In the past two months, I have been testing several keyword research tools. I used them to come up with a topic that I thought was “promising”, gathered a list of competitors and started doing some basic keyword research. Then I began to ask myself what would be the best place to start – keyword tool free – or the top keyword search engine – like Google Tools. After reading this article you will find out which one is the answer.
What is the best keyword search tool? Which companies should you trust to help you do keyword research? How do you take all this data and turn it into profitable content that drives traffic and online sales?
SEMrush
SEMrush is not just a keyword tool, it is like the Swiss Army Knife of SEO. Instead of producing a list of keywords, SEMrush suggests 5-10 very specific keywords that your competitors are already using.
Standout features
- Uncover long-tail keywords and ad group ideas
- Get yearly keyword trends
- Worldwide CPC distribution statistics
- Access to the complete keyword research toolkit
- Keyword difficulty analysis and organic traffic insights
Pricing
SEMrush hosts a 7-day free trial of the service. You do need to enter credit card details to get access to the trial, but there are no charges levied if you choose to cancel your subscription within the 7-day trial.
SEMrush has four different pricing plans. The best offers come with annual billing.
- Pro – A plan for limited budget sites and freelancers, it starts at $99.95 per month and gets billed annually.
- Guru – SEO agencies and small to mid-sized business will find the features in this plan perfect for the day-to-day management of content sites. Guru starts at $191.62 per month.
- Business – It is ideal for eCommerce stores and agencies, and opens at $374.95 per month.
- Enterprise – If you have an extensive content strategy, reaching beyond the capacity of the above solutions, SEMrush can custom fit a plan for your needs.
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.
uber suggest
Most keyword tools start with the assumption that you know what keywords you want to research. But sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you just don’t know where to start. uber suggest helps by giving you keyword ideas that aren’t even yet available in the Google Keyword Tool. Just put in a simple, generic term, and uber suggest will help you narrow down the options with its suggestions. You’ll get related keyword suggestions as well s search data.
al media, and more.
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic works a bit differently from most other keyword research tools. They present keywords in a nice visual format although you can also see them in a list or download a .csv file of results.
If you’re just getting started with SEO and keyword research, then this is a great tool to try, because you don’t even need to create an account to use it. Just type in your keyword and take a look at what comes up.
The keyword results from AnswerThePublic are based on Google and Bing’s auto-suggest / autocomplete features. You can click on any of these keywords to search for it in Google, and it’ll open up in a new tab.
This will show what content is ranking for those terms and whether there’s a featured snippet on it.
The free version of AnswerThePublic is a great resource for bloggers. However if you perform keyword search on a regular basis, then you’ll need their pro plan.
KWFinder
KWFinder is a tool designed by Mangools – a developer known for delivering the best keyword research tools across categories. You can use their beginner guide to get started.
The KWFinder platform makes it easy to find keywords with low SEO difficulty, along with a whole host of other useful features.
Standout features
- A unique and easy to navigate user interface
- Find keywords in any language target, anywhere
- Choose options from the list of powerful keywords
- Get precise statistics for keyword competition
- In-depth SERP overview alongside a list of suggestions
- Use filters to refine the list of keyword suggestions
Pricing
KWFinder is part of Mangools package that includes 4 other SEO tools. This keyword tool only allows a handful of free searches. Select an annual plan to save up to 40% on any of their 3 subscriptions.
- Basic – $30 (freelancers and small businesses)
- Premium – $40 (new startups and blogs)
- Agency – $80 (eCommerce stores and heavy sites)
Jaaxy
Get thousands of related keyword ideas within seconds.
This is a straightforward (yet powerful) tool.
So, what makes Jaaxy unique?
First off, it gives you LOTS of different keyword ideas.
(Including some that you won’t find in most other tools)
Plus, you get helpful data on every keyword that it generates (including competition, search volume and potential traffic).
Buzz Sumo
Keyword research should look beyond basic search. This tool from Buzz Sumo helps you see what’s being shared so you can get a handle on what’s popular on social networking. Buzz Sumo lets you look at the most shared social media posts and articles by keyword or by domain. You can filter the results by date range, length, language, country of origin, content type and more. With this tool, you’ll see what types of content are most popular, not just what types of keywords.
Ahrefs
Ahrefs is another popular keyword research tool that offers similar features to SEMrush. Using Ahrefs keyword explorer, you can come up with keyword ideas simply by typing a keyword into the search box. You’ll then see a whole list of keyword suggestions.
You can also use Ahrefs to see the keywords that your competitors are ranking for (but that you’re not), so you can create new content pieces targeting keywords related to those subjects.
Another nice competitive intelligence functionality that Ahrefs offer is the ability to see new keywords, and keyword movements in search queries.
Both SEMrush and Ahrefs offer a bunch of other useful tools too, like reports that find broken links on your site, ppc keywords for adwords, and more.
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a simple keyword tool option serving up a few basic features. Despite the lack of functionality, however, it’s one of the most accurate sources of keyword data on the market. The data comes directly from Google and the results integrate well with AdSense monetization.
Standout features
- Locate commercial keywords using “top of page” bid range
- Accurate search volume directly from Google’s search engine
- Best choice for business websites
Pricing
Google Keyword Planner is available for free.
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.
Majestic SEO
The tool at Majestic SEO gives you many metrics that you don’t get with other keyword tools. The tool returns URLs that have the keywords, and it provides a search score that is broken down by total hits, hits in title, hits in anchor, and so on. It also provides the number of backlinks for each URL, as well as a trust score. You’ll get a better idea of how the keywords are performing outside of basic volume.
Long Tail Pro
Like most premium keyword tools, Long Tail Pro shows an overview of data about your keyword, with a particular focus on how you rank against your competitors on the first page of Google.
You can use it to take a look at the top results in search engines for your keyword, so you can figure out where you rank against your competition.
You can also enter specific keywords that you want to track, so you can see how your content is ranking for those keywords changes over time.
Conclusion:
If you’re reading this, there’s a good chance you want to learn more about keyword research for your blog. And yes, I agree that keyword research is very important in building a successful blog. After all, with a blog that ranks in Google for high-traffic search terms, you can easily generate a passive income from what some would call a very time-consuming hobby.