How to Find Good Keywords for SEO

Keyword research makes or breaks your SEO strategy. Pick the wrong keywords and even brilliant content stays invisible. Pick the right ones and you attract readers who actually want what you offer.

The good news is that you do not need to guess. A repeatable process finds keywords with real potential, and you can run it in an afternoon. If you want the short, small-business version of that process first, read our guide to keyword research for small businesses; this article goes deeper into each step.

Below you will learn what makes a keyword good, how to find primary keywords with the tools you already have, how to spot the gaps your competitors are winning, how to add secondary and long-tail terms, and how to check search intent before you write a word.

What Makes a Keyword “Good” for SEO?

A good keyword balances three factors. Miss one and your effort is wasted.

1. Relevance. The keyword must match what your business actually offers. A high-traffic term is useless if it attracts visitors who will never buy or enquire.
2. Search volume. This is how many people search the term each month. Higher volume means more traffic potential, but usually more competition too. Treat volume figures as estimates: every tool models them differently, and Google Keyword Planner shows ranges rather than exact numbers unless you run ads.
3. Ranking difficulty. Often labelled keyword difficulty (KD), this is a third-party estimate of how hard it is to reach page one, usually based on the backlink strength of the pages already ranking. It is not a Google metric, and scores differ between tools, so use it to compare keywords against each other rather than as an absolute.

Aim for keywords with solid volume, low-to-medium difficulty and strong relevance. That sweet spot is where new and small sites win. The Wikipedia entry on keyword research is a useful neutral overview of how these ideas developed and how the main tools differ.

How Do You Find Primary Keywords?

Your primary keyword is the main term you want a page to rank for. Start broad, then narrow down.

Begin with what you already know. Write down the words customers use when they call, email or message you. Check your enquiry forms and reviews. These phrases are your seed terms, and they are usually closer to real search language than anything a tool suggests.

Expand the seeds. Type each seed term into a keyword tool and collect the related terms it returns. Any of the following will do the job:

Filter by difficulty first. If your tool provides a difficulty score, hide the terms rated hard so you avoid fights you cannot win yet. If it does not, search the term yourself and look at who is on page one: if it is all national brands and major publishers, move on.

Then scan for relevance. Keep the terms that clearly match a page you can build. Drop the rest, however tempting the volume.

Pick one strong primary keyword per page. This keeps each page focused and easier to rank. Our companion guide on how many keywords to use per page explains why one primary plus a few secondary terms is the right shape.

How Do You Find Content Gaps Your Competitors Rank For?

Your competitors already rank for keywords you might be missing. Finding these gaps is one of the fastest ways to grow, because the demand is proven.

Most paid SEO tools offer a keyword gap or content gap feature (Semrush calls it Keyword Gap, Ahrefs calls it Content Gap). Enter your domain alongside two or three competitor domains, and the tool lists the keywords they rank for that you do not.

Focus on the “missing” and “weak” categories: terms where competitors rank and you either do not appear or rank poorly. Sort by volume and difficulty, then prioritise the gaps that are realistic to target with a page you can genuinely make better than theirs.

If you do not have a paid tool, do it by hand. Pick three competitors, browse their blog and service pages, note the topics they cover that you do not, and check each one in Keyword Planner or by searching it. It is slower, but for a small site with a handful of competitors it works.

One caution: choose the right competitors. Your search competitors are whoever ranks for your keywords, which is not always the business across the road. A local clinic’s biggest search competitor may be a national directory or a health publisher.

How Do You Choose Secondary Keywords and Long-Tail Variations?

Secondary keywords support your primary term. They help a single page rank for multiple related searches and tell Google the full topic the page covers.

Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases: “best waterproof running shoes for beginners” rather than “running shoes”. They usually have lower volume but clearer intent. People searching them often know exactly what they want, which means better conversions, and they are far easier for a newer site to rank for. Our guide to finding long-tail keywords with Google’s keyword tool shows the free method.

