Almost every business owner who has heard of SEO knows the phrase "keywords". Far fewer know how keywords are actually chosen, why some bring customers while others bring only traffic, and why sites with excellent copy sometimes rank nowhere. The reason is usually the same: the pages were written for phrases nobody searches, or for phrases searched by people with no intention to buy.
This guide walks through the whole process, from the first idea to a finished map where every page on your site owns a specific group of queries. We use examples from the Bulgarian market and point out which tools do the job, including free ones.
What keywords are and why they sit at the core of SEO
Keywords are the phrases people type into Google when they look for a product, a service or an answer. "Website development", "how to change summer tyres", "dentist Varna" are all keywords. Short or long, in Cyrillic or Latin script, with typos or without: every search is a signal of a need.
SEO, put simply, is the process of getting your site to show up for those needs. Without a keyword list you cannot know which pages to build, which titles to write or how to measure progress. That is why keyword research is the first task in any project, not something done after the site is finished.
Traffic versus customers
Some phrases get thousands of searches a month and bring zero customers. "Free website" is a good example: high volume, but the person typing it wants something free, not an agency. On the other side, "online store development with ERP integration" is searched rarely, yet every such search comes from a company with a budget and a concrete task.
Good keyword selection balances the two: enough volume to matter, and a clear enough intent to produce sales.
Types of keywords by search intent
For years Google has ranked pages by what the user wants, not just by the words in the text. So the first step for every keyword is to identify the intent behind it. The four main types are:
Informational
The user wants to learn something: "what is an SSL certificate", "how does Google Ads work". Ideal for blog posts and guides. They do not sell directly, but they build trust and bring people to the site early.
Navigational
The user is looking for a specific site or brand. There is nothing to optimise here except your own brand name.
Commercial (research)
The person is comparing before deciding: "best hosting for WordPress", "Shopify or WooCommerce". Valuable queries for comparison articles, reviews and checklists.
Transactional
Ready to act: "website development price", "order an online store", "SEO agency Sofia". This is where your service pages belong. These pages usually deliver the highest return from SEO and GEO work.
| Intent type | Example query | Suitable page | Business priority |
|---|---|---|---|
| Informational | what is hosting | Blog article, guide | Medium |
| Navigational | brand name | Home page | Low (except your own brand) |
| Commercial | best hosting for an online store | Comparison, review | High |
| Transactional | online store hosting price | Service page, quote | Very high |
Keyword research step by step
The process is not complicated, but it demands discipline. Here is how we do it for a new client.
Step 1: Seed topics from the business
We start with a conversation, not a tool. What do you sell? What do your customers call it (not what you call it)? Which questions come up on the phone? An accountant may say "tax advisory" while his clients type "how much tax does a sole trader pay". We write down 10 to 20 seed topics.
Step 2: Expanding with tools
Each topic goes into a keyword tool that returns dozens of related phrases with volume and competition. For the Bulgarian market, Google Keyword Planner (free, but shows ranges unless you advertise), DataForSEO, Ahrefs, Semrush and Ubersuggest all work well. Do not skip Google itself: the autocomplete suggestions and the "People also ask" box are priceless for questions people really ask.
Step 3: Checking volume and seasonality
Look beyond the average monthly number at the month-by-month chart. "Summer tyres" peaks in April, "Christmas gifts" in November and December. If you plan content, it needs to be live 2 to 3 months before the peak so it has time to get indexed and ranked.
Step 4: Assessing competition
Open the first page of Google for each phrase. If it is all major media, Wikipedia and national chains, you will need months and serious link building. If you see small company sites, forums or weak pages, the chance is real. Note also which result types dominate: if Google shows only videos or a map for a phrase, a text page will struggle.
Step 5: Grouping and mapping to pages
This is the step most sites skip. Similar phrases are gathered into groups (clusters), and each group is owned by one page. "Website development", "web site creation" and "building a website" are the same need and should lead to one page, not three. The reverse is also a mistake: if one page tries to cover "hosting", "domain" and "SSL" at once, it will rank well for none of them.
Long-tail keywords: why they bring more customers
Long-tail keywords are phrases of three or more words with small volume but very specific intent. "Hosting" is searched thousands of times; "hosting for a WooCommerce store with 5,000 products" almost never. But the second query comes from someone who knows what they want, and competition for it is close to zero.
For a small or medium business in Bulgaria, long phrases are the fastest route to page one. A site offering online store development can rank for dozens of such queries within months, while the generic "online store" may take years. The sum of many small phrases often beats the traffic from one big one, and with better quality.
