Welcome to your definitive guide on mastering keyword research for a brand-new website. In the competitive digital landscape of 2025, understanding what your potential customers are searching for isn't just an advantage—it's the very foundation of your online success. Many business owners and new entrepreneurs believe that effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) requires a hefty investment in expensive, complex tools. This article is here to shatter that myth.

Welcome to your definitive guide on mastering keyword research for a brand-new website. In the competitive digital landscape of 2025, understanding what your potential customers are searching for isn't just an advantage—it's the very foundation of your online success. Many business owners and new entrepreneurs believe that effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) requires a hefty investment in expensive, complex tools. This article is here to shatter that myth.

Today, I will walk you through a powerful, step-by-step strategy to conduct comprehensive keyword research using only two free, powerhouse tools: Google Keyword Planner and ChatGPT. This method will not only help you identify high-value keywords but also build a strategic content plan that establishes your website's authority from day one, even in the most competitive niches. Whether you're a local law firm, an e-commerce startup, or a niche blogger, this guide will equip you with a complete content blueprint to start ranking.

Why Keyword Research is the Bedrock of SEO Success

Before we dive into the "how," let's briefly touch upon the "why." Keyword research is the process of discovering the words and phrases (keywords) that people use in search engines like Google. A successful strategy goes beyond just finding popular terms; it's about understanding the intent behind them.

• Understanding Your Audience: Keywords are a direct line into the thoughts of your target audience. They reveal their problems, questions, and needs.
• Driving Qualified Traffic: By targeting the right keywords, you attract visitors who are actively looking for the solutions, products, or services you provide. This is the difference between getting random visitors and attracting potential customers.
• Building Topical Authority: Search engines aim to provide users with the most authoritative and comprehensive answers. By creating a cluster of content around a specific topic, you signal to Google that you are an expert in that field, making it easier to rank for competitive terms over time.
• Informing Your Entire Content Strategy: From your main service pages to your blog posts and FAQs, keyword research dictates what you should write about to capture every stage of the customer journey.

Your Free SEO Power Duo: Google Keyword Planner & ChatGPT

The beauty of this method lies in its accessibility. We'll be using two incredibly powerful platforms that are completely free to use.

1. Google Keyword Planner: Originally designed for advertisers using Google Ads, this tool is a goldmine for SEOs. It provides data directly from Google, offering insights into search volume, competition, and, most importantly for our strategy, the ability to analyze a competitor's website to see the keywords it's associated with.
2. ChatGPT: An advanced AI language model, ChatGPT will act as our personal SEO strategist. We will use it to analyze raw data, group keywords semantically, determine user intent, generate secondary keywords, and brainstorm a long-term content plan—all in a matter of minutes.

Now, let's get started.

Step 1: Identify and Analyze a Key Competitor

Your journey begins not on your own website, but on a competitor's. For a new site with no existing data, the easiest way to find a starting point is to see who is already succeeding.

How to Find a Competitor:

Simply perform a Google search for your primary service or product in your target location. For example, if you are a law firm in London, you would search for "accountants London" or "family law solicitors London." The websites that appear on the first page, particularly in the organic results (not the ads), are your top competitors.

For this guide, we'll use the example of a law firm and identify a competitor ranking on the first page: duncanlewis.co.uk. They hold a strong position for the highly competitive term "Accountants London." Our goal is to reverse-engineer their success.

Copy the competitor's homepage URL. This is the key that will unlock our initial data.

Step 2: Extract a Goldmine of Keywords with Google Keyword Planner

With your competitor's URL in hand, it's time to head over to Google Keyword Planner.

Instructions:

1. Navigate to the Google Ads platform. You may need to create an account, but you do not need to run an ad campaign. It is completely free to sign up and access the tools.
2. Once logged in, look for "Tools and settings" in the top navigation bar.
3. Under the "Planning" column, click on Keyword Planner.
4. You will be presented with two options. Choose "Discover new keywords."
5. Select the "Start with a website" tab.
6. Paste your competitor's URL (e.g., https://www.duncanlewis.co.uk/) into the search bar.
7. Ensure the option "Use the entire site" is selected. This will give you the broadest possible list of keyword ideas.
8. Click "Get results."

In an instant, Google will generate a massive list of keywords it deems relevant to that website. In this example, it returned over 2,155 keyword ideas. This list is essentially a map of every topic and service area for which Google recognizes your competitor. It might include high-intent service keywords like "child custody lawyers" alongside informational queries they rank for.

Step 3: Export and Organize Your Raw Data

Looking at thousands of keywords can be overwhelming. The next step is to export this data into a more manageable format.

At the top right of the Keyword Planner results page, you'll see a "Download keyword ideas" button. Click it and choose to download the list as a Google Sheet (or a .CSV file if you prefer Excel).

Name your sheet something descriptive, like "[Competitor Name] - Keyword Export." Now you have a clean, workable list of all the keywords your competitor is potentially ranking for.

Step 4: Use AI to Transform Raw Data into Actionable Insights

This is where the magic happens. We will now leverage ChatGPT to do the heavy lifting of analysis that would typically take an SEO expert hours or even days.

First, you'll want to refine your list. While you can use all 2,000+ keywords, it's more efficient to start with a focused selection. From your Google Sheet, copy a relevant subset of keywords. For our example, let's select the top 60 most relevant keywords.

Next, go to ChatGPT and use the following detailed prompt. This prompt is engineered to extract maximum value from your keyword list.

