Conducting thorough keyword research is crucial for both PPC and SEO. But how do you ensure that you’re focusing on the most effective keywords? Gone are the days when keyword research tools merely provided a list of terms.

Modern tools offer extensive data, insights, and valuable metrics. They provide information on synonyms, related phrases, and competitors’ strategies, enhancing your overall understanding.

Metrics such as competition level, ranking likelihood, and keyword significance enable you to refine your strategy confidently. Utilizing these keywords allows you to monitor your business’s performance in local search results effectively. A reliable keyword research tool should empower you to make informed decisions, whether your goal is to improve local search visibility or achieve better outcomes in paid advertising campaigns.

If you want to rank higher in search results or create better content, you really need to have a keyword tool in your local SEO toolkit. This post will help you find the best keyword research tool for your SEO toolkit.

12 Useful Keyword Research Tools

  1. Semrush

Semrush

Semrush has at least six different tools to research keywords in their SEO suite. They have Keyword Overview for finding keywords and Organic Research to rank for your competitors’ keywords.

The Keyword Magic Tool makes keyword combinations, while Keyword Gap can help you find new areas to focus on for better SEO. The Keyword Manager helps make lists for your SEO plan.

If you connect your Semrush account to your Google Analytics, it allows you to use the Organic Traffic Insights tool to find keywords that were not provided. You can also use this tool to discover which keywords are most important in online searches.

What is the cost?
$119.95 to $449.95 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
This tool has a free trial available.

How is it different from other tools?
Semrush has a really big collection of over 20 billion keywords.

  1. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest suggests keywords for free. The simple makes it easy to use even if you’re new to doing keyword research. Just type in a word and Ubersuggest will give you a list of related words. It will also give you important information that can help you choose the best keywords to use in SEO or PPC.

Information includes things like how many people are searching for something, how much it costs for an ad, how many other results there are, how many other businesses are trying to compete, and if the interest in something changes depending on the time of year.

What is the cost?
Free.

Is there a free trial available?
Totally free.

How is it different from other tools?
Ubersuggest is not only free for finding keywords. It also helps you understand what keywords are working well for your competitors.

  1. Answer the Public

Answer the Public

Answer the Public is for anyone who wants to know what questions people are asking on Google. It is a strong tool for marketing content on its own.

Tell the ‘Seeker’ your topic or keyword and it will show you a diagram with the questions people are asking about it. This is very helpful when looking for blog and content ideas because you can use the questions to help plan your content.

Additionally, the way the question is asked can help you rank in featured snippets. The suggested keywords and questions are based on one phrase, so you’ll get many different options without having to come up with them all yourself.

What is the cost?
$99 to $199 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
This tool has a free trial available.

How is it different from other tools?
Instead of giving you just one word, Answer the Public shows you the questions people are asking about a topic when they search for it. This means you can use it to aim for the top position in search results.

Also Read: Answer The Public Review: Features, Pricing, Alternatives and How to Find Commercial Intent Keywords and Bring More Traffic

  1. Ahrefs

Ahrefs

Ahrefs has tools that help you understand and improve your website’s SEO. Users will have access to a lot of data for tracking their website’s ranking, finding keywords, checking their website’s SEO, and comparing themselves to their competitors.

They have lots of backlinks, keywords, and content available, so it’s unlikely that you won’t find any data. You can enter up to ten keywords or search phrases. Ahrefs lets you pick from six types of reports, so you can organize and narrow down the information in a way that fits your project best.

You can choose to see a report that only shows words that match, new related keywords, questions, and SEO rankings. Also, each keyword comes with helpful information like how often it’s searched for, the average cost of clicking on it and how hard it is to rank for.

What is the cost?
$99 to $999 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
This tool does not have a free trial.

How is it different from other tools?
You can choose from six keyword reports to focus on what you need.

  1. Keyword.io

Keyword.io

Keywordio is a tool that helps you find lots of long keywords for free and it’s easy to use. It can help you make a big list of good keywords for your advertising, website, or finding your target audience.

