How I Do Keyword Research for Free [That Still Works!]

Here’s the good news:

You can do REAL keyword research with a literal zero budget.

In this post, I’ll show you how to find valuable keywords for free. By the end, you’ll have a list you can start using right away.

Keyword research has multiple stages, so I’ve broken this guide down into key steps with free methods for each:

↳ How to Find Keyword Ideas for Free

↳ How to Find Keyword Search Volume for Free

↳ How to Find Keyword Difficulty for Free

Let’s dive in.

A. How to Find Keyword Ideas

First off, create a Google or Word Doc where you can store all your keyword ideas.

1. Use Google Autocomplete

When you start typing anything into Google’s search bar, Google tries to complete your query by guessing what you’re looking for.

These guesses are based on the searches people make using your entered keyword.

Here’s how you can use Google’s Autocomplete feature to find keyword ideas for free:

Go to Google.com and type any broad term related to your product/service into the search bar.

I just typed “best jeans” and already got some useful longtail keyword ideas:

↳ Try adding different letters at the end to find more keyword ideas.

I added letters “a,” “b” and “c,” and got these results:

Do it all the way to “z” and you’ll find a lot of keyword ideas. Then, add them to your doc.

You can find long tail keywords in the same manner, just by adding certain terms.

↳ Find local long-tail keywords.

Add terms like “in” and “near” after your main keyword.

↳ Use “vs” and “alternative” in your queries

Comparison terms like “vs” and “alternative” help you find keywords that people use to compare products/services in your industry.

People researching comparisons are closer to buying, which makes such keywords highly valuable.

I searched: Main keyword + vs

And these are some longtail keyword ideas I got:

Let’s try: Main keyword + alternative

↳ Add question words.

Many keywords are question-based. In fact, with more and more people using voice search, there has been a rise in question-type keywords.

Here are a few things you could try:

How to [keyword]…

Is [keyword] worth it?

What is [keyword]

And just like that, you can find many question-type long tail keyword ideas.

↳ Find listicle keywords

Keywords starting with terms like “best” or “top” generally lead to listicle-type posts.

For example, I searched

Best/top [keyword] for

You can add more words to further narrow the context. Like here, I’ve used:

Top/best + [feature] + [keyword]

Mix and match different terms with your main keyword to find more longtail keyword ideas.

2. See “People Also Ask” Section

You can find long-tail, question-type keywords ideas in the PAA (People Also Ask) section.

It appears on the SERP when you make a search.

I searched for “jeans for tall women” and this is what the PAA section looks like this:

Click on any relevant question and it will reveal similar or related questions.

This way, you can keep generating more and more relevant questions.

The best part is, these questions are based on actual searches that people make on the internet.

It tells you what questions your target audience is asking and which keywords they are using for such queries.

3. Check Out “People also search for”

Scroll down to the bottom of a SERP, you’ll find a section called “People also search for.”

This is another great place to find keyword ideas related to your search.

And since these suggestions are also based on what people are actually searching for, these keywords are valuable and most probably have good search volumes.

4. Find Keywords on Reddit & Quora

Forums like Reddit and Quora are excellent sources of keyword ideas.

This is where your target audience is asking questions, revealing their pain points, seeking solutions, and interacting.

Whatever is your niche, it’s most likely to have a space in such forums.

To find such forums and discover keyword ideas, search:

[your niche]+site:[forum’s domain]

Look at this example:

Let’s open the first one.

For best results, sort by Top and All Time.

Using these filters will show you evergreen posts/topics. But it may not give useful results every time. So, try to find posts both with and without these filters.

Here are some of the many keywords ideas I got in like 10 seconds:

Try this out with Quora and other forums.

Also, try to find community forums in your niche.

Let’s say you’re doing keyword research for a smart home tech business, you should try to look for a smart home forum.

Let’s check out the first one.

Right off the bat, you can see many keyword ideas coming directly from your target audience/buyers.

5. Find Common Questions Related to Your Topic

Just search

[your topic/keyword] + common questions/faqs

This will show you a list of questions related to your search terms that people are actually asking across the web.

Pick any relevant questions and add them to yours.

6. Steal from Competitors

For this step, you first need to find your organic competitors.

A simple way of doing so is to Google your seed keywords and see what websites show up.

The ones that show up the most for your different seed keywords would be your main competitors.

Visit a site that you find relevant.

Analyze your competitor’s website to steal their best keywords. Check out their product/service/blog categories to find high-level keyword themes.

↳ Use This Pro Sitemap Trick:

Your competitor’s sitemap can be a free keyword goldmine for you.

