A Guide to SEO Keyword Research

Estimated reading time: 12 minutes.

Here's something I've noticed after teaching keyword research for years: most people I work with already have some idea of what keywords are, but they get stuck on why they matter and how search engines actually use them. And honestly? That's the bit that actually matters - understanding the fundamentals is what separates effective keyword research from, well, making lists of words and hoping for the best.

If you're new to SEO or keyword research, or if you've been doing it but want to strengthen your foundation, this guide will walk you through the essential concepts you need to know. We'll explore what keyword research really is, how it fits into your broader SEO strategy, and how to think about your audience's search behaviour in a way that informs everything else you do.

 

Key Takeaways

1. Keyword Research is About Understanding People, Not Just Finding Words: Effective keyword research starts with stepping into your customers' shoes - thinking about their questions, needs, and problems. The best keyword strategies come from genuine customer insight, not just high search volumes.
2. Search Intent is the Foundation: Understanding whether someone is looking for information, comparing options, or ready to buy shapes everything from the content you create to how you measure success.
3. The Customer Journey Isn't Linear Anymore: In 2026, the traditional marketing funnel has become what many call "the mess" - customers can be at multiple stages simultaneously, discovering you in unexpected ways and contexts.
4. Search Results Are Highly Contextual: The results Google shows vary dramatically based on location, device, time of day, and personal context. Keyword research shows possibilities, not guarantees.

 

Table of Contents

1. What Is Keyword Research, Really?
2. Why Keyword Research Matters
3. Where to Start: Know Your Customer
4. Understanding the Modern Customer Journey
5. How Search Engines Interpret Keywords
6. The Anatomy of a Keyword
7. Understanding Search Intent
8. The Reality of Contextual Search
9. Next Steps: Putting This Into Practice

 

What Is Keyword Research, Really?

At its most basic level, keyword research is the process of identifying and analysing the search queries people use when looking for information, products, or services online. But here's what makes it more than just a list-making exercise: keyword research is fundamentally about understanding your audience.

Before someone becomes your customer, they're just a person with a question, a problem, or a need. They turn to a search engine - usually Google - and type in a query. Your job isn't just to identify what words they're typing, but to understand:

• What they're really looking for
• What stage they're at in their decision-making process
• What kind of answer or solution would satisfy them
• How search engines interpret their query

Think of keyword research as the bridge between your audience and your content. If your content doesn't align with what people are actually searching for, they simply won't find you - no matter how good that content might be. (I've learned this the hard way more times than I'd like to admit.)

 

Why Keyword Research Matters

Many people assume keyword research is just about content creation, but its value extends much further. Here's what effective keyword research actually helps you achieve:

Understanding Your Audience

Keyword research reveals how your potential customers think about and describe their problems. The language they use, the questions they ask, and the modifiers they add all provide insights into their needs, concerns, and priorities.

Aligning Content with Search Behaviour

If you create content about topics using language that nobody actually searches for, you've created something invisible. Keyword research ensures your content uses the same vocabulary your audience uses.

Identifying Opportunities

By understanding what people search for and what currently ranks, you can spot gaps in the market - topics or questions that aren't being adequately addressed by your competitors.

Measuring and Improving Performance

Keyword research isn't just a one-time exercise. It allows you to track how your organic search performance evolves and strategically improve your site to better align with user intent.

Informing Your Broader Strategy

The insights from keyword research often reveal opportunities beyond SEO - product ideas, customer service improvements, content for other channels, and more.

 

Where to Start: Know Your Customer

If you're feeling overwhelmed about where to begin, I always recommend starting with your customer. Before you open any keyword research tool, invest time in understanding who you're trying to reach.

Create a Customer Persona

A customer persona is a fictionalised but data-informed profile of your ideal customer. It should outline:

• Demographics (age, location, job role, income level)
• Pain points and challenges they face
• Goals and aspirations
• Behaviours and preferences
• How they make decisions
• Where they spend time online

This isn't just a creative exercise - it's strategic groundwork that will inform every aspect of your keyword research. When you know who you're talking to, you can better predict what they'll search for and why.

