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- The Promise Keyword Research Appears To Make
- What Keyword Research Tools Actually Show
- The Core Misunderstanding
- Why The Old Approach Stopped Working
- Why Keyword Lists Feel Directionless
- Volume is Not Opportunity
- Why Tools Disagree With Each Other
- The Modern Role of Keyword Research
- Why All This Matters Before We Go Further
This article is part 2 of a short series on how modern SEO works. If you’d like to start from the beginning, you can read Search Engine Optimisation (SEO): What It Is — and What It Isn’t.
If you’ve ever opened a keyword research tool and thought, “This tells me nothing useful”, you’re not imagining things.
Keyword research often feels broken because it’s widely misunderstood — and frequently taught in a way that no longer reflects how search engines work.
This article explains why keyword research feels confusing, what it can and can’t do, and how to stop expecting answers it was never designed to provide.
The Promise Keyword Research Appears To Make
Most keyword tools implicitly promise something like this:
- Find the right keywords
- Use them correctly
- Rank higher
That mental model used to work reasonably well.
It no longer does.
The problem isn’t the tools themselves.
The problem is what people expect the tools to tell them.
What Keyword Research Tools Actually Show
At their best, keyword tools can show you:
- phrases people search for
- approximate relative interest
- how competitive a query might be
- variations of language around a topic
What they cannot show you is far more important:
- why Google ranks one page over another
- what Google believes the intent of a query is
- whether your site is even eligible to compete
- what kind of page Google expects to see
When people expect keyword tools to answer those questions, frustration is guaranteed.
The Core Misunderstanding
Keyword research is often treated as a decision-maker.
In reality, it’s a diagnostic tool.
It helps you:
- observe patterns
- validate language
- understand how people phrase problems
It does not tell you:
- what to write
- how to structure a page
- whether a page will rank
- whether a keyword is “worth chasing”
Those decisions require judgement — not data alone.
Why The Old Approach Stopped Working
A common older approach looked like this:
- Find a keyword with decent volume
- Put it in the title, headings, and content
- Optimise the page
- Wait
This worked when:
- competition was lighter
- search intent was simpler
- Google relied more on exact matching
Today, Google evaluates documents, not phrases.
It asks:
- “Does this page fully address what the searcher wants?”
- “Is this site clearly about this topic?”
- “Is this a credible result compared to others?”
A page can perfectly target a keyword and still lose — because another page better satisfies the intent.
Why Keyword Lists Feel Directionless
When you see a long list of keyword suggestions, it often feels like noise.
That’s because the list lacks context.
A keyword by itself does not tell you:
- whether the query is informational or commercial
- whether the searcher wants a guide, a service, or a comparison
- whether Google prefers local results
- whether freshness matters
Without looking at the search results themselves, a keyword list is incomplete.
This is why keyword research done in isolation can feel unhelpful – or confusing.
Volume is Not Opportunity
One of the most misleading metrics in keyword tools is search volume.
High volume does not mean:
- high relevance
- high conversion
- suitability for your site
Low volume does not mean:
- low value
- low intent
- not worth addressing
Some of the most commercially valuable searches have modest volume — because they are specific and purposeful.
Keyword research doesn’t reveal importance.
It reveals existence.
Why Tools Disagree With Each Other
Different tools often show different volumes, difficulties, and suggestions.
That’s not because one is “wrong” and another is “right”.
It’s because:
- all volume data is estimated
- each tool samples differently
- none of them see Google’s actual data
Treating any keyword metric as precise leads to false confidence or unnecessary doubt.
Relative patterns matter more than absolute numbers.
The Modern Role of Keyword Research
Keyword research still matters — just not as a starting point.
Today, its real role is to:
- validate how people phrase problems
- discover related questions and expectations
- spot gaps in coverage
- confirm whether a topic is actively searched
Used this way, keyword research becomes useful again.
Used as a recipe for rankings, it becomes misleading.
Why All This Matters Before We Go Further
Understanding this clears the ground for what comes next.
If keyword research feels broken, it’s usually because:
- it’s being asked to make decisions it can’t make
- it’s being used before intent is understood
- it’s being treated as strategy instead of input
Before keywords can help, you need to understand search intent.
That’s the missing piece — and it’s what we’ll tackle next.
What to Remember
If you remember nothing else, remember this:
Keyword research doesn’t tell you what Google wants.
It helps you understand how people express what they want.
They’re not the same thing.
Once that distinction is clear, keyword research stops being frustrating — and starts being useful.
Next up:
Search Intent: What Google Is Really Looking For.
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