In summary: Choosing keywords for SEO means deciding what your customer searches for on Google and prioritising terms you can rank for that drive sales. The key isn't volume, but search intent and realistic competition for your website. In this guide, you'll see how to find them, how to filter by intent, competition, and business value, and how to group them by page. And why today, an AI agent does this work every day, without relying on an agency.
What is a keyword and why it matters
A keyword is what a person types into a search engine when they want to solve something: 'boiler repair Valencia', 'invoicing software for freelancers', or 'handmade leather shoes'. Choosing your keywords well is the most important decision in all of SEO, because it determines which searches you'll compete for and, consequently, what type of customer will land on your website.
The most common mistake is to chase highly searched terms simply because they have high volume. A keyword with thousands of searches per month is useless if the person typing it isn't going to buy from you, or if you're competing against websites with an authority you won't achieve in the short term. Choosing keywords isn't about hunting for the highest number; it's about finding the sweet spot where three things align: what your customer is looking for, what you can rank for, and what generates business for you.
Understand search intent
Before looking at any tool, you need to understand why someone performs a search. This is called search intent, and it's the most important filter of all. Every query hides a different objective, and your content needs to match that objective to rank.
In practice, there are four main types of intent:
- Informational: the person wants to learn something. 'How to change a tyre', 'what's local SEO'. It helps attract visitors and build trust, but rarely leads to direct sales.
- Commercial: they're comparing before deciding. 'Best CRM for SMEs', 'alternatives to X'. Here, there's already a strong purchase intent.
- Transactional: they want to buy or hire now. 'Buy running shoes size 42', 'kitchen renovation quote'. These are the keywords that convert best.
- Navigational: they're looking for a specific brand or website. 'Boomatik SEO', 'access my bank'.
For an SME, commercial and transactional keywords are gold, because they attract those who are on the verge of buying. Informational keywords help you build authority and capture those who are still researching. The rule is simple: look at the results Google already shows for a search. If they're product listings, it's transactional; if they're long guides, it's informational. Google is telling you what it expects, and your page needs to deliver exactly that.
How to find keyword ideas
Once you understand the intent, it's time to generate a broad list of candidates. There's no need to start with paid tools: the best ideas come from free sources and knowing your customer.
- Your own business: note down how your customers describe what you sell. Often, they use different words than yours, and therein lie opportunities.
- Google Autocomplete: start typing your service and look at the suggestions. These are real searches from other people.
- 'Related searches' and 'People also ask': at the bottom of the results page and in the expandable blocks, you'll find variations and specific queries.
- Competitors: look at the titles and sections of websites that already rank in your sector to identify topics you don't cover.
- Customer reviews and questions: emails, chat, and reviews are full of the exact way people ask questions.
The goal of this phase is quantity: gather dozens or hundreds of ideas without filtering yet. Filtering comes afterwards. If you want this work to be done automatically and continuously, the app from Boomatik's SEO researches and groups keywords for you without you having to grapple with any tools.
How to measure competition and difficulty
Having many ideas isn't enough; you need to know which ones you can genuinely win. Here, two variables come into play that you must cross-reference: search volume (how many people search for that term) and difficulty (how hard it is to rank against the competition).
The principle that saves SMEs the most time and money is this: it's better to be number one for a small search than number twenty for a huge one. Appearing high up for a very specific term with few monthly searches attracts determined customers. Appearing on page three for a generic term attracts no one, because almost no one goes past the first page.
To assess difficulty without paid tools, you can look at who occupies the top positions. If they are big brands, comparison sites, and highly authoritative websites, that term will take you years. If businesses similar to yours, forums, or modest websites appear, you have a real opportunity. The official documentation from Google Search Central explains well what signals the search engine values when deciding which pages to rank highly, and that criterion is what you should keep in mind when choosing.
The power of long-tail keywords
Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific searches: instead of 'shoes', 'men's leather wedding shoes in Madrid'. They have less individual volume, but collectively add up to a lot of traffic and, crucially, convert much better.
The reason is logical: the more specific the search, the clearer what the person wants and the closer they are to deciding. Someone searching for 'shoes' is just browsing; someone searching for 'men's leather wedding shoes in Madrid' is one step away from buying. Furthermore, the competition is much lower, so a small website can rank without needing years of authority.
For an SME, focusing on dozens of well-chosen long-tail keywords almost always yields better results than obsessing over a handful of impossible generic terms. Each page of your website can target a specific intent, and collectively, they end up attracting a constant flow of qualified customers.
Group and prioritise your keywords
With the list filtered by intent, competition, and business value, the final step is to organise it. Don't create a page for every single keyword: group those that mean the same thing. 'Buy hiking boots', 'cheap trekking boots', and 'best walking boots' can coexist on a single well-crafted page, because they address the same intent.
Next, prioritise. An order that works for most SMEs is this:
- First, transactional and commercial keywords with manageable competition: these are the ones that bring sales fastest.
- Next, informational long-tail keywords that attract your ideal customer while they're researching and build your authority.
- Finally, generic and highly competitive terms, as a medium-term goal once your website has established authority.
This grouping gives you a clear roadmap of which pages you need and in what order to create them. It's not a one-and-done job: competition shifts, new searches emerge, and priorities change every month. That's why choosing keywords is more about continuous maintenance than a project that gets wrapped up.
Do it with an AI agent instead of an agency
Traditionally, all of this was done by an agency or a consultant: hours of research, endless spreadsheets, and a report that became outdated within weeks. The work has value, but the format has a fundamental flaw: it depends on a person's hours, is billed per project or retainer, and stops improving as soon as the assignment ends.
At Boomatik, we approach it differently. We're not an agency; we're a platform of AI agents. A specialised agent researches your keywords, evaluates intent and competition, groups them by page, and continuously reviews the roadmap, every day of the year. It doesn't depend on anyone's schedule, doesn't charge by the hour, and detects new opportunities the moment they appear, not at the next monthly meeting.
The consequence is direct: when the work is executed by a system whose cost doesn't scale with volume, maintaining your active keyword strategy costs a fraction of what a traditional retainer would, and the result is measurable in real-time. You still decide the strategy and your brand's voice; the repetitive and constant work is handled by the agent, without you needing to know SEO or touch a single tool.
Position your website on Google with AI agents, without agency fees.
Discover it →Frequently Asked Questions
How many keywords should a website have?
There's no fixed number. The important thing isn't quantity, but covering the relevant search intents for your business with well-focused pages. An SME typically starts with a small group of priority commercial terms and expands with long-tail as its authority grows.
Is it better to choose keywords with high search volume?
Not necessarily. High volume often comes with strong competition and unclear intent. For an SME, specific searches with commercial intent almost always yield better results, even if they have lower volume, because they attract determined customers and are easier to rank for.
What is search intent and why is it so important?
It's the real reason someone performs a search: to learn, compare, or buy. It's key because Google prioritises pages that match that intent. If your content doesn't align with what the person expects to find, you won't rank, no matter how much you repeat the keyword.
Do I need paid tools to choose keywords?
To start, no. Google Autocomplete, related searches, your customers' questions, and competitor analysis give you a solid foundation at no cost. Tools help refine, but a specialised AI agent performs that analysis continuously without you having to learn how to use them.
How often should keywords be reviewed?
Ideally, continuously. Competition changes, new searches emerge, and priorities evolve. An annual review falls short; what's effective is constant monitoring, which is precisely what an automated agent can do without relying on a schedule.
Stop guessing which keywords to rank for. Try the app from Boomatik's SEO and put an AI agent to work that researches, filters, and prioritises your keywords every day, without relying on an agency or invoices that grow with the hours.
