What is keyword research in digital marketing? (And why without it, your content doesn't work)

Keyword research isn't magic. It's a mix of empathy + data. Empathy to put yourself in your customer's shoes and understand exactly what they are looking for, what doubts they have and what words they use

What is keyword research?

Keyword research (or Keyword research) is the process of identifying what terms and phrases your audience actually writes on Google (or other search engines) when searching for solutions, information or products related to your business.

It's not about guessing what words you think you should use, but about discovering the language that your audience already uses in their searches. For example, if you sell specialty coffee machines, you might think that “gourmet coffee” it's a good keyword. But if you discover that people are actually looking “how to make specialty coffee at home with a manual grinder”, so that's the language you should use. And that's the content you need to create.

In a nutshell: keyword research connects you to real demand. And if there's no demand, there's no traffic. It's that simple.

Why is it so important?

Because SEO doesn't start with content; it starts with search intent. Each keyword reveals an intention behind the search:

• Information: The user wants to learn. Example: “How to clean an Aeropress coffee maker?”
  
  
• Transactional: The user wants to buy something specific. Example: “buy cheap Chemex coffee maker”
  
  
• Navigational: The user is looking for a particular page or site. Example: “Hario official website”
  
  
• Commercial (pre-purchase research): The user compares options or seeks recommendations. Example: “best drip coffee machines 2024”
  
  
• Local: The user is looking for something in a specific location. Example: “specialty coffee shop in Madrid”
  
  

Ignoring the intent behind each search is a serious mistake. You can't respond to a purchase inquiry with a purely informational article, nor can you pretend to sell a product on a page that the user is looking for for basic information. Google, in fact, rewards relevance: Google itself states that “the most basic sign that information is relevant is when the content contains the same keywords as the search query”. If your content doesn't match what the user really wants to see, it won't rank well.

A simple example: for someone looking “best yoga mat”, Google's first organic results are blogs with recommendations, not product pages, because Google understands that the user is researching options and not necessarily in buying mode. Keyword research allows you to align your content with what people really want to find. And that fine adjustment between intent and content is, in the end, what Google rewards with better rankings.

How to do keyword research (without wasting time)

You don't need a thousand tools or spend weeks analyzing data to make a good one Keyword research. What you need is a clear process. Here's a four-step process that I use with my clients:

1. Start with seed keywords. These are the obvious terms related to your business or industry. Think about products, services, or issues that are central to what you offer. For example, if you sell coffee, your seed keywords could be: specialty coffee, manual coffee maker, Grinder for espresso. These words are your starting point for generating ideas. They are not usually the ones you are going to try to position directly (they are usually very general), but they open the door to more specific terms.
   
   
2. Use tools to scale ideas. This is where many get stuck. Once you have your seed words, use SEO tools to get hundreds of variations and related terms. Personally, I use professional tools such as Ahrefs, Semrush or MakeIt Tool (our own SEO tool) to obtain data on search volume, difficulty and traffic potential. If you're just starting out and don't have access to paid tools, rely on free options such as:
   
   
   • Google Autocomplete: Google autofill suggests popular searches as you type your query.
   • Related Google searches: At the bottom of the results page, Google shows related queries that other users have searched for.
   • Answer the Public: a tool that collects real questions that people ask about your keywords.
   • Google Trends: helps you identify emerging trends and seasonality in searches.
     
     
3. These free fonts will give you lots of initial ideas. But be careful: don't just stick to what Google suggests on the surface. It is then important to validate these ideas with professional tools (such as those mentioned) to know the real volume of searches, the difficulty (competition) and the potential traffic for each keyword. This will save you from wasting time with terms that may sound good but don't bring visitors.
   
   
4. Analyze your competition. Open Google, search for some of your main seed keywords and see who appears on the first page. Those sites that are already in the Top 10 are your real competitors for that term. Now, take the URLs from those results and analyze them with an SEO tool like Ahrefs, Semrush, or MakeIt Tool. What should you look at? :
   
   👉 Keywords for which they already rank: The tool will tell you what terms that page ranks for. You may discover related keywords that you haven't considered.
   👉 Type of content: See if your competitors use blog posts, extensive guides, product pages, infographics, videos, etc. This tells you what content format Google (and users) expects for that search.
   👉 Authority and backlinks: See how many inbound links (backlinks) those pages have. If the first results are backed up by a lot of quality backlinks, you'll know that the competition is strong. You'll have to create exceptional content and perhaps get links to overcome them.
   
   This competitive analysis gives you a huge advantage: you know exactly who you're competing against and what they're doing. You can even identify gaps—topics your competitors haven't covered well—and capitalize on them. (Why would you want to do a competitive keyword analysis?) — We have an article dedicated to delving into this point, in case you want to know more about how to do it and why it's so useful (link the article here).
   
   
5. Group and prioritize your keywords. You can't (and should) create a separate page for each similar keyword. Instead, group related keywords around common topics or search attempts. We call this keyword clustering or keyword grouping. For example, let's say you obtained these three phrases in your research: “milkshake coffee recipe”, “how to make Dalgona coffee” and “whipped coffee with brown sugar”. They all basically point to the same topic (the famous Dalgona coffee, or milkshake coffee). Instead of creating three separate, repetitive articles, you can cover all that topic in a single comprehensive guide. So, with a single page of quality content, you could rank for all three searches at once.
   
