Every time a potential client tells me they need to “do keyword research,” they almost always mean the same thing: they want to open a tool, type in a seed keyword, export a spreadsheet of 500 terms with search volumes, and start writing. That approach is backwards. After ten years of doing SEO in Barcelona and working with clients across Europe and the Americas, I can tell you that strategy comes before tools, and the best keyword research does not require an expensive subscription.
In this guide, I am going to walk you through the exact keyword research process I use, built primarily on free tools and strategic thinking. I will also tell you when paid tools are actually worth the investment, because sometimes they are.
Strategy Before Tools: The Step Most People Skip
Before you open any tool, answer these questions:
- What does your business actually sell, and to whom?
- What problems do your customers have before they find you?
- What do they search for at each stage of their decision process?
- Which pages on your site should rank, and for what?
- Who are your three main organic competitors, and what topics do they cover that you do not?
This is not a theoretical exercise. I spend the first hour of every new client engagement on these questions. The answers shape everything that follows. A B2B SaaS company and a local bakery both “need keyword research,” but their strategies look nothing alike.
Without this strategic foundation, you end up chasing high-volume keywords that will never convert, or targeting terms so competitive that a new site has no realistic chance of ranking for them within a useful timeframe.
Google Search Console: Your Best Free Keyword Tool
If your site is already live and getting some traffic, Google Search Console is the single most valuable keyword research tool you have, and it is completely free. Here is my workflow:
Step 1: Go to Performance and set the date range to the last 6 months. Look at the Queries tab. These are real searches that real people used to find your site. Sort by impressions to see which queries your site appears for most frequently.
Step 2: Find the low-hanging fruit. Filter for queries where your average position is between 8 and 20. These are terms where you are on the bottom of page one or top of page two. A focused optimization effort on the corresponding pages can push these into higher positions with relatively little work.
Step 3: Identify content gaps. Look for queries where you get impressions but very few clicks, and your position is reasonable (top 10). This usually means your title tag and meta description are not compelling enough, or the page does not match the search intent well enough.
Step 4: Discover queries you did not target intentionally. Often you will find your pages ranking for terms you never deliberately optimized for. These are gifts. They tell you what Google already associates with your content, and you can double down on those topics.
I had a client running a project management tool who discovered through Search Console that they were getting hundreds of impressions for “meeting agenda template.” They had never created content about that, but a blog post mentioned it in passing. We created a dedicated meeting agenda template page and it became one of their top traffic drivers within two months.
Google Autocomplete and People Also Ask
Google Autocomplete is underrated as a keyword research tool. When you start typing a query, Google suggests completions based on what real people actually search for. This is live data, constantly updated, and it reflects genuine user behavior.
My technique: type your seed keyword followed by each letter of the alphabet. “Keyword research a…” gives you one set of suggestions. “Keyword research b…” gives you another. Work through the alphabet and you will have dozens of real search queries in minutes.
People Also Ask (PAA) boxes are equally valuable. Search for your target keyword and expand every PAA question. Then expand the new questions that appear. Google is literally telling you what related questions people ask. These are perfect for FAQ sections, subheadings in long-form content, and standalone articles targeting question-based queries.
I copy every PAA question into a spreadsheet, group them by theme, and use them to build content outlines. This alone gives you a content structure that matches what real users want to know.
Google Trends: Understanding Demand Patterns
Google Trends does not give you absolute search volumes, but it gives you something more useful for strategic decisions: relative demand over time and by geography.
Use it to:
- Compare related terms to see which phrasing people actually use. “Content marketing strategy” vs “content strategy” vs “content marketing plan” – Trends shows you which one dominates.
- Identify seasonal patterns so you can publish content before demand peaks. If you write about “Christmas gift ideas” in November, you are already too late.
- Spot rising topics using the “Rising” queries filter. These are terms with significant recent growth, and getting content out early on rising topics gives you a first-mover advantage.
- Validate that a topic has real demand before investing in content creation. I have talked clients out of content ideas that showed flat or declining interest in Trends.
Google Keyword Planner: Free Volume Estimates
You need a Google Ads account to access Keyword Planner, but you do not need to run ads. Create an account, skip the campaign setup, and go directly to Tools > Keyword Planner.
The volume ranges it gives (like “1K-10K”) are broad, but they are enough for prioritization. I use Keyword Planner primarily for two things: getting ballpark volume estimates for terms I found through other methods, and discovering related keywords through its suggestion feature.
A limitation to be aware of: Keyword Planner groups similar variants together and shows combined volume. “Buy running shoes” and “purchase running shoes” might show the same number because Google considers them the same intent. That is fine for SEO purposes since Google will rank the same page for both.
Reddit, Forums, and Community Research
This is where I find the keywords that no tool surfaces. Go to Reddit, find the subreddits where your target audience hangs out, and read what they actually talk about. The language people use in forums is different from the language marketers use, and it is often closer to how they search.
Search Reddit using Google with site:reddit.com plus your topic. Read the questions people ask, the complaints they have, the recommendations they request. I keep a running document of phrases and questions I find this way.
For a fitness equipment client, forum research revealed that people searched for “home gym for small apartment” far more than “compact home gym equipment,” which is what the client had been targeting. That single insight redirected their entire content strategy.
Industry-specific forums, Facebook groups, Quora, and even YouTube comments are goldmines for understanding real user language and uncovering questions that keyword tools miss entirely.