Talk to Your Teams

Some of the most valuable insights I've seen come from just talking to people who interact with customers daily. Your sales team often knows things about customer language and concerns that would never show up in a keyword tool.

Your Sales Team can tell you:

• Common questions prospects ask
• Objections they raise
• Language and terminology they use
• What triggers their buying decisions

Your Product or Service Team can share:

• Key features and benefits that matter most
• How your offering solves specific problems
• Technical details that customers care about
• Common use cases or applications

These conversations often reveal search queries you'd never have thought of on your own, and they're grounded in real customer interactions rather than assumptions. I promise, it's worth the time.

 

Understanding the Modern Customer Journey

For years, marketers have used the concept of a funnel to describe how customers move from awareness to purchase. The traditional model includes stages like Awareness, Interest, Evaluation, Decision, and Retention. It's a tidy, linear progression that's easy to visualise and plan around.

I'll be honest - when I first started doing SEO, I loved the funnel. It was tidy, predictable, easy to plan around. But here's the reality in 2026: that funnel doesn't really exist anymore - or at least, not in the neat, orderly way we once imagined. These days, I've had to let go of that neat progression because it just doesn't match what I see in Search Console data or hear from the businesses I work with.

Welcome to "The Mess"

What we're experiencing now is what many in the industry call "the mess." The mess is frustrating, but it's also more realistic. Customers don't move through stages in order. They might:

• Discover your brand on social media whilst simultaneously comparing options on your website
• Make a purchase decision based on something they saw on television that morning
• Be at the office researching on a desktop, then continue the conversation on mobile whilst commuting home
• Jump from awareness to purchase without hitting any middle stages
• Return to research mode even after they've decided to buy

Discovery, exposure, consideration, and conversion can all happen at the same time, on multiple platforms, influenced by factors you can't always predict or track. It's messy, yes, but it's reality.

Why the Framework Still Matters

Despite this messiness, the traditional framework remains useful - not as a description of how customers actually behave, but as a tool for organising your keyword research and understanding different types of search intent.

Think of the journey stages less as a path customers follow and more as categories that help you recognise the various ways people might search for solutions like yours.

Awareness Stage

At this early point, customers realise they have a problem or need. Their search queries tend to be broad and informational:

• "how to fix a leaky faucet"
• "ways to reduce stress"
• "why is my website traffic decreasing"

They're educating themselves and aren't yet aware of your brand - or possibly even the full range of solutions available.

Interest Stage

As they learn more, queries become more specific, showing curiosity about potential solutions:

• "best stress relief techniques"
• "top-rated plumbers near me"
• "SEO services for small businesses"

They're exploring options but aren't ready to commit.

Evaluation Stage

Now they're actively comparing solutions, wanting to make an informed choice:

• "XYZ plumbing services review"
• "compare meditation apps"
• "SEO consultant vs agency"

This is where they're weighing up which product, service, or provider is the best fit for their needs. Maybe they're comparing meditation apps because they read an article about stress management, or researching accounting software because tax time is approaching and their spreadsheet system finally broke them.

Decision Stage

By this point, they're ready to take action. Searches become transactional:

• "buy XYZ meditation app subscription"
• "schedule plumbing service with XYZ company"
• "book SEO consultation"

Brand-specific and product-related keywords become particularly important here.

Retention Stage

Even after purchase, keyword research remains relevant. Customers may search for support or additional information:

• "how to use XYZ product"
• "XYZ app troubleshooting"
• "advanced SEO tips"

This stage is about maintaining engagement and building loyalty.

How to Use This Framework

By understanding these stages, you can align your keyword research with different customer intents, even knowing they won't move through them in order. The framework helps you:

• Ensure you're creating content for all types of searches, not just bottom-of-funnel conversions
• Recognise that different keywords serve different purposes in your overall strategy
• Accept that some keywords might not drive immediate sales but build awareness and trust
• Plan content that supports customers wherever they happen to be in their journey

 

How Search Engines Interpret Keywords

One of the most important things to understand about keyword research is this: search engines don't just match words. They interpret intent.

