Find the keywords your
authority can win.

How to find keywords for your website

Keyword research comes down to two questions: what do your customers type into Google, and which of those searches can your site realistically win? Most keyword lists only answer the first. The process below answers both, and it's what the tool above automates.

1. 1Write down what you sell, who it's for and the problems it solves, in your customers' words
2. 2Turn each of those topics into seed keywords of two to four words
3. 3Expand the seeds into keyword ideas with a research tool, Google autocomplete and the People Also Ask box
4. 4Drop anything off-topic, branded or with almost no searches
5. 5Check each keyword's difficulty against your Domain Rating and keep the ones in reach
6. 6Read each keyword's intent and match it to the right kind of page
7. 7Group close variations together so one page targets one cluster

Find the keywords you already rank for

Before looking for new keywords, see what Google already shows you for. Google Search Console is free and shows the real queries your pages appear for, with clicks, impressions and average position. It only works on a site you've verified, and a newly launched site needs a few weeks of search traffic before the report says much.

The most useful rows are queries where you sit between positions 8 and 20 with plenty of impressions. Google already connects you with the topic, so improving that page is often the fastest win you have.

1. 1Open Google Search Console and pick your site
2. 2Click Performance, then Search results
3. 3Turn on Average position alongside clicks and impressions
4. 4Open the Queries tab and sort by impressions
5. 5Note the queries ranking 8 to 20, then open the Pages tab to see which page ranks for each

Every number in your results, explained

The results come back as a short list, ordered by how well each keyword matches what you described, with the numbers you need to decide which to write about first.

Domain Rating (DR)

Ahrefs' 0 to 100 score for the strength of your site's backlink profile. We detect it from your domain, or you can type it in.

KD cap

The highest difficulty the list allows: your DR rounded, plus 25. A DR 28 site gets a cap of 53.

Volume

Roughly how many times a month the keyword is searched on Google in the US. It's an estimate averaged over the year, so seasonal keywords can be far higher in their peak months. Every keyword in the list has more than 10 searches a month.

Difficulty

A 0 to 100 estimate of how hard it is to reach Google's top 10, based on how strong the pages already ranking are. Each keyword tool calculates it differently, so compare scores within one tool rather than across tools.

Intent

What the searcher is trying to do. Informational: they want to learn something. Navigational: they want a particular site. Commercial: they're comparing options. Transactional: they're ready to buy or sign up.

What Domain Rating actually tells you

Domain Rating is a 0 to 100 score for the strength of your backlink profile. It isn't a Google metric, but it's a solid proxy for how much competitive weight your site can throw around: a DR 60 site can muscle into terms a DR 15 site has no business chasing yet.

It's also logarithmic. Climbing from DR 20 to 30 is far easier than 60 to 70, which is exactly why early wins should come from keywords already inside your reach rather than the ones you wish you ranked for.

Why a difficulty cap beats a wish list

Targeting a keyword with difficulty 75 when your DR is 20 isn't ambition, it's a wasted quarter. The page gets written, published, and never breaks the top 50, because the sites above it have hundreds of links you don't have.

Capping difficulty at roughly DR + 25 keeps every target inside striking distance. You rank, you earn links and traffic, your authority rises, and the cap rises with it. That's the ladder: each rung makes the next one reachable.

Short-tail vs long-tail keywords

Short-tail keywords are broad, usually one or two words, like "project management". They have big search volume, vague intent and the hardest competition. Long-tail keywords are longer and more specific, like "project management for small agencies". Each one gets fewer searches, but the intent is clearer, the competition is lighter and the visitors are closer to buying.

For a site still building authority, long-tail keywords are where rankings start. Win enough of them around one topic and the broader terms in that topic get easier too.

Check the results page before you write

A difficulty score is a shortcut. Before you commit to a keyword, search it on Google and look at what ranks. Five minutes here saves weeks spent on a page that was never going to fit.

What kind of pages rank

If the top results are product pages and you plan a blog post, or the reverse, Google has decided the intent and you're unlikely to change its mind. Write the kind of page that's already winning.

Who is ranking

Forums, small blogs and thin pages in the top 10 are a sign of a gap you can fill. A first page made up only of major brands and household-name publications is harder than any score suggests.

How well the question is answered

If the ranking pages are dated, shallow or miss part of the question, a more complete and current page has a real chance.

What else is on the page

AI Overviews, ads, maps and video results push the organic links down. A keyword can be worth less traffic than its volume suggests.

Local and seasonal keywords

If you serve a particular area, add the place to your keywords: "accountant in Leeds" is far easier to win than "accountant", and the people searching it can actually become customers. For searches like these, your Google Business Profile matters too, because it decides whether you show up in the map results.

Some keywords rise and fall through the year. Check them in Google Trends, and publish a few weeks before the peak so the page has time to be crawled and ranked when demand arrives.

Where to use a keyword once you've picked it

Give each page one main keyword and write for the person searching it. Use the keyword, or a close variation, in the places that tell searchers and search engines what the page is about. There's no ideal keyword density; repeating a phrase more doesn't help, and stuffing it in reads badly and can hurt.

Title tag

The clickable headline in search results. Put the keyword near the start.

H1 and subheadings

The main heading should match the topic; subheadings can carry related questions and variations.

Opening paragraph

Answer the query early, so readers and AI summaries find the answer without scrolling.

URL

Short and readable, like /project-management-for-agencies.

Meta description

It doesn't change rankings directly, but a description that matches the search earns more clicks.

Image alt text

Describe the image honestly. Include the keyword only where it fits naturally.

How to turn winnable keywords into rankings

A calibrated list is the starting point, not the finish. What turns it into traffic is covering topics properly and consistently rather than publishing one post and moving on.

1. 1Start with the lowest-difficulty terms that still have real intent
2. 2Group related keywords so one strong page can win several
3. 3Answer the query directly and completely, not in 400 thin words
4. 4Publish on a steady cadence so the topic looks owned, not dabbled in
5. 5Re-run as your DR climbs, the cap rises and new keywords open up

How long it takes to rank

There's no fixed timeline. For a low-difficulty keyword on an established site, a good page can rank within a few weeks. For a new site, expect several months before rankings settle. Review your pages in Search Console every month, and if a page hasn't moved after three to six months, look again at its intent match and depth before writing anything new.