I Ignore the Tool

I start by thinking like a confused searcher first

I Read Real Questions

Messier, more honest than polished search suggestions.

One Messy List

No categorizing yet — just dumping everything I find.

Then I Cluster

The buckets usually form on their own by this point

Pillar First

I write the hub article before any of the subtopics

Last, a Gap Check

I run it through an NLP tool just to double-check

See My Full Process

Every step, in order, no fluff, no paid tools required