Keyword Research

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Keyword Research

Quick start (5 steps): Seed keywords > Expand with tools/autocomplete > Classify intent for each keyword > Tri-score (organic + AEO + GEO) > Cluster by topic with surface annotations. See the common tasks below for details.

Keyword research is the foundation of all organic and AI search strategy. It is the process of discovering what words and phrases people type into search engines and AI assistants, understanding why they search (intent), and evaluating which of three surfaces - organic results, answer engine features, or AI-generated citations - offers the best opportunity for each keyword.

In 2026, keyword research must account for three surfaces simultaneously:

• Organic blue links (SEO) - traditional rankings on Google, Bing, etc.
• Answer engine features (AEO) - featured snippets, People Also Ask, voice results
• AI-generated citations (GEO) - Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT Search, Perplexity

This skill covers the full research workflow - from seed topic to prioritized, tri-surface-scored keyword report. It tells you WHAT to target and WHERE the opportunity is. For HOW to optimize content once you have chosen your targets, use the companion skills aeo-optimization (snippet/PAA formatting) and geo-optimization (AI citation optimization).

When to use this skill

Trigger this skill when the user:

• Wants to find keywords for a new website, product page, or blog
• Asks to analyze search intent for a keyword list
• Needs to group keywords into topic clusters or content pillars
• Wants to discover competitor keyword gaps or ranking opportunities
• Asks to find long-tail variations of a seed keyword
• Needs to prioritize a list of keywords by opportunity or difficulty
• Wants to understand what SERP features appear for a target keyword
• Asks to detect keyword cannibalization across existing pages
• Wants to evaluate keywords for snippet opportunity or featured snippet potential
• Asks to assess AI Overview presence for target keywords
• Needs a tri-surface keyword report scoring organic, AEO, and GEO opportunity
• Wants to understand which keywords AI search engines answer vs. defer

Do NOT trigger this skill for:

• Paid search (PPC/Google Ads) bid strategy - ad-specific match types, Quality Scores, and CPC optimization are a different domain
• Brand naming or tagline development - that is copywriting, not search research
• Formatting content to win snippets or PAA - that is aeo-optimization
• Making content more citable by AI engines - that is geo-optimization

Key principles

1. Search intent is more important than volume - A keyword with 500 monthly searches and clear transactional intent will drive more revenue than a 50,000-search keyword that is purely informational. Always qualify intent before qualifying volume.

2. Cluster keywords by topic, not individual pages - One page should own a cluster of semantically related terms. Building one page per keyword creates duplication, splits authority, and fragments the user experience.

3. The SERP + AI Overview is the source of truth - No tool tells you more about what Google wants to rank than the current top 10 results and whether an AI Overview fires. Content type, length, format, featured snippet presence, and AI Overview citations all reveal the implicit standard for a keyword.

4. Long-tail keywords convert better - Longer, more specific queries have lower volume but higher purchase intent and lower competition. A content strategy built on long-tail clusters outperforms chasing high-volume head terms in most niches.

5. Competitor gaps reveal the fastest wins - Finding keywords where competitors rank in positions 4-15 (or not at all) is faster than trying to beat them on keywords where they dominate. Gaps are the entry points.

6. Every keyword has three surfaces to evaluate - A keyword that looks mediocre for organic ranking may have excellent snippet opportunity (AEO) or strong AI citation potential (GEO). Evaluating all three surfaces prevents blind spots and reveals non-obvious wins that single-surface research misses.

7. Research and optimization are separate phases - This skill identifies WHAT to target and WHERE the opportunity is. Optimization (HOW to format for snippets, HOW to boost AI citations) is a downstream activity handled by aeo-optimization and geo-optimization. Do not mix phases - complete research before starting optimization.

Core concepts

Search intent taxonomy classifies every keyword into one of four categories based on what the searcher is trying to accomplish. Informational intent ("how does X work", "what is Y") signals content and education needs. Navigational intent ("brand name", "site login") signals the user knows where they want to go. Transactional intent ("buy X online", "X pricing", "X discount code") signals readiness to act. Commercial investigation ("best X", "X vs Y", "X review") sits between informational and transactional - the user is evaluating options before deciding. See references/search-intent-mapping.md for detailed classification guidance including intent-to-surface mapping.

