How to do keyword research: a 6-step method

To do keyword research, write down the words your customers would use, expand them into a long list of real searches, check each one for monthly volume, difficulty and intent, then group what is left by topic and pick one keyword per page. The goal is a short list of pages worth writing, not a spreadsheet of 2,000 ideas.

This guide gives a method that works with free Google tools, then shows how to do the same steps faster in zaDojo. If you want to see what a rival already ranks for, read how to find competitor keywords instead.

Step 1: write 5 to 10 seed keywords

Seeds are the plain words for what you sell or explain. Take them from:

• Your product and service names, in the words a customer uses (not your internal names).
• Questions from sales calls, support tickets and reviews.
• The searches already bringing you clicks in Google Search Console (Performance report, Queries tab). This is free and it is real data for your site.

Keep seeds short: "dog grooming", "invoice template", "bookkeeping for freelancers".

Step 2: expand the seeds into real searches

Free ways to get more ideas:

• Google autocomplete: type a seed and note the suggestions. Add a letter after the seed ("dog grooming a", "dog grooming b") to get more.
• People also ask and Related searches: both sit on the Google results page and show the questions around a topic.
• Google Keyword Planner: free inside a Google Ads account. It suggests related terms and gives volume ranges unless you run ads.
• The free keyword generator: type a topic and get up to 20 Google searches with volume and a difficulty score, no account. One free search a day across the free tools.

Step 3: check volume, difficulty and intent

For each idea, record three numbers or labels:

• Volume is an estimate of monthly searches in one country. Use it to compare ideas with each other, not as a traffic forecast.
• Difficulty estimates how hard the first page is to reach. On a new or small site, start with low scores.
• Intent is what the searcher wants: to learn (informational), compare (commercial), buy (transactional) or reach a site (navigational).

Step 4: look at the live results

Search the keyword in a private window and read the top 10. Ask:

• What kind of page ranks: guides, product pages, tools, lists, videos?
• Are small sites in there, or only big brands?
• Is there an AI Overview or a map pack pushing results down? (AI Overview optimization covers how to be the page it cites.)

If the results are all product pages and you planned a blog post, the keyword is wrong for that page. This check matters more than the difficulty score.

Step 5: group keywords into pages

Keywords that return mostly the same top results belong on one page. Put each group under its strongest keyword and note the variants as secondary terms. One page per group stops two of your pages competing for the same search. If hundreds of keywords share one repeating pattern ("[tool] alternatives", "[city] coworking"), read programmatic SEO before you build a page for each.

Step 6: pick and prioritise

Score each group on three things: does the searcher need what you offer, can you realistically reach page one, and is there enough volume to matter. Start with pages that win on all three, even if the volume is small. A 90-search keyword with buying intent often beats a 5,000-search keyword that only wants a definition.

Doing it in zaDojo

The free method works but is slow, because you copy numbers by hand and Keyword Planner hides exact volumes. In zaDojo:

1. Open a project and go to Keywords, then Research.
2. Enter up to five seeds and pick the country and language. Each search returns 150, 300 or 500 ideas with volume, difficulty, CPC, intent and monthly trend.
3. Filter by intent, include or exclude words, and sort by volume or difficulty.
4. Open any keyword to load its current Google results next to the numbers.
5. Save the keywords you will target to the project, tag them by page, or export to CSV or Google Sheets.

A research search costs about €0.07. Saving, tagging and exporting use no credits. The plan is €10 a month with €10 of usage included, which covers roughly 140 searches if you spent it all on keyword research. New accounts get €0.10 of trial credits with no card, enough for one search.

If you work in Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or Codex, connect the zaDojo MCP server and ask, for example: "Research keywords for bookkeeping for freelancers in the UK, keep ideas with at least 50 searches and difficulty under 30, and save the best ten." The Keyword Research skill gives the agent a tested workflow, and Keyword Clustering handles step 5. More on the tool itself is on the keyword research feature page.

Limits to know

• Every tool's volumes are modelled estimates, and different tools disagree. Search Console is the only source of real clicks, and only for your own site.
• Very new or niche searches often show zero volume even when people search them. Do not discard a keyword your customers use just because a tool says zero.
• Difficulty describes today's first page. It does not account for how relevant your page is.

Questions people ask

How many keywords should I target per page? One main keyword plus its close variants and the questions around it. If two keywords need different pages in the results, they need different pages on your site.

Can I do keyword research for free? Yes. Search Console, autocomplete, People also ask and Keyword Planner cover the method above. Paid tools save time and give exact volumes and difficulty.

How often should I redo keyword research? Check your main topics a few times a year, and whenever you plan a new section of the site. Search Console shows new queries as they start appearing.

Next steps: find your competitors' keywords to fill gaps, and check backlinks to see how much link strength the pages you are up against have.