SEO keyword research is crucial when planning any kind of online marketing strategy. So, in order to help you with your YouTube video marketing campaign to rank well in YouTube and Google organic search resultsSEO has gotten a little tough this year, at least for me. I’m not saying it’s complicated, but I did notice that keywords are getting more competitive. Lucky for you, I did quite a bit of research on some of the best free keyword research tools you can use to get better at SEO.
Get more free traffic with these free keyword research tools. I show you the best free keyword research tools that will help your business grow.
Semrush
By far one of the best tools for keyword research we have come across has to be SEM Rush. What it does is suggest to you the top 5-10 keywords that some of your top competitors are using presently. This gives you a sneak peek into the more successful brands and ventures that are creating content like you. Getting an idea of their keywords helps you formulate your own plan for content creation and search engine optimization.
With SEM Rush, you can also avail of the benefit of getting yearly keyword trends easily. The platform comes up with worldwide CPC distribution statistics at your doorstep. Therefore, optimizing content becomes even easier and simpler.
You also have complete access to their keyword research toolkit. This is a great feature keeping in mind that you can edit or filter changes according to your niche and competitors.
At the same time, SEM Rush offers you a preview of SEO difficulty and organic traffic insights as well. This makes it easier to gauge how each keyword has been performing and whether or not it is what you seek.
SEM Rush comes with different kinds of pricing plans for its customers. You can avail a 7-day free trial option in case you want to first understand and analyze how things work. You will have to enter your credit card details to avail the free trial, but worry not. There is no need to pay even a single penny in case you opt-out of their subscription at the end of 7 days.
Moz Keyword Explorer
The Moz Keyword Explorer is one of the best tools for keyword research for a reason. Its interface is simple and pretty to use. The keywords it recommends are not common and boring. They are quite out-of-the-box and unique. Therefore, it is easy to make a mark online with keywords researched from Moz Keyword Explorer. At the same time, it does not compromise on other features that come in handy with the best tools for keyword research.
The Moz Keyword Explorer comes with an organic CTR score. This means the site offers you a quick analysis of how many clicks you can expect for your content based on keyword choice. At the same time, you also get a priority score of the keyword of choice. This score is a combined effect of the search volume that we have described previously, along with the CTR and keyword difficulty. Therefore, it makes the task of assessing the researched keyword easier and more comprehensive at the same time.
With Moz Keyword Explorer, you are assured of related keyword suggestions. This comes in handy when writing long articles so that you can use all of them in your article to increase its visibility.
You can get up to 10 free queries every month once you sign up with the Moz Keyword Explorer. Besides, you get full access to the complete suite of SEO once you subscribe to Moz.
This makes it not just a great package but also a super-saver considering the additional features. This is the top reason we have included it in the list of the best tools for keyword research on the internet.
SEMrush
Best for in-depth keyword search—especially on competitors!
SEMrush gives you a complete overview of every single keyword your competition ranks for, how much traffic it drives to their site, and even a link for you to check out the ranking page.
It also has one of the most accurate and complete lists of “competing websites,” which will show you your competitors’ competition. That means, you can do a deep dive into a competitor’s website, and quickly search through all the other big sites in your niche.
Unlike other SEO keyword research tools, you don’t need to enter a seed keyword to begin searching. Instead, just enter the URL of a website and begin your research process.
On top of being able to see keyword rankings, you can get in-depth details on traffic stats, Ads CPC, domain comparisons, keyword difficulty, and so much more.
How to Use SEMrush
Login to your account and click on Organic Research in the left sidebar.
Go to Overview and type your chosen search terms into the search box.
The results will come up in a dashboard showing search volume, paid search (the cost of paying for placement in search results for that keyword), cost per click distribution, and search trends.
SEMrush also includes data on the top pages ranking for particular keywords. You can use this information to come up with ideas for new topics to cover in a blog post.
Start by scrolling down to see Phrase Match Keywords (those that include your search term exactly) and Related Keywords.
To get more detail on related keywords, click on View Full Report.
This will take you to the Keyword Magic tool.