You can use it to find actual words that people use to search for things on different websites. This list has Google, Amazon, YouTube, Yandex, Bing, eBay, Alibaba, and other websites.

Focusing on keywords specific to each platform is very helpful. Keywords that are popular on Amazon may not be the best ones for Google. Understanding the trending keywords for each platform helps you customize your strategy for each channel.

What is the cost?
$29 to $49 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
This tool has a free trial available.

How is it different from other tools?
Keyword.io helps you find the right words to use for different websites and apps. For instance, you can make long keywords for Amazon or lists of keywords for Google.

  1. Keyword Insights

Keyword Insights

This is a great tool for finding keywords for content marketing. The keywords are organized in groups. The clusters show where we can make new pages and what words to focus on for those pages.

The AI engine uses the information to make a plan for the writer to follow while creating the content. Keyword Insights also tells you what people are looking for when they search using the keywords.

It helps you figure out if the words people use to search are for finding information or buying something, so you can make content that matches what they are looking for.

Keyword clusters help find out where there is too much focus on the same keyword on your website. They also show which pages can be put together to make your website rank better.

What is the cost?
$550 to $6589 per year.

Is there a free trial available?
You get 400 free credits.

How is it different from other tools?
The AI assistant makes plans for writing content by suggesting titles, word count, and a basic outline, all based on the main keywords.

  1. Google Ads Keyword Planner

Google Ads Keyword Planner

Google Ads Keyword Planner is one of the first free tools for finding popular words on the internet. It has been available for a long time, almost as long as Google Ads have been around.

This tool was made to help advertisers find the best keywords for their online ads. It really does exactly what it promises. You can do keyword research in two ways. One way to start is by typing in the names of the things you want to promote, to make a list of important words.

You can also choose your domain name to make sure only the most important keywords are included in the list you get. The second way is to simply type in your website address (either the whole website or just one page).

Your search terms will show helpful information for planning your advertising campaigns. This has information about how many times a word is searched each month, how many other people are using that word, and how much it costs to use it in advertising.

What is the cost?
Free.

Is there a free trial available?
Totally free.

How is it different from other tools?
Google Ads Keyword Planner can forecast how well certain words might do in ads or in specific places on search pages.

Also Read: Why ChatGPT is the Ultimate Keyword Research Tool?

  1. KWFinder

KWFinder

Are you searching for local keyword research tools? Then, you should think about using KWFinder. It is a part of Mangools SEO tool. You can type a word and then say exactly where and what language.

You can also use KWFinder to spy on your competitor’s keyword strategies. Just type in their website address to find out which words they are ranked for. From there, you can find any places your plan needs improving and make a list of new words to focus on.

You can also see other helpful information, like how much it costs for ads and how many people are searching for them. This is really helpful if you want to improve your online visibility in specific areas.

What is the cost?
$29.90 to $79.90 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
Free trial is available for 10 days.

How is it different from other tools?
Being able to choose the exact location you want to target for better search results in your area using keywords for local SEO.

  1. Moz Keyword Explorer

Moz Keyword Explorer

Moz’s SEO Pro collection has a tool called Keyword Explorer that helps you make and organize lists of keywords in one place. You only need to type one word to get ideas for more words, or you can do a thorough search analysis.

The Keyword Explorer gives you a lot of helpful information to help you improve your keyword targeting and SEO strategy if you want to analyze search engine results in more detail.

It tells you how many times a word is searched each month, how hard it is to rank for that word, and how likely people are to click on the search results for that word. Moz’s priority metric is a special score that looks at different information to show which keywords are easier to rank for and have lots of searches and clicks.

What is the cost?
$99 to $599 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
Free trial is available for 30 days.

How is it different from other tools?
The Priority Score helps you figure out which popular keywords with less competition you should focus on in your advertising.

  1. Jaaxy

Jaaxy

Originally, Jaaxy was made for affiliate marketing, but it can be used for any type of keyword research. Keyword lists have helpful data that can be quickly and easily viewed.

This is about how many times people search for a word, how much traffic you can get from being on the first page of Google, and how many other websites are using the same word. 

