I do keyword research for my blog with a notebook, a browser and nothing else, and the clearest explanation of why that works came from this online marketing magazine. Paid tools are lovely. They are also useless if I never get round to writing the posts.

I start with questions. Real ones, from actual customers, in the words they used. The email asking why a page takes so long to show up is a keyword. So is the thing several people asked me at a market stall, and so is the question my neighbour asked over the fence. Those beat a spreadsheet every time, because they come with the intent already attached.

Then I type the rough idea into the search box and read what the engine suggests. Autocomplete is free research, and it is written by people, not by a tool. At the bottom of the results page there is usually a block of related searches, and that is where I find the odd phrasing people use, the one I would never have guessed on my own.

Next I look at what already ranks. Not to copy it. To see the shape of the answer people expect, and to spot the question nobody bothered to answer properly.

One topic per page. That rule keeps me honest. If I notice myself trying to cover two things in one post, I split it, because a page that half answers two questions answers neither one.

And I happily take the smaller searches. Fewer people, sure. But when someone types a narrow question, they want exactly that thing, and they stay to read it. A trickle of readers who care beats a flood who bounce.