A good SEO strategy starts with choosing the right keywords. In highly competitive keywords you may get no results for years, and on keywords nobody searches for you may produce content in vain. Semrush is one of the most widely used tools for striking this balance. In this guide, we walk through keyword research with Semrush step by step.

4 metrics to look at in keyword research

  • Search volume: The average number of monthly searches for the keyword.
  • Keyword difficulty (KD%): How hard it is to reach the first page. For new sites, low and medium difficulty keywords are more realistic.
  • Search intent: Whether the user is looking for information, comparing products, or ready to buy.
  • Cost per click (CPC): An indicator of how much advertisers value that keyword; a high CPC usually means high commercial value.

Step 1: Examine the main keyword with Keyword Overview

In Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool, enter your main keyword (e.g. "wordpress theme") and select Turkey as the country. Search volume, difficulty, intent and the results on the first page are visible on a single screen. The size of the sites on the first page gives you a quick idea about the competition.

Step 2: Expand ideas with Keyword Magic Tool

Keyword Magic Tool generates thousands of variations from your main keyword. The following filters are very useful here:

  • Questions: Searches starting with "how", "what", "which"; ideal for blog post ideas.
  • KD% filter: List keywords with low difficulty.
  • Word count: Long-tail searches with 3 or more words are less competitive and have clearer intent.

Step 3: Find your competitors’ keywords

Enter a competitor’s site address into the Organic Research tool. You will see which keywords the competitor gets traffic from and which of its pages receive the most visits. The Keyword Gap tool lists the keywords that your competitors rank for and you do not; these are direct content ideas.

Step 4: Group keywords and assign them to pages

Gather keywords with the same intent on a single page. For example, "wp rocket settings" and "how to install wp rocket" can be targeted in the same guide. Assigning one main keyword and a few supporting keywords to each page prevents your site from competing with itself (keyword cannibalization).

Step 5: Track your rankings

With Position Tracking, you can monitor your rankings for your target keywords daily. Seeing which content is rising makes your next content decisions clearer.

Short-term or long-term access to Semrush?

If you are going to do bulk keyword research and competitor analysis for a site, short-term access is often enough. The Semrush Guru 14-Day and Semrush One 14-Day options in our store are ideal for this job. For regular use, you can review the Semrush product page. For a quick site SEO score and audit, Seoptimer is also a practical alternative.

Conclusion

Good keyword research is about balancing volume, difficulty and intent. The healthiest path is to start with low-competition question keywords and move to more competitive ones as your site grows. You can find all SEO tools in the SEO Tools category.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Semrush’s free version enough?

With a free account you can make a very limited number of queries per day; for serious keyword research or competitor analysis, these limits fill up quickly. Paid access is needed for comprehensive work.

Does Semrush provide accurate data for Turkish keywords?

When you select Turkey as the database in Semrush, you see the volume and difficulty data for Turkish searches. Since volume values are estimates, they should be interpreted as a comparison between keywords rather than exact figures.

How many keywords should I target on a single page?

Ideally, one main keyword per page and a few supporting keywords with the same intent. Producing separate content for keywords with different intents gives better results than cramming them into the same page.