How do you do keyword research, step by step?
Start from a topic you can genuinely cover, list the questions and phrases your audience uses (autocomplete, forums, your own Search Console), check volume and difficulty in a tool, and pick targets where difficulty matches your site's strength. One page per intent, not per keyword.
The repeatable process: one, brainstorm seeds from your actual expertise (the topics you can write the best page on the internet about). Two, expand them into real phrasings: Google autocomplete and related searches, Reddit and forum threads in your niche, and the questions customers literally ask you. Three, quantify in a tool: volumes and difficulty from Mangools or Semrush turn the list into a ranked backlog. Four, filter by winnability: a new site hunts long-tail, question-style keywords with low difficulty; authority sites can attack head terms.
The concept that separates amateurs from professionals is intent: Google ranks pages per intention, not per string. "Best running shoes" (comparison intent) and "buy Nike Pegasus" (transaction intent) need different pages; ten phrasings of the same question need one. Cluster your keyword list by intent and the content plan writes itself.
And close the loop monthly: Search Console shows which queries actually found you, including hundreds you never planned for. The pages almost ranking (positions 5 to 15) are your cheapest wins; improving them beats writing something new, every time.