Keyword Research Tools: 10 BEST Keyword Research Tools

Keyword Research Tools
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Looking for free or paid keyword research tools?

We tried and tested some of industries top keyword tools and formed this list for you.

Keyword research tools are used to build keyword-targeted quality content, create effective link building strategy, and finding keywords for online paid advertising services and much much more.

what are the best keyword research tools

Best Keyword Research Tools Comparison Chart

Tools
Type
Details
UberSuggest
Free for Basic Use
Paid version starts at $29 per month
Keywords Everywhere
Paid
Get 100,000 credits for $10
KeyWord Shitter
Free
Completely Free
Google Keyword Planner
Free
Fully Free Tool by Google
SpyFu
Paid
Starts at $39 per month
KeywordTool.io
Free
Free Version Provides 750+ long-tail keyword suggestions for every search term
Ahrefs Keyword Explorer
Paid
Starts at $99 per month
SEMrush Keyword Research
Paid
Starts at $99.95 per month
KWFinder
Paid
Basic starts at $29.90 per month
Soovle
Free
A 100% Free Tool

Best Keyword Research Tools Reviews

Here is our selection of the 10 best keyword research tools for 2020:


1. UberSuggest (Free)

UberSuggest is hands down the best keyword research tool ever built. It is the newest keyword research tool on the block and has become one of the most popular ones especially because it’s brilliant and 100% free.

Free does not mean it’s limited, in fact, it is the most advanced tool that you will ever find.

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest helps you find the top keywords of any search term and also provides you with the list of top-ranking sites for that particular keyword along with their backlinks. It all happens under one roof.

Specifications:

  • ✅ All website data in one place to make SEO analysis easier
  • ✅ Allow you to find competitors keywords via URL
  • ✅ Completely free with no catch
  • ✅ User friendliness rating above 90%
  • ✅ Easy to understand and navigate
  • ✅ Covers large number of countries and languages
  • ✅ Mobile version of the site is not that well built.
  • ✅ API integration can be improved further.

Recently, they also added the backlink feature which means not only you can explore keywords and see the competitors but can also check their backlinks profile. Did I mention that it was all free, oh wait! yes, I did.

2. Keywords Everywhere (Paid)

Keywords Everywhere is a browser extension that you can add to Chrome/Firefox. The first time I used this tool I was just blown away by this innovative thinking as well as the performance of this tool.

The best part about this tool is its ability to show keyword stats right on the browser and provide data on connected keywords. Install the extension and activate it.

Keywords everywhere

As an SEO professional this tool has helped me a lot during client phone conversations and meetings, you have the data right on the browser and can immediately use it to form an SEO roadmap.

The tool will show you search stats like search volume, advertising cost per click and competition rating right below the search bar and the best part is that it also shows you related keywords and the keywords that people also searched for.

Specifications:

  • ✅ Shows keyword stats right on the browser
  • ✅ Easy account setup process
  • ✅ Completely free of charge
  • ✅ Provides ability to export data in CSV, Excel, PDF file format
  • ✅ Easy access to keyword performance data on multiple sites
  • ✅ Not available on safari browser
  • ✅ Provides keyword research data on the go and saves a lot of time

Wait there is more, the extension not only shows you data on Google search but also shows you data on popular sites like YouTube, Amazon, Bing, Etsy, Ebay and more. This tool makes the life of an SEO professional so much easier.

3. KeyWord Shitter (Free)

I am not joking that’s really the name of the tool, Keyword Shitter and it does live up to its name. All you need to do is enter one or a few keywords that you want to target into the box and click the button “Shit Keywords”. It will start shitting, I mean extracting related keywords.

Keyword Shitter

It also provides you options to apply filters both positive and negative filters which narrows down things and provides a more of a targetted list of keywords.

Specifications:

  • ✅ Provides multiple variation of keywords
  • ✅ Ability to add positive & negavtive filters to get targeted keyword list
  • ✅ Easy to use interface
  • ✅ Lacks the ability to create related keywords or what people also search for data
  • ✅ Useful to get keyword ideas when writng an article
  • ✅ There has been no update to it’s functioning and has remained the same ever since it was launched.

