Keyword research is the bit of SEO that everyone talks about and half the people do wrong. Done properly, it shows you what your customers are actually searching for and where you have a realistic chance of ranking. Done badly, you spend months creating content for terms nobody searches for, or chasing rankings you’ll never get.
Here’s how to do it without spending money you don’t need to spend.
What you’re actually looking for
Three things: search volume (people are actually searching for this), relevance (the people searching want what you offer), and achievable difficulty (you can realistically rank for it given your site’s current authority). Most people optimise for volume and ignore difficulty, which is how you end up competing with agencies who’ve been building links since 2009. Don’t do that.
Start with Google itself
The most underused keyword research tool is free and you’re already using it. Type a seed keyword into Google and look at what autocomplete suggests as you type, those are real searches people are making. Scroll down to the “Related searches” section at the bottom. Check the “People Also Ask” box if one appears. Everything in those sections represents actual search behaviour, not guesses.
Google Keyword Planner
Free with a Google Ads account (you don’t need to run ads to use it). Keyword Planner gives you search volume ranges and related keyword ideas from Google’s own data. The volumes are shown as ranges rather than precise numbers, and it’s built for advertisers rather than SEO, but it’s a solid free tool for validating ideas and finding variations. Use it to confirm there’s actual volume before you write anything.
Google Search Console
If your site already gets any traffic at all, Search Console is the most useful free tool you have. Under Performance, you can see exactly what people typed into Google before clicking through to your site. Real searches, real people, real data about what’s already working. Use it to find keywords you’re ranking for but not optimising for, and to spot angles you haven’t written about yet.
AnswerThePublic
The free tier is limited to a handful of searches per day, but it’s useful for one specific thing: generating question-based and long-tail keyword ideas from a seed term. Good for finding content angles, FAQ material, and the kind of specific queries that paid tools sometimes miss because the volume is too low for their filters.
When paid tools are worth it
Ahrefs and Semrush do the same things as the free tools, faster and more precisely, with the addition of proper keyword difficulty scores and competitor gap analysis, seeing what your competitors rank for that you don’t. They’re around £100–120 a month for a useful plan. If you’re doing SEO seriously and consistently, the time they save probably justifies the cost. If you’re a small business doing your own SEO occasionally, start free and see how far you get.
The process
Start with the obvious terms for what you do. Expand them using the free tools above. Filter out anything with difficulty that’s unrealistic for your site’s current authority. Check what’s already ranking for each term, if the results are all established brands with thousands of backlinks, that’s not a fight worth picking yet. Prioritise terms where the current results are beatable and the intent matches what you’re offering.
Then do it again in three months. Keyword research isn’t a one-time task. Your site gains authority over time, meaning terms that were out of reach six months ago might be viable now. Your competitors’ rankings shift. New search trends emerge. Check in regularly rather than treating it as a spreadsheet you build once and file away.