   Grouping keywords helps you not to duplicate efforts and to get the most out of each piece of content. In addition, clustering is important because users can search for the same information in different ways (synonyms, variations, similar questions, etc.). Identifying all those relevant terms and addressing them on a single page allows you to optimize for a wider variety of searches and avoid cannibalizing your own content. (Why is it important to group relevant keywords together?) We recommend that you consult our article where we explain in depth the importance of clustering of keywords and how to do it step by step
   

Metrics you should look at (and which to ignore)

When it comes to evaluating which keywords to target, you'll find a lot of metrics in SEO tools. Not all of them are equally useful, and obsessing over the wrong metric can distract you from good opportunities. Here are the metrics that really matter (and how to interpret them):

• Search volume: This is the average number of monthly searches for a keyword. It's a basic indicator of the popularity of a term. Useful, yes, but eye: it's not the only factor. High volume doesn't guarantee high traffic if competition is fierce, or if the intent behind that search doesn't align with your content. In addition, volume alone does not reflect all the variations of a query.
  
  
• Keyword Difficulty (KD): Many tools assign a difficulty score of 0 to 100. This metric estimates how difficult it would be to rank in the top 10 for that term, typically based on the strength of the sites already ranked (for example, how many backlinks the top pages have)‍). Use it as a reference, but don't trust it blindly. For example, a keyword with KD 40 might be more affordable than another with KD 20 if the content of the first competitor is poor or outdated and you can do much better. The difficulty is relative and depends on whom Compete and how.
  
  
• Potential traffic: This is my favorite metric and is often more revealing than pure volume. El potential traffic Estimate how much organic traffic the page that is #1 for that keyword receives in total, adding up all the different queries it ranks for. Why is it important? Because when you create well-optimized content, Google will probably position it for Many variations of that keyword, not just for the exact term. Sometimes, a keyword with low volume can have high potential traffic because it brings together lots of related searches. This metric gives you a more realistic view of the potential traffic you could get if you target a topic.
  
  
• CPC (Cost Per Click): The CPC indicates how much advertisers pay for advertising in that keyword. If you see a high CPC, it means that that term has commercial value (there is usually purchase intent or economic value behind it). It's not exactly an SEO metric, but it serves as an indicator of intent: keywords with a high CPC are usually worthwhile for businesses (even if they have modest volumes), because they indicate that there is money at stake (for example, “marketing automation software price” could have a high CPC, a sign that whoever is looking for that is close to a buying decision).
  
  
• Trend or growth: don't just focus on the current photograph, but on the future film. Is the search increasing or decreasing? Identify emerging keywords or trends in your industry. For example, maybe “mushroom coffee” (a trendy type of drink) today has a low volume, but if you see that Google Trends has shown 300% growth in recent months, it may be an opportunity to get ahead of the competition. Betting on growing keywords can bring you a lot of traffic in the medium term with relatively little initial competition.
  

In short, prioritize keywords that combine volume + right intent + traffic potential + relevance to your business. Don't rule out a keyword just because it has low volume or high difficulty without further analyzing these factors.

My personal advice

Don't just search for “easy keywords”. Search for keywords with a future and value for your business. It's a common mistake to become obsessed with finding those so-called magic gems: terms of Tall Search and lowers competition. In the current reality, these words practically do not exist or are already very competitive. And while it's okay to point to some Long-tail easy to get initial traction, don't build your entire strategy just around what facile.

Instead, I recommend the following: also target keywords of high relevance and potential, even if they are competitive, and start working on them now. Why? Because the most profitable keywords (those that bring customers or sales) usually take time to position. You need great content, backlinks, and domain authority, which you can't do overnight. If you wait to “be ready” to go after those difficult keywords, you'll never reach them.

For example, let's say that positioning is key for your business “best drip coffee machines” (even if the competition is high). Start creating that content now. Make an exceptional guide, optimize it, include comparisons, photos, video... Then promote it, get some quality links that point to it, and review/improve it from time to time (for example, add new information every 6 months or update prices and models). That page probably won't be #1 on Google in three months, but in 12-18 months of constant work it could become your star page for organic traffic and an important source of leads or sales.

In the meantime, of course, combine your strategy: also publish search-oriented content Long-tail (longer and more specific) that have low competition. These tend to be easier to position and, although each one brings few visits, together they can add up to thousands of visits per year. They give you a presence while the other pages greats they are gaining ground.

Keyword research isn't magic. It's a mix of empathy + data. Empathy to put yourself in your customer's shoes and understand exactly what they are looking for, what doubts they have, what words they use. Data to validate how much you want that, how much competition there is and how you can stand out. Then, create the best possible content that answers that search better than anyone else.

If you don't Keyword research, you're guessing. And in SEO, guess is practically synonymous with washout. Do it right from the start: listen to your audience, use the right tools, prioritize wisely. And above all: write for people, not for Google.

At the end of the day, keywords aren't for search engines; they're the bridge between your content and the people who need it. With good keyword research, you build that solid bridge so that your future readers (and potential customers) find you just when they're looking for what you offer. That's the foundation of all successful content marketing!

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