Keyword research is the process of finding the specific search terms used by potential visitors (or customers) to find their target website. The more accurate the keyword research, the more successful the SEO process.

There are many tools that can be used to help in this process both paid and free. One of the most useful tools is Google’s External Keyword Tool. This has been designed to help people who have Google Adwords accounts find appropriate keywords for their adverts, but it works for organic results too.

The tool provides several different pieces of information:

- list of related keywords people are searching for

- the number of searches carried out with the terms for the last month

- how high the competition is

You can also use the drop-down menu to find out more information about the terms, such as the monthly trends and price of the keyword (used for Adwords in which you would pay per keyword click).

Using the different information provided, you should be able to choose a list of keywords that best suit your advertising needs its always best to go for terms that you actually have a chance of ranking for, not the most competitive ones, as you will be drowned out of the results by websites such as Wikipedia.

After you have carried out this process, you’ll likely have a huge list of potential keywords. You need to narrow this down to a list of about 10-15 keywords that you think are most worth working on, and then start structuring the on-page SEO.