🔑 Keyword Research — Identifying target keywords and content gaps...

Analyzes the niche, existing content, and competitor landscape to produce a prioritized keyword map with search intent, difficulty estimates, and page assignments.

Activation

When this skill activates, output:

🔑 Keyword Research — Analyzing niche and identifying opportunities...

Then execute the protocol below.

Context	Status
User says "keyword research" or "find keywords" or "SEO keywords"	ACTIVE
User says "content gaps" or "keyword strategy" or "search terms"	ACTIVE
Planning content strategy based on search demand	ACTIVE
Optimizing existing pages with better keywords	ACTIVE
Writing content (keywords already chosen)	DORMANT — use blog-post
Running a full site audit	DORMANT — use site-audit

Anti-patterns

Trap	Reality Check
"Target the highest volume keywords"	High volume = high competition. New sites rank faster on long-tail keywords with lower volume but higher intent.
"One keyword per page"	Each page has a primary keyword and 3-5 semantically related keywords. Google understands topic clusters.
"Keyword research is a one-time task"	Search trends shift. New competitors appear. Revisit quarterly at minimum.
"We need to rank for our brand name"	You'll rank for brand terms naturally. Focus research on non-brand terms that bring new visitors.
"Volume is the only metric that matters"	A keyword with 100 searches/month and high purchase intent beats 10,000 searches/month with informational intent for a product page.

Protocol

Step 1: Gather Niche Details

If the user hasn't provided details, ask:

I need context for keyword research:

1. Niche/industry — what market are you in?
2. Product or service — what do you sell or offer?
3. Target audience — who are you trying to reach? (role, demographics, pain points)
4. Competitors — 2-3 competitor domains (or I'll identify them)
5. Current site — URL if live, or list of existing pages
6. Goal — more traffic, more signups, more sales, thought leadership?

Step 2: Analyze Existing Content

Scan the project for current keyword coverage:

# Find all content pages
find app/ pages/ content/ posts/ blog/ -name "*.tsx" -o -name "*.jsx" -o -name "*.md" -o -name "*.mdx" 2>/dev/null | grep -v node_modules

# Extract titles and meta descriptions
grep -rn "title\|description\|<h1\|<H1" --include="*.tsx" --include="*.jsx" --include="*.md" . | grep -v node_modules | head -30

# Find existing keyword targeting
grep -rn "keywords\|tags\|category" --include="*.md" --include="*.mdx" --include="*.json" . | grep -v node_modules | head -20

Document current coverage:

Page	Current Title	Primary Keyword (inferred)	Content Type
/	[homepage title]	[brand/product name]	Landing
/about	[about title]	[brand story]	Informational
/blog/[slug]	[post title]	[topic keyword]	Blog
/pricing	[pricing title]	[product pricing]	Commercial

Identify gaps: Pages that exist but have weak or no keyword targeting.

Step 3: Generate Primary Keywords

For each page or content opportunity, suggest a primary keyword:

Keyword evaluation criteria:

Factor	Weight	How to Assess
Search intent match	High	Does the keyword match what the page offers?
Achievable difficulty	High	Can this site realistically rank? (domain authority, competition)
Search volume	Medium	Enough monthly searches to justify the effort
Business relevance	High	Does ranking for this drive revenue or signups?
Current ranking	Medium	Already ranking 10-50? Optimize. Not ranking at all? Harder path.

Primary keyword research process:

1. Seed keywords: Start with 5-10 obvious terms the audience would search
2. Expand: For each seed, identify variations using these patterns:
   • How to [topic]
   • Best [product category]
   • [Topic] for [audience]
   • [Topic] vs [alternative]
   • [Topic] examples / templates / tools
   • What is [topic]
3. Filter: Remove keywords where the SERP is dominated by major brands (unless you are one)
4. Prioritize: Rank by intent match + achievable difficulty

Step 4: Suggest Long-Tail Variations

For each primary keyword, generate 3-5 long-tail variations:

### Primary: "project management software"
Long-tail variations:
- "project management software for small teams" (audience modifier)
- "free project management software 2026" (qualifier + year)
- "project management software with time tracking" (feature modifier)
- "project management software for remote teams" (use case modifier)
- "best project management software for startups" (intent + audience)

Long-tail pattern formulas:

Pattern	Example	Intent
[keyword] for [audience]	"CRM for freelancers"	Commercial
best [keyword] [year]	"best CRM 2026"	Commercial
[keyword] vs [alternative]	"Notion vs Airtable"	Commercial (comparison)
how to [action] with [keyword]	"how to manage leads with a CRM"	Informational
[keyword] [feature]	"CRM with email automation"	Commercial
free [keyword]	"free CRM software"	Transactional
[keyword] examples	"CRM workflow examples"	Informational
[keyword] template	"CRM spreadsheet template"	Transactional

