Keyword Research Services
Keyword research services that turn search data into a clear plan of which pages to work on first.
We'll reply with a written proposal: the work, what we need from you and an estimated timeline.
A huge keyword list can still lead you to build the wrong website.
Before approving a plan, we check your buyer and offer facts, what each data source covers, the limits of the numbers, what searchers want today, how sure we are about each group, your current pages, business value and whether you're ready to make the changes.
The tool is mistaken for the market
One database hides privacy filters, sampling, rounding, missing languages, out-of-date data and customer wording that never shows up in the export.
Search intent is a fixed label
"Informational", "commercial" and "transactional" tags replace what Google actually shows, mixed tasks, the market context and evidence of change.
Automatic groups decide your pages
Grouping by similar meaning or a tool's "parent topic" hides unclear searches, different topics and results that need a person to review them.
Competitor gaps turn into copying
A competitor's audience, offer, site standing, page role and business model aren't checked before their topics go into your plan.
Existing pages lose their role
New pages are proposed before anyone understands each page's main job, clashing facts, how people land on pages, conversions, links between pages and options to combine pages.
Volume beats business value
Results pages that soak up clicks, customer quality, whether you can serve the customer, profit margin, how realistic it is, effort, dependencies, confidence and reasons not to build all drop out of the priorities.
What our keyword research services include: the work ends with page choices, priorities and clear owners.
Keyword research finds the words people type into Google when they look for what you sell. Softscotch turns approved customer language and current search data into a practical plan: which existing pages to improve, which new pages to build, which sections to add, which pages to combine and which ideas to deliberately leave out. We can connect Google Search Console (Google's free report on how people find your site), search terms from your paid ads, searches on your own website, and the words your support and sales teams hear, with estimated search numbers, seasonal patterns, current Google results, what searchers want, competitors, how well each page fits, business value and the effort to deliver. Every data source keeps a note of its market, date, method and limits. Writing content, technical changes, managing paid ads, ongoing ranking tracking and checking mentions in AI answers are separate services unless your proposal includes them.
The first eight cards are included keyword research work. The last two show where wider SEO changes and ongoing Keyword Tracking need their own separate quotes.
Research fit, buyers and data sources plan
Define buyers, offers, markets, types of search results, your own and estimated data sources, measures, confidence, owners, goals, what's left out and when not to go ahead.
Your customers' words and the full list of estimated searches
Cross-check Search Console, paid search terms, searches on your site, and support, sales and customer language with tools, trends, competitors, topics and questions, each with its source noted.
What searchers want, what Google shows and how often it changes
Sample typical results by market and device, and identify tasks, page and media types, visible extras, chance of a click, unclear cases and important changes.
Search groups, topics, comparisons and questions
Combine shared results and related meaning, keep unclear members of each group visible and map topics, features, alternatives, objections, tasks and follow-up needs.
Which current page owns each search, clashes and cannibalization
Match search groups to your main pages and decide to keep, improve, combine, redirect, refocus, split, adapt for another country, create, retire or not build, using evidence from facts and links between pages.
Opportunity scoring and what-if checks on priorities
Use demand ranges, current visibility, likely clicks, value to the business, chance of ranking, effort, dependencies, risk and confidence, and show how changing assumptions changes the order.
Plan ready for briefs, tracking handover and updates
Deliver page and section roles, proof, formats, links, owners and sign-off checks, pass starting points to tracking, and set rules for what not to build, how results are read and when to update.
Walkthrough and training for your team
Present the findings in a live session, explain how to read the plan, the scores and the search groups, and show your writers and marketers how to use the research when they plan new pages or update existing ones.
We link every search to evidence, a page that owns it and a business decision.
Your customers' own words, estimated demand, live results, search groups, topics, current pages, clashes, value, how realistic it is, briefs and update rules all stay part of one system you can trace.
Every number keeps its method
Market, language, ad network, date, source, privacy, rounding, relative scaling, how old the data is and confidence all stay attached to each number.
Intent follows what people really search
Search wording, buyer context, results pages, formats, topics, search features, chance of a click and how often results change all shape our best guess.
