Keyword Research: A Practical SEO Method for 2026 | Ighenatt

Why keyword research is SEO’s step 1

Most SEO projects fail before the first line of content is published. The problem is usually the same: writing starts without knowing with certainty what people search for, or the exact words they use.

Here is a figure that changes perspective: 96.55% of all web pages receive no organic traffic from Google, according to Ahrefs’ analysis of millions of URLs. It is not a content quality problem, a backlinks problem, or a page speed problem. In most cases it is an earlier problem: those pages do not respond to any real search with sufficient volume, or they target queries for which they have no competitive chance.

Keyword research exists to solve that problem before it occurs. It is the map that shows you where accessible traffic exists and where there is only noise.

A useful analogy: doing SEO without prior keyword research is like opening a shop on a street without knowing whether anyone walks past it. You may have the best window display in the world, but if the street is empty, the business does not work.

Google, for its part, keeps growing. Rand Fishkin and the SparkToro team documented a 21.64% growth in Google searches during 2024, with Google receiving roughly 373 times more queries than ChatGPT. Search has not died; it has become more sophisticated. That makes keyword research more complex, not less relevant.

Types of search intent: how to classify keywords

Search volume is only half the equation. The other half is understanding what the user wants to do when they type that query. A keyword with 8,000 monthly searches can be completely useless for your site if the intent behind it does not match what you offer.

There are four types of search intent:

Informational: the user wants to learn something. “What is technical SEO”, “how does the Google algorithm work”, “difference between DA and DR”. Here the winning format is usually a guide or blog article.

Commercial: the user is evaluating options before deciding. “Best SEO agency Barcelona”, “Semrush vs Ahrefs 2026”, “cheap SEO tools”. Comparison content and reviews work well here.

Transactional: the user is ready to act. “Hire SEO audit”, “web positioning price”, “SEO agency quote”. These keywords go to service pages or landing pages with direct CTAs.

Navigational: the user is looking for a specific site or brand. “Google Search Console login”, “Ahrefs sign in”. It only makes sense to rank here if you are the intended destination.

The classic mistake is treating all keywords as though they were the same. Put an informational keyword on a service page and Google detects that the format does not match the majority intent for that query. Result: the page never reaches the top 5, even if the content is good.

To verify the intent behind any keyword, the quickest method is to search the query in Google in private mode and observe what type of pages dominate the first results. If the top 10 are all guides and articles, the intent is informational. If they are product listings, it is transactional. Google’s results are the best intent indicator available — and they are free.

Step-by-step process: from idea to keyword map

The professional keyword research process is not a brainstorming session with tools. It has structure and order. Skipping steps produces poor results even if you use the best tools on the market.

Step 1: define seed keywords

Seed keywords are the base terms that describe your services or products using the client’s vocabulary, not yours. An SEO agency might start with: “web positioning”, “SEO Barcelona”, “improve Google visibility”. These are broad terms, highly competitive, and at this stage they serve only as a starting point for expansion.

Step 2: expand with tools

From each seed keyword, tools like Semrush or Ahrefs generate hundreds of variations: related terms, common questions, keywords sharing the same semantic core. At this stage the goal is quantity, not quality. Save all suggestions and filter them afterwards.

Free sources that complement this phase: Google Suggest (autocomplete), Google’s “Related searches” (bottom of the results page), and Google Search Console, which shows the real queries your site already appears for in Google.

Step 3: classify by intent

With the expanded list, assign an intent to each keyword: informational, commercial, transactional, or navigational. This step is manual and requires judgement. Tools like Semrush include an “intent” field in their data, but it is worth verifying manually for priority keywords.

Step 4: evaluate difficulty vs. domain authority

Each keyword has a Keyword Difficulty (KD) value estimating how hard it is to rank in the top 10. This figure only makes sense when compared against the domain’s actual authority. A keyword with KD 35 may be reachable for a domain with DA 45, and impossible for one with DA 15.

Step 5: build the keyword map

With keywords classified and evaluated, assign each one to a URL on your site (existing or to be created). A URL can have one primary keyword and several semantically related secondary keywords. The result is a content map with clear priorities.

