How to Do Keyword Research for Free

Most keyword research tools cost money. Ahrefs, Semrush, and Moz all charge monthly fees that add up quickly. But for small teams, beginners, and anyone who wants to validate a content strategy before committing to a paid tool, free options cover most of what you actually need.

What is keyword research and why does it matter?

Keyword research is the process of identifying the words and phrases your target audience types into search engines, understanding how often they search for them, and evaluating how competitive it is to rank for them.

Without it, you are writing content based on assumptions. With it, you write pages that map directly to real demand.

Every keyword has a search intent: the underlying purpose behind the query. There are four main types:

• Informational — the searcher wants to learn something ("how does mortgage approval work")
• Navigational — they want to find a specific site or page ("Barclays login")
• Commercial — they are researching before a purchase ("best CRM software UK")
• Transactional — they are ready to buy or act ("buy standing desk online")

Matching your content type to search intent is just as important as targeting the right keyword. A buying guide will not rank for a transactional query that Google serves product pages for.

Start with Google Search Console

If your site has been live for more than a few weeks, you already have keyword data. Google Search Console's Performance report shows every query your site has appeared for, how many times, and at what position.

This is first-party data from Google itself, which makes it more reliable than third-party estimates.

Filter the Performance report by position 8 to 20. These are queries where you already have some relevance in Google's eyes, but you are not yet on page one. With targeted content improvement, many of these can be pushed to the top five within weeks. This is the most reliable fast-win keyword strategy available, and it costs nothing.

The impressions column also reveals keywords Google thinks you are relevant for, even if you are not actively targeting them. These are legitimate opportunities to build new content around.

Use Google autocomplete and "People also ask"

Google's own search interface is one of the best free keyword research tools available.

Autocomplete fills in the rest of your query as you type. These suggestions are based on real search behaviour. Type your seed keyword and note everything that appears, especially longer phrase completions that suggest a specific audience or intent.

People Also Ask boxes appear in most search results and show related question-format queries. These are valuable for two reasons: they reveal sub-topics your content should cover, and question-format keywords often have lower competition than head terms because fewer pages are built specifically around them.

Related searches appear at the bottom of the results page. These show semantically related terms that searchers use in the same session, giving you a picture of the broader topic cluster your keyword sits within.

Free keyword research tools

Several free tools provide meaningful data. None of them match a paid subscription, but together they are more than enough to build a solid keyword strategy.

Tool	Free tier	Best for
Google Keyword Planner	Free with a Google Ads account	Volume ranges, broad keyword ideas
Ahrefs free keyword generator	Unlimited seed expansions, no volume	Generating keyword variations quickly
Semrush free account	10 searches per day	Competitive difficulty estimates
Answer The Public	Limited daily searches	Question-format and preposition keywords
Google Search Console	Unlimited, first-party data	Queries you already rank for

Google Keyword Planner is the most reliable free source of search volume data. It shows ranges rather than exact numbers (100-1k, 1k-10k) unless you run active ad campaigns, but ranges are sufficient for prioritisation decisions. Access it via a Google Ads account, which is free to create even without running ads.

Ahrefs free keyword generator lets you enter a seed keyword and get a list of related terms with keyword difficulty scores. The volume data is approximate, but it is useful for generating a broad list of variations quickly.

Semrush's free account provides 10 keyword lookups per day with keyword difficulty, volume, and competitive density. Use it strategically on your highest-priority targets.

Answer The Public maps a topic into all the questions, comparisons, and preposition-based queries people use around it. The visualisation is useful for understanding what a topic community genuinely wants to know.

How to evaluate a keyword

Not every keyword with search volume is worth targeting. Evaluate each candidate across four dimensions.

Search volume tells you how many people search for the term per month. Higher volume means more potential traffic, but also typically more competition. For new sites or niche businesses, 100-500 monthly searches with low competition often delivers better results than a 10,000-search term dominated by major brands.

Keyword difficulty is an estimate of how hard it is to rank for the term. Most tools score it 0-100. The problem with relying on difficulty scores alone is that they are averages: a keyword rated 40 might have one weak page in the top three that you could displace, while a keyword rated 20 might be dominated by three major news sites.

Search intent is whether the top-ranking results match the type of content you can create. Search the keyword yourself before targeting it. If the results are all product pages and you want to write a blog post, Google has determined that informational content does not satisfy this query. Do not fight the intent.

Business relevance is whether ranking for the keyword will actually bring the right audience. A gardening website could rank for "what is photosynthesis" but the traffic would not convert to customers. Prioritise keywords where ranking would bring people likely to want your product or service.

How to check if you can realistically rank

Look at the first page of results manually before committing to a keyword.

If positions 1 to 5 are occupied by Wikipedia, the NHS, the BBC, major government sites, or dominant brand names with thousands of referring domains, it is a very difficult keyword for a smaller site. These pages have enormous authority advantages that content quality alone cannot overcome.

Check who else is on page one. If you see a medium-sized blog or a niche site ranking alongside major brands, there is an opening. Someone has already proven that a non-dominant player can compete on this keyword.

Use getcrawly.com/tools/backlink-checker to check the domain authority of the sites ranking on page one. If several pages on page one have domain authority scores below 30 or 40, and your site is in a similar range, the keyword is realistic. For more on what domain authority means and how to use it, read what is domain authority.

Build a simple keyword list

A practical keyword list does not need to be complicated. Here is a process that works.

1. Start with seed keywords. These are the core terms that describe what you do: your product, service, or topic. A plumber in Manchester might start with "boiler repair", "central heating installation", "emergency plumber Manchester".

2. Expand with autocomplete and PAA. For each seed, check Google autocomplete and People Also Ask. Add every relevant variation. At this stage, include broadly rather than filter tightly.

3. Filter by intent and realism. Remove keywords where the search intent does not match content you can create. Remove keywords where every page one result is a major brand with a domain authority of 70 or above, unless you have a specific reason to believe you can compete.

4. Map one keyword per page. Assign one primary keyword to each piece of content. Multiple pages targeting the same keyword will compete against each other (keyword cannibalisation). One page, one primary target, with related terms addressed naturally in the content.

5. Prioritise by opportunity. Start with the keywords most likely to produce results quickly: terms where you already rank in positions 8 to 20, or terms with low difficulty where you can clearly out-publish the current top results.

This does not require a paid tool. It requires clear thinking about what your audience searches for and honest evaluation of whether you can deliver a better result than what currently ranks.

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Frequently asked questions

Is keyword research really free? Yes. Google Search Console, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs' free keyword generator, and Google's own autocomplete and People Also Ask features are all free. Paid tools provide more data, more depth, and better competitor analysis, but free tools are sufficient to build and validate a solid content strategy.

What is the best free keyword research tool? Google Search Console is the most valuable free tool for sites with existing traffic because it shows real, first-party data on what you already rank for. For building new keyword lists from scratch, Google Keyword Planner provides the most reliable volume estimates without a paid subscription.

How many keywords should I target per page? Target one primary keyword per page. Your content should naturally cover related terms and sub-topics within that page, but the page should have one clear focus. Targeting multiple competing keywords on a single page typically means you serve none of them well.

What is a good monthly search volume to target? There is no universal answer. For a new site, targeting keywords with 100 to 500 monthly searches and low difficulty is often more productive than competing for high-volume head terms. For an established site in a competitive niche, 1,000 to 10,000 monthly searches with moderate difficulty may be realistic. Volume is only one factor: a 200-search keyword that converts well is worth more than a 10,000-search keyword that does not.