Many businesses ask the same question:

How can we get more traffic to our website?

The common answer is “do keyword research.” But keyword research is often treated too narrowly. People open a tool, export a list, sort by monthly search volume, and start writing articles. That is not enough.

Keyword research is not only about finding words. It is about understanding demand: what people want, what they are comparing, what problem they are trying to solve, and which page on your website should help them take the next step.

I’m Matteo Arellano . I work across technical SEO, analytics, AI visibility, and data analysis. One pattern I keep seeing is that businesses often compete for the same obvious keywords, while ignoring the searches that reveal real customer pain. There is real tangential demand and out-of-the-box keyword demand that can boost your sales. Here, I’ll share a methodology that has worked for me and my clients.

The real goal is not “more keywords.” It is more qualified demand.

Google explains that ranking systems use many factors and try to understand the meaning, relevance, quality, usability, and context of results. That means a page should not exist only because a keyword has search volume. It should exist because it helps a user solve a real problem and gives search systems a clear reason to understand, rank, and serve it.

For a business, the practical goal is to build pages that connect three things:

What people search for.
What problem or decision sits behind the search.
What the business can genuinely help them do next.

A fictional example: a new boutique hotel that needs visibility

Let’s say a boutique hotel recently opened in Lisbon. It has a beautiful property, a strong local experience, breakfast, quiet rooms, and a good location. But nobody knows the brand yet.

The obvious keywords are easy:

boutique hotel Lisbon
hotel in Lisbon city center
book hotel Lisbon
hotel near old town Lisbon

These keywords matter. But they are also where large booking platforms, hotel chains, travel publishers, and comparison sites are already competing.

A stronger strategy asks:

What other searches happen before someone realizes this boutique hotel is the right solution?

First, define the type of search intent

A serious keyword strategy needs definitions. Without them, every keyword looks the same. I separate keywords by the user’s intent and decision stage.

Transactional queries

Searches where the user is close to taking action: booking, buying, requesting, comparing prices, or checking availability.

Hotel example: book boutique hotel Lisbon, hotel available tonight Lisbon, boutique hotel with breakfast

Why it matters: These queries are usually closer to revenue. They deserve strong commercial pages, booking paths, and clear calls to action.

Informational queries

Searches where the user wants to understand something before choosing: areas, travel logistics, amenities, safety, timing, or planning.

Hotel example: best area to stay in Lisbon without a car, where to stay for first trip to Lisbon

Why it matters: These queries can introduce your brand before the user is ready to book. They work best when they internally link to relevant commercial pages.

Educational queries

Searches where the user is learning how to make a better decision, often with guides, comparisons, checklists, and explanations.

Hotel example: hotel vs apartment rental for short city break, boutique hotel vs chain hotel

Why it matters: These queries help you shape the decision criteria. They are useful when the business can explain trade-offs honestly.

Brand discovery queries

Searches where the user is not yet searching for your brand, but is discovering businesses like yours through needs, locations, or experiences.

Hotel example: small design hotel near Alfama, romantic boutique hotel near restaurants Lisbon

Why it matters: These are important for newer businesses because people cannot search for a brand they do not know yet.

Branded queries

Searches that include your brand name, property name, product name, or branded service.

Hotel example: Casa Aurora Lisbon reviews, Casa Aurora boutique hotel breakfast

Why it matters: These reveal reputation, direct demand, and whether competitors or booking platforms are capturing attention around your own name.

Substitute and competitor queries

Searches where the user is considering another type of solution, another platform, or another competitor.

Hotel example: Airbnb alternative Lisbon, hotel instead of apartment rental Lisbon, boutique hotel near [competitor hotel]

Why it matters: These can be powerful, but they need careful handling. You can compare categories and alternatives, but you should avoid misleading pages or weak competitor attacks.

The keyword research spreadsheet should be a decision system

A keyword spreadsheet should not be a dumping ground. It should help you decide what to build, improve, merge, redirect, measure, or ignore.

These are the fields I recommend for a serious keyword research workflow.

