Keyword Research Services

Keyword research that maps
to revenue, not just rankings.

Keyword research is where most SEO projects either succeed or fail before they've properly begun. Get it right, and every piece of content, every page you optimise, and every link you build works toward the same strategic goal. Get it wrong, and you'll spend months chasing terms that don't convert, don't have realistic ranking potential, or don't reflect what your customers are actually searching for. It deserves more than a quick export from a keyword tool.

My approach starts with intent, not volume. I map every keyword to a specific stage in the buyer journey (informational, commercial investigation, or transactional) so the pages you build attract people who are genuinely considering a purchase or enquiry. I also apply a commercial lens that most keyword research misses entirely: understanding the revenue potential of ranking for a term, the realistic cost of competing for it, and how it fits into your broader content architecture. That's the difference between research that looks impressive in a spreadsheet and research that drives actual business outcomes.

What's Included

What does keyword
research include?

🔎

Intent-Based Keyword Mapping

Every keyword is classified by search intent and mapped to a specific URL or content brief. This ensures your site architecture addresses every stage of the buyer journey, from initial research through to purchase decision, without different pages competing for the same terms.

★

Commercial Value Analysis

Prioritising keywords by their revenue potential, not just search volume. I cross-reference organic data with PPC cost-per-click, conversion likelihood, and your margin data to identify the terms that will actually impact your bottom line, not just your traffic graph.

⚙

Competitive Difficulty Assessment

A realistic evaluation of what it will take to rank for each target term. This goes beyond tool-generated difficulty scores to analyse the actual SERP: who's ranking, why they're ranking, what content format Google is rewarding, and what it would take to displace them given your current authority.

✎

Content Gap Identification

Mapping the topics and keyword clusters that your site doesn't currently address. This reveals untapped opportunities for new content that can capture traffic your competitors are winning by default, and feeds directly into your editorial calendar.

📊

Keyword Clustering & Architecture

Grouping semantically related keywords into clusters that inform your site structure and content planning. This prevents cannibalisation, strengthens topical authority, and ensures each page targets a coherent set of terms rather than competing with your own content.

Why Work With Me

What makes this keyword
research different?

Intent First, Volume Second

Search volume is a vanity metric without intent. A keyword with 50,000 monthly searches means nothing if the people typing it aren't looking for what you sell. I start by understanding what people actually want when they search, then map that intent to the right page type and content format. The result is traffic that converts.

Tied to Business Goals

Your keyword strategy should directly reflect your business priorities. I work with you to understand your products, margins, and growth targets, then build a keyword map that drives revenue. Every target term has a clear commercial rationale. The consolidation loans project is a good example: identifying the right keyword opportunities was what turned a 3,000-visit site into a 25,000-visit one.

Honest About What's Achievable

I won't recommend chasing a keyword with 100,000 monthly searches if the competition is unrealistic for your current authority. Honest assessment of what's achievable means you invest your budget where it will actually return results, not where it looks most impressive on a pitch deck.

How It Works

How does keyword
research get done?

01

Business & Audience Discovery

Understanding your products, services, target customers, and commercial priorities. The research is only as good as the brief, so this stage ensures we're targeting the right market from the start and asking the right questions of the data.

02

Data Collection & Expansion

Pulling keyword data from multiple sources: search tools, competitor analysis, autocomplete mining, People Also Ask data, and your own site analytics. Building a comprehensive seed list that captures how your audience actually searches, not just how you think they do.

03

Intent Classification & Clustering

Classifying every keyword by intent, grouping them into semantic clusters, and mapping each cluster to a specific page or content brief. This stage transforms raw data into an actionable content architecture that prevents cannibalisation and strengthens topical authority.

04

Prioritisation & Roadmap

Scoring every opportunity by commercial value, competitive difficulty, and strategic fit. The deliverable is a prioritised roadmap that tells you exactly what to target first and why, with content briefs ready for execution.

Common Questions

Keyword research
questions answered.

A full project includes seed keyword expansion, intent classification for every term, semantic clustering, competitive difficulty assessment, commercial value scoring, and a prioritised keyword map that ties each cluster to a specific page or content brief. You receive a working document that directly informs your content strategy, not a raw data export that requires further interpretation.

Prioritisation is based on three factors: commercial value (how likely is this keyword to generate revenue), competitive difficulty (how realistic is it to rank given your current authority), and strategic fit (how does this keyword support your broader business goals). I'd rather target ten terms you can realistically own than fifty you'll never rank for. The assessment is honest, even when the honest answer is that a particular keyword isn't worth pursuing right now.

A comprehensive keyword research project typically remains relevant for twelve to eighteen months. I recommend a light review every six months to catch emerging opportunities and shifts in competitive positioning, with a full refresh annually or whenever your business model, product range, or target market changes significantly. Search behaviour evolves, competitors shift their strategies, and Google's understanding of intent changes over time.

That's one of its primary functions. Keyword clusters map directly to content briefs, telling you what topics to cover, what questions to answer, what entities to include, and how to structure your site's content architecture. Proper research also reveals content gaps where competitors rank and you don't, giving you a prioritised editorial calendar grounded in search demand rather than guesswork.

Pricing depends on the scope: how many product or service areas you need researched, how competitive your market is, and whether you need a standalone deliverable or research embedded within a broader SEO strategy. A focused project for a single service area is a smaller investment than mapping an entire ecommerce catalogue with hundreds of categories. I scope the work during a discovery call and give you a fixed price before anything begins.

Ready to Target the Right Keywords?

Let's find the keywords
that drive revenue.

Book a free video audit and I'll show you which keywords are driving revenue for your competitors, which are realistically within reach, and where they're leaving gaps you can profit from.

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