How to Build a Keyword Plan With the Keyword Research Tool

This guide explains how to turn exported keyword ideas and metrics into a prioritized plan while avoiding volume-only decisions and duplicated pages.

What Is Keyword Research?

Keyword research is the process of finding the exact words and phrases people type into search engines when looking for information, products, or services related to your topic. Done well, it tells you not just what people search for — but how often, how competitive those terms are, and what type of content they expect to find when they click through.

Every piece of content you publish should target a specific keyword or keyword cluster. Without that, you're essentially publishing for an audience you haven't identified yet — and hoping Google figures out what your page is about. Keyword research eliminates that guesswork.

How to Use This Keyword Research Tool

Enter a seed keyword — the broad topic you want to rank for — and select your target country. The tool queries Google's search data (via DataForSEO) and returns related keywords with search volume estimates, competition indicators, and CPC data. Sort by search volume to find high-traffic terms, or sort by CPC to find commercial-intent keywords that advertisers are bidding on — which is a reliable signal of buyer intent.

From your results, filter for keywords with a search volume that's realistic for your site's current authority, and look for keywords where the intent matches what you can actually deliver. A keyword like "best CRM software" has enormous volume but requires a comparison article with extensive research. A keyword like "how to set up CRM for a small team" has lower volume but is far more achievable and more specific — it's often the better choice for a newer site.

Keyword Research Best Practices for 2026

Search volume alone is a misleading metric. A keyword with 10,000 monthly searches dominated by Wikipedia, Forbes, and industry giants is nearly impossible to crack. A keyword with 800 searches and a first page full of low-authority forums and thin content is very winnable. Always pair volume data with a SERP analysis — look at who's actually ranking, how strong their domain authority is, and whether the content format matches what you can produce.

Focus on topic clusters rather than individual keywords. Pick one primary keyword per page, then identify 5–10 related secondary keywords that you'll naturally weave into the content. Google's algorithm increasingly groups related terms together — targeting a cluster of related phrases is more effective than obsessing over a single exact-match keyword.