Keyword difficulty (KD) is a 0-100 score estimating how hard it is to rank on page one for a keyword, based primarily on the backlink authority of the current top-ranking pages. High difficulty does not mean impossible - it means you need more authority, better content, or a more specific angle to win. Treat KD as a relative filter, not an absolute gate.

Search volume vs. traffic potential are related but different. Search volume is the average monthly searches for one keyword. Traffic potential is the estimated traffic the top-ranking page receives for the entire cluster of keywords it ranks for. A keyword with 200 monthly searches may have traffic potential of 2,000 if the ranking page captures dozens of related terms. Always evaluate traffic potential over raw volume.

Keyword cannibalization occurs when two or more pages on the same site compete for the same keyword, splitting ranking signals and confusing Google about which page to surface. Symptoms include ranking oscillation, positions that drop when publishing new content, and two pages from the same domain appearing for the same query. Resolve by merging, redirecting, or clearly differentiating the pages.

Tri-surface keyword scoring evaluates every keyword across three surfaces: organic opportunity (0-10), AEO opportunity (0-10), and GEO opportunity (0-10). The composite score (0-30) reveals total opportunity, and the priority surface tells you where to focus optimization efforts. See references/tri-surface-scoring.md for the full scoring rubrics and worked examples.

SERP feature landscape - SERP features (featured snippets, PAA, video carousels, image packs, shopping results, AI Overviews) are research signals, not just ranking features. Their presence or absence tells you which surfaces are active for a keyword. A keyword with a featured snippet and an AI Overview has tri-surface potential. A keyword with only shopping results is organic-only. Map features during research to inform scoring.

AI search query patterns - AI search engines (Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT Search, Perplexity) do not answer every query. They tend to fire on informational, comparison, and multi-step queries while skipping navigational, transactional, and simple factual queries. Understanding these patterns helps predict GEO opportunity during research. See references/search-intent-mapping.md for the full AI Overview intent pattern table.

Common tasks

1. Map search intent for a keyword list

For each keyword, classify it using the four-type taxonomy. Apply this decision order:

1. Check modifiers first - Words like "buy", "order", "coupon", "discount" signal transactional. Words like "best", "top", "review", "vs", "alternative" signal commercial investigation. Words like "how", "what", "why", "guide", "tutorial" signal informational. Brand name>
2. When modifiers are absent, check the SERP - Look at the top 3 results. Are they product pages, comparison articles, definitions, or brand homepages? The content type Google rewards reveals the intent.
3. Assign a primary intent and note a secondary if relevant - Many keywords blend types. "Best project management software" is primarily commercial investigation with transactional secondary (the user may click through to pricing).

Output format: a table with columns keyword | intent | confidence | content_type | snippet_type | ai_overview_present.

The last two columns feed into AEO and GEO scoring. Record snippet type as paragraph/list/table/none and AI Overview presence as yes/sometimes/no.

See references/search-intent-mapping.md for the full classification guide.

2. Build a keyword cluster from a seed topic

Start with one seed keyword and expand outward:

1. Generate variants - Use a keyword tool to pull: questions (People Also Ask), autocomplete suggestions, related searches, and lexical variants. For the seed "project management software", variants include "best project management tools", "project management app for teams", "free project management software", etc.
2. Group by SERP overlap - Keywords that return the same top-ranking URLs belong in the same cluster. If "project management software" and "task management tool" return 6 of the same top-10 results, one page can rank for both.
3. Identify the primary keyword - The one with the highest traffic potential becomes the primary term (used in title, H1, URL). All others are secondary terms woven into subheadings and body copy.
4. Name the cluster - Give it a descriptive label: "project management software - top-of-funnel commercial". This label drives content brief decisions.
5. Annotate with dominant surface - Score the cluster's keywords using tri-surface scoring and assign a surface label: [ORG], [AEO], [GEO], or [AEO+GEO]. This tells the content team which optimization approach to take after writing.

See references/keyword-clustering.md for semantic, SERP-based, modifier-based, and surface-aware clustering methods.

3. Tri-surface scoring

This is the signature task of modern keyword research. For each keyword (or cluster), produce scores across all three surfaces.