Step 5: Identify Content Gaps

Compare your content against what competitors rank for:

## Content Gap Analysis

### Topics competitors cover that you don't:
| Topic | Competitor Ranking | Your Coverage | Opportunity |
|-------|-------------------|--------------|-------------|
| [topic 1] | competitor.com ranks #3 | No page | Create blog post |
| [topic 2] | competitor.com ranks #7 | Mentioned briefly | Expand into dedicated page |
| [topic 3] | competitor.com ranks #1 | Not covered | Create comparison page |

### Topics you cover but could improve:
| Your Page | Current Ranking (est.) | Issue | Fix |
|-----------|----------------------|-------|-----|
| /blog/[slug] | ~page 3 | Thin content (500 words) | Expand to 1,500+ with more depth |
| /features | Not ranking | Missing target keyword in title | Optimize title and H1 |

Gap identification methods:

1. Review competitor sitemaps for content they produce
2. Search for primary keywords and note who ranks in top 10
3. Look for "People Also Ask" questions that no one answers well
4. Check competitor blog categories for topics you haven't covered

Step 6: Map Keywords to Pages

Assign each keyword to a specific page (existing or to be created):

## Keyword Map

| Primary Keyword | Volume Est. | Difficulty | Intent | Assigned Page | Status |
|----------------|-------------|-----------|--------|--------------|--------|
| project management tool | High | Hard | Commercial | / (homepage) | Optimize |
| best project management for startups | Medium | Medium | Commercial | /blog/best-pm-startups | Create |
| how to manage remote team projects | Medium | Easy | Informational | /blog/remote-pm-guide | Create |
| project management template free | Low-Med | Easy | Transactional | /templates | Create |
| [brand] vs [competitor] | Low | Easy | Commercial | /blog/brand-vs-competitor | Create |
| what is agile project management | Medium | Medium | Informational | /blog/agile-guide | Create |

Mapping rules:

• One primary keyword per page — no keyword cannibalization
• Group related keywords on the same page (primary + 3-5 secondary)
• Homepage targets the broadest commercial keyword
• Blog posts target informational and long-tail keywords
• Landing/product pages target transactional keywords
• Comparison pages target "[brand] vs [competitor]" keywords

Step 7: Prioritize by Search Intent

Classify and prioritize every keyword:

Intent	Description	Content Type	Priority for
Transactional	Ready to buy/sign up	Product page, pricing, CTA landing page	Revenue-focused sites
Commercial	Researching options	Comparison, review, "best of"	SaaS, e-commerce
Informational	Learning about a topic	Blog post, guide, tutorial	Traffic + authority building
Navigational	Looking for a specific site	Homepage, brand pages	Already established brands

Priority matrix:

	Low Difficulty	High Difficulty
High Intent	✅ Do first — quick wins with revenue impact	⏳ Worth the investment — build authority content
Low Intent	⚡ Easy traffic — good for brand awareness	❌ Skip — high effort, low return

Step 8: Output Keyword Map

🔑 Keyword Research — Complete

Niche: [industry/market]
Site: [domain]
Pages analyzed: [count] existing
Keywords identified: [count] primary + [count] long-tail

Keyword map summary:
  Transactional: [count] keywords → [count] pages
  Commercial:    [count] keywords → [count] pages
  Informational: [count] keywords → [count] pages

Content to create: [count] new pages recommended
Content to optimize: [count] existing pages with improvements

Top 5 priority keywords:
  1. [keyword] — [volume] / [difficulty] — [action: create/optimize] [page]
  2. [keyword] — [volume] / [difficulty] — [action] [page]
  3. [keyword] — [volume] / [difficulty] — [action] [page]
  4. [keyword] — [volume] / [difficulty] — [action] [page]
  5. [keyword] — [volume] / [difficulty] — [action] [page]

Quick wins (low difficulty, high intent):
  - [keyword] → [page to create/optimize]
  - [keyword] → [page to create/optimize]

Next steps:
1. Create content for top 5 priority keywords (use blog-post skill)
2. Optimize existing pages with assigned keywords (use meta-tag-optimizer)
3. Build internal links between related keyword pages
4. Track rankings monthly in Google Search Console
5. Revisit keyword map quarterly

Level History

• Lv.1 — Base: Niche gathering, existing content analysis, primary keyword generation with evaluation criteria, long-tail variations, competitor content gap analysis, keyword-to-page mapping, search intent classification and prioritization, formatted keyword map output. (Origin: MemStack Pro v3.2, Mar 2026)