Field	What it means	Boutique hotel example	How to use it
Keyword	The exact search phrase or query pattern you want to evaluate.	quiet boutique hotel Lisbon	Keep it close to how a real customer would search, not only how the business describes itself.
Monthly Search Volume (MSV)	The estimated average number of monthly searches, often calculated over the previous 12 months.	A keyword with 70 searches per month may still be valuable if it is highly relevant.	Use MSV as a demand signal, not as the only decision factor.
Priority	How strongly the keyword supports business objectives, marketing initiatives, or sales targets.	High priority if the hotel wants direct weekend bookings.	A low-volume keyword can be high priority if it reaches the right buyer.
Relevance	How closely the keyword matches the current or planned page content.	A page about quiet rooms should not target party nightlife queries.	High relevance usually creates better content alignment and better conversion potential.
Difficulty	The estimated level of competition in search results or paid auctions.	hotel Lisbon city center is harder than quiet boutique hotel near Alfama.	Difficulty helps decide whether to compete now, build supporting pages first, or target long-tail demand.
Rank	The current organic position your page has for that query, if it already ranks.	Position 12 may be a strong improvement opportunity because the page is close to page one.	Use rank together with impressions, CTR, and page quality. Rank alone is not enough.
CPC	Estimated cost per click in paid search.	A high CPC can indicate commercial value, but it can also indicate expensive competition.	Use CPC as a commercial-intent signal, especially when deciding which organic pages may support paid campaigns.
Superset	A broad grouping for high-cardinality topics, such as destination, product type, route, city, event, or brand family.	Lisbon neighborhoods, remote-work stays, romantic weekends, airport arrivals.	Supersets prevent keyword lists from becoming impossible to manage.
Topic	A more refined cluster inside the larger superset.	Where to stay without a car, late arrival, breakfast included, quiet rooms.	Topics help decide which page or content hub should own the keyword.
Persona	The customer type or audience segment behind the query.	First-time traveler, remote worker, couple, conference attendee, family visitor.	Personas make content more specific and prevent generic pages.
URL	The page currently ranking for the keyword or the page you plan to create.	/guides/where-to-stay-lisbon-without-car/	Every important keyword should have a clear page owner.
Brand or unbranded	Whether the query includes your brand, a competitor brand, a platform brand, or no brand at all.	Casa Aurora Lisbon is branded. Airbnb alternative Lisbon is substitute/platform intent.	This helps detect brand demand, competitor pressure, and discovery opportunities.

A rigorous methodology for keyword research

The process should be practical, business-led, and measurable. This is the workflow I would use for a boutique hotel, a service company, an ecommerce store, or a local business.

Define the business outcome

Start with the result the business wants: direct bookings, qualified leads, product sales, demo requests, local visits, or reduced dependency on intermediaries.

Map the obvious purchase terms

List the direct transactional terms first. For a boutique hotel, this includes hotel in city, boutique hotel near area, hotel with breakfast, and book hotel tonight.

Find customer problems

Ask what situation creates demand. A hotel can solve late arrivals, first-time city visits, remote-work stays, romantic weekends, event travel, and neighborhood uncertainty.

Map substitutes and alternatives

Identify what the customer may choose instead: apartment rentals, large hotel chains, hostels, resorts, serviced apartments, or named competitors.

Build intent clusters

Group keywords by intent, not by random similarity. Use clusters like availability, location, comparison, amenities, events, urgency, and brand discovery.

Assign a page owner

Every valuable keyword or cluster should map to a specific URL: an existing page to improve or a new page to create.

Score and prioritize

Balance MSV, relevance, difficulty, CPC, current rank, business priority, and conversion potential. Do not chase volume without business fit.

Review and refresh

Update the research when rankings change, demand shifts, competitors enter, seasonality approaches, or business priorities change.

Think beyond the obvious keyword

The most innovative part of keyword research is not finding another variation of “boutique hotel Lisbon.” It is finding the adjacent moments where your offer becomes the solution.

This is where substitutes, complementary needs, urgency, seasonality, competitor demand, and brand discovery become useful.

Direct booking demand

Example queries: boutique hotel Lisbon, book boutique hotel Lisbon, hotel with breakfast Lisbon

Best page type: Commercial room or booking page

Location and neighborhood uncertainty

Example queries: best area to stay in Lisbon without a car, where to stay for first weekend in Lisbon

Best page type: Neighborhood guide with links to relevant rooms

Substitute demand

Example queries: Airbnb alternative Lisbon, boutique hotel vs apartment rental, hotel instead of vacation rental

Best page type: Comparison guide

Competitor and platform demand

Example queries: hotel near [competitor], alternative to large hotel chain Lisbon, book direct hotel Lisbon

Best page type: Careful comparison or direct-booking value page

Urgency and availability

Example queries: hotel available tonight Lisbon, last-minute boutique hotel, late check-in hotel Lisbon

Best page type: Availability or last-minute booking page

Seasonal and event demand

Example queries: where to stay during Web Summit Lisbon, hotel for Christmas market Lisbon, summer weekend Lisbon hotel

Best page type: Event or seasonal landing page

Amenities and constraints

Example queries: quiet hotel Lisbon, hotel with workspace Lisbon, hotel with luggage storage Lisbon

Best page type: Amenity-led landing page

Brand discovery

Example queries: small design hotel Lisbon, romantic boutique hotel near restaurants Lisbon

Best page type: Experience-led discovery page

Substitute and competitor keywords need care

Substitute demand can be very valuable. A boutique hotel may attract people searching for an Airbnb alternative, a quieter option than a hostel, a more personal alternative to a large chain hotel, or a direct-booking option instead of a third-party platform.

