What you’re probably reading right now with this title is probably a list of tools like the ones you find on the Internet for finding keywords and competitor analysis. However, I am writing this for one reason: To give you valuable information that makes an impact. The purpose is to simplify the most valuable tools needed when beginning keyword research and transform them into a toolset that can assist your SEO efforts with no additional effort.
Keyword research is an essential part of searching for websites for sale or rent as well as getting started with your own website. I’m going to share some tools I’ve found that will help you collect the necessary data for your site, and provide valuable insight into how your competitors are ranking in search engines.
Moz Keyword Explorer (Web)
Moz‘s SEO platform offers several different tools designed for keyword research. While Moz doesn’t include as many data points as some of the other full-featured SEO tools (like SERP position history or the total number of keywords a competing result ranks for), we consider that a benefit. It makes for a less overwhelming user experience for those who aren’t professional search marketers, without skimping on the metrics you really want.
With the Keyword Planner tool, you can search any keyword you choose and see its monthly volume, difficulty, and organic clickthrough rate (CTR). Scroll down from there to see analysis of current results ranking for it and suggestions for similar keywords.
Here’s our favorite feature: Moz includes a “Priority” score that simplifies keyword research by giving you the bottom line on whether a keyword is worth chasing for you. Moz automatically calculates the score based on the keyword’s volume, organic CTR, and difficulty, along with your “My Score”—a metric you set yourself, designating how important a given keyword is to your business, based on your own expertise and knowledge of your business and industry.
Moz Pricing: Keyword research features are available for free for up to 10 queries per month; Moz Pro plans start at $99/month for 150 keyword queries per month
Wincher (Web)
Wincher is a great option if you’re looking to optimize your whole website, identifying keyword opportunities and tracking your ranking progress.
To start, you’ll enter your website domain. Once the data loads, click Keyword Research in the left-hand menu to see a whole list of Wincher’s keyword suggestions. These are keywords your website already ranks for, but you can filter by position to find keywords beyond the top 10—keywords you can optimize for to move up in the rankings. You can further prioritize your updates by filtering based on traffic or volume, competition, and cost per click (CPC).
Switch over to the Related keywords tab for more traditional research on specific keywords—whether or not you already rank for them. For any keyword, click on the three dots on the right-hand side of the relevant keyword and choose Add keywords to track your rise through the SERPs.
Wincher Pricing: Plans start at 29€/month for daily ranking updates and up to 10 websites
Soovle
Scrape suggested keywords from multiple sources.
Soovle gives you suggested keyword ideas from Google, YouTube, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon and more.
(All in one place.)
That way, you can find untapped keywords that your competition doesn’t know about.
My Favorite Feature: Saved Suggestions
Easily save your favorite keyword ideas with Soovle’s “drag & drop” saved suggestions feature.
Then, download your favorite keywords to a CSV file.
Google Search Console
Find hundreds of “Opportunity Keywords”.
The Google Search Console isn’t a traditional keyword research tool.
But it does have a feature that makes finding awesome keywords a CINCH.
The feature?
This report list out the pages on your site that get the most clicks from Google.
(And the exact keywords that brought them there)
So: how can you use this feature for keyword research?
It’s easy: use it to find “Opportunity Keywords”.
Opportunity Keywords are where you rank between #8-#20 in Google for a specific keyword.
And with little extra on-page SEO, you can find yourself with a nice rankings boost.
For example, my average rankings for the keyword “SEO tool” is 6.2.
That keyword is an Opportunity Keyword. And if I optimize my page around “SEO tool”, my rankings for that term should go up.
My Favorite Feature: Google Analytics + Google Search Console
Did you know that you can combine your Google Search Console and Google Analytics accounts?
Well, you can.
And it’s VERY helpful.
When you do, you’ll get in-depth keyword data than you would with either tool by itself.
Google Trends
Google Trends visualizes the relative search popularity of a keyword over time.
For example, if we look at the term “costumes” for the past five years, we see that popularity spikes every October.
This is because of Halloween.
But how is this useful for keyword research?
For starters, it can help you plan your content calendar. Let’s assume you sell costumes online. Publishing or republishing a list of the “10 Scariest Halloween Costumes for 20XX” each September/October makes perfect sense.
Here’s a less obvious example:
Interest in “iPhone specs” peaks every September when Apple launches a new iPhone.
If you run a tech blog, it would make sense to update and republish any related posts every September.
Going beyond content calendars, Trends can also help avoid targeting the wrong keywords.
Take a look at these two:
If you could only create content for one of these keywords, which would you choose? It’d be the one with the highest search volume, right?
Not so fast, because search volumes are averages taken across many months or years.
If we check data for the past 12 months only in Google Trends, we see that searches for “apple watch series 5” recently overtook those for “apple watch series 3.”
So if you were running an ecommerce store and had to prioritize one of these keywords, it would almost certainly be “apple watch series 5.”
After all, searches for the Series 3 are only going to decrease as time goes on.
Conclusion
Google AdWords Keyword Planner is the greatest tool that you can use to plan your SEO. And for this, it provides an exhaustive list of data to improve your site rankings. However, if you want an accurate list of unique keywords for certain key words, you should go with the Seo Decoded keyword research tool. Once you download the FREE version of this application, it will provide you with extensive information on keywords related to antiques.