Keyword Research & Clustering

Workspace Context

Read bootstrap context before asking questions: strategy/brand.md for brand, audience, offer, channels, tools, constraints, and metrics; about/me.md for personal voice; content/ideas.md and content/calendar.md for content planning. Use legacy product-marketing context files only as fallback. Save generated drafts to content/<platform>/drafts/YYYY-MM-DD_short-topic-slug.md, and route durable learnings back to strategy/brand.md, about/me.md, or content/ideas.md.

Operating Contract

This skill is self-contained for its frontmatter scope: use its local instructions, references, scripts, and assets as the playbook; ask only for missing task-specific inputs; hand off to adjacent skills instead of expanding scope; and return an actionable artifact, decision, plan, draft, or diagnostic.

Research keywords, expand them systematically, cluster by topic and intent, and prioritize for content strategy — all without expensive tools.

Required Input

Ask the user for:

1. Niche/Industry — What space are you in?
2. Target Audience — Who are you writing for?
3. Business Goal — Traffic, leads, sales, authority?
4. Existing Content — Do you have a site/blog already?

The 6 Circles Method

Generate 13 content ideas from a single seed keyword using nested topic clusters.

                    ┌─────────────────────┐
                    │   PRIMARY KEYWORD   │  ← 1 pillar topic
                    │   (Largest Circle)  │
                    └─────────────────────┘
                              │
            ┌─────────────────┼─────────────────┐
            ▼                 ▼                 ▼
     ┌───────────┐     ┌───────────┐     ┌───────────┐
     │ Sub-topic │     │ Sub-topic │     │ Sub-topic │  ← 3 supporting themes
     │     A     │     │     B     │     │     C     │
     └───────────┘     └───────────┘     └───────────┘
            │                 │                 │
      ┌─────┼─────┐     ┌─────┼─────┐     ┌─────┼─────┐
      ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼     ▼
     [1]   [2]   [3]   [4]   [5]   [6]   [7]   [8]   [9]  ← 9 content pieces

Process:

1. Identify primary keyword — high-traffic, high-intent topic in your niche
2. Brainstorm 3 sub-topics — related themes that support the primary
3. Generate 3 pieces per sub-topic — specific articles addressing aspects of each

Content Types for Supporting Pieces

Seed Generation (50–100 Keywords)

Google Autocomplete & PAA

• Type [keyword] + a–z variations
• "how to [keyword]", "best [keyword] for", "[keyword] vs"
• Capture People Also Ask questions from SERP

Community Mining

Reddit Mining Protocol

Search queries:

site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "how do I"
site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "help"
site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "struggling with"
site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "recommend"
site:reddit.com "[niche]" + "vs"

Extract: Questions asked repeatedly (content opportunities), complaints about existing solutions (angle differentiation), terminology and slang (keyword variations), upvote patterns (demand signals).

Keyword Expansion Techniques

Modifier Categories

Question modifiers:

• What is {keyword} / How to {keyword} / Why {keyword} / When to {keyword}

Comparative modifiers:

• {keyword} vs {competitor} / {keyword} alternatives / best {keyword} / {keyword} comparison

Intent modifiers:

• {keyword} guide / {keyword} tutorial / {keyword} examples / {keyword} template / buy {keyword} / {keyword} pricing

Audience modifiers:

• {keyword} for beginners / {keyword} for {industry} / {keyword} for small business / {keyword} for enterprise

Expansion Procedure

1. Extract current topic scope and any exclusions
2. Propose expansions: synonyms, related terms, acronyms
3. Add explicit exclusions for common false positives
4. Document "why" for each change
5. Keep query count manageable — merge near-duplicates instead of adding many variations

Free Tool Arsenal

Demand Research

Intent Discovery

Competition Assessment (Manual SERP Analysis)

For each target keyword, analyze top 10 results:

Sweet Spot Targets by Site Stage

Clustering Algorithm

1. Extract seed topics — Identify main themes from expanded list
2. Group by semantic similarity — Keywords with overlapping meaning
3. Map intent — Assign Informational / Commercial / Transactional / Navigational
4. Identify pillar — Highest-volume, broadest term = pillar page
5. Map supporting — Lower-volume terms support pillar

Cluster Structure Example

PILLAR: "content marketing" (highest volume)
├── CLUSTER: "content marketing strategy" (commercial)
│   ├── content marketing plan template
│   ├── content marketing framework
│   └── how to create content marketing strategy
├── CLUSTER: "content marketing examples" (informational)
│   ├── B2B content marketing examples
│   ├── content marketing case studies
│   └── content marketing success stories
└── CLUSTER: "content marketing tools" (commercial)
    ├── best content marketing tools
    ├── content marketing software
    └── content marketing platforms

Intent Classification

Prioritization Matrix

Score each keyword 1–10:

Prioritize: Opportunity score > 3, Intent fit > 6

Output Format

# Keyword Research: [Niche/Topic]

## 6 Circles Content Plan

### Primary Keyword: [keyword]
- Monthly searches: [range]
- Competition: [low/medium/high]
- Intent: [informational/commercial/transactional]

### Sub-topic A: [theme]
1. [Article idea] — [target keyword] — [volume]
2. [Article idea] — [target keyword] — [volume]
3. [Article idea] — [target keyword] — [volume]

### Sub-topic B: [theme]
4–6. [...]

### Sub-topic C: [theme]
7–9. [...]

## Prioritized Content Queue

| Priority | Topic | Keyword | Volume | Difficulty | Opportunity |
|----------|-------|---------|--------|------------|-------------|
| 1 | [topic] | [keyword] | [vol] | [1–10] | [score] |

## Quick Wins (Low Competition, Decent Volume)
- [keyword 1] — [rationale]
- [keyword 2] — [rationale]

## Content Gaps Found
- [gap 1] — competitors missing [what]
- [gap 2] — outdated content on [topic]

## Community Insights
- Top pain point: [description]
- Common question: [question]
- Terminology used: [terms]

Related Skills

• seo-and-aeo-strategy — SEO optimization and AI search visibility
• content-strategy-and-planning — Detailed content strategy from keyword research
• content-creation-and-marketing — Writing the actual content
• seo-and-aeo-strategy — Building SEO page plans at scale from keyword data