Competitor and substitute keywords can also be risky if handled badly. The goal is not to create misleading pages or attack competitors. The goal is to understand what the user is comparing and create honest, useful pages.

Good substitute content might explain:

when a boutique hotel is better than an apartment rental,
when a serviced apartment may still be better,
what travelers gain from direct support, breakfast, luggage storage, and local guidance,
what trade-offs exist around price, space, flexibility, and service.

This is how substitute demand becomes useful without becoming spammy.

How do you know if a keyword is good?

A good keyword is not just a keyword with high search volume. A good keyword has a strong relationship with the business, the customer, and a realistic page strategy.

The query matches a real customer problem.
The business can answer better than generic competitors.
The user has a clear next action after reading the page.
The page can naturally link to a commercial offer.
The keyword has enough demand, or strong enough conversion value, to justify the work.
The SERP shows pages similar to the page you can realistically create.
The keyword supports a topic cluster, not a one-off isolated page.

Google Keyword Planner can help estimate monthly searches and costs for paid campaigns, and those signals can support SEO prioritization. But a keyword with low volume can still be valuable if it is highly relevant, close to conversion, and underserved by competitors.

Why keyword rankings change

Rankings move because search is dynamic. Google’s systems evaluate many signals across many pages, and the web changes constantly. New competitors publish content, user intent shifts, freshness matters for some queries, and your own technical or content quality can change over time.

Common reasons rankings change include:

Competitors publish better or fresher content.
Google reinterprets the intent behind the query.
Seasonality changes what users expect to see.
Search results become more local, visual, commercial, or informational.
Your page becomes outdated or less complete.
Technical issues affect crawling, indexing, rendering, or page experience.
Internal links change and Google receives weaker signals about the page.

That is why keyword research should not be a one-time project. It should become part of an ongoing organic growth system.

How often should keyword research be updated?

The answer depends on the business model and the volatility of demand. A legal service page may not need weekly keyword updates. A travel, retail, event, or seasonal business may need more frequent reviews.

Monthly

Review Search Console queries, pages gaining impressions, pages losing clicks, and keywords close to page-one positions.

Quarterly

Refresh the keyword map, reprioritize clusters, update pages, and compare rankings against business goals.

Seasonally

Update event, travel, holiday, retail, tourism, and campaign-led pages before demand peaks.

When the market changes

Revisit the research after new competitors, new services, pricing changes, product launches, or changes in customer behavior.

When seasonality matters

Seasonality matters when search demand changes by month, event, weather, holiday, conference, school calendar, or buying cycle.

For the boutique hotel, seasonal demand could include summer weekends, Christmas markets, major conferences, local festivals, long weekends, or last-minute travel spikes. For other businesses, seasonality could come from tax deadlines, school terms, wedding seasons, Black Friday, tourism peaks, or product replacement cycles.

Google Trends can help compare search interest over time and across regions. This is useful when deciding when to update a page, when to publish seasonal content, and whether a topic is growing or declining.

What to measure after publishing

Keyword research should become measurable. Google Search Console impressions are an early signal that Google is testing or surfacing your page. Clicks, CTR, rankings, and conversions show whether the page is attracting useful demand.

Search Console impressions by topic cluster
Clicks from problem-led and long-tail queries
Rank movement for priority keywords
CTR changes after title and meta description improvements
Internal clicks from guide pages to commercial pages
Organic conversion rate by landing page
Assisted conversions from informational content
Bookings, leads, sales, or qualified inquiries from organic sessions

For a new website, early impressions are encouraging. They mean the site is starting to appear in search. But the real goal is to learn which pages attract qualified users and which topics move people closer to a booking, lead, sale, or inquiry.

My practical view

Businesses that treat keyword research as a list of words usually create generic content. Businesses that treat keyword research as customer research build stronger websites.

The strongest opportunities often sit outside the obvious keyword. They appear in problem-led searches, comparison searches, urgency searches, substitute searches, competitor-adjacent searches, seasonal searches, and questions that happen just before the customer decides.

A winning website does not only answer “what do we sell?” It answers “what situations make someone need us?”

Need help finding the traffic opportunities your competitors are missing?

I can help map your search demand, organize keyword clusters, identify pages worth building, and connect SEO work to traffic, leads, bookings, sales, and measurable outcomes.

Request a technical visibility check

The goal is not to create content for the sake of content. The goal is to build useful pages that help customers find, understand, and choose your business.