# Research and save keywords > Get keyword ideas from a few seed terms, save the ones you want, check who ranks for them, then filter, tag, remove, and track them for rank checks, and add buyer questions from People Also Ask. Source: https://docs.use-mark.com/research-and-save-keywords **Keywords** is where you find search terms worth writing for and keep a list of them. Select **Analysis** > **Research** in the sidebar. **Research** has four tabs: **Keywords**, **Competitive**, **Buyer questions**, and **Rankings**. **Keywords** is the first tab. It shows **Your keywords**, your saved list. The **Research keywords** button at its top right opens keyword research. For **Buyer questions**, see [Add buyer questions from People Also Ask](#add-buyer-questions-from-people-also-ask). Each run of keyword research is a paid lookup, and so is each audience check. Nothing is requested until you select **Run keyword research** or **Check Google top 10**. Opening the tab, saving, tagging, removing, and tracking are free. ## Research keyword ideas 1. Select **Research keywords**, at the top right of **Your keywords**. Research opens in a window over the list. If you close it and open it again during the same visit, your last search and its results are still there. 2. Enter one to five seed terms in **Seed terms (1–5, one per line)**. The line under the box counts them. If you select **Run keyword research** with no seed terms, you'll see "Enter at least one seed term." 3. Choose a **Location** and a **Language**. They start at United States and English. 4. Choose a **Result count**: 10, 25, 50, or 100 ideas. 5. Optionally select **Include SERP overview**. It adds a snapshot of each keyword's Google results page: which kinds of results show up, how many results Google reports, and when the page was last checked. Hover the info icon next to it for the details. 6. Select **Run keyword research**. The button reads **Running keyword research…** until the results arrive. If you see "No keyword ideas were returned for these seed terms and settings.", try broader seed terms or another location. ## Read the results Each idea has one row: * **Keyword** is the search term. * **Volume** is how many people search for it each month. * **CPC** is the average cost per click for ads on it. * **Competition** is how crowded the ads are for it, as a percentage. * **Difficulty** is how hard it is to rank for it. Higher is harder. * **Intent** is what the searcher is likely after, like informational or commercial. * **SERP** shows **Available** when the SERP overview came back for that keyword. A dash means no figure came back for that keyword. The table starts with the highest **Volume** first. Select a column heading to sort by it, and select it again to reverse the order. To narrow the ideas, type part of a keyword in **Filter keywords** or pick an **Intent**. A line above the table shows how many ideas are showing, like "Showing 12 of 50." Filtering is free and makes no new lookup. ## Save keywords 1. Select the box next to each keyword you want, or the box in the table's header row to select all the ideas showing. 2. Select **Save to your keywords**, at the bottom of the window. The window closes. A line above **Your keywords** confirms how many were newly saved, and how many were already saved if any, and the saved keywords are highlighted in the list. Keywords save with the location and language of the run. Each newly saved keyword is also tracked for rank checks on your site, and Mark fetches its Google top 10 for the audience check. The top 10 is a paid lookup, one per new keyword. Saving a keyword that's already saved changes neither. ## Find saved keywords **Your keywords** shows a count of saved keywords next to its title. The keywords with the most searches are at the top. Until you save one, it says "Start your keyword list" with a **Research keywords** button. The filters sit in one row above the table. Each applies as soon as you change it, and they combine: * **Search by keyword**: type part of the keyword and press Enter. * **Tag**: pick one of your tags. It shows once you've tagged a keyword. * **Source**: **All sources**, **Research**, **Competitor lookup**, **AI agent**, or **Search Console**. **Competitor lookup** means you saved it from a competitor's page on the **Competitive** tab. See [Research a competitor's domain](/research-competitors). A keyword keeps the source it was first saved from. * **Audience**: **All keywords**, **Included**, or **Excluded**. See [Check who a keyword's searchers are](#check-who-a-keywords-searchers-are). Select **Clear filters** to reset the search and every filter. If nothing matches, you'll see "No saved keywords match these filters." Each row shows: * **Keyword**, **Volume**, **CPC**, and **Intent**, as in the research results. An excluded keyword has a red no-entry icon next to it; hover it for the reason. Select a keyword to open its details. See [Open a keyword's details](#open-a-keywords-details). * **Difficulty**, colored as easy (under 30), medium (30 to 69), or hard (70 and up). * **Competition**, how crowded the paid ads are, as a percentage. It's colored as low (under 34%), medium, or high (67% and up). * **Position**, where your site ranked on Google at the last rank check, with a green up or red down arrow and how many places it moved since the check before. **100+** means outside the top 100. **n/a** means no check has run yet, or the last one failed. A dash means the keyword isn't tracked on the site. See [Track keywords for rank checks](#track-keywords-for-rank-checks). * **Market**, the flag of the country the numbers are for. Hover it to see the country's name. Hover the info icon on any column heading for a short explanation of it. Sort by **Keyword** or **Volume** by selecting the column heading. Select it again to reverse the order. Keywords without a volume sort last either way. Use **Previous** and **Next** under the table to move between pages. ## Open a keyword's details Select a keyword's name to open its details on the side. They show: * The audience check: your call on the keyword and Google's top 10 for it. See [Check who a keyword's searchers are](#check-who-a-keywords-searchers-are). * **Tags**, with an **×** on each to remove it and a box to add one. * **Source**, where the keyword came from, and **Saved**, when you saved it. * The market by name, like "United States · English", under the keyword. ## Check who a keyword's searchers are A keyword can match your product word for word and still be searched by the wrong people. Search volume doesn't tell you who they are, and volume tools can disagree by about four times on the same query. In Mark, volume only orders your list. It never decides that a page should exist. The audience check shows you who Google ranks for the keyword today, so you can judge whether that crowd is your buyer. Mark fetches the top 10 when you save the keyword, in its own location and language. 