How to do keyword research for SEO: a step-by-step guide
SEO keyword research tells you what people type into Google, how many of them do it and how hard it is to rank for it. Done well, it turns into a list of pages to write or improve, in the order that brings traffic soonest. Here is the process, the metrics that matter and the mistakes to avoid.
What keyword research is for
Every page that ranks in Google answers a search. Keyword research finds those searches before you write, so each page targets demand that exists and a result you have a chance to reach.
The output is not a spreadsheet of ten thousand rows. It is a short plan: which topics to cover, which keyword each page targets, which pages already exist and need work, and what to do first.
The metrics a keyword research tool should show
You will see many numbers next to every keyword. These five drive the decision.
Search volume
The average number of searches per month in a market. Look at the 12-month trend too: "down jacket" peaks in winter, "hiking sandals" in summer, and a page should be live before the peak, not during it.
Keyword difficulty
A 0–100 estimate of how hard it is to reach the top 10. In Aseoma it comes from the pages ranking today: how many sites link to them, the authority of their domains, and the SERP features that push organic results down. Difficulty is relative, so compare it with the strength of your own site.
Search intent
What the searcher wants to do: learn, compare, buy or reach a site. Intent decides the type of page that can rank. If the top 10 is all buying guides, a product page will struggle, however good it is.
Cost per click
What advertisers pay for a click from that search. A high CPC means the traffic converts for someone, which makes it a quick read of commercial value.
The live results
Open the top 10 before you commit. It shows who you compete with, what format wins, and whether an AI Overview or a shopping block takes the first screen.
Google Keyword Planner or a keyword research tool?
Google Keyword Planner is free and its volumes come from Google, which makes it a sensible first stop. It was built to plan ad campaigns, though: without an active ad account the volumes often appear as broad ranges, and its competition column measures how many advertisers bid, not how hard it is to rank.
For SEO you also need what the planner does not show:
- Keyword difficulty from the pages ranking today.
- The live top 10, with the SERP features that push organic results down.
- Search intent, so you know which type of page can rank.
- Clusters by shared results, so you know how many pages to write.
For a rough volume on a handful of words, the planner or a free keyword research tool is enough. Once you are deciding which pages to write, you need data built for organic search.
Step 1: collect keyword ideas
Start wide, then narrow. Good sources of ideas:
- Seed words: your products, services and the problems they solve, in the words customers use.
- Matching terms: searches that contain the seed, including long-tail variants.
- Questions: "how", "what", "can", "why" searches that make good articles, headings and FAQ answers.
- Related searches and the keywords that pages ranking for your seed also rank for.
- Competitors: the keywords that bring them traffic. Competitor analysis and a keyword gap give you a list of proven topics.
Research each market in its own language and country. Volumes, difficulty and even intent change between the US and the UK, not only between languages.
Step 2: choose the keywords you can win
Filter the ideas down to the ones that fit your site today.
- 1Remove what does not fit your offer or your audience, however large the volume.
- 2Match intent to a page type you can create: guide, category, product, comparison or tool.
- 3Compare difficulty with your authority. If every page in the top 10 is backed by far more linking sites than yours, choose a more specific keyword or plan links first. The backlink checker shows how strong your own profile is.
- 4Sort by opportunity: high volume and low difficulty first. These are the pages to write this month.
Step 3: group keywords into pages
Many keywords belong on one page. "Waterproof hiking boots" and "best waterproof boots for hiking" return almost the same results, so one page can rank for both. Writing two pages would split your effort and make them compete.
The reliable way to group them is by the results Google shows. When two keywords share several URLs in the top 10, Google treats them as the same topic. Aseoma clusters a list this way and gives each cluster its total volume and main keyword, so a list of 200 keywords becomes a much shorter list of pages.
For each cluster, note whether a page already exists. Improving a page that ranks on page two is often faster than publishing a new one.
Step 4: turn the plan into pages and track them
A cluster is a brief: the main keyword goes into the title and the first heading, the related keywords and questions become sections and FAQ answers. Write for the intent, cover the questions the top pages answer, and add what they miss.
Then measure. Send each page’s keywords to the rank tracker the day it goes live. You will see it enter the top 100, climb, and stall if it needs links or better content, weeks before the traffic shows it.
Common keyword research mistakes
- Chasing volume alone. A 90,000-search keyword you cannot rank for is worth less than ten 2,000-search keywords you can.
- Ignoring intent. Informational searches rarely buy today; transactional ones rarely read a long guide.
- One page per keyword. Cluster first, or your pages will compete with each other.
- Researching once. Demand shifts with seasons and trends. Revisit the plan every quarter.
Keywords Explorer is included in every paid plan, with 30 research reports a day on Starter, 200 on Pro and 1,000 on Agency, and a 7-day free trial to try it. Compare the plans on the pricing page.