Keyword research is the process of identifying and analyzing the search terms people use in search engines. It's crucial for SEO because it reveals what your target audience is searching for, how they phrase their queries, how much competition exists for those terms, and what content opportunities exist. Effective keyword research ensures you create content that matches user intent, targets achievable rankings, drives qualified traffic, and supports business goals. Without keyword research, you're creating content blindly, hoping it ranks. With it, you strategically target terms your audience actually uses, dramatically improving SEO success rates.