Also, an SEO score will show you how probable it is for you to appear in the search results for that term. If you’re having trouble coming up with ideas, a ‘Brainstorm’ feature can give you a list of words to help you think of ideas.

What is the cost?
$49 to $99 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
You can do 30 free keyword searches.

How is it different from other tools?
The SEO metric shows how likely you are to be on the first page of search results.

  1. SpyFu

SpyFu

SpyFu helps you find the best keywords for your website and helps you see what your competitors are doing. It also helps you improve your SEO and online advertising. With SpyFu, people can find different versions of their ads, and look at past data on how well their ads did.

This tool helps you find words that make money that your competition is using. It also tells you how many people are searching for these words, how much it costs when someone clicks on them, and how many other businesses are using the same words.

SpyFu can show you how much your competitors are spending on ads over time. This helps you improve your own ad campaigns. It helps you understand what your competitors are doing by comparing their website with yours and analyzing which keywords are the same.

Marketers can use SpyFu to make smart decisions based on data to help their website rank higher on search engines, make ads work better, and be more successful online than their competition.

What is the cost?
$39 to $299 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
This tool has a free trial available.

How is it different from other tools?
SpyFu helps to find out which keywords work best and helps understand how your ads have performed in the past.

  1. Serpstat

Serpstat

Serpstat helps marketers find the best keywords to improve their SEO and PPC ads. With Serpstat, people can see lots of keywords and find out how many people search for them, how hard they are to use, how much they cost in ads, and how many other people are using them.

One of the great things about Serpstat is that it can give you detailed information about your competitors. It can help you find out what keywords they are using, which pages on their website are the most popular, and what strategies they are using to get backlinks.

Serpstat helps users organize keywords into groups to make it easier to plan and optimize content. It helps users see which types of content are doing well for their target keywords in search engines. It makes it easy for marketers to use and has strong features. It helps them make decisions based on data and improve their online visibility.

What is the cost?
$50 to $410 per month.

Is there a free trial available?
Free trial is available for 7 days.

How is it different from other tools?
Serpstat gives detailed information on competing websites and organizes keywords into groups.

Final Thoughts

Keyword research tools are really important for the success of any online marketing plan. By using these tools, marketers can learn important information about how users search for things, find good keywords to use, and make their content and ads better.

These tools help you understand how often people are searching for something, how hard it is to rank for a keyword, and what your competitors are doing. This information helps you make smart decisions and stay ahead in the online world.

Keyword research tools help marketers find new chances, focus on specific groups, and ultimately improve their online presence and return on investment. There are lots of different tools that can help with your specific needs.

It’s important to find the right one for your goals. Using keyword research tools in your digital marketing plan can help improve your website’s ranking on search engines, bring more people to your website, and make it easier to reach your marketing goals.

FAQs

How do keyword tools decide if keywords are competitive?

Keyword research tools figure out how hard it is to rank for certain words by looking at things like how many people are searching for the words, how hard it is to rank for them, and how many websites are trying to rank for them too. They might also look at metrics such as cost per click in PPC advertising to see how much competition there is.

Can keyword tools help in finding long-tail keywords?

Yes, keyword research tools are useful for finding longer and more specific phrases, popularly called long-tail keywords, that are not as competitive. SEMrush, Ahrefs, and KWFinder are tools that help find long and specific keywords.

How often should we do keyword research?

It’s important to do keyword research often to keep up with how people search, what’s happening in the industry, and what our competitors are doing. Depending on what kind of business you have and how competitive the market is, you might need to do keyword research every month, every three months, or when you think it’s necessary.

Are there any free tools for finding keywords?

Yes, there are many free keyword search tools you can use like Google Keyword Planner, and Ubersuggest. Even though these free tools have some limitations compared to the ones you have to pay for, they still give useful information about popular keywords, how many people are searching for them, and how many other websites are using them.

Author

Navneet Kaushal is the Editor-in-Chief of PageTraffic Buzz. A leading search strategist, Navneet helps clients maintain an edge in search engines and the online media. Navneet is also the CEO of SEO Services company PageTraffic which is one of the leading search marketing company in Asia.