Keyword research

Keyword research shows how your customers actually search for what you sell, and which of those searches are worth your time. The result isn’t a long list of phrases but a map: which search belongs to which page, and which pages are still missing.

Ranking first for a phrase that gets three searches a month achieves nothing. Equally, there’s little point targeting a popular phrase where Amazon and the biggest marketplaces own page one if your site is small. Research finds the space between those two extremes.

When you need it

• You’re building a new site or restructuring an existing one.
• You appear in Google, but not for the searches that bring enquiries.
• Several of your pages compete for the same phrase.
• You’re planning a blog and don’t know which topics to start with.
• You’re entering a new market or language.

How I work

1. Your business and customers

Before I open Ahrefs, I find out what you sell, what makes the most profit, who your customers are and the words they use to describe their problem. Sales team questions and customer emails often produce better phrases than any tool.

2. Initial phrase list

I collect phrases from Ahrefs and Semrush, Search Console queries you already appear for, competitor pages, Google autocomplete and “People also ask”.

3. Competitor analysis

Which searches competitors win and you don’t. I look not only at direct competitors but at everyone who ranks for your searches: portals, marketplaces, comparison sites.

4. Intent and grouping

For each phrase I work out what the person wants: to learn, to compare or to buy. Phrases for which Google shows the same results go into one group. One page should own them, not several.

5. Priorities

I weigh search volume, difficulty, business value and your current position. A phrase with 300 monthly searches from people ready to buy is often worth more than one with 6,000 searches from people who are just curious.

6. Keyword map

Each group is assigned to an existing or a new page. I mark where titles, headings or content need to change, and where a page doesn’t exist yet.

What you get

• A keyword sheet (Google Sheets): phrase, monthly searches, difficulty, intent, group and page.
• A map for existing pages. Which group each page should own and what to change on it.
• A list of new pages and articles in priority order.
• Competitor gaps. Searches they win that you don’t yet.

Long-tail searches

Short phrases like “dog training” have lots of searches and lots of competition. Longer ones like “weekend dog training classes in Vilnius” are searched less often, but they’re more specific and turn into enquiries more often. For a smaller site they’re usually the fastest route to the first customers from search.

Keywords and AI search

ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews don’t search for a single phrase: they break a question into several searches and combine an answer from multiple sources. So I group not only phrases but also the questions a page has to answer clearly. The same work helps in Google results and in AI answers.