The Keyword Research Process

Keyword research is how you decide what to build. Done well, it produces a prioritized map of topics with realistic traffic expectations. Done poorly (or skipped), it produces content nobody searches for. This is the repeatable five-step workflow.

Step 1: Generate seed keywords#

Seeds are the raw, obvious terms in your space. Gather them from:

Your own knowledge - what would you type to find your product/content?
Customers & support tickets - the exact language real users use
Competitors' navigation - their menu structure is their keyword strategy
Existing Search Console data - queries you already rank for (Performance report)

Ten to thirty seeds are plenty. Quality of seeds matters less than you'd think; expansion does the heavy lifting.

Step 2: Expand#

Feed each seed into expansion sources and collect everything:

Keyword tools (Ahrefs, Semrush, Keyword Planner) - "matching terms" and "related terms" reports
Google autocomplete - type the seed plus each letter a–z
People Also Ask - recursive goldmine: expanding one question loads more
Related searches at the bottom of the SERP
Forums/Reddit - how people phrase problems when not talking to a search box

Expansion example: 'crawl budget' (seed)

crawl budget                        → seed
what is crawl budget                → PAA
crawl budget optimization           → autocomplete
crawl budget for small sites        → PAA
googlebot crawl rate                → related
crawl stats report search console   → tool suggestion
how to check crawl budget           → autocomplete

Expect hundreds to thousands of candidates. That's correct - pruning comes next.

Step 3: Attach metrics#

For each candidate, gather three numbers:

Metric	What it tells you	Caveats
Search volume	Monthly searches (avg)	Tool estimates; ranges, not truth. Long-tail volume is systematically underreported
Keyword difficulty (KD)	Proxy for ranking competition	Usually link-based only; always sanity-check the real SERP
Business value	What a visitor from this query is worth	Yours to define: 3 = buyer intent, 2 = researcher, 1 = audience-building

Step 4: Cluster#

Many keywords are the same topic in different clothes. "how to make sourdough", "sourdough recipe for beginners" and "easy sourdough bread" can likely be served by one page. Group candidates into clusters where a single page can satisfy all queries in the group.

The reliable test: do the same URLs rank for both queries? If the top-10 overlap is heavy, one page can win both. Keyword tools automate this ("keyword clustering" / "parent topic"), or you can spot-check SERPs manually.

Each cluster becomes one planned page with:

A primary keyword (usually the highest-volume phrasing)
Secondary keywords (variants and subtopics to cover within the page)
An intent label deciding the page type (previous guide)

Step 5: Prioritize#

Score each cluster - a simple model that works:

priority = (volume potential × business value) / difficulty

Then sequence pragmatically:

Quick wins - queries where you already rank #5–#20 (GSC data); improving an existing page is cheaper than building one
Low-difficulty, high-value clusters - winnable now
Strategic heads - long-term targets that need authority you'll build via #1 and #2

The output is your keyword map: a sheet with one row per planned page - cluster, primary keyword, intent, page type, priority. This document drives your content roadmap for the next topical authority phase.