Process:

1. Gather raw data - For each keyword, collect: search volume, traffic potential, KD, SERP features present, featured snippet format and holder, PAA count, and AI Overview presence (check Google, optionally ChatGPT Search and Perplexity). See references/tool-specific-workflows.md for tool-by-tool data collection steps.
2. Score organic (0-10) - Based on traffic potential, KD inversion, intent-business alignment, and content gap existence.
3. Score AEO (0-10) - Based on snippet presence, format match, PAA count, voice search likelihood, and current holder strength. Score 0 for navigational and most transactional keywords where snippets don't fire.
4. Score GEO (0-10) - Based on AI Overview trigger, citation density, query type match, entity relevance, and content uniqueness. Score 0 when no AI Overview fires.
5. Calculate composite - Sum the three scores (0-30). Apply business-goal weighting if needed.
6. Assign priority surface - Highest-scoring surface becomes the priority. If two are within 2 points and both above 5, mark as dual-surface opportunity.

See references/tri-surface-scoring.md for the complete rubrics, weighting tables, and three worked examples.

Output format: keyword | intent | organic_score | aeo_score | geo_score | composite | priority_surface

4. Identify competitor keyword gaps (surface-aware)

A keyword gap is a keyword where a competitor ranks in the top 20 but you do not.

Framework for surface-aware gap analysis:

1. Pull keyword rankings for 3-5 competitors using a tool (Ahrefs, Semrush). Export keywords where competitor is in positions 1-20.
2. Filter out keywords where your site already ranks positions 1-5 (already winning).
3. Filter for keywords matching your target intent.
4. Sort by traffic potential descending.
5. New: Surface gap analysis - For the top 50 gap keywords, check whether they trigger featured snippets and AI Overviews. A keyword gap where the competitor ranks organically but doesn't hold the snippet or isn't cited by AI is a multi-surface gap - you can potentially win the snippet or AI citation even if the organic position takes time to capture.
6. Cross-reference with your content inventory. Existing pages that can be optimized are quick wins; missing pages are content creation opportunities.

See references/tool-specific-workflows.md for tool-specific gap analysis steps.

5. Find long-tail variations with surface annotations

Long-tail keywords (typically 3+ words, lower volume, higher specificity) are easier to rank for and often signal stronger intent. To find them:

• Question modifiers: "how to", "what is", "why does", "when should"
• Qualifier modifiers: "for small business", "for beginners", "without X", "with Y"
• Comparison modifiers: "vs", "alternative to", "better than", "instead of"
• Location modifiers: city, region, "near me", "in [country]"
• Feature modifiers: "free", "open source", "enterprise", "API", "integration"

Surface annotations for long-tail keywords:

• Question-format long-tails ("how to X for Y") score high on AEO (snippet targets)
• Comparison long-tails ("X vs Y for Z") score high on GEO (AI engines love comparisons)
• Feature/qualifier long-tails ("X with API for enterprise") are usually organic-only
• Location long-tails are almost always organic-only (local pack, not snippets or AI)

Target long-tail keywords with dedicated FAQ sections, comparison pages, or use-case landing pages. Annotate each with its likely priority surface.

6. Produce a keyword research report

The keyword research report is the primary deliverable of this skill. It synthesizes all research into an actionable document.

Report structure:

1. Executive summary (1 paragraph) - Total keywords analyzed, top clusters, dominant surface opportunity, and 3 biggest findings.

2. Intent distribution - Pie chart or table showing the breakdown of informational, commercial, transactional, and navigational keywords in the dataset.

3. Surface opportunity map - Table showing how many keywords have their priority surface as organic, AEO, GEO, dual, or tri. This reveals whether the overall strategy should lean toward traditional SEO, snippet optimization, or AI citation.

4. Top keyword clusters - For each cluster: name, primary keyword, keyword count, average composite score, dominant surface, and recommended content type.

5. Quick wins - Keywords where you have the best ratio of opportunity to effort: striking-distance organic keywords (positions 5-15), snippet-eligible keywords with no current holder, and AI Overview queries citing weak sources you can displace.

6. Content recommendations - Map clusters to content calendar items: new pages, existing pages to optimize, FAQ additions, and comparison articles to create.

