← DictionaryKeyword Research
Identifying the search terms worth targeting based on demand, intent and difficulty.
Finding out what people search and whether you can win it.
What It Is
In the BWH map, Keyword Research lives under Marketing — Search. In practice it means this: identifying the search terms worth targeting based on demand, intent and difficulty.
It is a repeatable structure, which means it only pays off when it is actually followed through instead of quoted. Keep it that plain and it will still be true in twelve months.
How It's Used
You will usually meet Keyword Research in campaign planning, channel choices and the reporting that follows them. It normally appears alongside Keyword, Search Intent and Search Volume. The practical test is whether anyone can follow it without the person who wrote it in the room.
Why It Matters
Keyword Research is cheap to get right early and awkward to fix late. When it is unclear, spend keeps moving but nobody can say what it bought. Clarity here removes a surprising amount of downstream argument.
Picture flat-pack instructions. Boring, and much faster than improvising. Finding out what people search and whether you can win it.
Termshift™
How the meaning shifts depending on who is using it, and where.
Professionally, Keyword Research carries the narrow meaning: identifying the search terms worth targeting based on demand, intent and difficulty.
Explained to someone with no marketing background, Keyword Research is finding out what people search and whether you can win it.
The Bottom Line
Keep Keyword Research plain: finding out what people search and whether you can win it. That is the version that holds up in a real project.