This map is the foundation of the content plan. Without it, the content team works without direction. With it, every piece has a clear, measurable objective.

Tools: Semrush, Ahrefs, GSC and free alternatives

Keyword research tools can be organised into three categories by their primary function.

Reference tools: Semrush and Ahrefs

Semrush vs Ahrefs is the permanent debate in the SEO industry. Both cover the complete keyword research process, but with differences in database, interface, and focus.

Semrush has a database that is particularly strong for the European and Spanish markets, with difficulty data well calibrated for low-to-medium authority domains. Its Keyword Magic Tool allows filtering by search intent, question type, and difficulty simultaneously. For Spanish SMEs starting out with keyword research, it is probably the most accessible option.

Ahrefs excels through the depth of its backlink data and its Keywords Explorer, which includes metrics such as the potential traffic of the top 10 for each keyword. Its “Parent Topic” feature groups variations under the main term, making it easier to avoid keyword cannibalization when building the content map.

Both offer paid plans with a 7-day free trial and limited free tiers.

Google Search Console: first-party data

Google Search Console is the most valuable free tool in the process because it provides real data from Google, not estimates. If your site already has a history, GSC shows exactly which queries it appears for in the results, at what average position, and with what CTR.

This has a specific use in keyword research: you can discover keywords in positions 8–15 (many impressions, few clicks) that with basic optimisation could reach the top 5. These quick-win opportunities are identified with greater precision by GSC than by any third-party tool.

Free alternatives for limited budgets

Google Keyword Planner requires a Google Ads account but is free. It shows search volume ranges and keyword suggestions. For basic keyword research for an SME, it works well.

Answer The Public and AlsoAsked map the common questions users ask around a term. They are useful for identifying long-tail informational keywords that the main tools do not always capture well.

Google Trends does not provide absolute volumes but lets you compare the relative interest between two or more keywords over time and by region. For local markets like Catalonia or the Basque Country, it can reveal nuances that Semrush data does not reflect.

How to evaluate keyword difficulty for SMEs

Keyword Difficulty (KD) is the figure that teams new to SEO misinterpret most often. KD 40 does not mean “difficult” in absolute terms; it means “difficult for a domain with low authority”. For a domain with DA 60, KD 40 may be a direct opportunity.

Semrush’s analysis of 188,000 keywords by sector produces figures that substantially change how the landscape looks for local businesses. In Local Services, 64% of keywords have low difficulty (KD < 30). In Finance, that figure falls to 18%. For a Spanish local services SME, the accessible keyword market is far broader than it appears at first glance.

The correct way to evaluate whether a keyword is reachable for your domain is to analyse the pages currently occupying the top 10. There are three signals that indicate a keyword is genuinely competitive:

1. The top-10 pages have many backlinks from high-authority domains.
2. The top-10 pages belong to well-known brands or sites with millions of visits.
3. The top-10 content is highly optimised, with direct answers, data, and demonstrated expertise.

If the top 10 mixes medium-authority domain pages — some with few backlinks or outdated content — there is room to compete even when the KD is moderate.

An important nuance: the KD calculated by tools is based primarily on backlinks. It does not always reflect the quality of existing content. A keyword with KD 45 but mediocre content in the results may be more reachable than its score suggests, if you produce something significantly better.

From keyword research to content plan: topic clusters

A keyword map without a content structure is just a spreadsheet. The step that turns keywords into real strategy is organising them into topic clusters.

A topic cluster has three elements: a pillar page (a central page covering a broad topic in depth), cluster pages (pages exploring specific subtopics of the main theme), and internal links connecting both layers.

A concrete example for an SEO agency in Barcelona:

• Pillar page: “Complete guide to local SEO for businesses in Barcelona” (high-volume keyword, difficult to rank for in the short term)
• Cluster pages: “How to appear on Google Maps Barcelona”, “Google Business Profile listings for restaurants”, “SEO for physical shops in the Eixample” (more specific keywords, lower competition, higher conversion)

The cluster pages rank relatively quickly and send topical authority signals to the pillar page via internal linking. Over time, the pillar page climbs positions too.

