Keywords for SEO: what they are and how to research them

Keywords are the terms people type into a search engine to find information, products, services, or answers to questions. In SEO, keywords are the bridge between what your audience wants and what you publish — and choosing the right ones determines whether your content shows up or stays invisible.

A well-chosen keyword isn't just a word: it's a search intent that your content commits to satisfying. Understanding that difference is what separates useful SEO from filler SEO.

Types of keywords by length

Head (short tail)

One or two words, high volume, high competition, fuzzy intent. Example: "marketing," "video."

Attractive on the surface, almost impossible to rank for unless you're a big brand. And even if you do rank, conversion tends to be low because the intent isn't clear.

Mid-tail

Three to four words, medium volume, medium competition, clearer intent. Example: "video marketing for agencies."

The sweet spot for most teams. Enough volume to drive traffic, enough specificity to convert.

Long-tail

Five words or more, low volume individually, low competition, very specific intent. Example: "how to do video marketing for a small agency with no budget."

Each long-tail on its own seems like little, but the sum of hundreds of long-tails is usually where the real qualified traffic of an SEO blog lives.

Types of keywords by intent

More important than length is the intent behind the search. Google classifies intents roughly as follows:

• Informational: "what is X," "how does Y work." The user wants to learn. Content: guides, glossaries, tutorials.
• Navigational: "polimake login." The user is looking for a specific site. Content: your own website answers it.
• Commercial: "best X tools," "X vs Y." The user compares before buying. Content: comparisons, reviews, case studies.
• Transactional: "buy X," "Y price," "Z demo." The user is ready to act. Content: product pages, pricing, demo.

Optimizing a keyword without aligning it with intent is a costly mistake. Creating a sales page for an informational keyword won't convert, because the user didn't want to buy — they wanted to understand.

How to research keywords

Tools

• Google Search Console: what already brings you traffic. Always start here.
• Google Keyword Planner: estimated volume and competition.
• Ahrefs / SEMrush: competitive analysis, difficulty, intent.
• Answer the Public / AlsoAsked: variations and related questions.
• Google's related searches: what appears at the bottom of the results.

Process

1. Start with topics, not loose keywords. What do you want to be an authority on?
2. Find seed keywords within each topic.
3. Expand with tools to dozens of variants.
4. Filter by intent and volume. Discard what doesn't fit.
5. Group by topic cluster. Each cluster is a pillar + spokes in your architecture.
6. Prioritize by opportunity score: a balance between volume, competition, and commercial relevance.

Best practices when using keywords

• One primary keyword per page, with 2-3 related secondary ones.
• The keyword in the title, first paragraph, and H2 — without forcing it.
• Natural synonyms and variants throughout the text.
• Internal links from other pages with descriptive anchor text.
• Schema markup that reinforces the content for Google.
• Review performance and rewrite if the page isn't ranking the way you expected.

The most common mistake: keyword stuffing

Repeating the keyword 30 times on a page doesn't make it rank better — it makes it rank worse. Google has been detecting and penalizing keyword stuffing for more than a decade. The practical rule:

• If, rereading the text out loud, you feel like you're repeating yourself oddly, there's stuffing.
• If the text sounds natural and the keyword appears where it fits semantically, you're fine.

Ideal density: 1-2% of the text, with synonyms and context that cover the full intent.

Common mistakes

• Optimizing for keywords with no volume. Work invested with no possible return.
• Optimizing for impossible head terms. Months of effort with no ranking.
• Ignoring intent. A page optimized for keyword X that doesn't answer what the user was looking for.
• Not updating. What worked two years ago may not work today.
• Treating keywords as the final metric. Keywords don't convert — content does. A keyword that ranks but doesn't convert is not a success.

Keywords in creative operations

For an agency or in-house team that produces SEO content, keyword research is an input to every brief. A brief without a primary keyword and without clearly defined intent produces content that doesn't rank. Having this input standardized in the production workflow prevents you from writing brilliant pieces that nobody finds.

On how to integrate SEO into the content production workflow without it becoming bureaucracy, read editorial calendar and content production at scale.

At Polimake, the keywords tied to each piece live in the brief in Studio, the optimized production in Studio, and the SEO assets archived in Media — to be reused and to build coherent topic clusters.

Related concepts

• SEO: what it means
• General SEO tips
• Heading hierarchy for SEO
• SEM: search engine marketing
• Conversion funnel

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This piece is part of the Polimake glossary and the cluster on creative operations. If you manage SEO at an agency or in-house team, also read editorial calendar.