Keywords and Search Intent

Before you write anything, it helps to know two things: the words people actually type, and what they are hoping to find when they type them. The second one matters more, and it is the one most beginners skip.

Keywords are just the words people type

A keyword is nothing more mysterious than the phrase someone enters into Google. The word makes it sound technical; it is not.

The gap you are trying to close is between the words you use and the words they use. A bakery owner writes "artisanal sourdough". A hungry person types "fresh bread near me". Both describe the same shop. Only one gets typed into Google.

Search terms fall roughly into two shapes, and the difference is practical rather than academic. Short, broad terms like "bread" get enormous numbers of searches and enormous competition, and tell you almost nothing about what the person wants. Longer, specific phrases like "gluten free bread delivery Tehran" get far fewer searches, face far less competition, and tell you exactly what the person is after. For a new site, the specific ones are where you can actually win.

Intent is what they wanted, not what they typed

Search intent is the goal behind the query. Four rough categories cover most searches:

• Informational — wanting to know something. "How long does bread dough rise".
• Navigational — wanting a specific site. "Instagram login".
• Commercial — comparing before deciding. "Best stand mixer for bread".
• Transactional — ready to act. "Buy sourdough starter".

This matters because matching the intent decides whether you can rank at all. If someone searching "how to make sourdough" wants a recipe and your page is a shop listing, you will not rank — not because your page is bad, but because it answers a different question. No amount of on-page tuning fixes a mismatch between what the page is and what the searcher wanted.

The reliable way to read intent costs nothing: search the term yourself and look at what Google already ranks. Those results are Google's own answer to what that query means. If the first page is all recipes, that query wants a recipe. If it is all product pages, it wants to buy. Build the kind of page that is already winning, then make it better.

What to do

• Write down the words your customers actually use — from emails, questions they ask, and support messages. This beats guessing.
• Type each one into Google. Read the results, and read the "People also ask" and "Related searches" boxes, which are free lists of real phrasings.
• Check Google Search Console under Performance → Queries. It shows the terms people already found you with, which is the single best source you have.
• Pick specific phrases over broad ones while your site is new.
• Give each search term its own page. One page trying to rank for five unrelated terms usually ranks for none.

Common mistakes

Repeating the phrase to "reach a density". Keyword density is not a thing Google measures, and stuffing the same phrase in repeatedly reads badly to humans, which is what Google is trying to approximate. Use the term naturally, then stop thinking about it.

Chasing search volume alone. A term with 50,000 monthly searches you cannot rank for is worth less than one with 100 that you can.

Ignoring what already ranks. If every result on page one is a comparison article and you publish a sales page, you have chosen to lose before writing a word.

Sources: Google's SEO Starter Guide and Creating helpful, reliable, people-first content.