If you are looking for cookie recipes, that's what you enter into the little box on your favourite search engine.
You enter either "cookie recipes" (with quotes) or cookie recipes (without quotes) into the slot. (By the way, the two entry methods may return entirely different results.)
Sites about the topic appear on your screen, and you have your search results. You visit the various sites, and then bake your cookies.
I have discussed how the various keywords used to find you, will have your blog or website positioned differently, on the various search engines.
That is because the different search engines use a different algorithm (mathematical calculation used to decide the most relevant sites for a web query) to find their results.
Talk about a yawner!
You may be on the first page of Inktomi or MSN Search for your keywords, but on the third page for Google.
Different math gives different results.
While that is not a concern of many bloggers, most people want to see at least a few more visitors. Just your family and some arm twisted friends are fine, but it's nice to have watchers in the wider web world, once in awhile.
Check your visitor logs, for keywords that have found your blog, in all of the search engines. Your most popular terms will be the keywords that found your blog. You say you don't care much about search engine optimization, or getting high rankings in Google.
That's fine. Don't worry about it.
What should interest you are the many interests of your visitor traffic. What they enter into the search box, and use to find your blog, is what interests them.
Bloggers are often accused of being only concerned with themselves. The accusation is often termed as "navel gazing". Once in awhile though, even the most self absorbed blogger will look out at the rest of humanity; even if only for a peek.
From your readers' point of view, it's all about them. It's about what they want to read. If you don't fulfil their requirements, they will surf elsewhere.
When you check what interests your readers, you can then help them out, by writing more posts on those topics.
The concept has double value.
Your blog rises even higher in the search engine rankings. That's good for the old ego, and your visitor counter. Your readers are happy as well, because you are writing more posts of interest to them.
The search term idea generator method will also help you find topics, on those days when writers block occurs. You know the days. No matter how hard you concentrate, no blogging ideas will materialize. The blank mind syndrome can strike at any time.
Keyword search to the rescue!
As you check your logs, those search terms will often trigger fresh ideas for your blog entries.
Words gush forth from your keyboard.
Visitors flock to your blog.
They smile.
So do you.