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Should you not own those techniques or do not have the right tools, you may just end up not getting the right data, not finding out the best keywords or perhaps not finding terms at all.
And because I'm sure you're very curious about what keyword research tools are out there, I've listed the 15 best free and paid programs for you.
In no particular order.
1. SEMRush [Paid].
SEMrush is an all-in-one SEO tool that can support you within every part of search engine optimization.
And so in with doing the keyword research and finding out the best keywords.
For doing keyword research, SEMrush has developed no fewer than four tools:
- Keyword Overview
- Keyword Magic Tool
- Keyword Difficulty
- Organic Traffic Insights
In my opinion, SEMrush is one of the most complete tools in this list and you absolutely must have tested it once.
" Click here to try SEMrush for free
2. Ubersuggest [Free].
Should you be unable or unwilling to pay for software, Ubersuggest is by far the best and most complete option (if you compare with other free variants, not paid competitors).
In fact, Ubersuggest is completely free to use and has been expanded in recent years to include other useful SEO features. Unfortunately, the tool doesn't compare to paid competitors, but if we're talking about free keyword research tools, this should be your go-to website.
In addition to analyzing keywords, Ubersuggest can also give you an awful lot of keyword ideas and content ideas. Perfect for inspiration for your blog!
" Click here to use Ubersuggest for free
3. Raven Tools [Paid]
Raven Tools, like SEMrush, is an all-in-one SEO platform and focuses primarily on freelancers, marketers or agencies.
As an entrepreneur, this tool may not be in your top 3, but since marketers and freelancers also read my blogs, I thought it was definitely worth including in the top 15.
Raven Tools is best known for two reasons:
- The Keyword Rank Checker
- The comprehensive Marketing Reports
When you start looking at the price of Raven Tools, it is certainly interesting compared to its major competitors. Indeed, for a fairly soft price you can already add 80 domains/campaigns
" Click here to try Raven Tools for free
4. Long Tail Pro [Paid].
Long Tail Pro is, as the name actually gives it away, a keyword research tool pure and simple.
On its website, Long Tail Pro says the following about its software, "Long Tail Pro helps you easily find less competitive keywords, so you can attract an awful lot of valuable visitors to your website."
In addition to Keyword Research, for the price you pay you also get a Rank Tracker. This allows you to easily track your rankings for the keywords you found out with Long Tail pro.
The downside to Long Tail Pro (to me, that is), is that it only focuses on finding out and determining keywords and not on the other parts of SEO.
" Click here to try Long Tail Pro for free
5. SERanking [Paid].
SERanking is also familiar to many a marketer. It is also an all-in-one SEO tool, but in recent years has also been expanded to include a PPC (pay per click) research tool and other B2B capabilities.
Within SERanking, you can research keywords by using the Keyword Suggestion Tool. Within the Keyword Suggestion Tool, you are then shown different components again:
- An overview of information about the keyword
- The organic results on that keyword
- Paid results on that keyword
- Advertising history
The big advantage of SERanking, I think, is the pricing model. You decide how often the keywords should be updated, how long your subscription runs and which subscription you have.
In other words, you can pretty much control how much you pay.
" Click here to try SERanking for free
6. Also Asked [Free].
Also Asked is the new kid on the block and has become much better known recently. It is considered the biggest competitor to Answer The Public.
For me, Also Asked is also fairly new and I have since used the tool twice while doing keyword research for clients.
Purely for inspiration itself, because in the Netherlands it does not yet work properly.
What you see above is the outcome of Also Asked. By simply entering a keyword, a language and a country, Also Asked can get to work for you.
You then get a bucket of information, keywords and questions that you can use in your texts.
Fantastic right?
" Click here to use Also Asked for free
7. Keywordtool.io [Free & paid].
Keywordtool, as the name implies, is a keyword program. Keywordtool stands out with the fact that you can also find out search volumes within YouTube, Bing, Amazon, eBay, Play Store and Twitter.
In this, Keywordtool is truly unique!
The disadvantage of Keywordtool is simply that, compared to other competitors in this list, the cost is higher. While the functionalities are not very much more extensive.
What Keywordtool is very good at, though, is showing a lot of keywords when you enter a query. So you do get a lot of input from it.
" Click here to try Keywordtool.io for free
8. Ahrefs [Paid]
We have arrived at my other big favorite from the list: Ahrefs. As I wrote in an earlier blog, I consider this to be one of the best tools when it comes to content and link building.
So it's also one of the best options for doing search term research.
