Introduction
Keyword research is one of the most important aspects of SEO and content marketing. Knowing which keywords to target in your content can make a huge difference in whether your pages and posts get found by your ideal audience. The good news is there are several free keyword research tools and resources you can use to research and identify relevant, high-value keywords for your website or blog.
In this comprehensive guide, We’ll discuss a step-by-step process for conducting effective keyword research using only free tools and resources. I’ll cover everything from figuring out your goals, identifying seed keywords, expanding into long-tail keywords, analyzing keyword competition and search volume data, and prioritizing your keyword list.
Whether you’re a beginner looking to kickstart your SEO and content efforts or an experienced digital marketer wanting to simplify your workflow, this guide will provide you with a simple yet powerful keyword research framework you can implement right away using free tools. Let’s get started!
Determine Your Goals and Audience
Before diving into keyword research, it’s important to get clear on your goals and target audience. This will make the research process much smoother and ensure that the keywords you identify align with your core objectives.
Here are some key questions to ask yourself:
- What is the purpose of my website or blog? Is it to drive sales, generate leads, build brand awareness, etc.?
- Who is my ideal target audience? Define their demographics, interests, pain points, etc.
- What types of keywords would my target audience likely use to find solutions for their needs and pain points?
- What do I want site visitors to do on my site – sign up for a newsletter, purchase a product, read a blog post?
- Do I want to rank for short-tail general keywords or more specific long-tail keywords? Or both?
Once you have a clear picture of your goals and target audience, you can conduct keyword research tailored to those specifics. This will result in high-quality, relevant keywords that drive targeted organic traffic.
Using Free Keyword Research Tools
The next step is using free keyword research tools to generate seed keywords and related keyword ideas. Here are some of the best free tools out there:
Google Search Bar
The Google search bar itself can be a useful keyword research tool. Start by typing in a broad keyword related to your topic and review the autocomplete suggestions that pop up. These are keywords that other people are searching for and can provide keyword ideas and directions to explore.
AnswerThePublic
This free tool generates keyword suggestions based on the questions that people ask on search engines. You can enter a broad topic or question and AnswerThePublic will return related long-tail keyword ideas in an easy-to-browse visual format. The keyword ideas are based on genuine user search intent.
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a free keyword research tool from Neil Patel. Enter a topic and Ubersuggest will provide a lengthy list of related keyword ideas, along with monthly search volume data. You can dig through the suggestions and identify promising keywords to add to your list.
Google Trends
Google Trends allows you to see search volume patterns for keywords over time. This can help you identify seasonal keywords that may be worth targeting during certain months or times of the year. The comparison functionality also shows you how certain keywords compete against each other in terms of search popularity.
SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool
SEMrush‘s Keyword Magic Tool is a free keyword research option that lets you generate keyword ideas from a root keyword as well as view keyword difficulty scores. Look for keyword suggestions with lower difficulty scores.
Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
Ahrefs‘ Keyword Explorer provides keyword ideas, search volume data, and keyword difficulty scores for free. You can filter keywords by difficulty to uncover “easy win” options.
Take time to explore several free keyword research tools to come up with a robust initial list of possible keywords to research further. Cast a wide net at this stage.
Identify Valuable Long-Tail Keywords
Many of the keyword research tools above will automatically generate long-tail keyword ideas based on your input. Long-tail keywords are more specific, targeted phrases usually with 3 or more words such as “benefits of daily meditation for stress”.
Long-tail keywords drive highly targeted organic traffic since they zero in on specific user intents. The traffic converts well too since the visitor already has a focused need or interest. The great news is that long-tail keywords also tend to face much lower competition compared to short, generic keywords.
Here are some benefits of long-tail keywords:
- Highly targeted traffic
- Increased click-through rates
- Higher conversion rates
- Much lower keyword difficulty
- Easier to rank for in SERPs
Make long-tail keywords an important component of your keyword research process. The free tools mentioned above like Ubersuggest, AnswerThePublic, SEMrush Keyword Magic Tool, and Ahrefs Keyword Explorer can generate loads of relevant long-tail keyword ideas for free.
Include the most valuable long-tail keywords in your final keyword list, keeping your target audience’s search behavior in mind. Long-tail keywords with at least 1,000 monthly searches are ideal targets for most websites.
Analyze Keyword Difficulty
Once you have a sizable list of target keywords, the next step is analyzing keyword difficulty and competition. This will help you understand how hard it may be to rank for each of your target keywords organically.
Focus on keywords that have:
- Low-to-medium competition – Don’t go after keywords that are way too hard and competitive to rank for as a new site.
- Mid-to-high search volume – Traffic potential should be sufficiently high – at least 500+ monthly searches.
- Relevance to your offerings – Make sure keywords tie back to your products, services, and site objectives. Don’t stray too far from your core focus.
