How do i analyze keywords properly?

volume and difficulty are the start, not the answer. the step people skip is googling the keyword and looking at what ranks. are the top results guides, product pages, videos, forum threads? that's the intent and you need to match it. are they huge brands or small sites like yours? that tells you more than any difficulty score. and does a page actually solve the search or is it all thin listicles? if it's the second one, there's your gap. then pick the ones where you can realistically make the best page, not just the biggest volume.