zensink/zens-ink-seo-package/keyword-research

Keyword research without paid tools

Discover keywords, cluster them into topics, score them for opportunity — all from free data sources (Google Autocomplete, Bing Webmaster API). No Ahrefs/Semrush subscription required.

When to use

• "Find keyword ideas for my niche / my SaaS / my blog"
• "Which long-tail keywords should I target?"
• "Cluster this keyword list into topics"
• "Score these keywords — which ones are worth writing?"

When NOT to use

• The user already pays for Ahrefs/Semrush and wants their numbers — use their tool.
• They want backlink data — this skill has none (that is a paid-data problem).

Setup (one-time)

pip install zens-ink

Zero dependencies beyond Python 3.9+. All commands run as python3 -m zens_ink.<tool>.

Commands

1. Discover keywords (no key needed)

python3 -m zens_ink.keyword_research "ai seo tools"

Real output:

============================================================
  Keyword: ai seo tools  (en)
============================================================
 
  In autocomplete : YES
  Activity level  : high-activity (10 variants)
 
  Suggestions:
    ai seo tools
    ai seo tools for small business
    ai seo tools free
    ai seo tools reddit
    ai seo tools comparison
    ...

Add --expand for a-z long-tail discovery (slower, much deeper). --lang zh for Chinese autocomplete. --json for machine-readable output.

2. Cluster a keyword list into topics

python3 -m zens_ink.keyword_cluster --file keywords.txt

Groups semantically related keywords so one page can target one cluster. Use the output of step 1 (save suggestions to a file, one per line).

3. Volume lookup (optional, free Bing Webmaster key)

python3 -m zens_ink.keyword_volume "ai seo tools free" "ai seo tools reddit" --country us --lang en-us

Language must be a full locale (en-us, not en), country lowercase — the CLI normalizes this for you. Needs BING_WMT_API_KEY in .env.

4. Score opportunities: KGR (no key needed)

python3 -m zens_ink.kgr_auto --file keywords.txt --csv opportunities.csv

KGR = allintitle count / monthly search volume.

How to read the results

• KGR < 0.25 — low-competition, a new site can rank for it. Write it.
• KGR 0.25–1.0 — possible with some authority; pair with internal links.
• KGR > 1.0 — skip unless the user's domain is strong.
• Autocomplete high-activity seeds = live demand; low-activity seeds are

usually too thin to build on.

• One cluster = one page. Never target two clusters with one URL.

Next steps

• Check how hard the survivors are: the keyword-difficulty skill.
• Confirm intent before writing: the search-intent skill.

Going deeper

ZensInk Pro adds personalized Winability Scores (difficulty relative to YOUR domain's GSC data) and a Content Radar editorial calendar: https://zens.ink/pricing/