A Guide | Keyword Research 101: How to Find the Right Keywords

Keyword research is the foundation of successful SEO, content marketing and even paid advertising (PPC), to an extent. Whether you’re building a blog, an e-commerce store or a SaaS product, choosing the right keywords determines whether your content is discovered in the search engine results pages (SERPs) or buried down on page ten, for instance. 

Keyword research is an important element of getting noticed and ensuring continuous exposure online, which is why we’re providing you with this keyword research guide. Here’s everything you need to know about keyword research, including what keyword research is, why it’s important, what the different types of keywords are, how to find the right ones and some mistakes to avoid for good measure. So, let’s dive right in:

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is the process of identifying the words and phrases that people type into the search engines, such as Google, to find information, products or services. The keywords that are found as a result of research will help you to understand what your audience is searching for, how often those terms are being searched and how competitive the searches are. But why should you bother? Keyword research is important for a number of reasons, which is what we’re going to get into next.

Why is keyword research important?

Keyword research is paramount when it comes to appearing as high up in the SERPs as possible. Without proper keyword research, you risk creating content that nobody is actually looking for. Without that exposure, content won’t be seen, websites won’t be discovered and products and services will be ignored in favour of your competitors. With this in mind, strong keyword research helps you to:

• Drive targeted traffic
• Improve search engine rankings
• Understand user intent
• Create content that actually converts

What are the different types of keywords?

Despite common belief, there is not one single type of keyword when it comes to marketing. There are several different types that SEO specialists need to be tapping into. From the short to the long, and everything in between, here are the different types of keywords that every marketer should know about:

• Short-tail keywords – these are broad terms and usually about 1-2 words long. Their search volume needs to be high with a very high competition level
• Long-tail keywords – these are more specific, often phrases rather than single words. Their competition level is low and conversion rates are usually higher
• Informational keywords – these are used when users want to learn something new, such as “how to start a blog”
• Transactional keywords – these indicate buying intent, for example, “buy wireless headphones online”
• Navigational keywords – these are terms that are used when people search for a specific brand or site, such as “Google log-in”

How to find the right keywords

Now that you know all of that, it’s time to start looking for the keywords that you need to make sure that your content ranks as high as possible in the SERPs. But how can you do that successfully? 

Well, it’s not actually as overwhelming as you might have first thought. Here are a few hints and tips for finding the right keywords for your content, including long-tail, short-tail, informational, transactional and navigational:

Start with the seed keywords

Seed keywords are terms that are closely related to your individual niche. This is where you need to think carefully about what your audience actually cares about and what they want to know about. For example, if you run a fitness blog, then some of the seed keywords, to get you started, could be terms like “workout plan”, “weight loss” or “home exercise”. Get these right, and the rest is fairly straightforward. 

Use keyword research tools

When it comes to keywords, they cannot simply be guessed. You need to actually find out whether or not people are really searching for those terms or words, and how many times they’re searched for. 

Looking closely at search volume and cross-checking it against competition levels is easily done if you have the right tools to do it. So, which tools should you be using to get keyword research done as accurately as possible? 

To make sure that things like search volume, keyword difficulty and related keywords, to name just a few fields, are displayed quickly and easily, you should use popular keyword research tools, such as:

• Google Keyword Planner
• Google Search Console
• Google Analytics
• Ahrefs
• SEMrush
• Ubersuggest

Analyse search intent

Search intent refers to the “why?” behind the query. There are four main types of search intent that you need to be aware of when carrying out your keyword research. The four types of search intent include: informational, navigational, commercial and transactional. 

For example, the search term “best smartphones 2026” shows research intent (informational), whereas “buy iPhone online” shows purchase intent (transactional). Match your content to the intent if you want to ensure excellent ranking in the SERPs.

Check keyword difficulty

Keyword difficulty is the thing that tells you how hard it is to rank for a specific term, word or phrase. For instance, trying to rank for highly competitive keywords early on isn’t very effective when it comes to ranking high in the SERPs. Instead, especially if you’re just starting, you should focus on low-to-medium difficulty keywords and look to prioritise long-tail keywords, too. 

Study your competitors

Search your target keyword on Google and analyse it in depth. Analyse target keywords by looking closer at: top-ranking pages, content length, content quality and the use of the keyword itself. When doing this, you should ask yourself “what are they doing well?” and “what can they do better?” with regard to your competitors and the keywords, terms or phrases they’re using.

Find long-tail opportunities

You might be wondering why long-tail keywords should be honed in on. The easiest answer is that long-tail keywords are far easier to rank for, and they often convert far better in comparison to other types of keywords, terms and phrases. 

It can be harder to pinpoint long-tail keywords, however, in comparison to short-tail ones. With this in mind, you should do the following to find the long-tail keywords you need to get the job done:

• Look at the “people also ask” section on the Google search results page
• Focus on autocomplete suggestions in the search bars
• Scroll through forums, chatrooms and community pages on social media platforms

Prioritise your keywords

Not all keywords are worth targeting, but a good keyword isn’t just popular; it’s useful in helping you to achieve your goals. With this in mind, you should be choosing keywords that are based on things like: relevance to your niche, search volume, competition level and business value, to name just a few things. This increases efficiency and speed overall and provides quick, well-researched results that are both useful and valuable in your content creation journey. 

Common mistakes to avoid when doing keyword research

Despite having gone through everything you need to know about keyword research, there are still some mistakes that should be avoided. Whether you’re a seasoned marketer or have just started in the field, it’s easy to make mistakes when carrying our keywords rearch, but they’re all easily mitigated by following this guide. So, what are those mistakes that you should be wary of? Let’s take a closer look:

• Targeting only high-volume keywords – high volume means high competition, so you’re less likely to rank in the short term
• Ignoring long-tail opportunities – they’re easy to rank for and convert better than other types of keywords
• Not understanding search intent – without this, you could be wasting your time optimising content for the wrong keywords
• Copying competitors blindly – competitors don’t know everything, and their research could be inadequate. Do your own legwork for better results
• Skipping keyword research altogether – not doing any keyword research is risky, as you don’t actually know what people are looking for with regard to your industry

Kumo provides high-quality digital marketing services to businesses nationwide. Regardless of your industry, our skilled team develops customised strategies across SEO, PPC, content marketing and web design to strengthen your brand and boost your online visibility. If you’re looking to stay ahead of the competition and increase traffic, leads, conversions and revenue, get in touch with our approachable experts today – we’re here to help take your business to the next level.