How to choose SEO keywords: start with business relevance, then assess demand and ranking opportunities

Choosing SEO keywords is not just about picking the terms with the highest search volume. First, confirm that each term fits your business, searchers’ needs, and the target page, then compare search demand and ranking difficulty. New or small sites can prioritize more specific, lower-difficulty terms; established sites can expand their candidate lists by comparing their rankings with competitors’ and using internal site search data. The goal is to find search terms worth targeting and for which your site can realistically compete, rather than relying on a single metric.

First, confirm business relevance and choose the right page type

Start by listing terms that clearly describe your products, services, or topics, then expand the list using keyword tools. When filtering, ask: is someone searching for this term looking for information, comparing options, or preparing to buy? Also examine the types of pages ranking in search results—tutorials, homepages, service pages, or product category pages—to help determine the content format.

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A more specific term is not necessarily a better fit for every page. Take a website builder, for example: if the product does not serve churches exclusively, “church website builder” may not be suitable as the homepage’s primary keyword. Consider the scope a homepage needs to cover separately from the specific needs a topic page should address.

Consider search volume and difficulty together, without applying a single threshold

Search volume is an estimate of monthly searches; keyword difficulty assesses how challenging it may be to rank. Ideally, look for terms with higher demand and lower difficulty, but new and small sites in particular need to assess their own ability to compete. Personal Keyword Difficulty is a separate metric estimated for a specific website and should not be confused with a general difficulty score.

• First, keep terms that are highly relevant to your business and have search demand.
• Then compare difficulty to identify candidates with better ranking opportunities.
• Look for specific long-tail terms: they generally have lower difficulty and may bring more targeted traffic, but they are not guaranteed to be easy to rank for.

For example, a journaling topic could extend to mood tracking or habit tracking, rather than competing only for broad terms such as “journaling.”

Compare your audience’s wording and check trends by region and over time

The same need may be expressed in different ways. Compare two or three phrasings to examine search interest in your target region over a specified period. Google Trends is useful for seeing whether interest is rising, falling, or seasonal, but trend data should not be treated as exact search volume. Once you find more suitable wording, use a keyword research tool to check demand rather than deciding where to invest based solely on interest at a single point in time.

Narrow your list using competitor rankings and on-site demand

Terms that competitors rank for but your site does not—or ranks poorly for—can be added to your candidate list. You can usually start by excluding competitors’ branded terms, then check each term’s relevance to your business and the content types of ranking pages. This is about finding opportunities, not copying every keyword a competitor targets.

If you manage product filter pages on an e-commerce site, use internal site search data to identify product combinations users frequently seek. Then assess search demand, users’ intent to take action, existing engagement or conversion performance, and the realistic chance of reaching the first page of search results. Not every filter combination warrants its own SEO investment; prioritize optimization for more valuable combinations and keep the rest for navigation.