With Ahrefs, you can in an instant:
- Finding out all the keywords of competitors
- Viewing best scoring pages of a website
In addition, when it comes to content, Ahrefs has two important tools:
- Content Explorer
- Keywords Explorer
With the Keyword Explorer, in addition to volumes in Google, you can also be the volumes within YouTube, Amazon, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex and a few other search engines.
Compared to its competitors, Ahrefs is pricey, but you'll more than recoup that with all its features.
" Click here to try Ahrefs for free
9. Anwser The Public [Free & Paid].
Answer The Public is the perfect tool for more inspiration. However, you can't figure out volumes or competition with it and so you have to use it in conjunction with another tool that can.
But it is, therefore, perfect for getting raw input for your keyword research and then putting this information into a SEMrush, KWFinder or Ahrefs.
The nice thing about Answer The Public is, it is completely free to use and you get as many as hundreds of regular and long tail keywords with each keyword or search term entered.
" Click here to use Answer The Public for free
10. MOZ [Paid]
MOZ is by far the biggest competitor to SEMrush and Ahrefs and also belongs in the list of the 5 best and best-known all-in-one SEO tools.
Within MOZ, you have the Keyword Explorer. You can use that in two ways:
- Based on a website
- Based on a keyword
When you do this based on a website, you get to see an overview of the website and the keywords it ranks for.
If you do this based on the keyword, you will logically see an overview based on the keyword, quite a few keyword suggestions and the current SERPs.
Now I hear you thinking, "how am I supposed to make the choice between MOZ, SEMrush or Ahrefs? By trying all three, setting them up properly and working with them.
" Click here to try MOZ for free
11. Google Trends [Free]
Want to know what search terms are interesting and talked about a lot right now?
Would you also like to know in which countries or region this is so?
Then use Google Trends! Google Trends is also a complementary tool and you cannot use it alone.
Personally, I don't use Google Trends much when I start doing initial keyword research for my clients. What I do use it a lot for is determining and tracking new keywords on a monthly basis.
I then do this based on the trends going on in the world.
In addition to trend, search volume and location, Google Trends also shows related topics and related searches. You should definitely look at those as well.
" Click here to use Google Trends for free
12. Keyword Sheeter [Free].
Keyword Sheeter (formerly Keyword Shitter) falls into the same category as Answer The Public and Also Asked.
Keyword Sheeter is mainly intended to find out as many potential keywords as possible. And by as many as possible, I really mean hundreds/thousands.
By entering a keyword, Keyword Sheeter goes to work on that and you get a huge number of variations on that keyword. What you then have to do is put these variations into a tool like KWFinder or any other SEO tool from this list and you'll immediately see what the interesting keywords are.
Now it's only up to you to pick the best ones and then use them within your website and texts.
" Click here to use Keyword Sheeter for free
13. Mergewords [Free]
Mergewords is ideal for improving your local findability (also called local SEO ).
Mergewords is nothing but a tool that can combine words from different columns. So you can put the word "plumber" in column A as a plumber and in column B all the towns and cities of your province.
Once you have done this, basically the same applies as with Keyword Sheeter. You can copy the outcome of Mergewords and paste it into one of the other tools to find out volumes and competition.
A child can do the laundry.
" Click here to use Mergewords for free
14. ProRankTracker [Paid]
ProRankTracker's main function is to track the positions of your search terms. As such, ProRankTracker is awfully good at that.
But in addition to tracking positions, ProRankTracker also has a Keyword Suggestions Tool. This is not ProRankTracker's strongest feature, but it is certainly worth mentioning.
You can then also segment the keywords based on device and location. That, in turn, is a real plus.
" Click here to try ProRankTracker for free
15. KWFinder [Free & Paid].
I lied to you a little bit at the beginning of this article. Yes, the 15 tools are in no particular order, but I saved my favorite keyword research program for last.
That, after all, is KWFinder. For less than €29 a month, you get access to KWFinder and four other useful SEO tools.
In addition, KWFinder is by far the most user-friendly, super-fast and in recent months has added many useful features.
When I want to find out volumes, competition or related keywords, KWFinder is the first one I use. Therefore, it is always my starting point when doing a keyword analysis.
Another great added benefit of KWFinder is that you can even use it five times a day for free, only you will have just a little less features than if you have a paid account.
" Click here to use KWFinder for free
Written by: Daniel Kuipers
Daniel is the founder of Online Marketing Agency. He constantly scours the Internet for the latest gadgets and tactics and blogs about them in understandable language. Well, sometimes.
1 response to "15 best keyword research tools [Free + paid]"
Outstanding post! Keyword research is a crucial element of modern SEO. Whether you're kick-starting an old blog or developing your content strategy for a new one; good quality keywords are one of the most efficient ways to attract consistent, quality traffic to your site.