ChatGPT Prompt 1: Keyword Analysis & GroupingHere is a list of my competitor's keywords. I need you to act as an expert SEO analyst. Please perform the following tasks:

1. Determine the primary user intent for each keyword (e.g., Transactional, Informational, Commercial Investigation).
2. Group keywords that should target the same page. For example, "divorce lawyer" and "divorce solicitor" should be on one page.
3. Create a column for the primary keyword for each group.
4. Estimate the ranking difficulty for each primary keyword on a scale of Low, Medium, or High.
5. For each primary keyword/page, suggest a list of secondary keywords (LSI keywords, long-tail variations) that should be included in the content.

Here is the list:[Paste your 60 keywords here]

ChatGPT will process this and return a beautifully structured table containing your primary keywords, the user intent behind them, their estimated difficulty, and a list of crucial secondary keywords for each page.

The New Website Dilemma: Tackling High-Difficulty Keywords

As you review the AI-generated output, you'll likely notice a recurring theme: the most valuable, transactional keywords (like "child custody lawyer" or "immigration solicitors") are all marked with "High" difficulty.

This is a critical realization for any new website. A domain registered just a few days ago simply doesn't have the authority or backlinks to compete for these terms head-on. Trying to do so is a recipe for frustration.

So, what's the solution? We need to build topical authority.

Topical authority is an SEO concept that refers to a website's perceived expertise within a specific niche. You build it by creating a comprehensive web of content around a core topic. Instead of just creating one page for "divorce lawyers," you create that main page and then surround it with dozens of helpful, informational articles that answer every conceivable question a user might have about divorce law.

This network of supporting content signals to Google that your website is a definitive resource on the topic, making it more likely to rank your main "money page" over time.

Step 5: Building Your Content Fortress with Supporting Articles

Our next step is to use ChatGPT to brainstorm these essential supporting articles. We will ask it to generate long-tail keyword ideas, which are longer, more specific, and generally less competitive search queries.

Go back to your ChatGPT conversation and use the following prompt:

ChatGPT Prompt 2: Generating Supporting Article IdeasYou are a linguistic and semantic SEO expert. Based on the primary keywords you identified, I need you to give me a list of 10 supporting article ideas for each primary keyword. These articles should be based on long-tail keywords and answer specific user questions. The goal is to build my topical authority as a law firm in London. Please focus on informational intent.(Note: You can easily customize the location and industry, e.g., "as a digital marketing agency in New York" or "as an e-commerce store selling hiking gear.")

The AI will now generate a comprehensive list of blog post titles and topics, neatly organized under each of your primary service pages.

For the primary keyword "Child Custody Lawyer," you might get ideas like:

• "How to Choose the Best Child Custody Lawyer in London for Your Case"
• "Understanding London's Child Custody Laws: A 2025 Guide"
• "Navigating Child Custody Mediation in the UK: What to Expect"
• "The Role of a Child Custody Lawyer During Divorce Proceedings in London"

Repeat this for all your primary keywords, and you will suddenly have a content plan consisting of 50, 60, or even 100+ articles. Copy all of this valuable information and paste it into a new tab in your Google Sheet.

Step 6 (Bonus): Prioritizing Your Content for Maximum Impact

You now have a massive list of content to create: your core service pages and dozens of supporting articles. But where do you start? The final step is to create a strategic publishing schedule based on difficulty. We want to target the "low-hanging fruit" first.

By ranking for easier, long-tail keywords, you'll start generating traffic and building authority faster. This initial momentum will help you rank for more difficult terms later on.

Use this final prompt in ChatGPT:

ChatGPT Prompt 3: Content PrioritizationBased on the supporting article ideas you just generated, I want you to prioritize them in a table. The primary sorting criteria should be estimated difficulty, from lowest to highest. This will be my content publishing calendar. Please include columns for: Primary Keyword (the service page it supports), Supporting Article Title, and Estimated Difficulty (Low, Medium, High). This will allow me to copy and paste it directly into my Google sheet.

ChatGPT will now re-organize your entire list of supporting articles, presenting you with a clear, prioritized content plan. It will show you exactly which articles to write and publish first to get the quickest results. For a competitive niche like law, it might start with "Medium" difficulty topics, but it will intelligently order them for you.

Your Final Content Blueprint

After completing these steps, you will have a comprehensive Google Sheet that contains:

1. A List of Core Service Pages: The main transactional pages you need to build on your website (e.g., "Divorce Lawyers," "Immigration Lawyers").
2. A List of Secondary Keywords: Crucial terms and phrases to include on each of those service pages.
3. A Prioritized List of Supporting Articles: A full content calendar of 50+ blog posts, ordered by difficulty, designed to build your topical authority.
4. A Clear Internal Linking Map: You know exactly which supporting articles should link back to which core service pages.

You have just accomplished in under an hour what traditionally takes weeks of manual research and significant financial investment. You have a data-driven, strategic SEO content plan ready for execution.

Conclusion: From Zero to SEO Hero

Keyword research in 2025 doesn't have to be a barrier to entry for new businesses. By cleverly combining the raw data from Google Keyword Planner with the analytical and creative power of AI like ChatGPT, you can level the playing field. You can uncover what's working for your competitors, understand the needs of your audience, and build a powerful content strategy that drives organic growth from the ground up.

This method is not just about finding keywords; it's about creating a comprehensive ecosystem of content that establishes you as an authority. Now, it's time to stop guessing and start creating. Take this blueprint, start writing your first low-difficulty articles, and watch your new website begin its journey to the top of the search results.