Keyword and intent research
Commercial relevance, result intent and language use sit alongside search estimates. High volume alone does not make a good target.
SEO strategy & keyword research.
Better questions. More useful decisions.
Before creating more content or rebuilding a website, understand what your audience needs. I turn search research into a practical direction for your business and the team doing the work.
Discuss your SEO strategyThe thinking behind the work
Research that changes what you do next.
A keyword is a clue about a person’s situation. The useful work is understanding the decision behind it.
A spreadsheet of search volumes is only a starting point. The important questions are which searches fit your business, what people expect to find and whether the website has an appropriate answer.
My SEO consulting connects keyword research, search intent, competitor coverage and your own evidence. I look at existing content and performance before recommending new pages, so the strategy builds on what is useful and avoids creating competing versions of the same answer.
You can commission research and planning as a standalone project. I can also stay involved as an adviser, helping your writers, developers or marketing team interpret the roadmap and make decisions as the work develops.
A useful starting point when
01You need a clear search strategy before a launch or redesign.
02Your team can execute, but needs research, priorities and independent direction.
03You are entering a market where familiar keywords may hide different needs.
Research into decisions
A search is the start of a conversation.
Two people can use the same keyword while needing different answers. The useful question is what they are trying to decide, and whether your business has a credible role in that decision.
The practical distinction
A keyword list describes demand. A page plan explains what to do about it.
From a search to a page with a purpose.
Explore the decisions within a research project. These are examples of the work structure, not client keyword data.
The purpose
Start with the customer’s circumstances.
Customer conversations, sales questions, search data and business context help explain why demand exists. I distinguish an interested reader from someone evaluating a service or preparing to buy.
What the work produces
- Audience and decision stages
- Commercial priorities
- Questions from sales and support
The decision it supports
Whose decision are we helping with?
The purpose
Interpret the search in context.
I review the types of results, language and questions around a topic. Similar wording does not always mean the same intent, and different phrases can belong to one useful page.
What the work produces
- Intent-based keyword groups
- Competitor and result review
- Language and market differences
The decision it supports
What would a satisfactory answer look like?
The purpose
Give each page a distinct role.
The research is mapped to existing or proposed pages, with a clear primary purpose and related topics. Commercial pages, supporting guides and case studies play different roles.
What the work produces
- Keyword-to-page mapping
- Content gaps and overlap decisions
- Internal linking recommendations
The decision it supports
Which page should own this opportunity?
The purpose
Make the research executable.
I prioritise the work by relevance, effort and dependencies, then explain it to the people implementing it. The roadmap should help a team choose its next task without repeating the whole analysis.
What the work produces
- Prioritised action plan
- Page and content briefs
- Review sessions and handoff guidance
The decision it supports
What can the team implement next?
What the work can include.
The scope follows your starting point, priorities and the people available to implement it.
Competitor and content gaps
Review what competing pages answer well, what your own expertise can add and where a different approach would be more useful.
Page ownership
Map topics to a clear website structure, reducing unnecessary overlap between services, markets, articles and case studies.
Multilingual strategy
Research how audiences move between languages. In Hong Kong, a single journey can mix Chinese explanations with English product or business terms.
Launch and migration planning
Bring search requirements into the development conversation early, before templates and content structures become expensive to change.
Ongoing advisory
Review implementation, refine priorities and help internal teams interpret new evidence without losing sight of the business objective.
A wider view of discovery
Research the questions beyond the search box.
An AI-assisted journey may start with a broad question, narrow into comparisons and finish with a conventional search. I consider what expertise and evidence the business needs at each of those stages.
Where useful, the research includes sampled AI answers and references across relevant markets and languages. Those observations are kept separate from measured keyword demand. They help identify content gaps and positioning questions, rather than produce a fictitious prompt-volume forecast.
The work in practice.
Different businesses, different starting points. Explore the approach and the context behind each result.
Local context changes the work.
Explore the search behaviour, languages and commercial considerations in each market.
Before we begin.
A few practical questions about the work.
Can I commission keyword research without ongoing SEO?
Yes. A standalone research project can deliver an intent map, page recommendations and a prioritised roadmap. We agree the number of markets, languages and topics before starting.
What will our team receive?
Depending on scope, the handoff includes keyword groups, page ownership, content opportunities, priority recommendations and briefs. I explain the reasoning so the team can use the research when new decisions arise.
How do you avoid keyword overlap between pages?
I group searches by intent and assign a primary purpose to each page. Shared terminology is normal; the problem is several pages trying to answer the same need without a clear reason for each to exist.
Do you research Chinese and English separately?
Language-specific research matters, but rigidly separating audiences can miss real behaviour. I also examine mixed-language searches, familiar borrowed terms and the explanations people expect within a topic.
Can you advise our agency or internal marketing team?
Yes. I can provide independent direction, review plans and help coordinate writers and developers. The engagement should make ownership and implementation responsibilities explicit.
Is an SEO audit included?
A strategic review can identify technical concerns that affect the plan. A detailed technical audit or hands-on fixes are scoped separately within the technical SEO service, so the research project stays focused.
A clear next step
Let’s work out
what comes next.
Share your website, the challenge and what you would like to improve. We can start with the work that matters most.
Discuss your SEO strategy