You can manually stop the research or wait for the tool to provide you a message informing you that it has completed the KW research. The only thing left from here is for you to download the list of keywords or copy it manually.

4. Google Keyword Planner (Free)

This is probably the worlds first keyword research tool and it is directly from the mothership. This tool has really grown and has helped out many digital marketing experts over the years. No matter how many innovative KW tools are launched Googe keyword planner will still be used just to check what Google has to say about the particular search term.

Google Keyword Planner

Specifications:

  • ✅ It is a free tool directly provided by Google.
  • ✅ You can directly create an Ad group while researching on the tool and showcase it to Google searchers.
  • ✅ Provides a realistic view of the keyword performance.
  • ✅ You can easily filter keywords based on search volume, bid prices and create a list of your own.
  • ✅ Google killed the device based research feature hence we cannot view the keyword data based on devices.
  • ✅ You have to sign up for a Adwords account, although it is free but you still have to sign up for an adwords account to usee the keyword planner.

The planner was basically used to help out Google AdWord users find the top-performing keywords for their niche and place advertising bids on them, well even today that’s the main purpose of the tool however internet marketers also use it to research on keywords and find relevant data.

5. SpyFu (Paid)

SpyFu helps you spy on your competitors. It will extract their organic keywords as well as PPC keywords and also show you a full SEO report on them.

SpyFu

The process is simple, visit the site and enter the targeted keyword in the search box below the box you have a full report on your competitor, you can check the backlinks, ranking history as well as a full SEO report on the website.

Specifications:

  • ✅ It’s direct and easy to use
  • ✅ Does not require any setup or complex skillset to operate
  • ✅ Cost effective
  • ✅ The site provides access to other related tools such as backlinks, PPC keywords, ranking history
  • ✅ Provides the ability to track them for future updates
  • ✅ The user interface is a bit slow

An amazing tool that should definitely be tried, they do offer a free trial so I strongly recommend you try this keyword tool out.

6. KeywordTool.io (Free)

Remember, when you start typing in Google search, it almost always provides suggestions like autocomplete results for you to choose from, well this tool just took that to the next level.

KeywordTool.io can be used to explore keywords by using Google’s autocomplete feature.

I personally recommend this tool to find long-tail keywords that you can use in your content strategy and also keyword ranking strategies. It uses Google Suggest, Google autocomplete to provide a good list of related long-tail keywords free of cost.

Find

You can find up to 750 new keywords for one of your search terms using the free version of this tool.

Specifications:

  • ✅ No sign up is required to use the tool
  • ✅ Free version generates up to 750+ keywords for each search term
  • ✅ Updates itself based on Google search trends
  • ✅ Only paid members will see keyword data
  • ✅ Provides related keywords, questions and prepositions for your search term.
  • ✅ You can filter results
  • ✅ Ability to input negative keywords for better targeted results

Recently, Google keyword planner stopped showing long tail keywords in their search results and this was a really big issue for many advertisers however KeywordTool.io was there for the rescue. Many advertiser and content creators use this tool exactly for this purpose.

This tool is definitely worth a try and is highly recommended.

It does have the ability to show keyword data as in the search volume, cost per click and competition rating however you need to be a paid user to use those features.

7. Ahrefs Keyword Explorer (Paid)

Ahrefs keywords explorer is the most powerful keyword research tool one can every use. This tool is not free but it’s definitely worth it due to the amount keyword data it provides.

You can find thousands of keywords associated with your search term and also check the sites currently ranking for those terms along with their ratings, backlinks, competition toughness and more.

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

Regardless of where you are located, Ahrefs KW Explorer can provide 99.9% accurate data for your search term as it serves approx. 170 countries.

