Skill
Keyword strategy and on-page
Keyword research usually produces a list. What a site actually needs is ownership: one query, one page responsible for it, and no two of your own URLs fighting over the same result. On a small site that is a spreadsheet exercise. On a catalogue with thousands of ranking terms it decides what gets built and in what order.
What this covers
Keyword work covers more than research, so here is the specific list and what each one fixes.
| Area | What goes wrong | What I do about it |
|---|---|---|
| Keyword to URL mapping | Nobody can say which page is supposed to rank for your most valuable term | One owning URL per primary keyword, documented so the whole team works from it |
| Cannibalisation | Two of your own pages compete and both rank worse than either would alone | Query level overlap audit in Search Console, then consolidate, differentiate or redirect |
| Search intent | The page targets a term the results page answers in a different format | Read the SERP before writing, match the format that already ranks |
| Category architecture | Commercial terms land on the homepage instead of the category built for them | Move the target down the hierarchy with internal links and on-page signals |
| Opportunity sizing | Content investment follows opinion instead of demand | Size every category by keyword count and search volume, then sequence by revenue potential |
| On-page | Titles and headings written for the CMS rather than the query | Rewrite titles, H1s and body copy against the target term and its real variants |
| Content gaps | Competitors own terms you have no page for at all | Gap analysis against ranking competitors, mapped to specific new pages |
| Prompt-shaped queries | The keyword map covers “tactical pants” and misses “what tactical pants should I buy for hot weather”, which is what people now type into an AI box | Mine the long, question-shaped queries from Search Console and pair each with the page that should be the answer |
Signs you need this
The symptoms are usually visible in Search Console before anyone calls it a keyword problem.
- Two of your own URLs keep swapping positions for the same query.
- Your homepage ranks for commercial terms that belong on a category page.
- Nobody can tell you which single page is supposed to own your most valuable term.
- Content gets commissioned on topic rather than against a target keyword.
- Rankings are broad but shallow: page two across hundreds of terms, page one for very few.
- A new category or product line is launching with no plan for which terms it should own.
- Your top queries in Search Console are getting longer and more conversational, and your pages still answer them in the third paragraph.
A keyword map for one brand or one section, delivered as a workbook with a category map, a page priority view and a transparent removed duplicates tab. You can see exactly what I cut and why, rather than taking a cleaned list on trust.
How I work on it
- Pull the raw set. Search Console queries, Semrush positions, and what competitors rank for across the same catalogue.
- Assign ownership. One primary term per URL. Duplicates get surfaced in their own tab, never silently dropped.
- Fix the conflicts. Cannibalisation resolved by consolidation, differentiation or redirect, prioritised by the search volume at stake.
- Sequence by value. Categories ranked by the demand behind them, so content and internal linking follow revenue rather than enthusiasm.
Want to talk through a site?
Twenty minutes, screen shared, your Search Console open. You will leave with at least one thing worth fixing whether or not we end up working together.
Typical reply time: within one working day