You might start your car insurance journey with a term such as “cheap car insurance” or “new driver’s car insurance.”
You scroll and click the results, read the websites and leave because you must take your daughter to her fitness class.
A few weeks pass, and your daughter reminds you of the car insurance she needs for the car she has convinced you to buy.
You repeat the same search, but perhaps this time, you click a few results but see Google’s PAA (people also ask) section.
You click some more and new questions such as “How to reduce car insurance for new drivers” appear.
You are now in what Google calls the “messy middle of search.”
The messy middle is a world of exploration and evaluation, where brands can choose to show up and increase their chances of being selected and recalled by buyers.
We receive internal or external triggers to search.
We then explore subjects and vendors.
In the end, searchers will have a number of brands that enter their ‘consideration’ set of vendors or products they want to purchase from.
Every buyer search journey depends on the sector. Some take place in minutes, and others take over 12 months.
And this is the search journey we want to map out as best as possible.
We are trying to paint a possible picture of our consumer’s online activity in relation to purchasing.
In the car insurance example earlier, we saw how a prospect makes many searches over a period of time before building a consideration set of brands.
To map the keyword journey, it’s useful to split keywords into three categories:
Head terms
Used for initial exploration.
Used to evaluate brands.
Used for buying.
Body or medium tail keywords
Used for broad subject exploration. Often informational, when a prospect seeks more information on a subject to help them make an informed purchase decision.
Long-tail search
Used for deeper subject exploration and unmet needs.
A user is trying to find a precise solution and previous searches have yet to satisfy them.
A user has complicated product, service or informational needs.
Once you gather your data in the next step, your keyword strategy will start to take shape.
Lower budgets might mean you can’t rank for competitive keywords, but you can reach people as they explore the subject with buyer intent.
Or you may focus on a more targeted and specific group of consumers.
Now, look at your data and add this to the three areas of heady, body and tail.
You can do this via a spreadsheet with three columns.
Dig deeper: How to find high-potential keywords for SEO
Keyword ideation: Identifying what your customers need
Once you have your data, you need to address what keywords match the customer’s needs.
These are keywords that a prospect will use to help them to choose a product, service or brand.
From your research, you’ll have a lot of data, but we need to consider how humans use the web and align our keyword research with that.
Kantar conducted research with Google to identify six needs that searchers have when they use Google.
These needs were identified as follows.
Educate me.
Thrill me.
Surprise me.
Impress me.
Help me.
Reassure me.
Let’s break down each one.
Thrill me
When people come to search engines with this need, they are often at the earliest part of their search journey.
“Search is a quick adventure to find new things. It is brief, with just a few words and minimal back-button use.”
Customers might be looking for ideas, inspiration, examples, entertainment, visualization success stories, case studies and more.
This is often where brands can use other media, such as social media, to grab the attention of consumers.
Surprise me
Searchers using Google with “surprise me” needs are looking for inspiration.
“Search is fun and entertaining. It is extensive with many unique iterations.”
It’s likely that these keywords are early on in a consumer search journey. This is similar to the “thrill me” search terms but usually more broad.
A lot of TikTok content will be consumed this way. With a consumer searching for trending products and information.
Educate me
People who are looking for education search for items such as reviews and comparisons.
“Search is about competence and control. It is thorough: reviews, ratings, comparisons, etc.”
They can seek out ratings and look for vendor experience, expertise, knowledge and authority. Which can come in the form of information and credentials.
It’s here that a brand should focus on displaying their E-E-A-T on their site and it’s likely that these keywords are used for customers who are placing brands in their consideration set.
Impress me
Here, consumers look for status, knowledge and experience.
“Search is about influencing and winning. It is laser-focused, using specific phrases.”
Many searches here are where a consumer knows exactly what they want. Luxury items will live in this sector, but consumers are also seeking out higher-end goods or services.
Help me
If a searcher needs help, they often seek advice, tools, templates and answers.
“Search is about connecting and practicality. It is to-the-point and more likely to mention family or location.”
The searchers have a definite problem and possibly an urgent need. SaaS platforms often win in this range of needs. So do local ‘emergency’ vendors such as plumbers and electricians.
But content can live here too. If you’re a SaaS platform that connects plumbers to locals in need, you could create content that teaches people how to solve their own problems.
By seeing what it entails and thinking, “This looks too much like hard work,” you have framed them for the next step: using your services.
Reassure me
Finally, “reassure me” keywords are related to support, answers and aftercare.
“Search is about simplicity, comfort and trust. It is uncomplicated and more likely to include questions.”
A huge number of medical and legal searches exist for this search need.
