Keyword research: finding the queries people search you by
Keyword research is a list of the words people use to look for what you sell. It sounds dull, but it decides whether you build the pages you need or beautiful useless ones. A mistake at this stage costs more than any other, because it determines the structure of the entire site.
It is the list of queries people use to look for you, grouped by meaning. It is built from keyword tools, search suggestions, your own analytics reports and competitors' sites. The core rule: every group of queries gets its own page — otherwise your pages start competing with each other.
In this article6 sections
Why you cannot invent queries from your head
A business owner speaks the language of their industry, the customer speaks their own. A dentist writes «professional oral hygiene», the patient searches «teeth cleaning price». A lawyer writes «conveyancing support», the client searches «check a flat before buying».
Build a site on internal terminology and its pages will answer queries nobody types. Formally the site exists; in practice it is invisible.
The most common discovery during keyword research is dozens of queries the owner never suspected, together with the complete absence of demand for what they considered their main service.
The kinds of queries
By the person's intent
| Type | Example | What the person wants | What to do |
|---|---|---|---|
| Commercial | «buy air conditioner with installation» | To buy now | A service or product page with a price |
| Informational | «which air conditioner for a flat» | To understand | An article that leads to the service |
| Navigational | «amazon my account» | To reach a specific site | Usually not our concern |
| Local | «air conditioner installation near me» | To find the nearest | Maps plus a city page |
A beginner's mistake is sending every query to one page. Someone searching «how to choose» is not ready to buy and a price list scares them off. Someone searching «buy» does not want to read three screens of article.
By search volume
- High-volume — «dentist». Lots of demand, enormous competition, vague intent. They produce fewer enquiries than you would expect.
- Mid-volume — «dentist in Fergana». A balance of volume and competition, the main working zone.
- Low-volume — «pulpitis treatment under a microscope price Fergana». Few impressions, but people are almost ready to pay and competition is low.
For a small business the sum of low-volume queries often brings more money than fighting for a single high-volume one. And you can enter them in months rather than years.
How keyword research is done
- Seed wordsWrite out every service and product as you call it and as customers might. 20–50 words to start.
- ExpansionUsing the keyword tools of Yandex and Google, collect everything people type around those words. The list grows to hundreds and thousands of rows.
- Suggestions and competitorsAdd what the search engine suggests as you type and what competitors rank for.
- CleaningRemove the junk: other cities, other brands, job vacancies, «free», «do it yourself» — unless that is your audience.
- GroupingSort queries by meaning — which can be promoted on one page and which need separate ones.
- MappingEach group gets its own page. If the page does not exist, it has to be created.
Grouping — the most important and most skipped step
The question is: can «teeth cleaning» and «oral hygiene» be promoted on one page? The answer depends not on your opinion but on what the search engine shows. If both queries return the same pages in the top, they can be merged. If different ones, you need two pages.
A practical test: compare the results for the two queries. If the overlap is large, the search engine treats them as the same intent.
Two pages for the same meaning are not double the chances but a site competing with itself. The search engine will pick one, and not always the one you wanted.
What to do with the finished list
- Build the site structure: the list of pages that must exist.
- Set priorities: start with groups where demand exists and competition is manageable.
- Draw up a content plan for several months ahead.
- Use the same groups in advertising — that way you quickly learn which of them bring money.
How many queries you need
The number by itself means nothing. A list of 10,000 queries for a small workshop is reporting, not work. A common-sense guide:
| Business | Order of magnitude | How many pages |
|---|---|---|
| One service, one city | 100–300 queries | 5–15 |
| Several service lines | 500–1,500 | 20–60 |
| Online store | thousands | hundreds, including categories |
What matters is not the size but the quality of grouping and whether each group has a decent page behind it.
Frequent questions
How often should keyword research be refreshed?
Once every six to twelve months for stable niches, and more often where new services or technologies appear. Demand changes: new phrasings emerge, old ones fade.
Can keyword research be done for free?
The basics, yes, through the free keyword tools of Yandex and Google and search suggestions. The manual work remains: cleaning and grouping take longer than the collecting itself.
What if there is almost no demand for my queries?
That is an important result rather than a failure. It means search is not your main channel and the money is better spent where you can present the offer yourself: advertising, social media, partnerships.
Should competitor brand names be included?
Sometimes in advertising, almost never in SEO: you will not outrank a competitor for their own brand, and the page comes out odd.
What about queries where the top is all articles?
Those are informational queries. They need an article, not a service page. Putting a commercial page up against articles is almost always futile.
How do I tell a query is too competitive?
Look at who is in the top. If it is national aggregators and large chains with hundreds of pages, entry will take years. Check adjacent, narrower phrasings — competition there is usually an order of magnitude lower.
The materials answer general questions. We will look at your specific case — free and without obligation.