When someone types a query into Google, the search engine doesn't simply look for pages containing those exact words. Instead, it analyses the query to identify:

• The underlying topic
• The likely intent behind the search
• What type of answer would best satisfy the user
• What format that answer should take

Google then scours its index to find content that best satisfies the query, taking into account relevance, quality, freshness, authority, and hundreds of other ranking factors.

What This Means for Your Keyword Strategy

This sophisticated interpretation is why keyword research doesn't directly impact rankings. Simply adding keywords to your content won't necessarily improve how search engines perceive it.

What matters is creating content that genuinely satisfies user intent. Keywords should be used thoughtfully to enhance relevance and user experience, not forced in as a tactic to manipulate rankings.

Think of it this way: keyword research is about gaining insights into search behaviour and intent. It helps you understand what to create and how to structure it. The actual keywords are just one element of content that search engines evaluate - and far from the most important one.

 

The Anatomy of a Keyword

Understanding how keywords are structured helps you make sense of the vast number of variations tools will generate. Every keyword phrase can typically be broken down into two components. This is something that comes quite automatically to me after years of practice, but when you're starting out, it's really helpful to break it down this way:

The Primary Topic

This is the core subject - the main thing someone is looking for. Examples include:

• "dresses"
• "restaurants"
• "cars"
• "SEO"
• "plumber"

These are general, broad terms that represent entire categories.

The Modifiers

Modifiers add context and signal the user's intent. They tell you more about what the searcher actually wants:

Location Modifiers

• "near me"
• "in Christchurch"
• "Auckland"

These indicate proximity matters to the searcher.

Action Modifiers

• "how to"
• "best"
• "buy"
• "cheap"

These reveal what the person wants to do or what qualities matter to them.

Quality or Type Modifiers

• "luxury"
• "affordable"
• "used"
• "organic"

These specify the particular characteristics the searcher values.

Why This Structure Matters

Understanding topic + modifier helps you in several ways:

1. Different businesses can share topics but serve different modifiers: Two car dealerships might both work in the "cars" topic, but one specialises in "new luxury cars" whilst another focuses on "used affordable cars." The modifiers define your actual market.
2. Modifiers signal intent: Someone searching "how to fix drain" has very different intent from "emergency plumber near me" - both are in the plumbing topic, but they're at completely different stages and need different content.
3. Tools generate variations systematically: When you understand this structure, you can more quickly categorise and make sense of the hundreds of keyword variations that tools like SEMRush or Keyword Planner will suggest.

Different tools will present keywords in different ways, but applying this consistent framework - identifying the core topic and the modifying context - helps you interpret and organise keywords no matter where they come from.

 

Understanding Search Intent

Search intent - what the user hopes to achieve with their search - is arguably the most important concept in keyword research. Understanding intent helps you predict what kind of content will be most relevant to your audience and, crucially, what search engines will actually display.

I'm assuming you've probably come across some version of this before, but let's break it down. Search intent generally falls into four main categories:

1. Informational Intent

The user is looking for information or answers to questions. They want to learn something, understand a concept, or find instructions.

Examples:

• "what is SEO"
• "how to change a tyre"
• "symptoms of the flu"
• "history of New Zealand"

What they need: Educational content like guides, tutorials, blog posts, definitions, or explanatory articles.

2. Navigational Intent

The user wants to reach a specific website or page. They know where they want to go; they're just using Google as a navigation tool.

Examples:

• "Facebook login"
• "Altitude Search"
• "Trade Me motors"
• "IRD tax return"

What they need: Direct access to the homepage or specific page they're seeking.

3. Commercial Intent

The user is researching products or services to make a decision. They're in comparison or evaluation mode.

Examples:

• "best running shoes 2026"
• "iPhone vs Samsung"
• "SEO consultant reviews"
• "top accounting software for small business"

What they need: Comparison content, reviews, buying guides, feature breakdowns, or case studies.

