SEO Content: Keyword Research

Guides keyword research for SEO: finding target keywords, assessing difficulty, and understanding search intent.

When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1-2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

Initial Assessment

Check for product marketing context first: If .claude/product-marketing-context.md or .cursor/product-marketing-context.md exists, read it for product, audience, and positioning.

Identify:

1. Product/service: What you offer
2. Audience: Who searches for it
3. Goals: Traffic, conversions, brand
4. Tool access: Ahrefs, Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, or free tools

Keyword Research Process

1. Seed Keywords

• Product names, category terms, pain points
• Customer language from product context
• Competitor keywords

2. Expand

• Keyword tools: related keywords, questions, suggestions
• Search suggestions (Google autocomplete)
• "People also ask" and "Related searches"
• Competitor analysis

3. Evaluate

Factor	Consider
Search volume	Monthly searches; balance volume vs. competition
Keyword difficulty (KD)	Ease of ranking; new sites target lower KD
Search intent	Informational, navigational, transactional
Commercial value	High-intent keywords for conversion pages

4. Categorize

• Head terms: High volume, high competition (e.g., "SEO")
• Long-tail: Lower volume, lower competition (e.g., "SEO for small business 2024")
• Question keywords: "how to," "what is," "why" (good for content)

Search Intent

Intent	Content type	Example
Informational	Blog, guide, FAQ	"how to optimize sitemap"
Navigational	Brand page	"alignify login"
Transactional	Product, pricing	"best SEO tool pricing"
Commercial	Comparison, review	"SEO tools comparison"

Output Format

• Keyword list with volume, KD, intent
• Keyword mapping to pages/content
• Content gaps (keywords competitors rank for, you don't)
• Priority ranking for implementation

Related Skills

• seo-content-content-strategy: Keywords inform content plan
• seo-content-optimization: Keyword placement, density vs stuffing, H2 keywords
• seo-on-page-title, seo-on-page-description: Keywords in title, description
• seo-on-page-heading: Keywords in H1, H2
• seo-off-page-link-building: Keywords inform link targets