Did you know you can do free intent-based keyword research for your website’s content using SEMRush? Ahrefs, another popular SEO research tool, doesn’t allow any free keyword research. SEMRush lets you research a limited amount of keywords fore free. You can do Free SEO intent-based keyword research to use in your website’s content and focus your search engine marketing or content marketing strategy.

In case you’re unfamiliar with SEMRush, it is one of the leading search engine optimization (SEO) research tools on the market. In addition to keyword research, SEMRush offers features like competitor website SEO analysis, keyword gap analysis, backlink audits, and general SEO website audits. Basically, it’s a really cool set of tools for insight into organic search engine data and ways to approach your website’s SEO strategy.

Why is Keyword Research Important?

In a nut shell, keyword research matters if and because SEO matters.

Keyword research is especially important if your website relies on organic visitors from search engines as a primary source of website-traffic. Your website gets more visitors when you rank on page 1 of search engine results pages. Optimizing your search engine rankings — where you rank, how often your rank, and what you’re ranking for — helps more people visit your website. And in turn, more people visiting your website means you have more opportunities to conduct business through your website.

Why is Search Intent Important?

Search intent is important because the intent of an online search tells you what the searcher wants to find search results for. When you know what someone is searching for it’s easier to provide the solution.

You can’t always know why someone is Googling. In fact, a lot of searches going through Google could probably be mistaken for having a number of different intents because they come without context. However, there are certain keywords and combinations of keywords where intent can be discerned with a relatively high-degree of confidence.

Buying Intent Keyword Research

For example, imagine people searching for a timely solution to their problem with the intent to buy. It’s a sure bet that some of them are typing “best [y] for [x]” in to the search box. These folks want to research the best solution for their problem and/or they’re ready to buy. Therefore, including the words best and for in your keyword research searches would help you discover keywords that people searching for best/for solutions are searching for — showing you which longtail keyword combinations are ideal to tailor your website’s content around for attracting more people.

Educational Intent Keyword Research

Similarly, imagine someone searching for educational purposes to find knowledge. To identify educational search intent with a higher-degree of confidence you could use Keyword Magic with the phrase how to. People searching how to [x] usually want to know how to do something. They might know the “for [y]” part of a buy-intent search because they have an issue in mind, but they’re likely still looking for the [x] of what’s going to solve their problem. Therefore, including the words how to in your keyword research searches would help to discover keywords that people are searching for longer-form content about — the sort of opportunities you could use to create lead magnets, pillar posts, and pathways to help people move from the research-phase of their buying journey to the buying-phase where you get to make a new customer.

Using SEMRush Keyword Magic to Find Intent Based Search Data

Step 1 – Start with a keyword

From your free SEMRush account, start at the Keyword Magic Tool. Keyword Magic is where you start a keyword search. To replicate the example above, begin by entering the word best.

Step 2 – Mix In Another Keyword

On the next screen, apply filters to narrow down the results to your liking. You can filter by specific search volumes, included and excluded word lists, estimated keyword ranking difficulty, and more.

To continue the example use the Include filter to include the word for. Including the word for means you’re new keyword search is for longtail phrases that have the words best and for.

Step 3 – Adjust Filters and Sort

Next, do you want to target keywords with a high percentage of keyword difficulty or a lower percentage of difficulty? Use the sort on the KD% column to sort results ascending or descending. Use Advanced Filters to set a min and max KD value to narrow the results.

Keyword Difficulty Ranking

Usually, higher difficulty numbers mean there’s more search volume for that keyword. That’s why it’s harder to rank for such keywords. Sometimes it’s worth it, but if you’re just starting out with data-driven SEO content strategies for your website it might make more sense to build your website’s reputation up by ranking for more easier to win search phrases to help you build website visitor audiences faster.

Sorting by Keyword Difficulty

Sorting by KD% lets you see the keyword results at the top and bottom of the range. You can provide top (max) and bottom (min) range values from the Advanced Filters menu to limit results. By limiting results you’re able to find more winnable longtail phrases that are worth your time.

Step 4 – Identify Longtail Opportunities

Once you’ve identified longtail keyword opportunities, use those search phases in your website’s content.

Step 5 – Repeat the Process

Rinse and repeat. Use new and related keyword matches to grow your website. Confidently meet the needs of your customers because through your keyword research you already know what information and solutions they’re searching for online.

Sign-up for a Free SEMRush Account

Currently, SEMRush allows 10 free keyword search requests per day. You get full-access Keyword Magic’s features, but limited-access to its results. When you’re using the free-version it’s helpful to know what types of opportunities you want to get out of Keyword Magic before you start. Having an idea of what you’re searching for, you can leverage the available sorting and filtering options to discover some of the better intent-driven results for your content marketing goals. Pretty cool, right?

Try it for yourself right now. Sign up for a free SEMRush account.

7-day Free Trial

I’m not sure if this is an all-the-time thing, but I noticed SEMRush is offering a free 7-day trial after you’ve exhausted your 10 free keyword searches while I was using SEMRush’s Keyword Magic tool. To get the free 7-day trial you do need to provide a method of payment — SEMRush is currently $119 per month to continue using after the free trial period runs out. Regardless, it’s a way to try SEMRush before you commit to buying a full SEMRush subscription.