Groups show what's unclear
Shared results, related meaning, source coverage, confidence, rejected merges and manual changes by people can all be reviewed.
Existing pages come first
Each page's main job, purpose, whether Google has stored it, clashes, how people land on it, results and links between pages are checked before adding anything new.
Priority is a business range, not one score
Demand, clicks, customer quality, value, how realistic it is, effort, dependencies, risk and uncertainty can each be questioned separately.
Research stays useful after changes go live
Briefs, owners, "don't build" rules, tracking starting points, launches, results, changes over time, update triggers and decision history stay connected.
The checks behind a useful keyword research plan.
These 36 checks run from business fit and data limits, through what customers want, reviewed groups and current-page decisions, to priorities, controls for large sites and careful, limited use of AI.
Keyword research tools estimate and organize. They don't reveal Google's inside data.
Search Console, paid search data, Google Trends, Keyword Planner, other keyword databases, site scanners, live samples of results and AI each cover part of the problem. We keep settings, coverage, confidence and human decisions in plain view.
Our keyword research audit: seven checks that turn rows of searches into page decisions.
Each check shows what we looked at, what is still uncertain, what was left out and who owns the next decision, across fit, data, search intent, grouping, pages, priorities and handover.
Buyers, offer, market and where this service stops
We decide which searches matter to your business, and whether keyword research is really the next problem to solve.
A huge list of search terms can't fix an offer that keeps changing, a product you can't supply, an unclear service area, or no one owning conversions (inquiries and sales) and approvals.
What each data source covers, what its numbers mean and how sure we are
We build a full list of relevant searches without pretending any tool shows every search or can predict exact future visitors from Google.
Search Console hides some searches to protect privacy, its data exports have row limits, paid-search reports leave out low-volume terms, Google Trends shows relative interest on a 0 to 100 scale rather than real numbers, and Keyword Planner figures are estimates.
Search intent, what Google shows and how often it changes
We work out what the searcher is trying to do from the real Google results and your business context, not from one automatic label.
The same words can bring up different pages, formats and buying stages depending on the market, language, device, date and type of search.
Grouping searches, topics and follow-up questions
We turn related searches into a useful map of information, without assuming that searches with similar meaning all belong on one page.
Automatic grouping by AI similarity, a tool's "parent topic" or a shared word can miss different tasks, topics, audiences and which page Google prefers for each search.
Existing pages, each page's main job and clashes between pages
Before adding another page to your site, we decide what each existing page should cover.
Two of your pages showing up for the same search doesn't prove they are competing against each other (cannibalization). To decide which page owns a search, we need evidence from the content, canonical tags (which tell Google the main version of a page), the search results and your business results.
Demand, clicks, value, what's realistic and what it depends on
We set priorities using ranges and show what happens if assumptions change, instead of one unexplained opportunity score.
A search with lots of volume can still be a poor investment if Google's results page soaks up the clicks, the audience is wrong or your site can't offer something genuinely valuable.
Briefs, who delivers, updates and how AI is used
We deliver a priority map that you own and that stays easy to understand after the first spreadsheet and today's search results are out of date.
Keyword research is a dated snapshot. How people search, what Google shows, your offers, your pages, your competitors and the platforms' reports all change.
From a stand-alone spreadsheet to a reviewed map of which pages to work on first.
A tool export turns into hundreds of rows with volume, difficulty and intent labels, but nothing on the limits of the data, the role of your current pages or what the business should decide.
- Demand looks more exact than it isRounded estimates, relative trends, filtered searches and different markets are mixed together with no method or level of confidence.
- Grouping hides what people really wantSimilar meaning and repeated words win over what Google actually shows, the topics involved, unclear cases and the buyer's situation.
- Every gap becomes a new pageNo one checks existing pages, which page owns each search, clashes, your capacity to write or the reasons not to build.
Each reviewed group of searches shows its source, market, customer task, how sure we are, current page, decision, value, fit with your site and who will deliver it.
- Each source keeps its limitsYour own data and estimates stay clearly separate, by what they cover, time period, market, privacy and method.
