Seed keywords, of course, should be the beginning of keyword research. They are terms that are fairly broad and general in nature, with some association to an industry, product, or service of a website. These keywords are used as a base for finding even more precise and targeted words that a prospective customer would use for an Internet search. The seed keywords possess the characteristics of a short-tail keyword, one whose search volume is high, while competition is also highly aggressive. These are used to come up with related long-tail keywords, secondary keywords, and any other kind of variation that could optimise their website content and thus increase rankings on search engines. Effective keyword research begins with a list of seed keywords and then employs different tools and techniques to develop that list into a fully fleshed-out list of target keywords.