Specifications:

  • ✅ Available in more than 170 countries
  • ✅ Provides accurate keyword data
  • ✅ Reliable for generating thousands of keyword ideas
  • ✅ It is a paid tool
  • ✅ Updates itself in realtime thus no delays or saturated results are provided
  • ✅ Ability to study competitors backlinks, ranking pages, competiton score
  • ✅ Filter keywords on the basis on clicks, volume, CPC

You can forget about the basic data information like search volume, keyword difficulty or cost per advertising click as these are just things it will show you in a heartbeat but the most valuable part of the tool is its ability to show me insights of the current ranking sites and their website and page data.

This way I can use my competitor data and create an SEO strategy to dominate the rankings.

8. SEMrush Keyword Research (Paid)

SEMrush Keyword Research does give a tough fight to Ahrefs KW research tool however one thing that makes it different is its ability to provide keyword data for multiple countries and in multiple languages.

SEMrush understands SEO and the searcher’s behavior thus has paid importance to not only find related keywords but also to target long tail keywords in its research.

Semrush

The process of generating and analyzing new keywords is simple yet effective when you type in your keyword in the search box SEMrush runs a full analysis of the top-ranking pages and then extracts related keywords from them and then uses the knowledge of keyword variations and synonyms it generates a very powerful list of keywords.

Specifications:

  • ✅ You can access the basic details free of cost however need to upgrade to use the full version of the tool
  • ✅ You can find tutorials and guides to use the tool easily
  • ✅ Find search trens, CPC, volume and more data on the keywords
  • ✅ Shows you the competition rating for every keyword
  • ✅ Ability to export data into excel
  • ✅ Check current ranking sites and find data behind the ranking sites

Once you have your keywords list, you can now start studying your competition, their backlinks and more directly on SEMrush.

9. KWFinder (Paid)

KWfinder gives you the ability to search for keywords using phrases and also by using a domain. This tool is really good at what it does and provides complex data in a very user-friendly manner.

KWFinder

The most significant feature of this tool is its showcase of the ranking sites domain authority, page authority, citation flow, trust flow and the number of backlinks the ranking sites currently hold. All this is definitely some strong metrics to consider in the keyword research process.

Specifications:

  • ✅ You can track your ranking keywords
  • ✅ Ability to check MOZ and Mahestic stats of the ranking sites in the SERPs
  • ✅ You can get a 10 day trial without using a credit card
  • ✅ Check what keywords your competitors rank for
  • ✅ Select country and lanuage for researching keywords
  • ✅ Advanced keyword analyzing and research options

The tool sells itself by pushing its usage to find long-tail keywords with low SEO difficulty and have to say that it does a really good job at it.

10. Soovle (Free)

Soovle is probably the most innovative keyword research tool of the lot. It’s definitely different however very accurate and provides a quick view to new keywords.

The user can quickly research keywords on multiple platforms like Google, Amazon, YouTube, Wikipedia, Yahoo, Answers.com, Bing all on the same page.

Soovle

All you have to do to use this tool is to visit the site and enter the search phrase in the box located at the center of the page and it would fill up the columns assigned for various search engines.

Specifications:

  • ✅ Very userfriendly and multi platform functionality
  • ✅ Noticed that it is not accurate in some cases
  • ✅ Its free to use
  • ✅ You can save the keywords and export it to your system

You can directly check the search volume of the new keywords along with CPC and competition score using Soovle.

What are Keyword Research Tools?

Keyword research tools are an essential part of SEO that is used to find the most relevant, profitable, search-oriented, traffic-driven, and sales targeted keywords that people search online.

As the name suggests these tools are used for keyword research, which is an SEO process used for revealing what exactly the majority of people type in search engines in order to find their desired results, and keyword research tools are used to perform this process.

If someone was looking for a criminal lawyer in Milwaukee they would probably type something like “Milwaukee Criminal Defense Lawyer” or “Milwaukee Criminal Defense Attorney” and many other variations of the same. Using keyword research tools we can find out the keywords people are typing into search engines to find a criminal lawyer in Milwaukee.

Keyword Research Tools Alternatives

Some of you may still be confused about the use of keyword research tools or find it a bit expensive or even would be looking for more ways to find productive keywords.