- Groups keep unclear cases visibleShared results, related meaning and a person's review explain why searches do or don't belong on the same page.
- The plan includes "don't build"Decisions to keep, improve, combine, redirect, refocus, split or create are weighed against each other on value, evidence, how realistic they are and effort.
Approved search lists, which page owns what and our assumptions are updated when demand, results, offers, pages or business evidence change in a meaningful way.
- Tracking follows the approved planKeyword Tracking gets the searches, markets, pages, result types, starting points and definitions of a big change.
- Research doesn't quietly go out of dateNew data, shifts in results, new competitors, new pages, clashing facts and falling value all trigger a review.
- Lessons survive changes in tools and staffEvidence, grouping rules, manual changes, rejected pages, results after launch and next decisions can be exported and belong to you.
Keyword research for your type of business: search demand changes with your offer, market, risk and how people buy.
Our careful way of working stays the same, while the search data sources, page types, which products or locations qualify, proof, results and useful update triggers change from market to market.
Online stores and direct-to-consumer brands
Map searches for categories, products, features, comparisons, problems, uses and support, without creating thin pages for every filter and product combination.
Software companies (SaaS)
Link the words people use for problems, categories, alternatives, features, connections to other tools, job roles and ways of working to real product pages and pages for each buying stage.
Business-to-business (B2B) and professional services
Prioritize low-volume but high-value searches about categories, problems, uses and comparisons, across long decisions made by groups of people.
Local and multi-location services
Keep apart searches for a service, a city, a neighborhood, "near me", emergencies and general information, without creating copy-and-paste location pages Google treats as spam.
Healthcare and wellness
Use the words patients and professionals use, while protecting medical accuracy, who services are for, location, privacy and high-risk interpretation.
Finance, insurance and fintech
Map searches about products, who qualifies, comparisons, fees, risk and life events, with current country rules and clear ownership of regulated claims.
Education and training
Link questions about courses, subjects, qualifications, formats, locations, costs and careers to honest enrollment steps.
Travel and hospitality
Map searches for destinations, properties, facilities, itineraries, seasons and bookings across different languages and markets.
Real estate and property
Keep apart searches about areas, property types, features, buying or renting, prices and advice, while allowing for changing listings and local markets.
Marketplaces and directories
Match the words used by both buyers and sellers for categories, providers, products, locations and tasks, without mass-producing pages for empty combinations.
Media, publishers and research organizations
Balance news, always-relevant articles, explainers and original research with freshness, authority and your editorial purpose.
Large enterprises and international organizations
Set rules for the words used by different business units, products, countries and brands, across large groups of pages and many owners.
Softscotch owns the research. Your organization owns the product facts and what to invest in.
These columns separate research and page recommendations from making changes, tracking, writing content, paid search, AI visibility and the approvals only your organization can give.
The keyword research and page priority work named in your proposal.
- Decide whether research fits, define buyer and offer wording, markets, types of search results, sources, measures, confidence and where related services take over
- Gather and cross-check your own customer language, estimated demand, trends, competitors and evidence from live search results
- Work out what searchers want and what Google shows, and build groups of searches, topics, questions and customer journeys, reviewed by a person
- Map current pages, each page's main job, clashing facts, overlap, and decisions to combine, add a section, create a new page or not build
- Prioritize opportunities using demand, likely clicks, value to the business, how realistic they are, effort, what they depend on and uncertainty
- Deliver recommendations ready for briefs, a handover for tracking, update triggers, a decision history and exports you own
Work that needs a related service or a named team on your side.
- Work with our SEO Services and specialist SEO teams on technical, on-page, content, site standing and making the changes
- Work with Keyword Tracking on ongoing monitoring of searches, result types, landing pages, competitors and changes in what searchers want
- Work with Content Strategy and writing services on your mix of articles, briefs, writing, design and publishing
- Work with Programmatic SEO on template pages with clear rules, data, checks that each page is unique, testing and publishing at scale
- Work with AI Search Visibility or LLM Visibility on ongoing checks of AI answers, mentions, prompts and competitors
- Work with your paid ads, analytics, CRM, sales, product, legal, privacy and translation owners for specialist evidence and actions
Your organization keeps the final say on business facts and what to invest in.
