{"id":89784,"date":"2026-06-04T17:52:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T17:52:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/glossary\/keyword-research\/"},"modified":"2026-10-02T13:51:48","modified_gmt":"2026-10-02T13:51:48","slug":"keyword-research","status":"publish","type":"glossary","link":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/keyword-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Keyword research (Keyword analysis)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Keyword research is an investigation carried out to discover the <a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/keyword\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">keywords<\/a> or search terms that are relevant to our company and for which we want our potential customers to find us.<\/p>\n<p>These are therefore the ones we want to rank for: organically in the SERPs (<a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/seo-search-engine-optimization\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">SEO<\/a> ranking) or through paid campaigns (SEM ranking).<\/p>\n<p>The keywords or search terms chosen after carrying out keyword research will be the basis for our SEO strategy. That is why it must be done correctly, and it is vital for the health of our business. <\/p>\n<p>In many places people talk about keyword research, keyword search or keyword analysis; they all mean the same thing.<\/p>\n<h2>1. How to do keyword research<\/h2>\n<p>To do keyword research well, several actions are needed to find keywords that are related to what we offer and aligned with our goals. To do this, follow these steps: <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Identify the right terms.<\/strong> The first step is to decide whether we want to work with short-tail or long-tail terms. The former attract a higher search volume and the latter a lower one, but they are easier to rank for.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Know your buyer persona in detail.<\/strong> Ultimately, the goal of keyword research is to study the keywords that will reach our buyer personas, so try to imagine what kind of searches they might run on Google and start from there.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Look for ideas in many places.<\/strong> To generate a list of terms related to us (company or product) that also match the chosen terms, share ideas with other people on your team and do some <a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/brainstorming\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">brainstorming<\/a>.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Analyze the competition.<\/strong> It is vital to use tools that show which keywords a specific domain ranks for, so you can get an idea of the strategy our competitors are following. That way you can tell which ones interest you and which ones you don&#8217;t want to fight over, saving your effort for others.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Analyze searches (local and trending).<\/strong> Again, using keyword research tools, try to find words that are feasible to rank for locally, and spot trends so you can start ranking for the future. You will surely come away with data you did not expect and that will be very useful.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>2. Keyword research tools<\/h2>\n<p>There are very popular paid SEO tools that include options for keyword research, as well as free resources that let you do keyword research without needing advanced knowledge.<\/p>\n<p>Here is a selection of tools and services for doing your keyword research according to your needs:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ahrefs.<\/strong> It is one of the most popular tools for keyword research, with a keyword search tool that runs on its own database. It also lets you choose between 9 search engines and shows a score from 1 to 100 based on how difficult it is to rank for a keyword.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Google Autocomplete and related searches.<\/strong> They are not a tool in themselves, but the autocomplete feature of Google&#8217;s own search engine gives us many clues about similar searches already made by its users. The same goes for the related searches section shown at the bottom of each SERP.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Google Keyword Planner.<\/strong> In <a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/google-ads\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Google Ads<\/a> you have an excellent keyword search tool that takes its data directly from Google&#8217;s search engine, and it also offers a very interesting metric: the estimated cost per click in Google Ads.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Keywordtool.<\/strong> It is one of the best on the market, and it gets keywords by using the autocomplete functions of the search engines themselves as a reference. This way it shows the most popular variants, search volume, trends, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Semrush.<\/strong> This content marketing and SEO management tool includes an area for keyword search and keyword research: Keyword Magic Tool. It shows trends, keyword variations, volumes, etc.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Soovle.<\/strong> A free application for starting to find keywords and keyword variations, with support for running queries across different search engines. It is not the most complete, but it costs nothing and does its job well.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Ubersuggest.<\/strong> It is easy to use and lets you search for keywords, taking into account the languages and countries in which to analyze keyword behavior.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Related entries<\/h2>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/programmatic-advertising\/\">Programmatic Advertising<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/ads\/\">Ads<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/advertorial\/\">Advertorial<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/smtp-port\/\">SMTP port<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/pure-players\/\">Pure players<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/q-score-or-quotient-score\/\">Q Score (or Quotient Score)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/query\/\">Query (SEO)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/glossary\/rbl\/\">RBL<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Find out how <a href=\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/\">Mailrelay<\/a> can help you with your email marketing strategy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"template":"","class_list":["post-89784","glossary","type-glossary","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - 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These are therefore the ones we want to rank for: organically in the SERPs (SEO ranking) or through paid campaigns (SEM ranking). The keywords&hellip;","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/89784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/glossary"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/89784\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98244,"href":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/glossary\/89784\/revisions\/98244"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}