This model has an additional advantage that goes beyond technical SEO: it forces you to think about content from the user’s perspective, not the business’s internal logic. A user who lands on a cluster page about “SEO for restaurants Barcelona” has a very specific need. Content that answers it well converts far better than a generic “SEO services” page.

91.8% of queries are long-tail, according to Backlinko’s analysis of 306 million keywords. And keywords of 10–15 words generate 1.76 times more clicks than single-word terms. Topic clusters are the structure that allows you to capture that long-tail traffic systematically, not by chance.

Case study: from 6 to 64 keywords in the top 10

Parallel Project Training, a B2B training company in the United Kingdom, documented one of the clearest cases of what happens when structured keyword research precedes content production. Before the campaign, they were monitoring between 100 and 150 keywords, but only 6 were in the top 10 and none held the #1 position.

With a strategy built on keyword research prior to each piece of content, actively optimising around 20 keywords at any given time and building topic clusters, they achieved over 24 months:

• Organic traffic: from under 10,000 to over 30,000 monthly visits (+320%)
• Keywords in position #1: from 0 to 10
• Keywords in the top 10: from 6 to 64

The increase did not come from publishing more content, but from publishing the right content, targeted at keywords with genuine commercial intent for their sector.

Common mistakes that destroy a keyword strategy

Knowing the mistakes most teams make when doing keyword research saves months of misdirected work.

Chasing volume without analysing intent. A keyword with 10,000 monthly searches looks attractive. But if the top-10 pages are all online shops and your site is a professional service, you will not rank even if the content is perfect. Volume is a secondary metric; intent is the primary one.

Ignoring long-tail keywords. Most tools surface high-volume keywords first. The problem is that those keywords typically have high KD and are dominated by large brands. Long-tail keywords have lower volume but far higher conversion rates, because the user searching for “SEO agency for fashion ecommerce Barcelona” has a far more specific need than one searching for “SEO”.

Creating multiple pages for variations of the same keyword. Having five different URLs targeting variations of “SEO audit” does not multiply traffic; it divides it. This produces keyword cannibalization where pages compete against each other instead of reinforcing one another. One well-optimised URL with semantic variations treated as secondary keywords works better than five fragmented URLs.

Not updating keyword research. SparkToro’s study of 2024 shows Google growing at 21.64% annually. 15% of daily Google searches are new, never seen before, according to Google itself. The keywords from two years ago are not today’s keywords. Keyword research from 2023 applied in 2026 has a genuine expiry date.

Separating keyword research from on-page SEO. Keyword research that does not end in concrete optimisation of titles, headings, meta descriptions, and content structure produces no results. Research without implementation is a document that improves no metric.

John Mueller, Google Search Advocate, put it directly in a Q&A session: “Research alone doesn’t change anything. You have to understand what you’re researching, what the results mean, make changes, monitor and adapt.”

That warning applies directly to keyword research: the value is not in having a spreadsheet with 500 classified keywords. It is in making content decisions based on that data and measuring whether they work.

And on whether keyword research has a future with the rise of AI in search, Mueller was equally clear in an earlier interview: “I think there will always be a bit of space for keyword research because you’re providing those words to the users. And even though search engines try to understand more than those words, showing concrete words to users can help them understand what your page is about and sometimes it can drive that conversion process.”

Next steps

If you are starting from scratch with a new website:

1. Define 5 to 10 seed keywords that describe your main services.
2. Use Semrush or Ahrefs (7-day free trial) to expand those seeds and export the results.
3. Filter keywords with KD below your current DA plus 15 points.
4. Classify the remaining keywords by search intent.
5. Assign each keyword to a URL on your site (or mark the URL as pending creation).
6. Organise the URLs into topic clusters with their corresponding pillar page.

If you already have a site with traffic history, start with Google Search Console. Keywords in positions 8–20 with solid impressions are your greatest short-term opportunity before looking for new keywords.

If you need someone to analyse the real keyword opportunity in your sector before you invest in content, at Ighenatt we do this as the first step of any project. Contact us.