Keyword Research Template
A structured framework for discovering, evaluating, and prioritizing keywords. Includes scoring criteria for difficulty, intent, and business relevance.
Best for: Content teams building SEO-driven content programs from scratch
Seed Keyword Generation
300-400 wordsStart with 10-20 seed terms from your product features, customer pain points, and competitor analysis. Use Google autocomplete, People Also Ask, and Reddit/community forums to expand each seed into 5-10 variations.
Keyword Data Collection
400-500 wordsFor each keyword, gather: monthly search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC (indicates commercial intent), current SERP features, and top-ranking content type. Use Ahrefs, SEMrush, or Google Keyword Planner for data.
Search Intent Classification
300-400 wordsClassify every keyword by intent: informational (learning), commercial (evaluating), transactional (buying), or navigational (finding). This determines the content format — a 'how to' query needs a guide, a 'best X' query needs a listicle.
Keyword Scoring & Prioritization
300-400 wordsScore each keyword on three axes: search volume (reach), business relevance (conversion potential), and difficulty (achievability). Create a composite score. Prioritize keywords that score high on relevance and low on difficulty — these deliver fastest ROI.
Keyword Clustering
300-400 wordsGroup related keywords into clusters that a single piece of content can target. One page can rank for 5-20 related terms if they share the same intent. This prevents keyword cannibalization and maximizes content efficiency.
Keyword-to-Content Mapping
300-400 wordsAssign each keyword cluster to a content type and priority tier. Map to your content calendar with target publish dates. Include the primary keyword, secondary keywords, and target word count for each planned piece.
Pro Tips
Don't chase volume alone. A keyword with 200 monthly searches and strong buying intent often outperforms a 10,000-search informational term in pipeline impact.
Check keyword trends, not just current volume. A keyword growing 50% year-over-year at 500 searches today will be at 750+ by the time your content ranks.
Look at keywords where you already rank 11-20. These 'striking distance' keywords are the fastest wins — a content refresh or optimization can push them to page one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many keywords should I target per article?+
One primary keyword and 3-7 secondary keywords per piece. The secondary keywords should be semantically related — Google understands topic coverage, not just exact-match terms. Averi handles keyword clustering automatically during content creation.
Should I target high-difficulty keywords?+
Eventually, but not first. Start with keywords under difficulty 30 to build domain authority and traffic. Once you have 50+ ranking pages, you'll have the authority to compete for higher-difficulty terms.
How often should I do keyword research?+
Monthly for tactical updates, quarterly for strategic reviews. Search patterns shift — new terms emerge, seasonal trends fluctuate. Averi monitors keyword opportunities continuously and surfaces new targets in your content queue.
Templates are a starting point. Averi is the engine.
Averi turns this framework into a living content engine — strategy, creation, SEO, publishing, and analytics in one workflow.
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