Data, SEO & AI Search · How-to guide
How to do keyword research
How to find the search terms your buyers actually use, read the intent behind them, group them into clusters you can own, and pick the ones you can realistically win, with free tools you can start with today.
The short answer
What is keyword research, and how do you do it?
Key takeaways
Keyword research is about intent and winnability, not chasing the biggest volume.
Every term carries four facts: volume, difficulty, intent and commercial value.
Group terms into clusters and map each cluster to one page, not one keyword per page.
Free tools are enough to start; the judgement on what to target is the real work.
The four facts
What every keyword tells you
Before you choose a single keyword, learn to read the four things each one tells you. Most people see only the first.
Volume
Roughly how many people search it a month. Useful, but the loudest and least decisive of the four. Big volume you cannot win is a mirage.
The loud oneDifficulty
How hard it is to rank, relative to your site's authority. A new site should win easy and mid terms first and earn the hard ones later.
The honest oneIntent
What the searcher actually wants. The single most important signal, because a page that misreads intent never ranks no matter how good it is.
The decisive oneCommercial value
How close the term sits to a sale, shown partly by its cost per click. High-CPC terms are where buyers, and budgets, are.
The profitable oneThe signal
Reading search intent
The most important step, and the most skipped.
Intent is the heart of it. Group every term by what the searcher wants, then build the page that matches. Get this wrong and nothing else helps.
| Intent | What they want | The page that wins |
|---|---|---|
| Informational | To learn or understand | A guide or explainer that answers fully and earns the AI citation |
| Commercial | To compare before buying | A comparison, a buyer's guide, or a service page with proof |
| Transactional | To act or buy now | A sharp service or product page built to convert |
| Navigational | To reach a specific site | Usually your own brand or login page; not a target to chase |
The process
The process, step by step
This is the order we work in. Most of the value is in grouping and judging, not in generating a giant list.
Start from what you sell
List the services, problems and questions your buyers have. These seed terms are more valuable than any tool's suggestions, because they come from real demand.
Grow the list
Use tools and Google's own autocomplete, related searches and People Also Ask to widen each seed into the real language people use.
Cluster by topic
Bundle terms that mean the same thing into clusters. One cluster maps to one page, not one keyword per page. This is the step most people skip.
Read intent and difficulty
For each cluster, decide the intent and whether you can realistically win it now. Be honest; a new site earns the hard terms later.
Pick the winnable wins
Rank clusters by value and winnability, and start where commercial intent and a realistic chance overlap.
Do not write a page per keyword. Build a page per intent, and let it own the cluster of terms that share it.Anthony Betzis, Founder
The tools
The tools to use
Free tools are enough to start.
You do not need an expensive stack to start. The free tools cover most of the ground; paid platforms mainly save time and add depth.
Begin with Google's own Keyword Planner for volume, Search Console to see what you already rank for, and plain Google for autocomplete, related searches and the results that reveal intent. We layer our own platform on top for difficulty, clustering and gap analysis at scale, but the thinking is the same with free tools, it just takes longer.
Keyword research is the first step in our search engine optimisation work, because everything downstream, the content, the structure, the internal links, depends on targeting the right terms with the right pages.
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How to do keyword research FAQs
How do I do keyword research for SEO?
Start from what you sell to build seed terms, expand them with tools and Google's autocomplete and related searches, group the results into clusters that share an intent, judge each cluster's intent and difficulty, then prioritise the ones with commercial value that you can realistically win. The grouping and judgement matter more than the size of the list.
What is the best free keyword research tool?
Google's Keyword Planner for volume, Google Search Console to see the terms you already rank for, and Google itself for autocomplete, related searches, People Also Ask and the results that reveal intent. Together they cover most of what a beginner needs; paid tools mainly add speed, difficulty scores and clustering at scale.
What is search intent and why does it matter?
Search intent is what the person actually wants when they search: to learn, to compare, to buy, or to reach a specific site. It matters most because Google ranks the page that best matches the intent behind a query. A page that misreads intent will not rank no matter how well written it is.
Should I target high-volume keywords?
Not by default. High volume you cannot rank for, or that does not match what you sell, is worth less than a lower-volume term with clear buying intent that you can win. Balance volume against difficulty, intent and commercial value, and as a newer site, start with winnable terms.
What is keyword clustering?
Keyword clustering groups terms that mean the same thing, so you build one strong page per cluster instead of a thin page for every keyword variation. It matches how search engines understand topics, concentrates your authority, and avoids pages competing with each other for the same intent.
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