How to Do Keyword Research for Free (2026 Guide)

You don't need a paid SEO tool to do keyword research that works. Most of the data you need is freely available — from Google itself, from your own Search Console, and from a handful of free tools with generous limits.

This guide covers the complete keyword research process using only free tools: how to find keywords, how to assess whether you can realistically rank for them, and how to prioritise which ones to go after first. No Ahrefs subscription required (though a free account helps at the end).

What you're actually trying to find

Keyword research has one goal: find the exact phrases your potential customers are typing into Google, then create pages that answer those searches better than the current results.

You want keywords that are:

• Relevant — searched by people who could actually become your customers
• Achievable — possible to rank for given your site's current authority
• Valuable — searched with intent to hire, buy, or take action (not just browse)

High search volume is not automatically good. 100 monthly searches from people ready to hire beats 10,000 searches from people who will never buy from you.

Step 1: Start with Google Search Console (if you have an existing site)

If your site has been live for more than a few months and you have Search Console set up (see how to set it up), this is the single best source of keyword data available to you — and it's completely free.

Go to Performance → Search results. You'll see the queries already bringing people to your site. Sort by Impressions (highest first). These are keywords where Google already thinks you're relevant — they're your fastest wins.

Look for:

• Queries with high impressions but low CTR (under 5%) — your page appears but isn't compelling people to click. Better title tags and meta descriptions can move these quickly. Use the Meta Title Generator to write better tags.
• Queries you rank position 5–15 for — one page of improvements can move these to position 1–4, dramatically increasing traffic.
• Unexpected queries — terms you didn't target but Google is matching to your content. These are clues to expand or create new pages around.

Step 2: Google Autocomplete and "People Also Ask"

Google's autocomplete is a direct window into what real people search. Type your main service or topic into Google and look at what auto-completes. Every suggestion is a real, common search.

Variations to try:

• Your service + location: "web designer [city]", "plumber [city]"
• Your service + intent: "web designer for small business", "web designer prices"
• Question forms: "how to", "what is", "best", "vs", "near me"
• Type a space after your term to see common suffixes: "web design [space]" shows completions like "web design agency", "web design cost", "web design portfolio"

Also look at the People Also Ask box that appears in most search results. Clicking any question expands it and triggers Google to show more related questions — these are exact content topics people want answered.

And at the bottom of the page, Related Searches shows 8 more variations. Each one is a potential page or section for your site.

Step 3: Ahrefs Free Keyword Generator

Ahrefs offers a free keyword generator at ahrefs.com/keyword-generator that shows search volume and keyword difficulty for up to 100 keywords per search — no account required.

Enter your seed keyword (a broad term describing your service or topic) and it returns related keywords with monthly search volume estimates. Filter for keywords under KD 20–30 for a new or small site. These are the most achievable.

What to look for:

• Long-tail keywords (3+ words) — "web designer for restaurant" is less competitive than "web designer" and more targeted
• Question keywords — "how much does a web designer cost" has clear intent and is a natural blog post or FAQ page
• Local modifiers — "web designer [city/country]" for location-based services

Step 4: Check what's ranking and assess competition

Before targeting a keyword, search for it in Google and look at the first page results. Ask:

• What type of content ranks? — Blog posts? Product pages? YouTube videos? If the top 3 results are all YouTube videos, a text article may struggle. If they're all long blog posts, you need a long blog post.
• How authoritative are the ranking sites? — If Wikipedia, Forbes, and HubSpot dominate the results, competing directly is hard. If smaller business sites and freelancer blogs rank, you have a genuine shot.
• How good is the existing content? — If the current top result is a thin, outdated 400-word article, you can outrank it by writing something comprehensive and current. If it's a deep, well-researched guide from a site with 10,000 backlinks, you'll need to build authority first.

Step 5: Google Trends for seasonal and trending topics

Google Trends (trends.google.com) shows relative search interest over time — useful for understanding seasonality and whether interest in a topic is growing or declining.

Use cases:

• Compare two keyword variations to see which gets more searches ("web designer" vs "web design agency")
• Check if a topic has growing interest (worth creating content now) or declining interest (diminishing returns)
• Find seasonal patterns — a post about "Christmas marketing ideas" needs to be published in September, not December

How to organise and prioritise your keywords

After running through these steps, you'll have a list of potential keywords. Prioritise using this framework:

1. Quick wins first — keywords where you already rank page 2 or low page 1. A single page update can move these quickly.
2. High intent, low competition — keywords where the searcher is ready to buy/hire and the competition is weak.
3. Topic clusters — group related keywords and plan a series of posts that link to each other. A pillar page ("Local SEO for Small Businesses") supported by cluster pages ("Google Business Profile Guide", "NAP Consistency", "Local Citations") builds more authority faster than isolated posts.
4. Long-tail before head terms — rank for 10 specific long-tail keywords before trying to rank for one competitive head term.

Keywords for AEO (AI answer engines)

Traditional keyword research targets Google's 10 blue links. In 2026, you also need to think about how AI answer engines — ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews — select which sources to cite in their answers.

AI engines prioritise sources that directly and specifically answer questions. This means question-format keywords ("how to", "what is", "why does") with clear, structured answers — especially with FAQPage schema markup — are more likely to be cited. For every service page you optimise for a transactional keyword, consider also writing a question-format post or FAQ section targeting the question people ask before they search for that service.

See the AEO guide and how to get cited by AI for the full picture on optimising for AI answer engines alongside traditional search.

From keywords to pages

Once you have your keyword list, each keyword (or closely related group of keywords) maps to a page type:

• Service page — for transactional keywords ("web designer Iceland", "SEO for restaurants")
• Location page — for geo-modified keywords at scale ("web designer [city]" for each city you serve)
• Blog post / guide — for informational keywords ("how to improve website speed", "what is schema markup")
• FAQ section — for question keywords best answered briefly ("how much does a website cost")
• Comparison page — for "vs" keywords ("Squarespace vs WordPress for small business")

Work through the full SEO checklist when building each new page — title tags, meta descriptions (use the Meta Title Generator), heading structure, schema markup (use the Schema Markup Generator), and internal links to related content.