How do you do keyword research, step by step?

The process repeats. 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, using 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.