Here are some free tools you can use to assess keyword difficulty:
- Ubersuggest – Shows keyword difficulty score on a scale of 0 to 100. Lower scores are easier to rank for.
- SEMrush Keyword Difficulty Tool – Rates keywords from 0% to 100% difficulty. 0-20% is easy while 80-100% is extremely hard.
- Ahrefs Keyword Explorer – Provides keyword difficulty on a 0 to 100 scale. Also shows the top 10 ranking domains for each keyword.
- MOZ Keyword Explorer – Rates keyword difficulty on a 0-100 scale as well as spam score. Lower difficulty and spam equals easier keywords.
Take keyword difficulty into account as you refine and prioritize your keyword list. While you don’t need to only focus on “easy” keywords, avoid those that are completely out of reach for a new site.
Consider Search Volume and Trends
Search volume indicates how many people search for a given keyword each month. This metric helps estimate the potential traffic a keyword could drive to your site.
While search volume data isn’t 100% accurate, it is still very useful for prioritizing keywords and estimating possible traffic. Use a mix of high, medium, and low search volume keywords in your list.
In addition to search volume, also look at search trends. Google Trends shows you how the search volume for a keyword has changed over time. Rising, stable, or consistent search trends are positive signs. Declining search volumes may indicate fading user interest.
Here are some free keyword research tools that provide search volume and trend data:
- Google Keyword Planner
- SEMrush
- Ahrefs
- MOZ
Blend keywords with high search volumes and growing trends into your keyword list, especially for priority target keywords you plan to optimize content for.
Focus on Topic Clusters
Instead of targeting random, isolated keywords, identify related keyword groups around specific subtopics and themes. These keyword clusters provide value to users around a core focus area.
For example, a cooking blog may target clusters of keywords around topics like:
- Breakfast recipes
- Vegan dinner ideas
- Meal prep strategies
- Low carb desserts
- High protein smoothies
Curating keyword clusters help develop comprehensive, in-depth content that answers all common user questions on a particular subtopic. Make sure to include relevant long-tail variations too.
Many of the keyword research tools above like Ubersuggest, SEMrush, and AnswerThePublic provide keyword ideas grouped into categories or clusters, making this process easier.
Blend SEO and User Intent
Effective keyword research requires blending user search intent, SEO competitiveness, and relevancy to your brand.
The ideal target keywords satisfy all these criteria:
- User Intent – Keywords users would realistically search for to find solutions, products, or information related to their niche.
- SEO Potential – Keywords are reasonably competitive and possible to rank for based on difficulty analysis.
- Brand Relevance – Keywords describe your products, services, or expertise areas accurately.
Any keyword that hits all 3 criteria is worth pursuing and optimizing content for. Also, ensure your list includes a good mix of short-tail and long-tail keywords too.
Prioritize keywords that generate quality traffic that converts based on their intent while being possible to rank for through on-page optimization and link-building efforts. Finding this SEO-intent balance takes practice but is key for maximizing impact.
Organize and Prioritize your Keyword List
With a full authority list of possible target keywords now assembled from your research efforts, the final step is organizing the keywords and prioritizing which ones to optimize for first.
A basic prioritization framework could look like this:
- Tier 1 – Priority keywords you will immediately target and optimize content for. These might be category pages, service pages, popular product pages, etc. that align closely with top-funnel user intents.
- Tier 2 – Secondary medium-priority keywords that are still relevant but not urgent focuses. Optimize for these down the road.
- Tier 3 – Low-priority long-tail keywords that are useful for interlinking or touching on briefly but don’t require focused optimization yet.
Group your keywords into buckets like these based on priority level. You can also use Excel to organize keywords and assign difficulty scores, search volume, competitiveness metrics, and other data.
This allows you to sort and filter to identify the best targets. Set up tracking in Google Search Console to monitor ranking progress for your optimized keywords over time.
Key Takeaways and Next Steps
That wraps up a complete step-by-step framework for conducting comprehensive keyword research using free tools and resources!
Here are some key takeaways:
- Clearly define your target audience and goals before starting research
- Use multiple free tools to generate an expansive list of possible keywords
- Identify high-potential long-tail keywords by looking for specific question-based phrases
- Analyze keyword difficulty using metrics like search volume and competition
- Focus on keyword clusters around topics instead of random isolated keywords
- Blend SEO potential with true user search intent
- Organize keywords into groups based on priority for content optimization
The next step is taking your prioritized keyword list and optimizing your pages and content accordingly. Conduct on-page SEO to optimize each page for its target keyword, as well as create compelling content that provides solutions for each keyword’s underlying user intent.
Consistent keyword research and optimization will form the backbone of an effective SEO strategy and lead to targeted organic traffic, lower bounce rates, and higher conversions. So use these free keyword research tools and frameworks to build a powerhouse keyword list!