1. Select the keyword's name to open its details. If the automatic lookup failed, select **Check Google top 10**. It's a paid lookup. 2. Read the results. Each of the top 10 organic results shows its position, title, domain, and a rough page type: **Article**, **Product or service**, **Directory or listing**, **Forum**, **Video**, or **Government or edu**. **SERP features** lists which of People Also Ask, AI Overview, Local pack, Video, Shopping, and Discussions and forums appeared. 3. If the list has a shaded **Discussions and forums** row, read it. It's Google's block of forum threads, separate from any single **Forum** result, and it sits where Google placed it among the top 10, or at the end of the list if Google placed it lower. The line under the title reads "Google shows these threads here. Buyers are asking each other, not a business." Each thread shows its title, which opens the thread in a new tab, and its source, post count, and month when Google gives them, like "r/HomeImprovement · 12 posts · Mar 2026". Open a few threads to see who is asking and what they want. Threads full of people looking to hire someone fit a keyword worth keeping. Threads of people doing it themselves point to excluding it. 4. If the crowd isn't your buyer, select **Exclude**, say why in up to 200 characters, like "Ranking pages are DIY forums, not homeowners hiring," and select **Exclude** again. Every keyword is included until you exclude it. An excluded keyword stops rank tracking, and its past positions stay. To undo it, open its details and select **Include again**. Tracking picks up where it stopped. To list only included or only excluded keywords, use the **Audience** filter. Mark never excludes a keyword for you. Volume, difficulty, and every other metric leave it alone. Select **Re-check** to fetch the results again. The new results replace the old ones, and an exclusion stays. If the lookup fails, you'll see a message, nothing is saved, and you can try again. ## Act on selected keywords Select the box next to each keyword, or the box above the table to select all on the page. A bar shows how many are selected, with **Track rank**, **Stop tracking**, **Add tag**, **Remove tag**, and **Remove**. Select **Clear selection** to deselect them all. ## Tag saved keywords Tags are your own labels for grouping keywords, like "service pages". 1. Select the keywords. 2. Select **Add tag**, enter a tag name, and select **Add tag** again. To take a tag off, select the keywords, select **Remove tag**, and pick the tag. The list shows only tags on the selected keywords. To remove one tag from one keyword, open its details and select the **×** on the tag. ## Remove saved keywords 1. Select the keywords. 2. Select **Remove**. 3. Confirm with **Remove**, or select **Cancel**. Removing deletes the keywords, their tags, and any rank history from your saved list. It does not undo. ## Track keywords for rank checks Tracked keywords get Mark's own Google rank checks for one of your sites. Keywords are tracked on your main site when you save them. Use this section to track them on another site, or to stop tracking. The results show on the **Rankings** tab and on **Performance** > **Search**. See [Read performance](/read-performance). 1. If you have more than one site, pick the site from **Tracking ranks for** next to **Your keywords**. It's the same site menu as on **Analysis** > **Website**. 2. Select the keywords. 3. Select **Track rank** or **Stop tracking**. To track or untrack one keyword, select just that keyword. The **Position** column shows a dash for keywords that aren't tracked on the site you picked. Tracking is free. To run rank checks, see [Check your keyword rankings](/track-keyword-rankings). ## Add buyer questions from People Also Ask **Buyer questions** is the list of questions your buyers ask AI tools. When AI answer checks are on, Mark asks each active question every week on ChatGPT, Gemini, Google AI Overview, and AI Mode. Select the **Buyer questions** tab to see the list. To leave a question out of the next check, select **Deactivate** on its row. **Reactivate** brings it back. To add your own question, type it in **Question** and select **Add question**. Once you track keywords and a rank check has run, the tab also shows **Suggested from People Also Ask** when there are any. These are the questions Google showed in People Also Ask for your tracked keywords on the latest rank check for each site and locale. Mark saves them during the check at no extra cost, so viewing suggestions never starts a paid lookup. See [Check your keyword rankings](/track-keyword-rankings). A suggestion is not a buyer question. Mark never asks it in an AI answer check and never adds it for you. 1. Read the question. **Seen for** shows the tracked keyword whose results showed it, plus a count like **+2** if more keywords showed it too. 2. Decide if a buyer would ask it in those words. Once added, a question can't be edited, only deactivated. 3. If the wording is close but not right, type your own version in **Question** and select **Add question**. Otherwise, select **Add** to put the suggestion on your list as written. It starts active. Suggestions leave out any question already on your list, active or not. The questions Google showed most often come first. Mark shows up to 50. When there are more, a line under the table gives the total, like "Showing 50 of 64."