Keyword Basics: How a Busy Founder Should Pick the First Ten

Why Your First Ten Keywords Matter More Than You Think

You shipped. Your product works. But nobody knows it exists.

The brutal truth: you don't need 100 keywords. You need ten that convert. Ten that align with what your actual customers search for. Ten that you can dominate in three months.

Most founders waste weeks researching keyword volume, search intent, and difficulty scores. They build spreadsheets. They hire agencies. They overthink it.

Here's what actually happens: you pick ten keywords based on gut feel, ship content around them, and learn what works by watching your traffic and conversions. The founders who move fastest are the ones who converge on their first ten in under an hour, then iterate based on real data.

This guide is for you. It's a step-by-step framework to pick your first ten keywords in one sitting, with enough rigor to avoid obvious mistakes but not so much process that you're still researching next month.

Prerequisites: What You Need Before You Start

You don't need much. But you do need these three things.

First: clarity on what you sell and who needs it. Not a perfect persona. Not a 50-page positioning doc. Just: "I sell [product] to [person] who has [problem]." That's it. If you can't say that in one sentence, you're not ready for keywords yet. Go back and ship your messaging first.

Second: access to a basic keyword research tool. You can use free tools like Google Keyword Planner or Ubersuggest, or paid tools like Ahrefs or Semrush. For a founder on day one, free is fine. You're not optimizing for precision right now. You're optimizing for speed.

Third: 60 minutes of uninterrupted time. Close Slack. Silence your phone. This is a thinking exercise, not a research exercise. You're going to make decisions quickly, and context switching kills momentum.

If you're short on time or want to skip the research entirely, Seoable delivers a complete keyword roadmap in under 60 seconds for $99. It includes a domain audit, brand positioning, and 100 AI-generated blog posts ready to publish. That's the shortcut if you want to move faster than the framework below.

But if you want to understand the thinking, keep reading.

Step 1: Brain Dump Your Obvious Keywords (10 Minutes)

Start with what you already know.

Write down every keyword you've heard a customer say. Every search query you think someone might type to find your product. Every problem statement you hear in sales calls. Don't filter. Don't judge. Just dump.

If you sell project management software, you might write:

• Project management tool
• Task management
• Team collaboration software
• Asana alternative
• Notion alternative
• Best project management software
• Free project management tool
• Agile project management
• Remote team tools
• Work management software

That's twelve. Trim it to your gut top ten. Don't overthink this step.

Why? Because these keywords are anchors. They're the ones you already believe matter. The ones you've heard in your own customer conversations. The ones that feel like your market.

If you can't come up with ten keywords you think matter, you don't have a clear enough positioning yet. Go read SEO Basics: The 12 Concepts a Busy Founder Can't Skip to clarify your thinking, then come back.

Step 2: Validate Search Volume (15 Minutes)

Now you're going to check whether people actually search for these things.

Open Google Keyword Planner or Semrush. Plug in your ten keywords. Look at monthly search volume.

Here's what you're looking for: does anyone search for this? Not "how many people," but "does anyone at all?"

If a keyword has zero searches, cut it. If it has 100+ monthly searches, it's worth considering. If it has 1,000+ monthly searches, that's a green light.

But here's the thing: volume is a vanity metric for founders. Karl stopped caring about keyword volume because volume doesn't tell you whether it converts. A keyword with 50 searches a month that converts 5% of traffic is better than a keyword with 5,000 searches that converts 0.1%.

So use volume as a filter, not a goal. If someone searches for it, it's real. If nobody does, it's noise.

After this step, you might trim your list. That's fine. You're looking for keywords that are real—that actual humans type into search engines.

Step 3: Check Search Intent Against Your Product (10 Minutes)

Now comes the critical filter: does the search intent match what you sell?

Search intent is simple. When someone types a keyword, what do they want? Information? A product? A comparison? A tutorial?

Let's say you sell a project management tool. Someone searching "how to manage a project" has informational intent. They want to learn. They're not ready to buy. Someone searching "best project management software" has commercial intent. They're evaluating options. They might be ready to buy.

For your first ten keywords, bias toward commercial and navigational intent. These are the keywords where people are looking to solve a problem with a tool—your tool.

How do you check intent? Open Google. Type each keyword. Look at the top ten results. Are they blog posts? Product pages? Comparisons? That tells you intent.

If the top results are all blog posts, the intent is informational. Skip it for now. If the top results are product pages and comparisons, the intent is commercial. That's your lane.

This is where most founders go wrong. They pick keywords around their product, but the intent doesn't match. Someone searching "project management" might want a Wikipedia definition. Someone searching "project management software for remote teams" wants to buy.

Be specific. Be intent-aligned. Move on.

Step 4: Assess Competitive Difficulty (10 Minutes)

Now you need to know: can you actually rank for these keywords?

You're a new domain. You have no backlinks. You have no brand authority. So you can't compete for keywords that require 100+ referring domains to rank.

Open Ahrefs or Semrush and check the "difficulty" score for each keyword. This is a 0-100 scale representing how hard it is to rank.

