The keywords you choose can make or break your SEO campaign.
If you make smart keyword choices, you’ll produce content with the potential to attract valuable organic search traffic month after month. If you pick the wrong keywords, your content will only attract low-value traffic or none at all. So how do you find and choose the right keywords for SEO? Follow the 9 simple steps below. New to keyword research? Check out our: Beginner’s guide to keyword research. This first step doesn’t require any fancy research. Just hash out a list of the keywords you think are most important to your business. Seed keywords are essentially topics – they should be broad and overarching enough to generate a bunch of keyword ideas when you drop them in a research tool. From your seed keywords you can find more specific and realistic keywords to rank for. To find what people are actually searching for, you need a keyword research tool. Here are a few options to choose from:Google Keyword Planner
Google has a free tool called Keyword Planner. The way it works is pretty simple: You enter a topic, and it kicks back relevant keyword ideas and search volumes. For example, here are a few of the ideas and search volumes it gives us for “dog food”:
Ahrefs Keywords Explorer
Keyword Explorer works in much the same way as GKP. You enter a topic/seed keyword, and it shows you keyword ideas and monthly search volumes. The difference is that the search volume estimates are much more precise, and you also usually get way more ideas than in GKP. For example, if we enter the seed keyword “dog food” and check the Matching terms report, we get over 416,000 keyword ideas with search volumes and other data:


Google Search Console
If you have access to Google Search Console, you can find ideas based on the keywords users are already searching to get to your website. Every website has the ability to pick up keywords unintentionally. In fact, our study: How many keywords can you rank for with one page? proved that even a page ranking in position 20 has the ability to pick up an additional 200+ keywords in the top 10 on average. These existing keywords are a goldmine for your content. You can find them in GSC’s search results report…

AlsoAsked
Tools like AlsoAsked show you all the questions “People Also Ask” when someone searches a keyword. These usually appear in the accordion feature on search engine results pages. Here’s an example of questions that pop up in the SERPs for the keyword “Regex SEO”
Internal tools
Use your company’s internal knowledge when you’re learning how to find keywords. Talk to sales and customer teams, mine customer chats, search brand mentions in communities, and look at site or help center searches to discover common queries. You’ll find valuable keywords with the potential to both convert and support your next wave of customers.Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere lets you determine the best keywords for your business, while you search. It’s a really handy tool to discover keywords on-the-go.






- Learn something
- Buy something
- Find a specific website








Tip
Here’s some more inspiration from Claude AI on the different types of modifiers you can use to find SEO keywords: Industry-specific:
- Industry names (e.g., healthcare, finance, education)
- Sector-specific terms (e.g., B2B, SaaS, ecommerce)
- Niche markets (e.g., organic skincare, vegan footwear)
- Demographics (e.g., millennials, seniors, teenagers)
- Job titles (e.g., CEO, marketing manager, small business owner)
- Skill levels (e.g., beginner, intermediate, expert)
- Company scale (e.g., startup, small business, enterprise)
- Employee count (e.g., solopreneur, 50+ employees)
- Revenue ranges (e.g., under $1M, $10M-$50M)
- Price points (e.g., budget, premium, luxury)
- Cost qualifiers (e.g., cheap, affordable, high-end)
- Value terms (e.g., best value, cost-effective, investment)
- Locations (e.g., New York, rural, coastal)
- Regions (e.g., Southeast, Midwest, international)
- Climate-based (e.g., tropical, cold weather)
- Seasons (e.g., summer, holiday season)
- Urgency (e.g., last-minute, same-day, emergency)
- Duration (e.g., long-term, short-term, overnight)
- Product characteristics (e.g., organic, handmade, eco-friendly)
- Service qualities (e.g., 24/7, on-demand, personalized)
- Technical specs (e.g., 4K, wireless, solar-powered)
- Pain points (e.g., reduce stress, save time, increase efficiency)
- Goals (e.g., weight loss, career advancement, financial freedom)
- Challenges (e.g., acne-prone skin, high-traffic websites)
- Versus keywords (e.g., X vs Y, alternatives to X)
- Best-of lists (e.g., top 10, best of 2023)
- Comparatives (e.g., cheaper than, faster than)
- Informational (e.g., how to, what is, guide to)
- Transactional (e.g., buy, order, purchase)
- Navigational (e.g., login, customer service, near me)
- Devices (e.g., mobile, tablet, smart TV)
- Operating systems (e.g., iOS, Android, Windows)
- Social platforms (e.g., Facebook, Instagram, TikTok)
- Standards (e.g., ISO certified, GDPR compliant)
- Licenses (e.g., licensed contractor, accredited program)
- Ratings (e.g., 5-star, A+ rated)
Final thoughts
Finding and choosing the keywords for SEO isn’t that complicated. You’re just looking for keywords where:- Traffic potential and clicks are high.
- Business potential is high.
- You can create content that aligns with search intent.
- You actually stand a chance of ranking.