- Confirm buyers, products, services, locations, markets, who you can serve, availability, priorities, exclusions and how much risk you accept
- Give approved access to your site, Search Console, paid ads, site search, support, CRM, sales, product catalog, results and finance data
- Approve product and service facts, claims, terms, topics, how markets are read, which page owns what and decisions to combine pages
- Keep ownership of your accounts, domains, pages, data, logins, code storage, website platform, analytics and backup access
- Give product, sales, support, data, legal, privacy, compliance, medical or translation decisions within the agreed time
- Approve the plan, spending on changes, publishing, redirects, retiring pages, tracking starting point, updates and how long final records are kept
How keyword research works: customer language, current results, pages and business value must all describe the same opportunity.
The work links buyer language, data limits, current result types, reviewed groups, existing pages, clashes, value, fit with your site, who delivers, tracking and future updates.
Keyword Research Services
Buyer, task, offer, markets, countries and languages, types of search results, goals, exclusions, owners, risks, sources, dates and how we'll know it's done.
What Search Console, paid ads, Google Trends, tools, site search, support, sales and CRM cover, with methods, settings, privacy, dates and confidence.
Original search, tidying up, source, market, language, device, date, numbers, trend, sample of results, exclusions and full history.
Customer task, buying stage, result types, main pages and topics shown, chance of a click, mixed intent, how often results change and confidence.
Topics, features, parts, alternatives, comparisons, uses, objections, questions, links along the customer journey and side topics to leave out.
Main web address, whether Google has stored it, template, main task, search group, searches, content, clashes, links, results, owner and decision.
Range of demand, visibility, likely clicks, value to the business, how realistic it is, effort, what it depends on, risk, uncertainty and what-if checks.
Decisions to keep, improve, combine, redirect, refocus, split, adapt for another country, create, not build or retire, plus briefs, owners, sign-off and order.
Approved search lists, starting points for results and pages, launches, results, changes over time, clashes, update triggers, manual changes and next decisions.
The connected growth engine
Once the opportunity and page decisions are agreed, handles the wider technical, on-page, content, site standing and tracking work to put them in place.
Handles ongoing monitoring of approved search lists, result types, landing pages, visibility, competitors and big changes in what searchers want.
Handles your mix of articles, publishing calendar, briefs, expert review process, writing, design, publishing and ongoing content work.
Handles data and template systems that build pages at scale, rules that keep each page unique, technical checks, publishing, monitoring and undoing changes for approved opportunities.
Handles ongoing checks of AI prompts, answers, mentions, sources and competitors, once the research provides an agreed set of test questions and topics.
Own product and service facts, markets, who you can serve, use of customer data, spending on pages, claims, approvals and business results.
One connected scope. Keyword Research Services is coordinated with the strategy, creative, experience, data and reporting it depends on, so responsibilities and handoffs stay visible in one written plan.
See the first map early, then review the full priority plan.
Once we have what we need from you, we usually aim to deliver the brief on fit, access and evidence, with an early opportunity map, in 3 to 5 business days, then a reviewed priority map and handover in roughly 4 weeks for one clearly defined market with data we can access. Large sites, several products, international markets, missing data exports, privacy review, complex page overlap and slow approvals can push this back. The second timeline shows the wider Softscotch growth plan and doesn't promise a result in any named month.
Keyword research: the first six stages
Fit, access and who decides
Confirm buyers, offers, markets, languages, types of search results, access to data, business goals, who approves what, capacity to deliver and any reasons research may not be the next priority.
KPI Research brief agreedStarting evidence and first map
Deliver the first view of sources and pages, showing likely customer tasks, the evidence available, questions about current pages, obvious dependencies and early flags for ideas not to build.
KPI First map deliveredDemand and search intent checks
Compare your own data (where we're allowed to use it) with estimated demand, seasonal patterns and typical current results for the agreed market, language, device and date.