Search Intent Classification: The Critical Filter
Every keyword has an intent behind it, and if your content does not match that intent, you will not rank. Period. I classify every keyword into one of four categories:
- Informational: The user wants to learn something. “How does SEO work,” “what is topical authority.” These need educational content like guides, tutorials, and explainers.
- Navigational: The user is looking for a specific site or page. “Ahrefs login,” “Google Search Console.” You generally cannot target these unless they are looking for your brand.
- Commercial Investigation: The user is researching before a purchase. “Best SEO tools 2026,” “Semrush vs Ahrefs.” These need comparison content, reviews, and detailed evaluations.
- Transactional: The user is ready to buy or take action. “Buy Ahrefs subscription,” “hire SEO consultant Barcelona.” These need landing pages optimized for conversion.
The simplest way to determine intent is to search the keyword yourself and look at what Google ranks on page one. If the top results are all blog posts, Google has determined the intent is informational and your product page will not rank there. If the top results are all product or service pages, your blog post will not rank.
I have seen companies waste months creating beautiful landing pages for informational queries and detailed guides for transactional queries. Check the SERP first. Always.
Keyword Research: Topical Mapping and Clustering
Individual keywords are not your end product. Your end product is a topical map: a structured plan showing which topics to cover, how they relate to each other, and which page targets which cluster of keywords.
Here is how I build a topical map:
- Gather all keywords from the methods above into a single spreadsheet. Include the keyword, estimated volume, intent classification, and current ranking position if applicable.
- Group keywords by topic cluster. Keywords that could logically be answered by the same page go together. “How to do keyword research,” “keyword research process,” and “keyword research steps” are all one cluster targeting one page.
- Identify pillar topics and supporting topics. A pillar is a broad topic that deserves a comprehensive page. Supporting topics are narrower subtopics that each get their own page and link to the pillar. “Keyword research” is a pillar. “Keyword research for e-commerce” is a supporting topic.
- Map clusters to existing or planned URLs. Determine which pages already exist, which need to be updated, and which need to be created from scratch.
This topical map becomes your content calendar. It tells you exactly what to create, in what order, and how to link it all together.
My Actual Workflow for New Clients
Here is the exact process I follow when a new client engages me for SEO:
Week 1: Strategic discovery. I interview the client about their business, customers, competitors, and goals. I review their existing site and content. I identify 3-5 seed topics that align with their business objectives.
Week 2: Data gathering. I pull Search Console data for the past 12 months. I run seed topics through Autocomplete, PAA, and Google Trends. I do community research on Reddit and relevant forums. I check Keyword Planner for volume estimates. I analyze what their top 3 competitors rank for by manually reviewing their site structures and content.
Week 3: Analysis and mapping. I compile everything into a master keyword list, classify intent, cluster keywords, and build the topical map. I prioritize clusters based on business value, competition level (assessed by reviewing the SERP manually), and current positioning.
Week 4: Deliverable. The client gets a topical map with prioritized content briefs for the first quarter. Each brief includes the target keyword cluster, intent, content format recommendation, key subtopics to cover, and internal linking targets.
This entire process uses free tools. No Ahrefs. No Semrush. No paid keyword tool subscriptions.
When Keyword Research Needs Paid Tools
I am not anti-paid tools. I use them myself. But I want you to understand when they add genuine value versus when they are a crutch that replaces thinking.
You need paid tools when:
- You are doing competitive analysis at scale and need to see which keywords competitors rank for across thousands of pages. Manual SERP review does not scale beyond 3-5 competitors.
- You need keyword difficulty scores to prioritize across hundreds of potential targets. Manually assessing difficulty by reviewing SERPs works but is extremely time-consuming at scale.
- You are managing SEO for multiple clients or large sites and need efficiency. When I handle 10+ clients simultaneously, paid tools pay for themselves in time savings.
- You need historical keyword data to understand trends over years, not just the recent window Google Trends provides.
- You want backlink data integrated with keyword data for a complete competitive picture.
You do not need paid tools when:
- You are working on one site with a clear niche.
- You are just starting out and need to learn the fundamentals.
- Your budget is limited and the subscription cost would be better spent on content creation.
- You are targeting a local market with limited competition.
The strategic thinking I described above is what makes keyword research effective. Paid tools make that process faster and more scalable, but they do not replace the thinking. I have seen agencies with $500/month tool subscriptions produce worse keyword strategies than solo practitioners using only free tools and good judgment.
Keyword Research: Putting It All Together
Keyword research is not about finding the highest-volume term and writing a page for it. It is about understanding your audience, discovering how they search for solutions to their problems, and building a content plan that meets them at every stage of their journey.
Start with strategy. Mine free data sources systematically. Classify intent before you write a single word. Cluster keywords into topics and map them to pages. Then, and only then, consider whether paid tools would meaningfully improve your process.
The best keyword research I have ever done cost nothing in tool subscriptions. It cost time and strategic thinking, which are the two resources that actually matter.
Further Reading
If you found this guide helpful, check out these related articles:
- How to Build Topical Authority: The Content Strategy Google Rewards
- On-Page SEO Checklist: 15 Factors That Actually Move the Needle
- How AI Overviews Are Changing SEO in 2026 (And What to Do About It)
For more information, see these authoritative resources: Google Search Console, Google Trends.