Click Search to bring up a table filled with data about your chosen keyword. You see:
- How closely they’re related to your original search term (shown as a percentage)
- Keyword search volume (how many searches are performed)
- Keyword difficulty ranking
- Number of search results
- Search trends
Click on any keyword to get a similar report for that keyword.
Jot down content keyword ideas as you go through SEMrush. Even better, you can export keywords at any time, just by clicking the Export button.
And if you’re using All in One SEO on your website, you can also use the built-in SEMrush integration to discover more keywords.
This feature lets you add related or additional keyphrases to your content with the click of a button, right from your WordPress site. Find out more here.
SEMrush Pricing
SEMrush pricing starts at $99 per month, which includes access to keyword analytics, site position tracking, social media tools, content optimization tools, and much more.
2. Ahrefs
Best all-around keyword research tool for technical SEO.
Ahrefs is the most widely used keyword research tool for SEO and for a good reason, too. It crawls and stores the largest third-party database of search queries, which means you get the most extensive (and accurate) data for your research.
You get to see your competitors’ organic keywords, backlinks, and PPC campaigns. This keyword research tool shows you the best backlink opportunities, maximum relevant keywords, hot content topics, email alerts every time someone mentions your brand online, and more.
Do you ever worry about accuracy on these keyword research tools? Well, don’t worry too much. Ahrefs’ database has over 7 BILLION keywords and 187 BILLION indexed pages. That’s why Ahrefs can provide maximum accuracy and data to its users.
How to Use Ahrefs
Login to Ahrefs, then navigate to the Keywords Explorer.
Type some terms related to your topic into the onscreen search box. You can have up to 100. Choose your country. Ahrefs includes keyword data for dozens of countries. For this guide, we’re using the US.
Press the search icon. You’ll be redirected to a new screen which shows an overview of the keywords you entered.
Click on one of the keywords to bring up an overview just for that keyword.
You’ll immediately be able to see the Keyword Difficultly for this keyword. Keyword Difficulty (KD) is how hard it will be to rank for a specific keyword; the higher the KD, the harder it will be to rank for that keyword.
Further down the page, you’ll see the Keyword ideas section.
For each, you can click the View all link for more details.
Let’s look at the full report for keywords that include the original search term of “content marketing.” This will help you identify related content areas that you might not have covered yet.
The data appears in a table, with a list of related terms. To get full information on each term, click on the term. This will bring up the keyword overview for that term.
Ahrefs Pricing
You can try out Ahrefs for a week for just $7. After that, it’s just $99 a month for the whole suite of tools, which include their Site Explorer, Content Explorer, and much more.
Long Tail Pro
If you are someone who wants to make a mark in the world of online content, you need to remember an important fact. Long-tail keywords are the new big thing in the world of SEO.
This is where Long Tail Profits the picture perfectly. Its recommendations are in the form of long-tail keywords based on the niche you enter. Long Tail Pro is one of the most popular and best tools for keyword research. It sees immense popularity among people who have both niche and micro-niche sites or content.
The best feature of Long Tail Pro is the way it works with powerful and detailed metrics when looking for keywords. With the help of this feature, you can easily find keywords of your choice within no time at all.
Besides, Long Tail Pro also offers multiple recommendations based on your niche, likings of audiences, and organic traffic considerations.
Majestic
If you were looking for an all-in-one SEO tool that can cater to all your SEO related needs, Majestic is the perfect solution. You do not have to do spend hours manually trying to do look for the right keywords.
Instead, Majestic can help you understand and analyze the impact of keyword search data. The idea is to be able to paint your future marketing campaigns with a smart strategy. And the strategy is born from data, isn’t it?
With Majestic, all the needed SEO features are available in a single toolkit for you to explore. You can very easily find target phrases for your online content.
This helps boost you even in the presence of multiple competitors. Before paying for their subscription, Majestic allows you to conduct three free keyword searches.
The idea is to allow people to first try for themselves whether the process and features of Majestic are as per their liking or not. After these free trials, you can make an informed decision about purchasing the premium plan of Majestic Pro.
Conclusion
How do you find the right keywords for your blog? There are a number of keyword research tools available. All of them have their pros and cons, but I recommend the Moz Keyword Explorer. In this article I have shown you how to best use this tool for keyword research.