Keyword research tells you what your audience is looking for. You can use that information to create content from search results and AI citations on platforms like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Google AI Overview.
This guide walks you through the process of doing keyword research with Semrush. You will learn that:
- Target keywords you already know for quick wins
- Discover new search terms related to your main topic
- Analyze competitor search performance to find gaps in both traditional and AI search results
- Organize keywords into groups, so you can target multiple keywords on the same page
Here’s a quick overview of the tools we’ll cover:
|
A tool |
It’s very good |
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Organic positions |
To see what keywords a website is already ranking for |
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Keyword Tool Magic |
Researching a new topic to test other keyword ideas |
|
Quick Study |
Figuring out how questions are posed to AI tools and identifying commands to target |
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Keyword gap |
Finding specific keywords that your competitors are importing that you don’t want |
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Competitive Research |
Finding titles where competitors have AI visibility but you don’t |
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Keyword Strategy Builder |
Converting a list of keywords into topic groups to create a content plan for your site |
1. Review your existing search engine rankings.
Reviewing the terms you’ve already ranked, and how well you rate them, helps you identify easy opportunities to improve with minimal effort.
Open Organic Rankings and enter your domain. Check “Overview” report a summary of your keywords ranking, traffic estimates, and how both are trending.
Then click on “Positions” tab and scroll through the “Live Search Positions” table to see the keywords your site is already ranking for – topics where you have authority and the fastest opportunities to improve visibility.
From here, narrow down the keywords that should be prioritized with the following filters:
- Position: 7-20 (the level just below where pages can get clicks)
- Volume: 100+ (shows reasonable demand)
- Keyword difficulty: Less than 50% (to avoid highly competitive keywords)
Select the keywords you want to focus on and save them in the list using the checkbox feature and “+ Add to the list of keywordsbutton ” You will build on this list as you go through the rest of the research.
Tip: Evaluate each keyword in depth by clicking on it and opening the Keyword Overview report, which will show you keyword metrics and SERP analysis.
2. Get new keyword ideas
With Semrush you can generate new keyword ideas and narrow them down to a focused set of opportunities that you can compete against.
Start with the Keyword Magic Tool. Enter a name related to your business and add your domain to the AI-powered field.
The tool will return a list of keywords and metrics that help you evaluate each opportunity.
Focus on these signals:
- Search volume average number of monthly searches for a keyword
- Keyword difficulty (KD %): how hard is it to be ranked in the top 10
- Personal keyword difficulty (PKD %): how difficult it is for your particular domain to measure
If your PKD % is close to or lower than your KD %, you are in good competitive shape.
If it’s too high, your site doesn’t have the necessary authority to rank for that keyword yet. Focus instead on building authority on that topic by creating content about related, less competitive terms. As your site gets more established, you can return to these highly competitive keywords.
Note: If you can’t find keywords with a realistic PKD %, it’s a sign that you don’t have enough authority on that topic. If so, focus on topics with low competition where you can get visibility.
Find keywords for common questions
The “Questions” filter is another way to find long-tail terms that contain your seed name.
This shows how people naturally ask questions in search engines – and increasingly, how they value AI tools. Responsive style content built around these questions can help a website stand out in both traditional ranking and AI citations.
Identify topics people are asking AI about
Search data shows what people type into Google, but not how they interact with AI tools or what drives AI-generated answers. To uncover the prompts and topics people are asking about AI, use the Research Prompt in the AI Visibility Toolkit.
Enter a topic to see how it is broken down into subtopics and notifications.
The “Articles” tab gives you a top view of related topics and their AI search demand, helping you quickly identify areas to explore.
Click on a topic to expand it and review the information.
Here you will see real questions that users are asking, as well as AI answers and a list of products mentioned and sources cited. Use these results to understand how people are asking questions, and what types of topics the AI is suggesting.
These are topics you can use to target your content for visibility on AI platforms.
3. Analyze your competitor’s keywords to find gaps
Your competitors are already capturing visibility for topics you may not have. Use their performance to identify where you should expand or improve your content.
Find gaps in SERP results
Use the Keyword Gap tool to compare your site to competitors.
Enter your domain and a few competitors, select “Organic keywords,” and click “There is none” tab.
This shows the keywords your competitors rank for that you’re not seeing, and those are opportunities you can create content to beat the competition.
As you review them, look for relevant, non-branded keywords combined with your important topics. These represent clear opportunities to include new topics and compete for organic traffic.
Identify gaps in AI visibility
To find gaps in AI-driven results, use the Competitive Research report in the AI Visibility Toolkit.
Enter your domain and your top competitors in the Competitor Research and scroll down to the “Articles and Information” section.
Click on “Information“and”There is none” switch to see articles where your competitors are mentioned but you are not.
Similar to Keyword Gap, this tool shows you the topics where your competitors are getting AI, but you are not.
As you review both the Keyword Gap and Competitive Research reports, note the keywords and commands that are relevant to your business and relevant to your existing or planned content.
Focus on spaces that represent meaningful topics, not just individual terms. These are areas where expanding or improving your content can help you compete for visibility across search and AI.
4. Organize keywords into topic groups
Once you have a complete list of keywords, use the Keyword Strategy Builder to group them into so-called keyword clusters.
With collection keywords, you can target an entire collection on a single page. This allows the page to display more questions.
Open your keyword list in the Keyword Strategy Builder and click “Combine this list” to automatically combine related terms.
The resulting view will tell you how many pages you should create, and the search volume for each group the page will target.
This gives you a sense of the need behind each article.
Expand the collection to review keywords, metrics, and rank pages.
Within each group, you’ll see the keywords grouped together, their search volume and difficulty, and examples of pages that are currently ranking.
Review this together to understand what the topic actually covers. Aggregated keywords show how people are searching for a topic, while ranked pages show what type of content is currently active.
This is the point where your keyword list becomes your publishing plan to create content that is highly visible and able to attract visitors.
Monitor results and improve your approach
Once you’ve found your keywords, you’ll want to see if you’re getting good results as you create or optimize your content to target them.
Use Semrush’s Position Tracking tool to monitor the performance of your targeted keywords. Follow the instructions to set up your project by adding your list of keywords and choosing your platform to track visibility (Google, ChatGPT, Gemini, etc).
You will be able to see:
- Daily visibility changes for target keywords
- How do your ratings compare to your competitors?
- What pages are ranking for each keyword
- What SERP features (such as AI Overviews) appear in the results
The “Summary” widget provides a quick overview of recent changes with links to detailed reports.
Start your keyword research
Keyword research is how you find the right topics to create content around – Google and AI.
Use Semrush One to get quick wins in existing keyword rankings, uncover content gaps, and build a content plan. Try it for free today.