Here's the rule: for your first ten keywords, aim for difficulty scores under 40. These are keywords where new domains can rank in 3-6 months with consistent content.

Why? Because you're not competing with Ahrefs on "SEO tools." You're competing with mid-tier blogs on "SEO tools for indie hackers" or "SEO tools for bootstrappers." The long tail is where new domains win.

If all your keywords have difficulty scores above 60, you need to get more specific. Add modifiers: "for small teams," "for remote work," "for startups." Make them longer. Make them more specific. Lower the difficulty.

This step is about honesty. Can you actually rank? If not, adjust.

Step 5: Layer in Business Potential (5 Minutes)

Now comes the founder filter: will ranking for this keyword actually drive revenue?

Search volume is one thing. But what matters is whether traffic converts.

Let's say you sell a $99/month project management tool. A keyword with 500 monthly searches that converts 2% of traffic gives you roughly 10 new customers a month. That's $12,000 in monthly revenue from one keyword.

A keyword with 5,000 monthly searches but 0.1% conversion gives you 5 new customers. That's $6,000.

The first keyword is better. It's more aligned with your actual customer.

How do you assess business potential without traffic data? Ask yourself: if someone searches this keyword, are they my customer? Would they care about my product?

"Best project management software for remote teams" = your customer. "How to use Gantt charts" = not your customer.

Bias toward keywords where the searcher is actively looking for a solution, not learning about a concept.

This is where SEO for Busy Founders: What to Skip, What to Ship This Week becomes critical. You're not optimizing for volume. You're optimizing for revenue per keyword.

Step 6: Converge on Your First Ten (10 Minutes)

Now you're going to make a decision.

You've filtered by volume. You've filtered by intent. You've filtered by difficulty. You've filtered by business potential.

You should have somewhere between 8 and 15 keywords left. Pick your top ten based on gut feel. Trust your instinct here. If a keyword feels right—if you can imagine ranking for it and winning customers—pick it.

Write them down in a spreadsheet. Add columns for:

• Keyword
• Monthly Search Volume
• Difficulty Score
• Search Intent
• Why This Matters

That last column is for you. It's a reminder of why you picked this keyword. It's your north star when you're writing content.

Example:

Done. You have your first ten.

Step 7: Organize by Content Pillars (5 Minutes)

Now you're going to group your ten keywords into content themes.

This matters because you're not going to write ten separate blog posts. You're going to write 2-3 pillar posts that cover multiple keywords, then satellite content that links back.

Let's say your ten keywords are:

1. Project management software for remote teams
2. Best free project management tool
3. Asana alternative
4. Monday.com alternative
5. Notion alternative
6. Best project management software for small teams
7. Agile project management tool
8. Team collaboration software
9. Task management software
10. Work management platform

You can group these into three pillars:

Pillar 1: Alternatives & Comparisons (keywords 3, 4, 5, 9)

• Content: "The Best Asana, Monday.com, and Notion Alternatives for Remote Teams"
• Satellite: Individual comparison posts

Pillar 2: Best-Of Lists (keywords 1, 2, 6, 10)

• Content: "The Best Project Management Software for Remote Teams and Small Businesses"
• Satellite: Niche lists (free tools, small teams, etc.)

Pillar 3: Category Education (keyword 7, 8)

• Content: "Agile Project Management: A Founder's Guide"
• Satellite: Deep dives on specific methodologies

Why? Because you can rank for multiple keywords with one piece of content. You don't need ten posts. You need 3-4 pillar posts and 6-8 satellite posts.

This is the difference between founders who ship and founders who overthink. You're going to write less, but better.

Step 8: Create Your Content Roadmap (5 Minutes)

Now you're going to map your ten keywords to actual content you'll ship.

You have two options here:

Option A: DIY. You write the content yourself. This takes time. But you understand your product better than anyone. If you can write, this is faster than you think. The Busy Founder's Content Calendar: One Post Per Week That Wins breaks down how to ship one SEO-winning post per week in two hours.

Option B: AI-generated. You use Seoable's AI blog generation to create 100 posts in under 60 seconds, then edit the ones that matter. This is the founder shortcut. You get a complete keyword roadmap, domain audit, brand positioning, and 100 AI-generated posts for $99. Then you pick the ten posts that matter and edit them to your voice.

Either way, you now have a roadmap. You know which keywords you're targeting. You know how you'll organize them. You know what content you'll ship.

That's the hard part. The writing is execution.

The Pro Tips That Actually Matter

Tip 1: Start with your actual customer conversations. The best keywords come from listening to how your customers describe their problems. They're not in Ahrefs. They're in your Slack, your email, your sales calls. Listen first. Research second.

Tip 2: Bias toward long-tail keywords. "Project management software" is hard. "Project management software for remote teams" is easier. "Best free project management software for bootstrapped startups" is easiest. Longer keywords have lower volume but higher intent. Pick the long tail.

Tip 3: Pick keywords you can own in 90 days. You're not competing for "SEO" or "marketing." You're competing for "SEO for indie hackers" or "marketing for bootstrappers." Own a niche. Dominate it. Expand later.