KPI Search evidence reviewedGrouping and page decisions
Review related and unclear searches, then decide which current page should cover each one and where to improve, combine, redirect, create or not build.
KPI Page roles reviewedPriority workshop
With your team, compare demand ranges, likely clicks, customer quality, business value, fit with your site, effort, what each depends on, risk and how sure we are.
KPI Priority map approvedHandover and update plan
Package the export you own, the page map, inputs for briefs, approved assumptions, the tracking handover, update triggers and owners for the next decision about making changes.
KPI Research handed overOur full growth plan (all services together), month by month
Setup and first launch
Agree priorities, fix the biggest problems and launch the first approved work once we have access, content, budget and your sign-off.
KPI First work liveBuild and improve
Use the first report to improve the live work and build the next agreed materials, campaigns, pages or follow-up steps.
KPI Improvements liveDo more of what works
Do more of the messages, audiences, pages or channels that the results show are working, while keeping budgets and quality checks within the limits we agreed.
KPI What works, expandedStrengthen results
Fix weak handovers between teams, gaps in tracking and anything slowing delivery, then test the next priorities against measures that matter to your business, such as lead quality and sales.
KPI Blockers removedTurn more visitors into customers
Improve the offer, message, page and follow-up steps wherever the results show people getting stuck or leads that aren't a good fit.
KPI Improvements to win more customers livePlan the next round
Review what changed, what the results really show, what should stop and which work deserves budget and attention in the next period.
KPI Next round agreedA useful plan explains why a search belongs to a page and why it deserves your investment.
The difference shows in data limits, current results, unclear groups, the role of existing pages, written decisions not to build, likely clicks, business value, fit with your site and the lessons we keep.
- Starts with one tool and treats its keyword database as a complete picture of what customers search for
- Mixes rounded volumes, relative trends, cost per click, paid competition and difficulty scores with no method or confidence level
- Uses a fixed "informational", "commercial", "transactional" or "navigational" label without checking what Google actually shows
- Groups searches by wording, AI similarity or a tool's "parent topic" feature, and hides unclear members and rejected merges
- Copies competitor keywords without asking whether their offer, site standing, audience, page or business model applies to you
- Turns gaps into new pages before listing your current main pages, content, conversions, clashes and limits on making changes
- Calls any case of several pages showing "cannibalization" and prescribes merging or canonical tags without evidence of which page should own the search
- Prioritizes by volume and a difficulty score while ignoring likely clicks, customer quality, business value and dependencies
- Creates pages for long, specific searches and AI fan-out variations even when they add nothing new for visitors
- Hands over a spreadsheet and loses the data limits, decisions, tracking handover, update triggers and lessons from making changes
- Combines your own customer language (where allowed), estimated sources and live search results, and says what each source leaves out
- Keeps the market, language, ad network, date, method, privacy, rounding, relative scaling and confidence attached to every number
- Works out the searcher's task from results pages, features, the main topics shown, your business context, unclear cases and changes over time
- Uses shared results and related meaning, with human sign-off, a confidence level for each group and a visible list of unclear cases
- Judges competitor and category coverage on relevance, evidence, page role, site standing, fit with your business and useful ways to stand out
- Matches every search group to the current page that owns it before recommending to improve, combine, redirect, refocus, split, create or not build
- Diagnoses overlap from page purpose, search and landing page patterns, canonical tags, links between pages, clashing content and results
- Prioritizes using ranges for demand, likely clicks, value to the business, how realistic it is, effort, dependencies, risk and uncertainty
- Uses AI fan-out to understand follow-up questions, while blocking repeat pages or pages made for search engines rather than people
- Hands over sources, page decisions, briefs, starting points, owners, agreed limits, update triggers and a saved decision history
Results from Softscotch client work.
These totals come from work for Softscotch clients across search, paid ads, websites and lead generation, as published on softscotch.com. Past results don't guarantee future results.
All six Softscotch client stories.
Every Quick Story currently published on Softscotch.com, covering education, ecommerce, healthcare and SaaS. Stock photography represents each client industry; the figures are reported historical results and do not guarantee future performance.
