A short guide to keyword research

The advice here is unglamorous, which is probably why it gets skipped. Everything we would tell a client about keyword research in the time it takes to drink a coffee.

Search work compounds slowly, which is why it gets abandoned about two months before it would have paid off. The version that survives contact with a real deadline is the simple one.

Why this earns attention

Search volume matters less than matching intent. There is a version of this that is over-engineered, and it is worth avoiding. Check it against what you would want a competitor's site to get wrong.

How we handle it

Long, specific phrases convert better than broad ones. The reasoning matters more than the rule, because the rule has exceptions. Write the reasoning down alongside the decision, because the reasoning is what changes first.

Where it usually goes wrong

Look at what already ranks before writing anything. Where this goes wrong is almost never a lack of knowledge. If it only works because one person remembers to do something, it does not work yet.

The short version

Technical fixes remove obstacles; content earns the position. Both are needed and they are not interchangeable. Three things worth confirming about keyword research before you move on:

• Someone can say what the current setup is without going to look
• Look at what already ranks before writing anything — and you know whether that is true here
• There is a way to tell whether the last change to this helped

Worth checking on your own setup before it becomes someone else's problem to fix.