How to do keyword research for SEO, step by step

To do keyword research for SEO, list the problems your buyers search for, expand that list with keyword tools, check which keywords you already rank for, and then choose the keywords whose intent matches what you sell and that you can realistically rank for. The goal is not the biggest numbers. It is the searches that bring people who might become customers.

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is finding the words and phrases people type into search engines when they look for what you offer, then deciding which ones are worth a page on your site. It shapes what content you create, what you call it and how you structure your website.

Google's SEO Starter Guide puts the idea simply: think about the words a user might search for to find your content. It also notes that Google's language matching can connect a page to searches that do not use your exact words, so keyword research is about understanding topics and wording, not repeating one phrase.

Step 1: How do you find keyword ideas?

Start with what you already know, then use tools to check and expand it.

Start with your buyers

Write down the problems your customers describe in sales calls, support tickets and reviews. Note the exact words they use. A buyer rarely searches for your product category name. They search for their problem, such as "how to reduce churn in SaaS" or "CRM for small sales teams".

Use free Google tools

• Google autocomplete. Start typing a phrase into Google. According to Google, predictions reflect real searches that have been done on Google. They are a fast source of long-tail keywords.
• People also ask and related searches. The questions and related searches on the results page show what else people want to know about a topic.
• Google Trends. Shows how interest in a search changes over time and by region. Google scales the numbers from 0 to 100 relative to all searches, so they show popularity over time, not search volume.
• Google Keyword Planner. Part of Google Ads. It suggests keywords from words or a website and shows estimated monthly searches and the cost to advertise on them. Google says you must finish setting up your Google Ads account, including billing information, to use it.

Use an SEO tool for scale

Paid tools estimate search volume and difficulty for thousands of keywords at once, and show what competitors rank for.

• Ubersuggest shows search volume, keyword difficulty and cost per click, with ideas grouped into autocomplete suggestions, related terms, questions and comparisons.
• Semrush has a Keyword Magic Tool for finding phrases and questions around a seed keyword, plus a keyword gap report to compare your rankings with competitors.
• Ahrefs has Keywords Explorer, with search volume, keyword difficulty, search intent and keyword clusters.

Each tool estimates volume and difficulty its own way, so the numbers will not match between tools. Use them to compare keywords, not as exact counts. Our list of the best keyword research tools compares more options.

Step 2: Which keywords do you already rank for?

If your site is live, check what Google already shows it for.

• Google Search Console. The Performance report lists the queries your site appears for, with clicks, impressions, click-through rate and average position. Since Google's AI Overviews and AI Mode are counted in the same report, this is also where you see that traffic.
• SEO tools. Ahrefs, Semrush and Ubersuggest estimate the keywords any site ranks for, including your competitors'. That helps you find gaps: topics competitors rank for and you do not cover yet.

Search Console data comes from Google itself, so trust it over third-party estimates for your own site.

Step 3: What does the searcher want?

Before you choose a keyword, look at the results Google shows for it today. That tells you what Google thinks the searcher wants.

Search queries are usually grouped into three types:

Many SEO teams also talk about commercial searches, where people compare options before they buy, such as "best CRM for startups". If the top results are all guides, a product page will struggle to rank, and the other way around. Match your page type to what already ranks.

Step 4: How do you choose the best keywords?

Score each keyword on four questions:

1. Relevance. Does it match something you sell or a problem you solve?
2. Intent. Is the searcher close to buying, or just learning? Both have value, but they need different pages.
3. Difficulty. Who ranks today? If the first page is full of large, well-known sites with many backlinks, start with more specific phrases.
4. Value. If this page ranked, would it bring leads, sign-ups or sales, or only visits?

A few practical rules:

• Do not chase volume alone. Big keywords are usually broad, competitive and full of people who are not ready to buy.
• Prefer specific phrases early on. "Email marketing software for real estate agents" gets fewer searches than "email marketing software" but is easier to rank for and closer to a sale.
• Improve near misses first. Keywords where you already rank on page one, just below the top results, often move up fastest with a better page. See our tips to improve keyword rankings.
• Group similar keywords. One page can rank for many variations of the same idea. Do not create a separate page for each.

How do you use keywords on the page?

Use your main keyword naturally in the title, the main heading and the first paragraph, and cover the related questions people ask. Google's SEO Starter Guide is clear on two points: Google Search does not use the keywords meta tag, and keyword stuffing is against Google's spam policies. Write for the reader and vary your wording. Our guide to optimising your content for SEO goes into more detail.

Does keyword research still matter with AI search?

Yes. Google says there are no extra requirements to appear in AI Overviews or AI Mode and that SEO best practices still apply. Google also says people now ask more detailed questions that might once have taken several searches. That makes it more useful to understand the full questions your buyers ask, not just short head terms.