Keyword research without expensive tools for Indian businesses

Most Indian businesses that come to us have been told they need Ahrefs or SEMrush before they can do any SEO. Both tools cost upwards of ₹6,000 to ₹15,000 per month. For an SMB just starting out, that is not realistic. The good news is that free and near-free options can get you 80 percent of the way there, especially if you are targeting a local or regional audience rather than competing nationally.

Start with Google itself

Google gives you keyword data if you know where to look. Type a broad term into the search bar and watch the autocomplete suggestions. These are real queries people are typing right now. If you run a CA firm in Pune and type "GST filing Pune," Google will show you what people actually search for, not what you assume they search for.

Google's "People also ask" boxes are gold. Screenshot them. Each question is a potential blog topic or FAQ entry. The related searches at the bottom of the results page are another free source. None of this requires a paid tool.

Google Search Console is the most underused free tool available. If your site has been live for even a few months, Search Console shows you exactly which queries are bringing people to your site, along with average position and click-through rate. Sort by impressions descending and you will find keywords you already rank for but are not fully optimised on.

Use Google Keyword Planner correctly

Google Keyword Planner is free with a Google Ads account, and you do not need to run ads to use it. The catch is that it shows volume ranges rather than exact numbers unless you have an active campaign. For Indian businesses targeting Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities, that is often fine. Knowing a keyword gets "1,000 to 10,000 monthly searches" in Maharashtra is enough to decide whether it is worth targeting.

Enter your competitor's homepage URL into Keyword Planner and look at what Google associates with their site. This is a quick way to find topics you might have missed.

Look at competitor content manually

Pick two or three competitors who are ranking well in your city or niche. Open their blog or resources section and note what they write about. You are not copying their content. You are learning what topics matter to your shared audience. If three competitors all have a page about "best accountant in Bengaluru," that keyword clearly has demand.

You can also use Ubersuggest's free tier, which gives you a few searches per day before hitting a limit. For an early-stage business, a few searches per day is often enough to build an initial keyword list over a few weeks.

Think about intent before volume

A keyword getting 500 monthly searches in your city can be worth more than one getting 50,000 nationally. The person searching "CA for startup registration Hyderabad" is ready to hire. The person searching "what is GST" is curious but may be nowhere near ready to buy.

Sort your keywords into three buckets: awareness (people learning), consideration (people comparing options), and decision (people ready to act). Decision-stage keywords are usually the most commercially valuable, even if their search volume looks low. Most Indian SMBs only target awareness keywords and then wonder why their SEO does not convert.

Prioritise keywords where you can realistically rank. If a national brand with 10,000 backlinks dominates the top three results, competing directly is not a good use of your time right now. Find gaps where smaller, local sites are ranking and aim for those first.

Build a simple tracking sheet

Use Google Sheets. Columns for keyword, search volume estimate, difficulty (your gut feeling based on who ranks), intent, and page it maps to on your site. Keep it simple. A hundred keywords you actually act on beats a thousand keywords sitting in an Ahrefs export you never open.

Revisit the sheet every quarter. Search behaviour changes, especially in India where new internet users from smaller towns are constantly joining and searching in different ways.

Frequently asked questions