seed-keyword-discovery

name	seed-keyword-discovery
description	Use when starting keyword research for a new product, page, or content area. Seed keywords anchor the whole research tree.

Seed Keyword Discovery

Seed keywords are the 5-10 top-level terms describing your offering. From seeds, you expand into clusters, long-tail, and modifiers.

Seed sources

1. Product/service names ('card grading', 'Pokemon grading')
2. Customer language (support tickets, sales calls, reviews)
3. Competitor's primary terms (their nav, hero, page titles)
4. Industry vocabulary (PSA, BGS, slab, pop report)
5. Problem statements ("how to grade a Pokemon card")
6. Search Console: query report on existing site
7. Reddit, Discord, niche forums for community terms

Seed validation

For each seed term, verify:

1. Search volume > 100/mo (Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest)
2. Commercial intent (CPC > $0.50)
3. Competition assessable (KD < 80 unless brand strong)
4. Aligned with product (not just trending)
5. Modifier-rich (can expand to long-tail)

Output: seed bank

End of seed research: 5-15 seeds saved in spreadsheet with: search volume, KD, intent classification, modifiers, related terms. Foundation for all subsequent clustering and content planning.

Where this fits in the X3 empire

Foundation for CardPrepAI's content strategy.