Stop Flying Blind
Build a keyword research process that doesn't start with Google Keyword Planner five intent-signal inputs, T1/T2/T3 tiering, and a Search Terms loop that improves your list every week.
Overview
Five free research inputs, a three-tier keyword framework, and a weekly Search Terms review producing a launch-ready list with intent rationale for every T1 keyword.
Lessons
Lesson 1.1: What Keyword Planner Is Actually Optimizing For
By the end of this lesson, you'll understand why Keyword Planner's data is systematically unreliable for research purposes, and why that's a design feature, not a bug.
Lesson 1.2: The Tool Trap — Why Paying More Doesn't Fix the Problem
By the end of this lesson, you'll know what paid keyword tools are actually good for, and when the expense is and isn't justified for a Google Ads campaign.
Lesson 1.3: What Good Keyword Research Actually Looks Like
By the end of this lesson, you'll know what the output of a good keyword research process looks like, and what it does not look like so you have a clear target before you build your list.
Assignment 1: Audit Your Existing Approach
What this assignment produces: An honest account of where your current keywords came from, how many started as Planner suggestions vs. real intent signals, and one sentence about what that means for the quality of yo
Lesson 2.1: Input 1 — Buyer Language
By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to extract seed keywords from your own first-party sources the most reliable, zero-cost, highest-intent research input available to you.
Lesson 2.2: Input 2 — Google Autocomplete
By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to use Google's autocomplete systematically as a free keyword research tool, and how to mine negative keywords at the same time.
Lesson 2.3: Input 3 — Reading the SERP
By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to read a search results page for intent signals, and how to use what competitors are advertising to make faster, more confident keyword decisions.
Lesson 2.4: Input 4 — Competitor Research (The Free Version)
By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to learn what your competitors are doing in paid search without a tool subscription, using only your browser and a few minutes of attention.
Lesson 2.5: Input 5 — Search Console (If You Have Site History)
By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to use Google Search Console as a keyword research input, and which organic queries are the most valuable candidates for paid amplification.
Assignment 2: Build Your Raw Keyword List
What this assignment produces: A raw, unfiltered keyword list of 30 60 candidates built from all five research inputs ready for tiering in Module 3.
Lesson 3.1: What the Tiers Mean
By the end of this lesson, you'll understand the T1/T2/T3 framework at a conceptual level, including why fewer T1 keywords at launch is better for campaign performance, not worse.
Lesson 3.2: The Intent Signals Checklist
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to evaluate any keyword against a consistent set of criteria and assign it the right tier including a walkthrough of a live example.
Lesson 3.3: Match Type Decisions at the Tiering Stage
By the end of this lesson, you'll understand how match type decisions connect directly to your tier assignments and why match type is a tiering decision, not a separate one made later.
Assignment 3: Build Your Tiered Keyword List
What this assignment produces: A launch-ready T1/T2/T3 keyword list with intent rationale for every T1 entry, match type assignments, and a working negative keyword list.
Lesson 4.1: How to Read the Search Terms Report
By the end of this lesson, you'll know the difference between a keyword and a search term, why that difference matters, and how to read the Search Terms Report with clear purpose rather than just scanning it.
Lesson 4.2: Mining for New Keywords and Negatives
By the end of this lesson, you'll know the three-column review process for working through the Search Terms Report efficiently, including how to promote terms to keywords and how to build a negative list that actuall
Lesson 4.3: The Continuous Research Mindset
By the end of this lesson, you'll understand how to integrate the Search Terms review into a recurring practice and how this loop eventually replaces most of what paid tools claim to offer.
Assignment 4: First Search Terms Review
What this assignment produces: Either a completed first Search Terms review for a live campaign (if you have one), or a documented plan for your first review including what to look for and when to run it.
Lesson 5.1: The Full Workflow, Start to Finish
By the end of this lesson, you'll be able to run the complete keyword research process from scratch on any new campaign, with a clear sense of how long each step takes and what you can and can't skip under time press
Lesson 5.2: The "I Already Have a List" Scenario
By the end of this lesson, you'll know how to audit and rebuild a keyword list you didn't research yourself including the seven signals that tell you a keyword is dead weight.
Final Deliverable
What this produces: Your complete keyword research output the documented result of the full process you ran in this course.
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