Build four small groups
Category terms describe the solution people already know they want. Pain phrases describe the task they are struggling with. Recommendation phrases reveal someone comparing options. Competitor names can uncover a switching problem or an existing solution you should understand.
Keep these groups separate in your planning notes. It makes a noisy result easier to diagnose. A competitor mention might be relevant research but poor outreach; a specific category request may deserve an answer right away.
| Group | Invoice-software example | What it helps you learn |
|---|---|---|
| Category | invoice reminders | Which tools people seek. |
| Pain | chasing unpaid invoices | How buyers describe the work. |
| Recommendation | invoice tool recommendations | Which criteria matter. |
| Competitor | [current tool] alternative | Why someone considers switching. |
Prefer a narrow problem over a broad topic
“Marketing” can return a wide range of discussions with little connection to your product. “Tracking demo requests” names a specific job. Broader terms can help exploratory research, but they often make a poor daily reply queue.
Choose phrases your product genuinely addresses. If your tool only helps agencies with recurring invoices, do not start with every accounting term. Product limits are useful keyword filters.
Test before paying for broader coverage
Run a few manual searches and read the results. Write down unfamiliar terms that recur in relevant questions. If the phrase only returns content from vendors, try the wording used by customers instead.
The free keyword planner produces starting ideas from your category and problem description. It does not measure search volume or validate live demand. Open the search builder and inspect actual results before treating any suggested phrase as useful.
Keep search syntax separate from monitoring keywords
Reddit search supports operators and filters. Leaddit’s product keywords are the phrases you want the product to watch. Do not paste an entire Boolean search expression into a keyword field and assume it has the same meaning.
For a manual search, quotation marks can target a phrase and a community filter can narrow the audience. For a monitoring list, choose the specific terms you want matched. The search builder shows both the plain term and the resulting manual query.
Replace noise with evidence
After reviewing matches, note which words return useful conversations. Replace a vague term with a more specific phrase from a real buyer question. Keep a small set stable long enough to compare the quality of its results.
On Leaddit, Starter includes 15 keywords, Growth 40, and Scale 100. These are limits, not targets you need to fill. Five useful phrases can be a better starting list than 40 unrelated ones. The first scan is free, so judge relevance before expanding.