Keywords Everywhere Tutorial: Find Cheap SEO Keywords Fast

High search volume is a trap. The keyword "keyword tool" gets 8,100 searches a month, and you will never rank for it. "Keyword ranking checker" gets 4,000 searches a month with a competition score of 0.02. That second keyword is winnable. Most people would never find it without a system. This is the system I've been running for four years.

The SEO Keyword Generator GPT is the free custom GPT I built to generate 100 keyword variations from a single topic prompt, it's what feeds the bulk-import step below and cuts out all the manual brainstorming.

Step 1: Keywords Everywhere in the Browser#

Keywords Everywhere is a Chrome extension. Once it's active, every Google search surfaces a data panel on the right side of the browser, no separate tool, no dashboard to log into. For the search "keyword tool" you'd see:

• Volume: 8,100 searches/month
• CPC: $11.48
• Competition score: 0.17
• SEO difficulty: how hard it is to rank on page one (aim for under 50)
• Off-page difficulty: how strong the current page-one results are (also aim for under 50)
• On-page difficulty: how many of those page-one results have already optimized their H1, H2s, meta tag, and meta description for this exact keyword

That last one matters. An on-page difficulty of 70 means most of the top results are already well-optimized. You're not just fighting domain authority, you're fighting content that was built to rank.

Keywords Everywhere also shows trending data, related keywords, and "people also searched for" results. All of it in the sidebar, all of it exportable. The cost: roughly $10 a year. Semrush charges more per month than Keywords Everywhere charges per year and delivers a lot of data you don't actually need when you're a solo operator. If you want the step-by-step setup, the Keywords Everywhere Chrome setup guide covers the installation and activation in detail.

Step 2: Generate 100 Keyword Variations with the Custom GPT#

One keyword isn't enough data to make a decision. You need a list.

This is where the SEO Keyword Generator GPT comes in. Give it your topic, something like "affordable keyword research tool people can use", and it outputs 100 keyword variations based on how real search intent works. No manual brainstorming, no guessing.

Once you have that list, go to Keywords Everywhere and open the Bulk Keywords Data tab. Paste all 100 keywords at once. Keywords Everywhere runs the numbers on every single one, search volume, competition score, CPC, and lets you export the full results as a CSV.

That CSV is your raw material. Now you need to score it.

Step 3: The Weighted Spreadsheet#

A raw list of 100 keywords sorted by volume will send you straight back to the trap. The highest-volume keywords are almost always the most competitive. You need a scoring system that blends the signals.

The spreadsheet I built uses two ranking methods, normalized scoring and rank-based scoring, and applies weighted criteria across three factors:

• 60% weight: search volume
• 35% weight: competition score
• 5% weight: CPC

You paste the exported Keywords Everywhere data directly into the sheet. It calculates a blended score for every keyword and surfaces the actual best targets at the top, not just the biggest numbers.

With those weights applied, "keyword ranking checker" (4,000 searches, 0.02 competition) outscores "keyword tool" (8,100 searches, 0.17 competition) by a significant margin. The volume is lower, but the competition score is nearly nine times better. That's a keyword you can actually win.

You can adjust the weights. If you're writing monetized content and CPC matters more to you, bump that percentage. If you're in a low-competition niche, you might weight volume higher. The point is that you're making a deliberate decision instead of defaulting to whatever number looks impressive.

The spreadsheet is available, the link is in the video description. If you want a full walkthrough of how the scoring logic is built, check out the keyword ranking checker workflow post which goes deeper on the analysis side.

One Keyword Per Page#

Once the spreadsheet gives you your winner, the workflow is clear: "each blog post or web page that you have should have its own one keyword that you're trying to rank for."

That means the keyword goes in:

• The H1
• At least one H2
• The body copy (naturally, not stuffed)
• The meta tag
• The meta description

If you want the full breakdown of how to optimize a post once you've chosen the keyword, this guide on how to optimize a blog post to rank on Google covers the on-page side in detail.

The research step and the writing step are separate jobs. This workflow handles the research. Do it before you write a single word, not after.

Keywords Everywhere Beyond Google#

One thing worth knowing: Keywords Everywhere works on YouTube, Etsy, Amazon, and eBay too. On YouTube it shows search volume, average views, max views for the top result, average video age, and whether the keyword appears in the title and description of ranking videos. The workflow adapts, same bulk import logic, same scoring approach, different platform signals.

If you found this useful, this video goes deeper on the YouTube keyword side:

• YouTube Keyword Research Workflow

Watch the full video on YouTube: https://youtu.be/8dXlq5tzA9Y

This post contains affiliate links. I only recommend tools I actually use.