4. Transactional Intent

The user is ready to take action - usually to make a purchase or engage a service.

Examples:

• "buy Nike running shoes"
• "book hotel Wellington"
• "SEO consultation"
• "order pizza online"

What they need: Clear paths to purchase, product pages, booking systems, or contact forms.

Why Intent Matters So Much

Search engines display distinctly different results depending on the intent they detect. For example:

• Informational queries typically yield articles, guides, or featured snippets
• Navigational queries usually show the official website prominently
• Commercial queries often display comparison content, reviews, and buying guides
• Transactional queries show product listings, shopping ads, and direct purchase options

This means you can't just target any keyword and expect to rank with any type of content. The content type must match the intent Google has assigned to that keyword. I've seen people create brilliant informational content for transactional keywords and wonder why they're not ranking - it's like showing up to a birthday party with a casserole when everyone wanted cake.

By analysing the intent behind each keyword in your research, you can:

• Understand which terms to prioritise
• Decide what type of content to create
• Set realistic expectations about what's achievable
• Align your content strategy with how search engines actually work

 

The Reality of Contextual Search

Here's something that often surprises people new to keyword research: search results are highly personalised and contextual. Two different people searching for exactly the same keyword can see completely different results.

You've probably experienced this yourself - searching for "coffee shop" whilst you're out running errands gives you completely different results than when you're sitting at your desk planning your weekend. Same search, different moment, different context, different results.

What Influences Search Results

Location

Someone searching "coffee shop" at home will see different results than if they made the same search in the city centre. Google tailors results based on proximity to the searcher.

Device Type

Mobile searches often prioritise different results than desktop searches - particularly for local businesses or how-to content.

Time of Day

A search for "restaurants" at 11am might show different results than the same search at 7pm, as Google tries to predict whether you're planning ahead or need something immediately.

Personal Search History and Behaviour

Google uses your previous searches, the websites you visit, and your overall behaviour to personalise results.

What Else You're Doing

If you're watching television and something prompts a search, or if you have multiple tabs open researching a topic, this context can influence what Google shows you. You don't always know the context behind these searches, and obviously, the information we're provided at any time can be quite limited, but you can try and make some educated guesses.

What This Means for Keyword Research

This contextual variation means that keyword research shows you possibilities, not guarantees. When you research a keyword, you're seeing:

• Estimated search volumes based on aggregated data
• Typical results Google shows for that query
• General patterns of user behaviour

But the actual results your specific customers see will vary based on their unique context. This is complicated, and that's okay. It just means it's important to:

• Focus on relevance and intent rather than obsessing over exact rankings
• Create content that serves a genuine need, regardless of precise search volume
• Accept that you can't control every variable in the search experience
• Use keyword research as directional guidance rather than absolute truth

Someone researching accounting software at their office desk will have a different experience than someone doing the same research on their phone whilst commuting. Both might use the same keywords, but their context shapes what they see and what they need.

Understanding this contextual reality keeps your keyword research grounded and prevents you from making overly rigid plans based on what are, ultimately, general patterns rather than fixed rules.

 

Next Steps: Putting This Into Practice

Now that you understand the fundamentals - what keyword research is, how search engines interpret queries, the structure of keywords, and the importance of intent - you're ready to put this knowledge into practice. And honestly, that's where it gets interesting.

The concepts we've covered form the foundation for effective keyword research:

• Knowing your customer and their journey
• Understanding how keywords are structured (topic + modifiers)
• Recognising different types of search intent
• Accepting the contextual, non-linear nature of modern search behaviour

These fundamentals will inform every decision you make as you move into the practical work of conducting keyword research, analysing data, and building a strategy. It might feel a bit overwhelming at first, but it does get easier with practice.

Ready to start doing keyword research? Our companion guide, Keyword Research in Practice: A Step-by-Step Guide, walks you through the entire process - from choosing tools and analysing data sources to organising your findings and creating an actionable plan.

If you have questions or want to discuss how keyword research fits into your broader SEO strategy, get in touch with Altitude Search - we're here to help you navigate every step of your SEO journey.