We got some alternatives that would help you enhance your keyword research skills.

Here are keyword research alternatives:

Quora

Quora is a one of the worlds biggest Q&A website and you can find answers to almost every question.

You can also use Quora for keyword research, simply login and type in your keyword into the search box and hit enter.

You should now see all the questions, discussions and answers around your keyword, you can now pick the questions with the highest engagement and add a new version of it to your website.

This strategy has been quite effective, as you are creating fresh content on the topics your audience is discussing on the web, thus you are directly connecting with your audience.

Facebook

The would number one social media platform, Facebook has a ton of data stored in it and all you need to do is explore it and you will be able to extract some quality keyword research data out of it.

One of the methods to use Facebook for keyword research is to simply type in your keyword or niche into the search box of Facebook and click groups.

Join the groups and look at the posts that have above average likes and comments.

You can also check general public posts outside of the groups however groups often offer the best keyword topics as compared to any other method.

Reddit

Reddit is strong and powerful platform that have a sensible audience base, please don’t kill me for this, but yes, from my personal experience I have found Reddit to have the most sensible audience and you will find less amount of irrelevant content on it.

The trick to use Reddit as a keyword research tool is simple, pop your keyword into the search box and look at all the discussions around your topic, then copy all the relevant Reddit discussions and create something unique around that topic on your own website.

How do Keyword Research Tools Help with SEO?

Keyword research tools give us the monthly search volume of a particular keyword using which a business can plan their internet marketing strategy in a better way. It also provides us with a list of useful keywords that can be targetted for maximum profitability.

Over the years, while providing SEO services to my clients I have personally tried and tested almost every keyword research tool out there and was able to find a handful of them to be really helpful and in this article, I am going to not only name them but also explain why and how they are helpful.

Do Free Keyword Research Tools Work?

Yes, free keyword tools like UberSuggest definitely work however you cannot go deep with it and get a highly-optimized keyword data. It is perfect for small business with low competition however if you are in a highly competitive niche then you should definitely go for a paid tool such as Ahrefs for in-depth keyword research and analysis data.

Free tools for keyword research helps us get a quick report on the keyword ranking difficulty, keyword cost for paid ads as well as LSI keywords and supporting keywords that can be targeted for internal linking and growing web traffic.

What is the difference between Free and Paid Keyword Research Tools?

Both free and paid keyword tools are aimed to do the same thing however free tools provide limited data as compared to paid tools and this alone is the major difference between both of them.

The second difference that I found was that most of the free tools do not allow you to save your research within tool itself thus you have to download it or save it on your system whereas paid tools understand the importance of allowing clients to store data based on each project.

Lastly, free tools tend to provide less and old data which sometimes may hurt your SEO and paid tools tend to provide latest and up to date keyword report.

Importance of Keyword Research Tools

There you have it the top and best keyword research tools to help SEO professional, content writers, and webmasters achieve their target. Keywords are important and knowing which keyword to use on your pages and posts is the best practice to bring in better rankings and higher traffic to your website.

These tools make it easier to understand a particular type of competitor and what kind of content and keywords it would take to beat them.

If you have a new website then use the tools mentioned above that focus on providing long-tail keywords with less competition first and they build your way to the medium and high competitive keywords.

If you find any new updates on the tools above, do let me know in the comments below.

Sources:

  1. How to do keyword research – HubSpot
  2. Beginners guide to keyword research – Moz

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Posted on April 19, 2020 in Search Engine Optimization

Meet The Author

Justin Brown
Justin is a seasoned SEO manager at Egochi, where he spearheads strategies to boost online visibility and client engagement. With a deep understanding of search engine algorithms and user behaviors, Justin crafts bespoke SEO solutions that drive results. His expertise not only elevates brand presence but also ensures sustainable growth in organic traffic. When he's not optimizing websites or keeping up with the latest in digital trends, Justin can be found sharing insights in industry forums and contributing thought leadership in the realm of SEO. His dedication to the craft and commitment to client success make him a pivotal asset to the Egochi team.
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