There are some standard locations where sitemaps are stored. You can find them by appending your competitor’s domain like this:

https://competitor.com/sitemap.xml

https://competitor.com/sitemap_index.xml

https://competitor.com/sitemap_index.html

It’s basically a list of all pages on their website. Looking at it can give you an idea about what topics, categories, products, services, etc. your competitor covers. Pick relevant keyword ideas and add them to your list.

7. Brainstorm with ChatGPT

You can also use ChatGPT to find keyword ideas.

Just tell ChatGPT about your business and ask it to generate keywords for you:

Help me brainstorm keywords that a [Your Business + in + Target Location] can target. Generate seed keywords and long-tail keywords.

I used this prompt.

And this is what I got:

However, unlike other methods mentioned above, you can’t tell how relevant these keywords actually are from an SEO perspective.

Still, ChatGPT can be a great brainstorming partner. And once you have a list of keywords, you can filter it and narrow down to the most valuable ones using the next steps.

B. How to Find Search Volume

Now as you have a rough list of keywords, it’s time to see how valuable they are.

For this one, create a spreadsheet where you can organize your keywords.

The first step is to see whether a keyword has good enough search volume or not.

Search volume tells how many times a keyword was searched in a certain timeframe (generally a month).

High search volume means many people are using this keyword and it could be beneficial to target it.

Here are a few ways to find search volume of keywords for free:

1. Use Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that helps you find keywords for Google Ads campaigns.

Using it, you can find rough monthly search volume ranges for your keywords.

Open Google Keyword Planner if you already have an account.

Or sign up for Google Ads first (you don’t need to run ads).

Once you’re on Google Ads dashboard, select Tools > Planning > Keyword Planner.

Then on the Keyword Planner dashboard, click Get search volumes and forecasts.

Enter the keywords you have found in the given box or simply select Upload a file and select the spreadsheet where you have stored the keywords.

Click Get started.

Keyword Planner will show you a report of all the keywords you entered. In the Avg. monthly searches column, you can get a rough idea of a keyword’s search volume.

Copy-paste these keywords along with their search volume into your spreadsheet.

2. Find Keyword Popularity with Google Trends

While Google Trends can’t exactly tell you the search volume of a keyword, it shows the relative search interest on a scale from 0 to 100.

As the name suggests, Google Trends helps identify search trends around a keyword. It tells you how popular a keyword is in a certain region and/or at a certain time of the year.

For example, “summer sandals” might be more popular in the months of May and June as compared to other times of the year.

Similarly, it may have a higher search interest in warmer countries like Spain as compared to colder countries like the UK.

To find how popular a keyword is, open Google Trends.

Enter your keyword and click Explore.

This will show you how popular that keyword is.

Scroll down to find out which regions search this term the most.

So, apparently, “hiking boots” are most popularly searched in Vermont.

While this is not search data, it somewhat fulfills the same purpose– that is to tell you how popular a term is in certain regions and during certain times of the year.

If you scroll down further, you’ll also see Related topics and Related queries. You can add these keyword ideas to your list as well.

3. Google Search Console (If Your Site Has Traffic)

If you have not used Google Search Console yet, you just need to verify the property (website) you want insights for.

Once that is done, go to Google Search Console.

On top left, select the property you’re doing the keyword research for.

Now click Performance > Search results.

Scroll down to Queries. Look at the Impressions of each keyword.

If a keyword has impressions but no or fewer clicks, it has good search volume—you just need to optimize for it.

Take a note of such keywords and add them to your spreadsheet.

4. Use Keyword Surfer (Chrome Extension)

Keyword Surfer by SurferSEO is a Chrome extension that lets you see estimated search volumes directly in Google search results– for free!

Go to Chrome Web Store and add Keyword Surfer Extension to Chrome.

Click Add extension in the pop-up.

Now search any of your keywords on Google.

On the right of the search bar, you will see the estimated search volume of the keyword in your target country.

Come to the right side of the SERP, and you’ll also see keyword ideas related to the one you have searched.

Add relevant keywords along with their estimated search volumes to your spreadsheet.

C. How to Find Keyword Difficulty

Once you have the search volumes of your keywords, it’s time to check their difficulty score.

KD or Keyword Difficulty tells you how hard or easy it is to rank for a keyword, based on how many domains are targeting it and ranking for it.

The more domains target a keyword, the higher its KD score is.

Here are a few simple tricks to estimate Keyword Difficulty for free:

1. Use the “Allintitle” Trick

“Allintitle” is a Google search modifier that helps you find pages with the exact keyword you have entered in their title.

To use it:

Search allintitle:[your keyword] on Google. Then click Tools on the right side. Here, you’ll be able to see the number of results that have this keyword in their titles.

