Keyword research is often delivered as a spreadsheet with two thousand rows that nobody opens twice. We do the opposite. You get a focused list of the searches that matter to your business, grouped into topics, with a clear decision for each one: which page should rank for it, and what needs to happen to that page.
Who it is for
- Businesses planning new content who want to know what to write before spending money on writing.
- Sites with pages competing against each other for the same searches, often called cannibalisation.
- Start-ups working out how buyers describe the problem they solve.
- Businesses launching a new service or moving into a new area, such as a Brighton firm expanding to Worthing.
- Anyone about to redesign who wants the new site structure built around real demand.
What we look at
Intent
Is the person ready to buy, comparing options or just learning? "Hotel Brighton seafront" and "things to do in Brighton when it rains" are both travel searches, but they need completely different pages. We classify every search by intent, because putting the wrong kind of page against a search rarely works.
Volume and seasonality
Brighton searches swing more than most. Hospitality peaks in summer and around big events such as the Festival in May and Pride in early August; student-related searches follow the university calendar. We show you when demand rises, so content can be ready in time. See planning SEO around Brighton's seasons.
Difficulty
Who ranks now, and how realistic is it to compete? If national directories and booking platforms fill the first page, a small business may do better targeting more specific searches.
Value
How close is each search to an enquiry or sale for you specifically? We weigh this above raw volume.
Location modifiers
Brighton, Hove, Kemptown, "near me", and searches with no place name that Google still treats as local because of where the searcher is standing.
Questions
What people ask in Google's "People also ask" boxes, in forums and in your own enquiry emails. These become FAQ sections and guides, and help with AI search too.
What is included, step by step
- Kick-off call to understand what you sell, to whom and what makes money.
- Seed list from your services, your customers' language and your Search Console data.
- Expansion using keyword tools and competitor analysis.
- Cleaning and grouping into topics, removing irrelevant and duplicate searches.
- SERP review of the top results for each main group, to confirm intent and difficulty.
- Keyword map assigning each group to one page, with an action: create, improve, merge or leave alone.
- Walkthrough on a call, with the map handed over as a simple sheet.
Deliverable: a keyword map you can actually use, typically 20 to 80 topic groups for a small business rather than thousands of loose keywords, plus a prioritised list of pages to create or improve.
Two Brighton examples
A café in Hove
Research might show that "breakfast Hove" and "brunch Hove" behave like one search and belong on the homepage; "dog friendly cafe Hove" deserves a mention and the right profile attribute; and "cafe near Hove station" is won mainly through the Google Business Profile rather than the website. Three similar-looking keywords, three different actions. See our Hove page for more on how Hove searches behave.
A SaaS start-up
A software company may find its category name is searched far less than the problem it solves, and that comparison searches against bigger competitors are where buyers decide. The plan then focuses on problem pages and honest comparisons. Our start-up SEO guide goes further.
Turning research into decisions
The point of keyword research is to decide what to do, so every topic group ends with an action. "Create" means there is demand and no page for it. "Improve" means a page exists but is weaker than what ranks. "Merge" means two or more pages are competing and should become one. "Leave alone" means a page is doing its job. For a typical small business, the map shows a handful of high-value pages to fix first and a longer list to work through over the following months.
We also flag searches that look attractive but don't suit you. A Brighton SEO agency could chase "what is SEO", for example, but the people searching it are mostly students and the curious, not buyers. Being honest about these saves you writing pages that bring traffic and no enquiries.
Tools and data sources
We combine your own Search Console data, which shows real searches already finding you, with established keyword tools for volume estimates and competitor rankings, and with a manual look at the live search results. No single source is enough on its own, especially for small local searches where tool estimates are least reliable.
When the research says no
Sometimes the research shows that a service has very little search demand in your area. That is useful to know before you spend money on pages for it. In those cases we usually suggest folding it into a broader page, or relying on referrals, social media or a marketing agency partner instead of search for that part of the business.
How long it takes
For most small and medium businesses, one to three weeks from kick-off to walkthrough. Larger shops and multi-service businesses take longer because there are more topics to map.
What it costs, and what drives the cost
- Breadth: the number of services, product ranges and locations.
- Market: local-only research is smaller than national or international.
- Depth: whether you want the map only or full page briefs as well.
It is a fixed-price project, often bundled with content strategy.
Common keyword mistakes
- Targeting the biggest, broadest search and ignoring specific ones that convert.
- Creating a separate page for every small variation of a phrase.
- Ignoring intent, for example trying to rank a sales page for an informational question.
- Using industry jargon customers never search for.
- Doing research once and never revisiting it.
How we measure it
Keyword research succeeds when the pages built from it start ranking and bringing in enquiries. We track each topic group's impressions, clicks and positions in Search Console, and flag groups where a page isn't performing so the plan can be adjusted.
Related services
Keyword research feeds content strategy, local SEO and the structure of any website migration.