Education Ads + local SEO
183% more leads for an education consultancy
WordPress
Quora ads
Local SEOAn education consulting business in India needed to build its digital presence and lead flow from scratch.
- Built a new WordPress website
- Used Quora ads to grow daily lead volume
- Added Local SEO and community engagement
Home solutions Shopify + SEO
Home-solutions ecommerce growth
Shopify
Organic search
Amazon adsA home-solutions business was dependent on business-to-business (B2B) marketplaces, losing sales and recovering from a Google penalty.
- Resolved the Google penalty
- Revamped the website and online store
- Improved organic visibility and Amazon campaign performance
Health consultant $20/day
Five booked calls a day for a health consultant
Facebook ads
Google AdsA Houston lactation consultant needed to recover a malware-damaged website and rebuild local patient acquisition.
- Rebuilt the hacked site and migrated it to secure hosting
- Ran targeted Facebook and Google campaigns
- Reached top-three local Google positions
Ecommerce 10 months
315% organic growth for an ecommerce site
Content strategy
On-page SEOSoftscotch reports a 315% increase in ecommerce organic traffic over 10 months through focused on-page SEO.
- Optimized product and collection pages
- Improved the links between pages and the page addresses (URLs)
- Made the site easier for Google to explore and better matched to what people search for
SaaS platform Cold outreach
9% close rate for a transcription SaaS
Prospecting
Cold email
SMTPA transcription platform needed a qualified prospect list and a reliable email-sending setup for outreach we managed.
- Built a comprehensive prospecting list
- Managed the cold outreach campaigns
- Set up reliable email-sending servers (SMTP)
Healthcare 6 months
182% organic growth for a healthcare clinic
Healthcare
Off-page SEOA clinic in a competitive location needed to build organic search visibility from the ground up.
- Built the clinic's foundation for unpaid (organic) Google search
- Combined on-page and off-page SEO
- Reached top-five positions in Google Search
Teams that stopped leaving clicks on the table.
"The Softscotch team has been a solid partner as our business evolved over the last five years. Unlike most agencies, they have never charged us for work that falls outside the agreement. That is what sets them apart."
"Without their knowledge, we would be in a very different place than we are now. Whenever they find something that can be improved, they implement it quickly. I could not be happier with their performance and response time."
"Softscotch goes above and beyond the scope. The time, effort and dedication they put in is like having your own in-house marketing team. They are not just another marketing company."
"We are extremely happy with Softscotch, such an attentive team. No project is too small, and they give their 100%. We are extremely satisfied with their work."
"Softscotch is a great team to work with: transparent, reliable and genuinely invested in the growth of your company. They are good partners to have by your side."
"The Softscotch team has been a solid partner as our business evolved over the last five years. Unlike most agencies, they have never charged us for work that falls outside the agreement. That is what sets them apart."
"Without their knowledge, we would be in a very different place than we are now. Whenever they find something that can be improved, they implement it quickly. I could not be happier with their performance and response time."
"Softscotch goes above and beyond the scope. The time, effort and dedication they put in is like having your own in-house marketing team. They are not just another marketing company."
"We are extremely happy with Softscotch, such an attentive team. No project is too small, and they give their 100%. We are extremely satisfied with their work."
You'll always know exactly what we changed.
Plenty of agencies go quiet after the audit and you never quite know what you're paying for. We do the opposite. You get a live view of every change and what it moved, in plain language you can act on.
Live client dashboard
Every change, score and ranking in one place you can open any time, not a monthly PDF you wait around for.
Ready for your review
Weekly video summary
A short screen-recorded video (Loom) each week walking you through exactly what shipped and what it moved, so nothing is a mystery.
Before
After
Before/after score per page
See the exact lift on every page we touch, not a vague "it's improving" you have to take on faith.
Approved page updates are live.
Product details need a review.
Confirm the next priority pages.
Plain-English reporting
Clicks, rankings and revenue, explained in words you can act on, instead of a wall of charts about how often you were seen (impression charts.
Reports on demand
Ask for any cut of the data whenever you need it and get it, no waiting for the end of the month.