To find them, go back to your keyword tool and look at question-based results (“how”, “what”, “best”, “vs”, “near me”) and phrase-match variations of your primary term. Google’s “People also ask” box is a free source of the same thing. Group the terms that fit naturally into one piece of content; if a variation would need its own page to be answered properly, it is a separate primary keyword, not a secondary one.

Weave secondary and long-tail keywords into your subheadings and body text where they read naturally, typically once or twice each. Never force them in.

How Do You Evaluate Search Intent Before Targeting a Keyword?

Search intent is the reason behind a search. Google rewards pages that match this intent closely, so getting it wrong wastes a good keyword.

There are four main types:

• Informational: the user wants to learn (“how to clean running shoes”)
• Navigational: the user wants a specific site or brand (“Nike store Dubai”)
• Commercial investigation: the user is comparing options before buying (“best running shoes for flat feet”)
• Transactional: the user is ready to purchase (“buy Nike Pegasus size 10”)

Check intent by searching your keyword on Google and looking at what already ranks on page one. If the results are all blog posts, do not publish a product page for that term, and vice versa. Match the format that is already winning: guide, listicle, comparison, product page, category page, tool or video.

Getting intent right protects your effort. You can pick the perfect keyword and still fail if your content type is wrong. It also shapes what happens after the click, which is why keyword research and improving your website’s ranking on Google are the same conversation.

Your Keyword Research Process, Start to Finish

You now have everything you need to find good keywords with confidence. Here is the process in short:

1. Brainstorm seed terms from your business, your customers’ language and your existing Search Console queries.
2. Expand them in a keyword tool, free or paid.
3. Filter by relevance, volume and difficulty.
4. Find the gaps your competitors rank for.
5. Add long-tail and secondary keywords to support each page.
6. Confirm search intent on the live results page before you write.
7. Assign one primary keyword per page and record it, so no two pages compete for the same term.

Start with one page today. Pick a single primary keyword, check its intent and build from there. Once the page is written, carry the keyword through to the title tag and description; our guide to choosing meta keywords for SEO covers that step.

The best keyword strategy is the one you actually follow. Keep it simple, stay consistent, and your rankings will climb. If you would rather have a team run the research and build the content plan, see our SEO and marketing services for brands and businesses or book a free consultation.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many keywords should I target per page?

Target one primary keyword per page, supported by two to four secondary or long-tail keywords. Longer guides can carry a few more closely related terms. This keeps your content focused while capturing related searches.

Are free keyword research tools good enough?

For a small site, often yes. Google Search Console shows the queries you already rank for, Google Keyword Planner gives related terms with volume ranges, and Google’s autocomplete and “People also ask” reveal real phrasing. Paid tools such as Semrush and Ahrefs add difficulty scores, competitor gap analysis and larger keyword lists, which saves time as you scale.

What is a good search volume for a keyword?

It depends on your niche. For new sites, terms with roughly 100 to 1,000 monthly searches and low difficulty often deliver the best early wins. In a narrow local or B2B niche, a term with 30 searches a month from the right buyers can be worth more than a broad term with thousands.

How long does it take to rank for a keyword?

It varies widely. New pages on established sites often begin to rank within three to six months, but industry studies of large samples show many pages take a year or more to reach the top ten, and some never do. Low-difficulty, long-tail keywords on a site with existing authority rank fastest; competitive terms on new sites take longest.

What is the difference between primary and secondary keywords?

Your primary keyword is the main term a page targets and appears in the title, H1 and opening. Secondary keywords are related terms and variations that help the same page rank for additional searches and appear in subheadings and body text.

What is keyword difficulty and is it reliable?

Keyword difficulty is a score that third-party tools calculate to estimate how hard it is to rank on page one, usually from the backlink profiles of the current top results. It is not a Google metric and the scores differ between tools, so use it to compare keywords within one tool rather than as a fixed threshold.