Traditional media such as newspapers and TV stations create content based on experience, judgment and common sense. Effective online media creates content based in part on SEO keyword research.

Search engine optimization for a Web site depends in part on research to raise a document's ranking in search engine result pages. Otherwise, the article won't be easily found.

Maybe someone decides to write about antique desks and so they simply write that story based on the information from various sources. Although the story is likely to be indexed by search engines, it won't necessarily be found. A search of "antique furnitures desks" on Google produces 1,270,000 results, which is a daunting level of competition.

But keyword research would reveal that popular related search terms include "antique desks," "antique secretary desks" and "antique roll top desk" among other keyword phrases. These three searches produce the following results on Google:

1. Antique desks -- 212,000 documents.
2. Antique secretary desks -- 137,000 documents.
3. Antique roll top desks -- 166,000 documents.

These phrases face far less competition than the alternative. Even if the story does not cover secretary and roll top desks, it should use the phrase "antique desks" rather than "antique furniture desks" to improve its chances of being found.

Here are a few simple ways to do keyword research in a matter of minutes:

1. Do the above. Try a search on the search engines for related phrases.
2. Use the Google keyword tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
3. Try the SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool: http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/
4. Another good one is the SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty Tool: http://www.seomoz.org/keyword-difficulty