7. Full keyword data - Appendix table with all keywords and their scores. Use the spreadsheet template from references/tool-specific-workflows.md.

7. Detect keyword cannibalization

Run a site search for the target keyword (site:yourdomain.com "keyword phrase") and audit Google Search Console for pages sharing the same top query.

Diagnosis:

• Two pages ranking for the same query: Check which page Google prefers (higher avg. position). The preferred page keeps the keyword; the other page is re-optimized for a different term or redirected.
• Rankings oscillating week to week: Classic cannibalization signal. Consolidate the weaker page's content into the stronger one via a 301 redirect.
• New page tanked the ranking of an existing page: Re-differentiate the new page's focus term or merge it back into the original.
• Snippet cannibalization: If two of your pages alternate holding the featured snippet for the same query, Google may drop both. Consolidate to ensure one definitive page owns the snippet-eligible answer.

Anti-patterns

Gotchas

1. Traffic potential and search volume diverge most on commercial keywords - A keyword with 300 monthly searches may be the primary term for a page that also ranks for 40 related variants, giving it 8,000 monthly visits. Conversely, a 10,000-volume head term may have traffic potential of only 6,000 because ranking page 1 earns only a small CTR share. Always pull traffic potential from your tool (Ahrefs "TP", Semrush "Traffic"), not raw volume.

2. SERP feature presence changes by location, device, and login state - An AI Overview you see in a logged-in US Chrome session may not fire in an incognito session or in another country. Always verify SERP features in incognito mode and, where relevant, from the target country using a VPN or tool like SERP API, before assigning AEO or GEO scores.

3. Keyword cannibalization diagnosis is wrong if you use position average - Google Search Console averages positions across all queries and dates. Two pages fighting for the same query may each show position 8 in the average, but the reality is one shows at 3 and the other at 15, alternating week by week. Filter GSC by specific queries and look for multiple pages appearing or for high impression/low click patterns on the same query across different pages.

4. Tri-surface scoring becomes meaningless if you score GEO for navigational queries - Navigational queries ("brand login", "product dashboard") almost never trigger AI Overviews. Assigning any GEO score above zero to navigational keywords inflates composite scores and misdirects content effort. GEO score must be zero unless you have verified an AI Overview fires for that query.

5. Keyword clusters built from tool "related keywords" lists ignore SERP overlap - Tool-suggested related keywords group by semantic similarity, not by whether Google actually returns the same URLs for both queries. Two semantically similar keywords may trigger completely different SERPs (different content types, different competition). Validate cluster membership by checking that 5+ of the top 10 results overlap between the keywords.

References

For detailed content on specific topics, read the relevant file from references/:

• references/search-intent-mapping.md - Deep dive into the four intent types, classification signals, intent-to-content-type matrix, intent-to-surface mapping for AEO and GEO, AI Overview intent patterns, and how to validate intent assumptions from SERP data. Load when classifying a keyword list or writing a content brief.
• references/keyword-clustering.md - Methods for clustering keywords (semantic, SERP-based, modifier-based, surface-aware), building pillar-and-spoke topic clusters, surface-aware cluster annotation, and tooling options. Load when building a cluster or planning a content architecture.
• references/tri-surface-scoring.md - Complete scoring rubrics for organic (0-10), AEO (0-10), and GEO (0-10) opportunity scores, composite scoring, business-goal weighting, three worked examples, and limitations. Load when scoring keywords or producing a tri-surface keyword research report.
• references/tool-specific-workflows.md - Step-by-step workflows for Ahrefs, Semrush, Google Search Console + free tools, and ChatGPT/Perplexity manual audits. Includes spreadsheet template with columns, formulas, and conditional formatting. Load when performing hands-on keyword research with specific tools.

Only load a references file if the current task requires deep detail on that topic.

Companion check

On first activation of this skill in a conversation: check which companion skills are installed by running ls ~/.claude/skills/ ~/.agent/skills/ ~/.agents/skills/ .claude/skills/ .agent/skills/ .agents/skills/ 2>/dev/null. Compare the results against the recommended_skills field in this file's frontmatter. For any that are missing, mention them once and offer to install:

npx skills add AbsolutelySkilled/AbsolutelySkilled --skill <name>

Skip entirely if recommended_skills is empty or all companions are already installed.