How to find them
The simplest method is to watch the questions your customers ask, the forums in your niche, comments under videos and Facebook groups on your topic. Tools show long variants too, but they often miss low-frequency Bulgarian phrases because their data for small markets is thin. Human observation is irreplaceable here.
Keywords in Bulgarian: market specifics
The Bulgarian market has a few quirks that foreign guides do not cover.
First, Latin versus Cyrillic script. A fair number of people still type "hosting" or "izrabotka na sait" in Latin letters. Google usually understands both, but the volumes are counted separately, so check both variants.
Second, English terms. "SEO", "landing page", "CRM" are searched in English even by Bulgarians. Trying to translate "landing page" into a Bulgarian equivalent will leave you with no traffic. Use the term the way people type it.
Third, grammatical forms. Singular and plural of the same service are different queries with different volumes. Google recognises the forms, but the title and H1 should contain the most searched one.
Fourth, small volumes. Many useful phrases show "10" or no data at all because tools round. That does not mean nobody searches them, only that they fall below the reporting threshold. If the phrase describes a real service you sell, include it.
Keyword tools: free and paid
You do not need to pay hundreds of euros a month to get started. Here is what works at each stage.
To begin, Google Keyword Planner, Google autocomplete, Google Trends for seasonality and Google Search Console, which shows the queries you already appear for, are enough. The last one is the most underrated source: it holds real data from your own site, not forecasts.
For more serious work, Ahrefs and Semrush give competitor data, difficulty scores and backlink information, and DataForSEO offers an API which we use for automated reports. As a rough market guide, paid tools start at around 100 euros per month, which for most small companies is unnecessary until a real content process is running.
Whatever you use, remember: the numbers are estimates. Real results appear only once the page is live and Search Console starts collecting data.
How to use keywords on the page
Once you have a list and a page map, it is time to apply it. The rules are simple and have not changed much in years.
The main phrase should appear in the page title (title tag), in the H1, in the first paragraph and in at least one subheading. The meta description does not affect ranking directly, but it affects whether people click, so the phrase belongs there too. The URL should be short and contain the term in Latin script.
Secondary phrases from the same group are spread naturally across the text, subheadings and image alt attributes. If the text sounds unnatural, you have overdone it. Google has penalised keyword stuffing for years, and no customer wants to read the same phrase five times in one sentence.
Internal links carry signal as well: when a blog post links to your web development page with anchor text containing the phrase, you are telling Google what that page is about. This is one of the cheapest and most effective SEO techniques there is.
Common keyword selection mistakes
The first mistake is targeting only the biggest terms. "Advertising" has huge volume, but nobody will find you for it, and half of the searchers want something else anyway.
The second is writing for the terms you use rather than the ones customers use. Check the volume before building a page around "digital transformation".
The third is cannibalisation: several pages targeting the same phrase. They compete with each other and none ranks well. The fix is merging them or clearly separating the topics.
The fourth is stopping after the first research round. Searches change, new terms appear (as "GEO optimisation" did over the last two years), and Search Console shows new queries every month where you already sit on page two or three. A quarterly review is enough to catch them.
The fifth is ignoring intent. If you write a "what is hosting" article and put an "order now" button on it, you will get low conversion and a high bounce rate. Informational pages sell through a next step, not a direct call to buy.
Frequently asked questions
How many keywords should one page target?
One main phrase and 3 to 8 related variants from the same group. If the list for one page is longer and covers different intents, you probably need two pages.
How long does it take to rank for a new keyword?
For long phrases with low competition, usually 1 to 3 months. For competitive commercial phrases on a new site, it can take 6 to 12 months plus work on domain authority. The result also depends on the technical health of the site, which we check with an SEO audit.
Is there any point in keywords with a volume of 10?
Yes, if they describe a real service and the intent is clear. Tools round their numbers and underestimate small markets like Bulgaria. Ten such phrases often bring more customers than one with a volume of 1,000.
Are meta keywords still used?
No. Google has ignored them for over ten years. Ranking is determined by content, structure, technical condition and links to the site.
Can keyword research be automated?
Partly. Collecting data on volume, competition and positions can be automated through APIs and scheduled reports. Judging intent and grouping phrases, however, remains a human task, at least for now.
Conclusion
Keywords are not a magic formula. They are a map of what your customers want and the words they use to describe it. Done once and maintained every quarter, keyword research decides how your site should be structured, which articles to write and where to point your advertising budget. Skipped, it leaves good sites invisible.
If you are not sure which queries your site should rank for, or suspect your pages are competing with each other, get in touch. We will review your site and data and send an individual quote within 24 hours, with specific phrases and a page-by-page plan.
