Keyword research can get very numbers-heavy, very quickly.
You search for a term related to your business and find it gets 10,000 searches a month. Another gets 500. Another gets 50.
Naturally, your eyes go straight to the biggest number.
More searches means more traffic, and more traffic means more customers. Right?
Not always.
The problem with choosing keywords based on search volume alone is that you're ignoring the most important part of the search: the person making it.
What are they actually looking for? Are they researching something? Comparing their options? Or are they ready to speak to a business like yours?
That's where good SEO keyword research starts to look a little different.
Start With The Customers You Actually Want
Before you start looking for keywords, it's worth asking a much simpler question.
What do you actually want more of?
It could be enquiries for a particular service, customers in a certain location or more of the work that's most valuable to your business. Whatever it is, knowing that first gives your keyword research some direction.
Say you're an accountancy firm offering everything from personal tax returns to outsourced finance support for growing businesses. If the real opportunity is in the outsourced finance side, spending most of your SEO effort chasing searches around personal tax probably doesn't make much sense.
They might be easier keywords. They might even have more searches.
But they're not taking the business where you want it to go.
We've already covered why your SEO strategy should come before your keywords, and this is exactly what we mean. Keyword research works much better when you know what you're trying to achieve with it.
Think About The Person Behind The Search
Once you know what you want to promote, you can start looking at how potential customers search for it.
This is where search intent comes in.
Take an accountant again.
Someone searching "what does an accountant do?" is probably learning about the subject. They could become a customer eventually, but they're unlikely to pick up the phone after reading one page.
Someone searching "do I need an accountant for my small business?" is a little further along. There's clearly a problem they're trying to solve.
Then there's "small business accountant Newcastle."
You don't need an SEO tool to tell you that person is much closer to making a decision.
They're all relevant keywords, but they have very different jobs.
That doesn't mean you should ignore informational searches. Good content can introduce people to your business, answer their questions and build trust long before they're ready to buy.
But if your goal is generating enquiries, you also need buyer intent keywords that reach people when they're actually looking for what you offer.
Don't Get Blinded By Search Volume
Search volume matters. We're not going to pretend it doesn't.
But it needs context.
Imagine one keyword gets 5,000 searches every month and another gets 200.
The first sounds like the obvious winner until you look a little closer and realise it's incredibly broad. People searching it could be looking for advice, jobs, training, definitions or something else entirely.
The smaller keyword, meanwhile, describes the exact service you provide in the exact location you provide it.
Which would you rather rank for?
There's no universal answer, because it depends on the business. But we'd take 200 searches from people with a genuine reason to become customers over thousands of irrelevant visits every time.
That's the difference between choosing keywords for a report and choosing them for a business.
Actually Google The Keyword
This sounds almost too simple, but it's one of the most useful things you can do during keyword research.
Search for it.
What comes up?
Are the results service pages from businesses like yours? Product pages? Blogs? Comparison guides? Videos? Directories?
Google has spent a lot of time working out what people are likely to want when they make that search, so the results give you a pretty good indication of the intent behind it.
Let's say you want a service page to rank for a particular keyword, but almost every result on page one is an educational guide.
That's a clue.
Google probably doesn't think people making that search want a service page.
You could create the best service page in your industry and still struggle because you're giving the searcher the wrong type of answer.
Keyword research isn't just about finding the phrase. It's about understanding what's behind it.
Specific Searches Can Be Much More Valuable
Broad keywords are tempting because they tend to come with impressive search volumes.
They're also usually competitive and vague.
Take "solicitor".
Someone searching that could need almost anything. Family law, employment advice, property support, a job at a law firm or simply a definition.
Now compare it with "commercial property solicitor Newcastle."
There will be fewer searches, but we know a lot more about the person making them.
We know what service they need. We know where they need it. And there's a pretty good chance they're looking for a solicitor rather than researching what one does.
These more specific searches are often called long-tail keywords, and they can be incredibly valuable for businesses focused on generating leads.
Not because longer keywords are automatically better, but because specificity often gives us a much clearer picture of what someone actually wants.
Every Keyword Should Lead Somewhere
This is the bit that often gets missed.
You don't need every keyword to generate an enquiry immediately.
Some people aren't ready.
A potential customer might first discover you through a blog answering a question. A few weeks later they could come back to read a case study. Eventually, they might search directly for the service you provide and get in touch.
That's why a good keyword strategy usually includes different types of searches.
Some build awareness. Some educate. Some help people compare their options. And some reach people who are ready to buy.
The important thing is understanding what role each one plays.
It's something we consider throughout how we approach SEO at Surge. We're not interested in building the biggest keyword list possible. We want to know why a keyword matters and what should happen if someone lands on the website through it.
Because More Traffic Isn't Always More Business
If you choose keywords purely because they get lots of searches, there's every chance your traffic will increase.
Sounds good.
Until your enquiries don't.
We've already looked at why increased website traffic doesn't always mean more leads, and targeting the wrong searches is one of the easiest ways to end up in that position.
You can have an SEO report showing record traffic while the sales team is wondering why nothing feels any different.
That's why traffic needs to be viewed alongside what actually matters to the business.
Are you attracting the right people? Are they visiting commercially important pages? Are they getting in touch?
Those questions tell you much more than a traffic graph on its own.
So, Is A Keyword Actually Worth Targeting?
Before committing time and effort to a keyword, we'd ask four things.
Is your ideal customer likely to search for it? What are they trying to achieve when they do? Do the current Google results match the type of content or page you could realistically create? And finally, if you did rank for it, would that actually make a difference to the business?
If the answer to that last question is no, it doesn't really matter how impressive the search volume looks.
Good keyword research isn't about finding every phrase your website could possibly rank for. It's about finding the searches that make sense for your customers and your business.
Choose Keywords With A Reason
There's no magic keyword that suddenly unlocks SEO.
The best opportunities usually come from understanding your customers, what they're searching for and where those searches fit into the bigger picture.
Sometimes that'll mean targeting a big, competitive keyword. Other times, the real opportunity will be a much smaller search that happens to be exactly what your best customers type into Google.
That's why our SEO services at Surge start with understanding the business rather than handing over a spreadsheet full of search terms.
If you're getting traffic but aren't sure whether you're attracting the right people, or you simply don't know which keywords are worth focusing on, have a chat with our team. We'll help you work out where the real opportunities are.
