Keyword Portfolio Triage (Delivery)
A sequence with 6 steps: Pull the client's full keyword universe into one export before segmenting anything.
By InnovaAI ResearchPublished
What are the steps?
Keyword Portfolio Triage (Delivery)
- 01
Pull the client's full keyword universe into one export before segmenting anything
Combine branded, non-branded, and long-tail terms from the tracking platform plus Search Console so the triage set reflects what the client actually ranks for, not just what was sold in the proposal.
- 02
Tag every keyword by commercial intent and assign a revenue weight
Split terms into bottom-funnel (demo, pricing, alternative), mid-funnel (comparison, integration), and top-funnel (definition, how-to). Weight bottom-funnel terms highest because a position 4 to 2 move there usually moves pipeline faster than the same move on an informational term.
- 03
Flag volatility using a 30-day position delta, not a single-day snapshot
A keyword that swings 8 or more positions across 30 days is unstable regardless of its current rank. Nozzle's pixels-from-top and above-the-fold metrics are useful here because position 3 with a collapsed SERP feature is worth less than position 5 with a clean result.
- 04
Separate keywords where the client already appears in AI answers from those where competitors do
Run the top 20 commercial terms through ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity and log whether the client is cited, mentioned without a link, or absent. Nightwatch and LLMrefs both track this alongside classic SERP positions, which keeps one report instead of two.
- 05
Group the triage output into three delivery buckets: defend, attack, deprioritize
Defend covers positions 1 to 3 with rising volatility. Attack covers positions 4 to 15 with commercial intent. Deprioritize covers terms with no impressions growth over 90 days, and removing them cuts reporting noise for the client.
- 06
Write a one-page triage memo with the bucket counts and the next 30-day target list
State how many keywords sit in each bucket, which 10 move first, and what a realistic position shift looks like. This memo becomes the delivery agenda for the next sprint and the evidence base for the monthly retainer review.