keywords. This strategy improves SEO performance by helping search engines to better understand which pages should rank for each keyword.
For example, mapping “property management services” to one page and “property management tips” to another prevents overlap. Proper keyword mapping also ensures that each page serves a clear purpose, improving both user experience and search visibility.
Good keyword research is the foundation of an effective SEO and content strategy. By using the right tools, analysing search intent, and staying strategic with your keyword targeting, you can drive the right traffic to your website. If you need expert help with keyword research, feel free to get in touch with our SEO team.
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