For many, it’s easy to dismiss this part of the buyer’s journey, as you might find in your research that these types of keywords are post-purchase.
However, these keywords can have a huge business impact if you can reduce support calls and even complaints.
At this stage of the journey, we are analyzing our search data and identifying our consumers’ search needs. You will probably see a pattern emerge.
For example, if you sell garden furniture, you’ll probably see consumers looking for inspiration and ideas more.
In the beauty industry, people might focus more on cost and finding treatment locations near them.
Regardless of your niche, you have now taken your consumer and search data and placed it in the context of search needs. My advice would be to build this out on a spreadsheet or other board tool.
Run through your head, medium and tail keywords earlier and assign them to each search needs.
Once you’ve done this, it’s time to look at the assets you can create to satisfy these search needs.
Dig deeper: Rethinking your keyword strategy: Why optimizing for search intent matters
Selecting your keyword assets
To identify and select your keyword assets, you will build two keyword lists:
Exploration keywords
These are the keywords that a buyer will use at the beginning of their search journey.
Evaluation Keywords
These are the keywords used to decided if your products or services and brand are for them.
We’ve established that:
The messy middle consists of two key stages where we can engage.
At each stage, users have distinct needs, which can be categorized into six main types.
Using the data we’ve gathered, we can begin developing solutions tailored to these consumer needs.
To start, we can organize these search needs into two groups: exploration and evaluation.
Keep in mind that there may be overlap between the two, and the categorization will vary depending on the specifics of each business.
Here’s an example of how this might look:
Exploration keywords
“Educate me” keywords (list them under)
“Thrill me” keywords
“Surprise” me keywords
“Help me” keywords
Evaluation keywords
“Impress me” keywords
“Educate me” keywords
“Thrill me” keywords
“Reassure me” keywords
Based on your data, you can start populating your buckets as you meet the search needs of your consumers.
For example, your data might show that your customers need education and you will create guides to match this search intent.
Or perhaps a dedicated review section of your website needs to be created to gather customer testimonials.
The aim here is consider the assets you could create to meet your consumer’s search needs based on your data.
Here are some ideas:
How to guides.
Knowledge centers.
Landing pages.
Tools.
Calculators.
Templates.
Each keyword should have a asset aligned with it.
Once you’ve done this, we move into the final stage.
The manual keyword research process
This is the part where most keyword research guides begin, and ours will end.
The reason is simple: as an SEO, you’ll use many different tools throughout your career.
It’s important to develop a keyword research process that works independently of any specific tool but can be applied to all of them.
What matters is the process and not the search tool.
Filter through your data to establish commercial viability for keywords and assets. Here’s how.
Establishing keyword viability
At this point, you should have two lists for Exploration and Evaluation.
Under each section, you will see a list of assets you have decided to create.
And for each asset, you’ll have a list of keywords that each asset targets.
Let’s say your research showed that people were searching for how much something costs.
You’ve identified that an online calculation tool would meet consumer search needs.
The purpose of your manual keyword research is to review the keyword to look from a business viability basis.
You’ll need to consider the search volume available, your internal resources and the time/ cost of ranking for that keyword. You should also consider the potential rewards for the business.
This will depend from business to business, but at the end of the process, you’ll have identified assets you can create for consumers that meet their search needs. And you’ll be better placed to gain buy in from stakeholders.
Conclusion
If you made it to the end of this article, you deserve a medal.
Establishing a revenue-focused keyword research process that aligns with consumer needs greatly stacks the odds in your favor.
Here’s a final recap of the process:
Build your keyword strategy: This involves setting SMART goals, considering the client’s budget and resources and understanding the competitive landscape.
Customer and competitor keyword research: Gather data from various sources, such as customer data, search console data, paid search data and keyword research tools, to understand customer search behavior and intent. Tools like ChatGPT can also be leveraged to generate keyword ideas and analyze market trends.
Map your buyers’ keyword journey: Understand the customer’s search journey from initial exploration to final purchase, categorizing keywords into head terms, body or medium-tail keywords and long-tail search terms.
Keyword ideation: Identify keywords that match customer needs, aligning them with the six needs identified by Kantar’s research.
Select your keyword assets: Create two keyword lists – exploration keywords and evaluation keywords – and identify the type of content or assets that best address these needs (e.g., guides, reviews, landing pages, tools, etc.).
Asset viability (manual keyword research): Evaluate the commercial viability of keywords and assets, considering factors like search volume, internal resources, time/cost of ranking and potential business rewards.
Do this, and you’ll have a great keyword research approach to help you generate ranking and traffic that drives revenue.
Dig deeper: B2B keyword research: A comprehensive guide
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