Keyword research is a practice used by search engine

Search engine

A search engine is an information retrieval system designed to help find information stored on a computer system. The search results are usually presented in a list and are commonly called hits. Search engines help to minimize the time required to find information and the amount of information...

 optimization professionals to find and research actual search terms people enter into the search engines when conducting a search. Search engine optimization professionals research keywords

Keywords

Keywords are the words that are used to reveal the internal structure of an author's reasoning. While they are used primarily for rhetoric, they are also used in a strictly grammatical sense for structural composition, reasoning, and comprehension...

 in order to achieve better rankings in their desired keywords.

Existing brands

If a company decides to sell Nike

Nike, Inc.

Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...

 trainers online, the market is pretty competitive, and the Nike brand itself is Predominant.

Sources of traditional research data

• Google
  Google
  Google Inc. is an American multinational public corporation invested in Internet search, cloud computing, and advertising technologies. Google hosts and develops a number of Internet-based services and products, and generates profit primarily from advertising through its AdWords program...
  
   AdWords Keyword Tool, traffic estimator, Webmaster Tools
  Google Webmaster Tools
  Google Webmaster Tools is a no-charge web service by Google for webmasters. It allows webmasters to check indexing status and optimize visibility of their websites.It has tools that let the webmasters:* Submit and check a sitemap...
  
  ; Google Suggest and Google Trends
  Google Trends
  Google Trends is a public web facility of Google Inc., based on Google Search, that shows how often a particular search-term is entered relative to the total search-volume across various regions of the world, and in various languages...
  
  
• MSN
  MSN
  MSN is a collection of Internet sites and services provided by Microsoft. The Microsoft Network debuted as an online service and Internet service provider on August 24, 1995, to coincide with the release of the Windows 95 operating system.The range of services offered by MSN has changed since its...
  
   Keyword Forecast
• Hitwise
  Hitwise
  Experian Hitwise is a global online competitive intelligence service which collects data directly from ISP networks to aid website managers in analysing trends in visitor behavior and to measure website market share. The Hitwise product is a commercial platform whereby customers pay Hitwise a...