Keyword Research
Discovers, analyzes, and prioritizes keywords for SEO and GEO content strategies. Turns market signals into reusable strategic inputs (volume, difficulty, intent, clusters, GEO relevance).
Quick Start
Start with one of these prompts. Finish with a short handoff summary using the repository format in Skill Contract.
Basic Keyword Research
Research keywords for [topic/product/service]
Find keyword opportunities for a [industry] business targeting [audience]
With Specific Goals
Find low-competition keywords for [topic] with commercial intent
Identify question-based keywords for [topic] that AI systems might answer
Competitive Research
What keywords is [competitor URL] ranking for that I should target?
Skill Contract
Expected output: a prioritized research brief, evidence-backed findings, and a short handoff summary ready for
memory/research/
.
- Reads: user goals, target market inputs, available tool data, and prior strategy from CLAUDE.md and the shared State Model when available.
- Writes: a user-facing research deliverable plus a reusable summary that can be stored under
memory/research/
.
- Promotes: durable keyword priorities, competitor facts, entity candidates, and strategic decisions to
memory/hot-cache.md
, memory/decisions.md
, and memory/research/
; hand canonical entity work to entity-optimizer
.
- Next handoff: use the
Next Best Skill
below when the findings are ready to drive action.
Handoff Summary
Emit the standard shape from skill-contract.md §Handoff Summary Format.
Data Sources
Optional integrations: ~~SEO tool, ~~search console. Without tools, users provide seed keywords, audience, goals, and any known metrics manually. See CONNECTORS.md.
Instructions
When a user requests keyword research, run eight phases (announce each as
[Phase X/8: Name]
):
- Scope — clarify product, audience, business goal, DR, geography, language
- Discover — seed from core/problem/solution/audience/industry terms
- Variations — expand with modifier and long-tail patterns
- Classify — tag each by intent (informational/navigational/commercial/transactional)
- Score — assign difficulty (1-100) and compute
Opportunity = (Volume × Intent Value) / Difficulty
with Intent Value 1/1/2/3
- GEO-Check — flag AI-answer-friendly queries (questions, definitions, comparisons, lists, how-tos)
- Cluster — group keywords into pillar + cluster topic hubs
- Deliver — Executive Summary, Quick Wins / Growth / GEO opportunities, Topic Clusters, Content Calendar, Next Steps
Quality bar — every recommendation must include at least one specific number. Generic advice like "target long-tail keywords for better results" must be rewritten as "Target 'project management for nonprofits' (vol: 320, KD: 22) — no DR>40 sites in top 10" before including.
Reference: See references/instructions-detail.md for the full 8-phase templates, expansion patterns, intent classification table, difficulty tiers, opportunity matrix, GEO indicators, cluster template, deliverable quality bar with actionable vs. generic examples, and tips.
Example
User: "Research keywords for a project management software company targeting small businesses"
Output (abbreviated): 150+ keywords analyzed, 23 high-priority opportunities with ~45K/month traffic potential across 3 focus areas (task management workflows, team collaboration, small business productivity). Quick Wins prioritized by KD × volume × intent fit.
Reference: See references/example-report.md for the full report for "project management software for small businesses".
Advanced Usage
Intent Mapping, Seasonal Analysis, Competitor Gap, Local Keywords — see references/instructions-detail.md.
Tips for Success
Start with seeds; don't ignore long-tail; match intent; cluster for topical authority; prioritize quick wins; include GEO keywords; review quarterly. See references/instructions-detail.md.
Save Results
After delivering, offer to save a dated summary to
memory/research/keyword-research/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>.md
. Promote key conclusions to
memory/hot-cache.md
if they influence ongoing strategy.
Reference Materials
- Instructions Detail — Full 8-phase workflow, expansion patterns, scoring, cluster templates, advanced usage, tips
- Keyword Intent Taxonomy — Complete intent classification with signal words and content strategies
- Topic Cluster Templates — Hub-and-spoke architecture templates for pillar and cluster content
- Keyword Prioritization Framework — Priority scoring matrix, categories, and seasonal keyword patterns
- Example Report — Complete example keyword research report for project management software
Next Best Skill
Primary: competitor-analysis. Also: content-gap-analysis, serp-analysis.
