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Keyword Analyse Website: A Practical Checklist

A step-by-step checklist to audit keywords, detect cannibalisation, prioritise opportunities, and convert findings into an actionable publishing backlog.

Vincent JOSSE

Vincent JOSSE

Vincent is an SEO Expert who graduated from Polytechnique where he studied graph theory and machine learning applied to search engines.

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Keyword Analyse Website: A Practical Checklist

Keyword research has never been a set-and-forget task. Google’s AI-powered SERPs, zero-click answers, and fast-moving competitors mean the keywords that drove traffic last quarter can stall the next. A structured review—what many teams call a keyword analyse website audit—keeps your content plan aligned with real demand and eliminates wasted effort.

The checklist below distills the exact workflow our consulting team at BlogSEO uses before spinning up any automated content pipeline. Follow it step by step and you will surface quick wins, spot cannibalisation, and uncover untapped topics your audience is already searching for.

A marketer sits in front of a laptop displaying a dashboard with keyword volumes, intent categories, and traffic trends while sticky notes labelled “update”, “remove”, and “expand” are arranged around the screen.

1. Export Baseline Data

Begin with facts, not guesses.

  • Google Search Console: export the last 12 months of queries, clicks, impressions, CTR and average position (Page → Queries report ➜ Export > Sheets).

  • Website crawl: run Screaming Frog or Sitebulb to capture every indexable URL, title tag, H1 and word count.

  • Backlink snapshot: pull domain-level referring domains from a tool like Ahrefs or Majestic for authority context.

  • Paid search terms (if any): download converting keywords from Google Ads to find high-intent phrases worth organic coverage.

Store everything in a single spreadsheet or database so later steps can reference the same IDs.

2. Classify Intent

Raw keyword lists become useful only after you map search intent. Group each query into four buckets:

Bucket

Typical Modifiers

Goal

Informational

what, why, guide, ideas

Teach or explain

Navigational

login, pricing, brand

Reach a specific site or page

Commercial

best, vs, review, software

Compare options

Transactional

buy, download, coupon

Complete an action

You can automate this with BlogSEO’s built-in intent classifier or tag manually for small data sets. Intent tags later drive content format choices (e.g. comparison tables for commercial, tutorials for informational).

Internal reading: see how we translate keyword lists into full topic clusters in our post From Keywords to Clusters.

3. Measure Coverage vs Opportunity

Cross-reference your intent-tagged keyword list with the crawl data:

  • Covered: the query’s primary topic already has a relevant URL ranking.

  • Partially covered: a broader page ranks but doesn’t satisfy search depth (thin content or mismatched angle).

  • Uncovered: zero URLs address the topic.

Visualise the result in a pivot chart to spot white space. Pay attention to informational queries with rising impressions—Google’s trend signals usually precede conversion demand.

4. Detect Cannibalisation

Multiple pages targeting the same or near-identical query steal clicks from one another and confuse Google. Identify:

  • Two or more URLs sharing >35 % of ranking keywords.

  • Sudden ranking fluctuations between pages for the same query.

  • Internal links pointing inconsistently to each page.

Solutions include merging, adding canonical tags, or repositioning one page for a different intent. Our guide on Internal Linking Automation shows how to reinforce the survivor URL at scale.

5. Analyse SERP Features

Modern SERPs rarely list ten blue links. Run a quick check for each high-potential query:

  • AI Overview panels

  • Featured snippets

  • People Also Ask boxes

  • Video or image carousels

  • Local packs

If a featured snippet or AI summary dominates above the fold, prioritise concise answer blocks, schema (FAQPage, HowTo) and strong entity language. For queries with video boxes, consider repurposing blog content into short explainer clips.

6. Score Difficulty vs Potential

You now know which queries matter and how SERPs look. The next filter is ROI. A simple scoring model works:

Metric

Scale (1–5)

Notes

Traffic potential

1 = <50 searches/mo · 5 = >5 k

Use average monthly volume from Ahrefs or Google Ads.

Business fit

1 = tangential · 5 = core pain point

Judge revenue alignment.

Ranking difficulty

1 = low DR sites in top 10 · 5 = authority giants

Mix DR, link profile and content depth.

Target the sweet spot: scores ≥4 for traffic and business fit, ≤3 for difficulty.

7. Prioritise and Assign Actions

Translate insights into a clear backlog:

  • Update: refresh pages that rank 6–15 for valuable queries. Add missing entities, helpful visuals, and recent data.

  • Expand: publish net-new articles for uncovered keywords.

  • Consolidate: merge cannibal pages under the strongest URL.

  • Remove/redirect: prune obsolete, thin, or duplicate posts harming quality signals.

Set owners, deadlines, and measurement KPIs (clicks, impressions, AI citation share). Teams using BlogSEO can push the backlog directly into an auto-schedule that generates outlines, drafts, and publishes once human QA is complete.

8. Create Internal Link Hooks

Before hitting publish, insert link hooks that reinforce topical relationships:

  • Use descriptive anchor text matching the primary keyword.

  • Link child articles back to the pillar page and vice versa.

  • Add “next step” blocks in tutorials that push readers deeper.

BlogSEO’s internal linking automation scans every new post and injects optimal anchors in real time—a proven boost for both crawl efficiency and UX.

9. Monitor & Iterate

Set a 30-, 60- and 90-day review cadence.

Key metrics:

  • Change in clicks and average position for refreshed pages.

  • Indexation latency for new URLs.

  • AI Overview citation count (track via Search Console AI Overviews report where available).

  • Conversion metrics tied to target pages (demo bookings, trials, sign-ups).

Adjust content or link structures based on early signals. If results stall, re-evaluate search intent or upgrade the content format (e.g., add comparison tables, code snippets, or templates)—formats we covered in SEO Blog Examples.

A simplified flowchart showing nine coloured boxes representing each checklist step, connected by arrows, ending with a “Publish & Monitor” node.

Putting It All Together

A keyword analyse website audit is more than a spreadsheet exercise; it is the compass that steers every piece of content you ship. When you systemise the nine steps above—and automate the repetitive parts—you unlock two compounding benefits:

  1. Higher topical authority: you publish exactly what your audience and Google expect.

  2. Faster velocity: writers spend time on insight and storytelling, not data wrangling.

BlogSEO was built to make that automation painless. Connect your CMS, import the keyword sheet, and our AI handles clustering, outline generation, drafting, internal linking, and scheduled publishing—while you retain editorial control.

Ready to turn your audit into traffic? Start a free 3-day trial or book a live demo to see BlogSEO in action.

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