If the number of results is high, a lot of pages are targeting this keyword and it is likely hard to rank for.

Similarly, if fewer pages use the exact keyword in the title, it’s easier to rank.

3. Check the SERP for Weak Competitors

Let’s say you have a blog about camping.

You search for “best hiking jackets” and don’t find any useful articles about it. Instead, you just see basic, poorly written AI crap.

You can easily beat it with a high quality post and rank for that keyword. That’s how you know this keyword has a low difficulty score and is worth targeting because you can easily create better content and beat the top ranking websites.

Look out for such keywords and add them to your list.

On the other hand, if there are high quality articles for a keyword, it would be difficult to rank for.

4. YouTube Search for Blog Topics

Sometimes, you’ll find that a topic has lots of YouTube videos but no detailed blog posts– that’s a great opportunity.

For example, I searched “yoga for relaxation” on Google. While there are many YouTube videos ranking for it, I couldn’t find any valuable articles.

I know I can write a much more helpful article on this topic so I’ll mark this keyword “low difficulty.”

In the same manner, you can find keyword opportunities in your niche.

Don’t Forget to Match Search Intent!

Now you have the search volumes and difficulty scores for your keywords– but that’s not enough. You need to make sure that the content you create using your keywords also aligns with their search intent.

Understand what the users are actually looking for when they use certain keywords to make a search. This will help you satisfy their needs better and improve your chances of ranking higher in search engine results.

Here’s how you can do it:

1. Matching the Context

When someone searches for “best apple products,” are they searching for different products made of apple the fruit– like pickles, jams, pies, etc.– or are they looking for products of the Apple company– like iPads, iPhones, Macbooks, etc.?

A quick search on Google tells us that the phrase relates to Apple brand’s products.

While at its face value, this might seem like a relevant keyword for an apple jam business, the results tell us that searchers using this keyword have an entirely intent in mind.

2. Matching the Intent

Broadly, there are four search intents behind queries:

1. Informational

The user is looking for knowledge or information about a topic. They are not ready to buy but want to learn. Examples:

➜ Benefits of a high-protein diet

➜ How does solar energy work?

➜ What is SEO?

2. Navigational

The user wants to find a specific website, brand, or page. Examples:

➜ Canva free templates

➜ Nike official website

➜ Facebook login

3. Transactional

The user is ready to make a purchase or take a specific action, such as signing up or downloading something. Examples:

➜ Subscribe to Grammarly premium

➜ Download free invoice templates

➜ Buy running shoes online

4. Commercial

The user is researching products or services and comparing their options before making a purchase. Examples:

➜ Reviews of Dyson vacuum cleaners

➜ Best smartphones under $500

➜ Grammarly vs ProWritingAid

You need to understand what is the intent behind each keyword so that you can use it effectively.

To Match Context/Search Intent Correctly, Search Your Keyword and See What Google Shows.

For example, if the top results for a keyword are blog posts, you need to create a blogpost about it. The search intent is “informational.”

Alternatively, if the top results are product pages, don’t write a blog—create a product page instead.

So, make sure to organize your keywords by intent in your spreadsheet.

By this point, your keyword list will look like this:

And now, you have successfully found high-value keywords for FREE!

Free Keyword Research Pro Tips:

↳ Pay Attention to Google Ads: Keywords with lots of ads are high-value. Instead of spending on ads, focus on ranking organically for these.

↳ Check for Video Results: If Google shows videos at the top of the SERP, it’s a strong signal that users prefer video content for this query. Create a YouTube video instead of a blog post to capture this traffic.

↳ Spot “People Also Search For” Boxes: If the SERP has multiple “People Also Search For” boxes, the keyword might be too broad. Narrow down your focus to a specific niche or long-tail variation to rank better.

↳ Outrank Weak Content: If the top-ranking page has thin content, poor formatting, or lacks depth, it’s your chance to shine. Create a comprehensive, high-quality post and outrank it.

↳ Try Keyword Variations: When you see similar versions of a keyword (e.g., plurals or synonyms) ranking separately, treat them as unique opportunities. Create dedicated pages to target each variation.

↳ Avoid Battling Big Brands: If the top spots are dominated by major brands, it’s tough to compete. Instead, target long-tail variations with less competition and higher ranking potential.

Keyword Research at Zero Budget is 100% Possible!

You can definitely find valuable keywords for free by using Google, analyzing your competitors, checking out forums and using free keyword tools like Google Trends and Google Search Console. But as you grow, it’s important to invest in good keyword research tools like Semrush and Ahrefs.

Also check out my free keyword research template and checklist to find valuable keywords effectively.

Frequently Asked Questions