Keyword Research & Clustering

Research keywords, expand them systematically, cluster by topic and intent, and prioritize for content strategy — all without expensive tools.

Required Input

Ask the user for:

Niche/Industry — What space are you in?
Target Audience — Who are you writing for?
Business Goal — Traffic, leads, sales, authority?
Existing Content — Do you have a site/blog already?

The 6 Circles Method

Generate 13 content ideas from a single seed keyword using nested topic clusters.

                ┌─────────────────────┐
                │   PRIMARY KEYWORD   │  ← 1 pillar topic
                │   (Largest Circle)  │
                └─────────────────────┘
                          │
        ┌─────────────────┼─────────────────┐
        ▼                 ▼                 ▼
 ┌───────────┐     ┌───────────┐     ┌───────────┐
 │ Sub-topic │     │ Sub-topic │     │ Sub-topic │  ← 3 supporting themes
 │     A     │     │     B     │     │     C     │
 └───────────┘     └───────────┘     └───────────┘
        │                 │                 │
  ┌─────┼─────┐     ┌─────┼─────┐     ┌─────┼─────┐
  ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼
 [1]   [2]   [3]   [4]   [5]   [6]   [7]   [8]   [9]  ← 9 content pieces

Process:

Identify primary keyword — high-traffic, high-intent topic in your niche
Brainstorm 3 sub-topics — related themes that support the primary
Generate 3 pieces per sub-topic — specific articles addressing aspects of each

Content Types for Supporting Pieces

Type Example

How-to Guide "How to [achieve outcome] with [method]"

Comparison "[Option A] vs [Option B]: Which is better for [use case]"

List Post "[Number] [adjective] ways to [achieve result]"

Case Study "How [persona] achieved [result] using [approach]"

Trend Analysis "[Topic] trends in [year]: What's changing"

Beginner Guide "[Topic] for beginners: Everything you need to know"

Tool Review "Best [category] tools for [audience/use case]"

Problem-Solution "Why [problem happens] and how to fix it"

Seed Generation (50–100 Keywords)

Google Autocomplete & PAA

Type [keyword]

a–z variations

"how to [keyword]", "best [keyword] for", "[keyword] vs"
Capture People Also Ask questions from SERP

Community Mining

Source What to Extract

Reddit Pain points, questions, terminology

Quora Question patterns, answer gaps

Industry Forums Niche-specific problems

YouTube Comments Objections, confusion points

Amazon Reviews Customer language, unmet needs

Reddit Mining Protocol

Search queries:

site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "how do I" site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "help" site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "struggling with" site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "recommend" site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "vs"

Extract: Questions asked repeatedly (content opportunities), complaints about existing solutions (angle differentiation), terminology and slang (keyword variations), upvote patterns (demand signals).

Keyword Expansion Techniques

Modifier Categories

Question modifiers:

What is {keyword} / How to {keyword} / Why {keyword} / When to {keyword}

Comparative modifiers:

{keyword} vs {competitor} / {keyword} alternatives / best {keyword} / {keyword} comparison

Intent modifiers:

{keyword} guide / {keyword} tutorial / {keyword} examples / {keyword} template / buy {keyword} / {keyword} pricing

Audience modifiers:

{keyword} for beginners / {keyword} for {industry} / {keyword} for small business / {keyword} for enterprise

Expansion Procedure

Extract current topic scope and any exclusions
Propose expansions: synonyms, related terms, acronyms
Add explicit exclusions for common false positives
Document "why" for each change
Keep query count manageable — merge near-duplicates instead of adding many variations

Free Tool Arsenal

Demand Research

Tool Use For Access

Google Keyword Planner Volume ranges, competition ads.google.com (free account)

Google Trends Seasonality, rising topics trends.google.com

Ahrefs Free Generator 150 suggestions with difficulty ahrefs.com/keyword-generator

Ubersuggest 3 searches/day with metrics neilpatel.com/ubersuggest

Intent Discovery

Tool Use For Access

Google Autocomplete Real-time user queries Type in search bar

People Also Ask Question-based content Scroll down in SERP

Answer the Public Visual question maps answerthepublic.com

AlsoAsked PAA clustering alsoasked.com

Competition Assessment (Manual SERP Analysis)

For each target keyword, analyze top 10 results:

Signal What to Look For Opportunity If...

Content Depth Word count, comprehensiveness Top results are thin (<1000 words)

Freshness Publication date, last update Top results are 2+ years old

Format Match Does format match intent? Results don't match searcher need

Authority Gap Domain strength of rankers Small sites ranking (not all big brands)

Content Gaps Missing subtopics, unanswered questions PAA questions not covered

Sweet Spot Targets by Site Stage

Site Stage Monthly Search Volume Competition Level

New site (0–6 months) 100–500 Low

Growing site (6–18 months) 500–2,000 Low–Medium

Established site (18+ months) 1,000–10,000 Medium

Clustering Algorithm

Extract seed topics — Identify main themes from expanded list
Group by semantic similarity — Keywords with overlapping meaning
Map intent — Assign Informational / Commercial / Transactional / Navigational
Identify pillar — Highest-volume, broadest term = pillar page
Map supporting — Lower-volume terms support pillar

Cluster Structure Example

PILLAR: "content marketing" (highest volume) ├── CLUSTER: "content marketing strategy" (commercial) │ ├── content marketing plan template │ ├── content marketing framework │ └── how to create content marketing strategy ├── CLUSTER: "content marketing examples" (informational) │ ├── B2B content marketing examples │ ├── content marketing case studies │ └── content marketing success stories └── CLUSTER: "content marketing tools" (commercial) ├── best content marketing tools ├── content marketing software └── content marketing platforms

Intent Classification

Signal Intent

"what is", "how to", "guide" Informational

"best", "vs", "review", "compare" Commercial

"buy", "price", "discount", brand Transactional

Brand name, specific product Navigational

Prioritization Matrix

Score each keyword 1–10:

Keyword Demand Competition Intent Fit Opportunity

[keyword] [1–10] [1–10, lower=easier] [1–10] Demand − Competition

Prioritize: Opportunity score > 3, Intent fit > 6

Output Format

Keyword Research: [Niche/Topic]

6 Circles Content Plan

Primary Keyword: [keyword]

Monthly searches: [range]
Competition: [low/medium/high]
Intent: [informational/commercial/transactional]

Sub-topic A: [theme]

[Article idea] — [target keyword] — [volume]
[Article idea] — [target keyword] — [volume]
[Article idea] — [target keyword] — [volume]

Sub-topic B: [theme]

4–6. [...]

Sub-topic C: [theme]

7–9. [...]

Prioritized Content Queue

Priority	Topic	Keyword	Volume	Difficulty	Opportunity
1	[topic]	[keyword]	[vol]	[1–10]	[score]

Quick Wins (Low Competition, Decent Volume)

[keyword 1] — [rationale]
[keyword 2] — [rationale]

Content Gaps Found

[gap 1] — competitors missing [what]
[gap 2] — outdated content on [topic]

Community Insights

Top pain point: [description]
Common question: [question]
Terminology used: [terms]

Related Skills

seo-and-aeo-strategy — SEO optimization and AI search visibility
content-strategy-and-planning — Detailed content strategy from keyword research
content-creation-and-marketing — Writing the actual content
programmatic-seo — Building SEO pages at scale from keyword data

keyword-research-and-clustering

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