Everything I know about keyword research

Hey all, I thought you might find this helpful. For years I've been wanting to crystallize all my thoughts on keyword research (mostly as a reference for myself) but also as a helpful manifesto for anyone wanting to learn/improve their keyword research skills. I just dropped a video (won't link here to obey rules, but it's on my YouTube channel if you search Matt Kenyon SEO) that talks through my entire process from start-to-finish doing keyword research for a hypothetical SaaS company. If you don't want to watch, here's the tl;dr version. I'd love to hear if you have anything else to add: # Step 1: Gather a Large Pool of Keywords 🔹 Use **AI tools** (ChatGPT, Claude) to generate keyword ideas 🔹 Find **informational, commercial, transactional, & navigational keywords** 🔹 Leverage **free tools**: AnswerThePublic, Reddit, Quora, Amazon TOCs, scholarly articles # Step 2: Filter & Validate the Best Opportunities 🔹 Use **Ahrefs / KeySearch** to analyze volume & competition 🔹 **Identify keyword intent** (e.g., "best whetstone" = commercial, "buy whetstone" = transactional) 🔹 Use **SERP validation** → Google the keyword, analyze top-ranking results # Step 3: Cluster Keywords into Topical Themes 🔹 **Group similar intent keywords together** 🔹 Build **topical authority** by covering all subtopics in a niche 🔹 Use **pillar pages & internal linking** to structure content effectively Refresh keyword research every 3 months & start with **low-competition, high-relevance** topics.