Google's John Mueller was asked if keyword research helps SEO. John immediately replied, "no," but then explained why he said no. It is not the task keyword research that helps with SEO, but understanding what you are writing about and why that kind of helps.
John said on Twitter, "Just to be a bit more elaborate, research alone doesn't change anything. You have to understand what you're researching, what the results mean, make changes, monitor, and adapt. And start at the top again."
Here are those tweets:
No
— John Mueller (official) · Not #30D (@JohnMu) July 15, 2023
Just to be a bit more elaborate, research alone doesn't change anything. You have to understand what you're researching, what the results mean, make changes, monitor, and adapt. And start at the top again.
— John Mueller (official) · Not #30D (@JohnMu) July 15, 2023
Technically, I have never used keyword research tools to write a single story on this site in the last almost 20 years of me writing here. I just don't need keyword tools to tell me what I find interesting and useful to cover. I listen to what the industry is talking about and use that as my research method on finding ideas on what to write about.
But keyword research is one of those SEO topics that have been a staple in the industry for over twenty years now and will likely never go away. It is something almost every SEO does because they are not experts in every topic they are tasked to write about. And sometimes, clients who are experts do need a push on what to cover and write about.
Do you do keyword research? Do you agree or disagree with what John said above?
Forum discussion at Twitter.
