Free Keyword Research for Beginners: How to Use Google Keyword Planner and Search Console

You do not need a $99-a-month SEO subscription to figure out what people search for. I say this having wasted money on one for three months before canceling. Google gives you two free tools that cover the whole job for a small site: Keyword Planner tells you what people look for, and Search Console tells you what they already find you for.

Here’s how both work, step by step, plus a spreadsheet setup that keeps it all organized.

First, the concept that decides everything: intent

Before touching any tool, understand this one thing, what the searcher actually wants.

• Informational: “how to make an invoice,” “what is a payment gateway.” They want to learn. That’s your blog article territory.
• Navigational: “hostinger login.” They want a specific site. Skip these entirely.
• Commercial: “best hosting for small business.” They’re comparing. Good for comparison pieces.
• Transactional: “buy .com domain.” They’re ready to act. Product and service pages live here.

Match your content type to intent or don’t bother. A sales page won’t rank for a “how to” keyword, and a how-to article won’t convert someone who typed “buy now.”

Step 1: Keyword Planner

It lives inside Google Ads, but here’s the trick nobody mentions upfront: you don’t have to spend a single rupiah.

1. Make a free Google Ads account. When it pushes you to create a campaign, pick “Expert mode” or just skip it, you only want the tools.
2. Go to Tools, then Planning, then Keyword Planner.
3. Hit “Discover new keywords” and type a seed topic your customers would actually search, “homemade granola,” “freelance invoice,” whatever your business is.
4. Read the results. Three columns matter: the keyword itself, average monthly searches, and competition.

What to grab:

• Long-tail stuff (3+ words). “How to make an invoice for freelance work” has a fraction of the competition “invoice” does. Lower volume, sure, but a new site can actually win it.
• Keywords where the intent is obvious. If you can’t tell what the searcher wants from the phrase, skip it.
• Question-style phrases. “Cara membuat,” “how much does”, those are article titles Google hands you for free.

Export the list to a spreadsheet when you’re done.

One thing about the volume numbers: Planner shows ranges like “100 to 1K” unless you’re running paid ads. Doesn’t matter. You don’t need precision, you need relative signals. “1K to 10K” clearly beats “10 to 100,” and that’s enough to rank your priorities.

Step 2: Search Console, where the gold hides

Once your site is verified at search.google.com/search-console, it starts logging every search where your pages appeared, including keywords you never targeted.

1. Open Performance, then Search results.
2. Set the range to the last 3 months.
3. Click the Queries tab. Those are the exact words real people typed before finding you.

Two opportunities in there:

• Page 2 keywords. Sort by position, find everything ranking 11 to 30. You’re close already, improving those pages (better content, clearer headings, internal links) is the fastest SEO win that exists. I found four of these on my first look.
• Accidental keywords. Queries bringing impressions that you never wrote for are free topic ideas. Write a dedicated article for each one.

Step 3: Picking battles a new site can win

A fresh domain has no authority, so be honest about it:

• Long-tail over head terms, every single time.
• Google your keyword first. If page 1 is all marketplaces and giant publishers, go more specific.
• Stay in your lane. A keyword only matters if your business can serve that searcher. Traffic that never converts is just an ego number.
• One primary keyword per page. Two pages chasing the same term split your own ranking power in half.

Two more free sources worth ten minutes

• Autocomplete. Type your topic into Google slowly and watch what it suggests. Those completions come from real searches.
• People Also Ask. The question boxes in results are pre-validated article titles and FAQ material. Grab them, answer them.

A quick worked example

Say you sell handmade candles. “Candle” in Keyword Planner? High volume, brutal competition, forget it. “Soy candle” is still tough. But “how to make soy candles last longer” is a long-tail informational keyword with weak competition that a beginner site can genuinely win. Meanwhile Search Console shows 40 impressions for “candle gift box” on a page that barely mentions gifts. There’s your list: one new article, one strengthened page. Took me longer to type this paragraph than it would take you to find that.

Your keyword spreadsheet

Keyword	Monthly volume	Intent	Competition	Target page	Status
how to make an invoice	1,000 to 10,000	Informational	Medium	/blog/how-to-make-invoice	Draft
free invoice template	100 to 1,000	Commercial	Low	/blog/invoice-template	Published

Review monthly. As your library grows, link related articles together, an invoice article pointing to your payment gateway guide tells Google your site covers the whole topic, not just one phrase.

One hour, this week

Screenshot your first Keyword Planner results and Search Console queries before you do anything else. Six months from now they’re your “look how far we came” baseline.

Then block one hour. Three seed topics through Keyword Planner, export, check Search Console for page-2 keywords. You’ll finish with a realistic article list and spend nothing.