- ✓Proposed
Softscotch prepares the change.
- ✓Approved
Your team gives the go-ahead.
- ✓Published
Checked live and recorded.
Ethical, transparent, always on
One accountable team, strictly white-hat (only methods search engines and platforms allow), no shortcuts and no surprises. Support whenever you need it.
One Softscotch plan gives you access to the full service stack, coordinated around your priorities.
You do not need a separate agency or retainer for every channel. Your plan can draw from search, paid media, web, ecommerce, outreach, automation, lead generation, messaging, content, creative and operations. The agreed scope sets what is active, in what order and at what capacity.
One price for everything, not a stack of separate retainers.
You get one price for your whole marketing, not a separate retainer for every service. SEO, paid ads, your website, automations, cold email and newsletters, we run all of it as a single scope, so you get the most result for what you pay. Agencies sell each of these on its own, so the invoice climbs whether or not that line drives a single lead.
A different agency or retainer for each service. The bill stacks up fast, and keeps climbing whether or not each one moves a single lead.
Plus the one-off build, and a fresh contract, kickoff and onboarding delay for every new service you add.
We run your whole marketing as one engagement, so you get the most result for what you pay, not a pile of disconnected invoices.
- SEO: technical, on-page, content, local and AI search
- Template-built pages (programmatic SEO), links from other websites (backlinks) and authority
- CRO and landing pages
- Paid ads across Google and Meta
- Automations, cold email and newsletters
- WordPress build, setup and ongoing care
- One team, one roadmap and one point of contact
- Reporting tied to qualified leads and revenue
Priced to your site after the audit. No sticker price, and no per-service creep.
What to know before hiring a keyword research service.
These answers cover what's included, where SEO work starts, spreadsheets, data sources, how accurate the numbers are, search intent, grouping, cannibalization, competitors, new sites, local and international work, online stores, AI search, paid data, making the changes, updates, guarantees, timing and cost.
What is included in keyword research services?
A proposal can include checking that research is the right fit, buyer and offer wording, search data from your own accounts, estimated demand and trends, samples of live search results, working out search intent, grouping searches, topic and question coverage, competitor analysis, which current page owns what, decisions on clashes and cannibalization, opportunity scoring, recommendations ready for briefs, a walkthrough of the plan with your team and rules for updates. After our first review, it names the markets, sources, what we depend on, related services and what's left out.
How is keyword research different from SEO Services?
Keyword research decides which search problems, pages, sections, page combinations and "don't build" decisions deserve your investment. SEO Services handles the wider technical, on-page, content, site standing, tracking and ongoing work of putting changes in place. Research can be a stand-alone decision package or an input to a separately quoted SEO project.
Do you provide a keyword spreadsheet?
Yes, an export you own can be part of the handover, but it isn't the main thing you get. Useful rows keep the source, market, date, how each number was worked out, intent evidence, group confidence, current page, page ownership decision, value, how realistic it is, priority, owner and limits. The page and plan views are what make the research usable.
Which data sources do you use?
Depending on access and scope, we can combine Search Console, paid search terms, searches on your own site, support, sales, CRM and customer research with Google's Keyword Planner, Google Trends, other keyword tools, competitor pages and live samples of search results. Each source keeps its settings, time period, coverage and limits. We never present any source as a complete count of every search.
Are search volume and keyword difficulty numbers accurate?
They are estimates, not Google's real numbers for unpaid search. Keyword Planner figures can be rounded or shown as ranges and grouped with close variations, Google Trends uses a sample of searches and shows relative interest, and tool difficulty scores use each company's own secret method. We keep the market, date and method, compare sources and use ranges and what-if checks rather than promising exact demand or how hard it will be to rank.
How do you work out search intent?
We look at the search wording, the buyer and business context, and typical live results by market, language, device and date. We record the main page types, topics, media and search features shown, and keep mixed or changing cases open. Automatic intent labels can help with a first sort, but a person makes the page decision.
Does every group of keywords need its own page?