Tip 4: Don't confuse search volume with importance. A keyword with 100 searches a month that converts 5% is better than a keyword with 5,000 searches that converts 0.1%. Pick based on conversion potential, not volume.

Tip 5: Review your keywords after 30 days. You'll learn what actually works. Some keywords will drive traffic. Some won't. Some will convert. Some won't. After 30 days, cut the losers and double down on winners. This is SEO Triage for Busy Founders: The 80/20 You Can't Skip.

Common Mistakes Founders Make

Mistake 1: Picking keywords with zero search volume. You think a keyword is perfect, but nobody searches for it. You rank #1. You get zero traffic. Avoid this by checking volume first.

Mistake 2: Picking keywords with zero commercial intent. Someone searches "how to manage projects." They want to learn, not to buy. They're not your customer. Avoid this by checking the top ten results. Are they product pages or blog posts?

Mistake 3: Picking keywords you can't rank for. You're a new domain. You can't rank for "project management software." You can rank for "project management software for remote teams." Avoid this by checking difficulty scores. Stay under 40 for your first ten.

Mistake 4: Picking too many keywords at once. You pick 50 keywords and try to rank for all of them. You dilute your effort. You rank for none. Pick ten. Ship content. Win. Expand later.

Mistake 5: Not aligning keywords with your actual product. You sell a $99/month tool, but you pick keywords for enterprise software. The intent doesn't match. The conversion doesn't happen. Pick keywords that align with what you actually sell.

How This Fits Into Your 100-Day Plan

Keyword selection is step one. But it's not the only step.

After you pick your ten keywords, you need to:

1. Audit your domain. Check for technical SEO issues. Fix them. Week 1 of SEO: What a Busy Founder Should Actually Ship covers this.

2. Position your brand. Make sure your messaging aligns with your keywords. The Busy Founder's First Hire Shouldn't Be an SEO Agency — Here's Why walks through brand positioning.

3. Ship content. Write or generate blog posts around your keywords. Your First 100 Days of SEO: A Day-by-Day Founder Playbook gives you a day-by-day roadmap.

4. Track and iterate. After 30 days, see what's working. Double down on winners. Cut losers. This is how you learn.

Keywords are the foundation. But they're not the whole building.

If you want the full playbook, read The 30-Day SEO Sprint: A Busy Founder's First Month. It covers everything: audit, keywords, content, technical fixes, and launch prep.

The Shortcut: Why Seoable Exists

Here's the truth: most founders don't have 60 minutes to research keywords.

They have 10 minutes. They have one coffee. They have a decision to make before the next meeting.

That's why Seoable exists. It does this work for you in under 60 seconds.

You get:

• A domain audit. Technical SEO issues identified and prioritized.
• Brand positioning. Your messaging clarified and aligned with your market.
• A keyword roadmap. Your first ten keywords (and 90 more) ranked by business potential.
• 100 AI-generated blog posts. Ready to edit and publish. Covering all your keywords.
• All for $99. One-time. No subscription. No agency fees.

Then you pick the ten posts that matter most. Edit them to your voice. Ship them. Track what converts. Iterate.

That's how founders actually win. They don't overthink keywords. They ship content. They learn from data. They iterate.

If you want to do it yourself, follow the framework above. It works. But it takes time.

If you want to move faster, Seoable does it in 60 seconds for $99.

Either way, the goal is the same: pick your first ten keywords and start shipping content. Don't wait for perfect. Wait for done.

Your Next Move

You have two paths:

Path 1: DIY. Follow the eight-step framework above. Spend 60 minutes. Pick your ten keywords. Then read The Busy Founder's Content Calendar: One Post Per Week That Wins to learn how to ship one post per week.

Path 2: Shortcut. Get your keywords, domain audit, brand positioning, and 100 AI posts in 60 seconds for $99 with Seoable. Then spend your time editing and shipping, not researching.

Both work. Pick the one that fits your schedule.

But pick something. Don't let keyword research become an excuse to delay shipping content. The founders who win are the ones who converge fast, ship content, and learn from data.

You've already shipped a product that works. Now ship the SEO that makes it visible.

Start today. Your first ten keywords are waiting.

Key Takeaways

• Pick ten keywords, not a hundred. Converge fast. Dominate a niche. Expand later.
• Bias toward long-tail keywords. Lower difficulty. Higher intent. Better conversion.
• Check three things: volume, intent, difficulty. If a keyword fails any of these, cut it.
• Align keywords with business potential. Not all traffic is equal. Pick keywords that convert.
• Organize by content pillars. Write 3-4 pillar posts covering multiple keywords, not ten separate posts.
• Review after 30 days. Learn what works. Double down on winners. Cut losers.
• Ship content, not research. The fastest way to learn is to publish and track real data.
• Use Seoable to skip the research. Get your keywords, audit, positioning, and 100 posts in 60 seconds for $99.

You shipped a product. Now ship the SEO. Your first ten keywords are the foundation. Pick them. Ship content. Watch what converts. Iterate.

That's how founders actually win organic visibility.