No. Related searches can belong on one page, in a section, on an existing product or service page, in another type of search result or need no new content at all. We combine shared results, related meaning, tasks, current pages and what's genuinely new for visitors. Google understands language well enough that you don't need a separate page for every exact way of wording a search.
How do you find and fix keyword cannibalization?
Keyword cannibalization means your own pages competing for the same search. We look at page purpose, search and landing page patterns, canonical tags and whether Google has stored each page, links between pages, overlapping content and facts, how steady rankings are and business results. Two pages showing for one search isn't proof of a harmful problem. The decision may be to keep, make them more different, improve, combine, redirect, refocus, hide one from Google or retire one, with the technical owners named.
Do you include competitor keyword gaps?
Yes, when relevant, but a competitor gap is only an idea to check. We test whether the competitor serves the same customers, offer and market, which page and result type wins, what proof and site standing support it, and whether you can add useful, original value. We never copy a competitor's plan or treat every missing term as an opportunity.
Can keyword research help a new website or one with little authority?
Yes, but the plan must reflect how relevant your site is today, your proof, technical state, page quality, standing with Google, resources and time. Some opportunities need basic pages first, or another marketing channel, before you take on tougher competition. A low difficulty score in a tool doesn't make a search easy, and research can't guarantee a new page will rank.
Can you research local and international keywords?
Yes. Local work can cover the services you offer, service areas, location-based searches and map results, without creating doorway pages (thin pages made only to catch searches, which Google treats as spam). International work separates language from region, checks local wording, search results, sources, offers and site structure, and works with our International SEO team. A translated keyword doesn't prove people search for it the same way, or as often, in another country.
Can you research online store categories and product features?
Yes. We can map the words for categories, product types, features, uses, comparisons, problems and support against your catalog data, searches on your site, paid and unpaid search evidence, and your current category, product and filter pages. How many products you have, how unique a page would be, canonical rules and value to customers decide whether a combination deserves its own page in Google.
How does keyword research account for AI search and query fan-out?
We can map the follow-up questions, topics, comparisons and tasks that an AI search tool (which runs extra related searches behind the scenes, called query fan-out) or a person may explore, and build an agreed set of test questions. We never create a page for every predicted fan-out search or claim access to Google's internal systems. Ongoing checks of AI answers and mentions belong to AI Search Visibility or LLM Visibility.
Can paid search data improve keyword research for unpaid search?
Yes, where you allow it. Search terms, clicks, costs, conversions and sales quality can show the words customers use and which searches lead to business, but we keep in view that ad reports hide low-volume terms, how ad keyword matching works, campaign targeting and effects of the ad auction. Paid results are evidence, not a guarantee that the same search will bring unpaid visitors or results.
Do you make the page and content changes too?
Only when the written scope includes the relevant service. Keyword research delivers the evidence, page ownership decisions, plan and briefs. SEO Services, Content SEO, On-Page SEO, Technical SEO, Programmatic SEO, content writing or web development handle the changes and live checks, as named in your proposal.
How often should keyword research be updated?
There is no fixed schedule that suits everyone. Updates can be triggered by changes to your offer or markets, new pages, new data, real shifts in your own demand data, changes in what Google shows, competitor moves, clashing content, falling performance and lessons from changes you've made. Keyword Tracking can watch the approved searches and pages between deeper research rounds.
Can you guarantee rankings, traffic, leads or mentions in AI answers?
No. Search engines, competitors, results page layouts, customer behavior and whether Google stores your pages are outside any agency's control, and research data is always incomplete or estimated. We can be held responsible for gathering evidence, clear decisions, the handover for making changes and defining what we measure, but not for rankings, traffic, AI mentions, leads, revenue or extra results caused by the work.
How long does keyword research take and what does it cost?
Once we have what we need from you, we usually aim to deliver a brief on fit, access and evidence, with an early opportunity map, within 3 to 5 business days. A clearly defined single-market project can reach a reviewed priority map and handover in roughly 4 weeks. Large sites, several products, international markets, missing data exports, privacy review, complex page overlap and slow approvals can push this back. Pricing depends on the same scope and access decisions, plus any outside tools or specialist work.