Keyword Research Tools
Find the top keyword research tools to boost your SEO, discover profitable keywords, and drive targeted traffic with accurate data and insights.
Keyword research lays the foundation of your website’s ranking. I'd argue that it is the most important part of SEO.
Top-performing keyword research tools provide quality keyword data that improves search volume and traffic to your site. More traffic means more potential for revenue. It’s why businesses invest in them.
There are numerous options available online. Some are free, and others are paid. Today’s list will highlight a combination of the best free keyword research tools and the premium ones tailored for different purposes.
Brett Helling is a digital marketing expert with over 10 years of experience building, managing, and scaling websites.
Basics to Understand
Keyword research tools are essential for online marketers, SEOs, and content creators. Sure, you can use keyword research AI prompts, but these have nothing on actual keyword research data.
These tools help identify the search terms users are typing into search engines, offering insights into keyword volume, competition, trends, and user intent.
By understanding which keywords resonate with your target audience, you can create content that ranks higher in search results and attracts the right traffic to your website.
The primary goal of keyword research is to find keywords that balance two factors: search volume (how often a term is searched) and competition (how difficult it will be to rank for that term).
Many tools also provide features like competitor analysis, content ideas, and keyword difficulty scores, making them invaluable in planning your SEO or PPC (pay-per-click) strategy.
How to Choose
Considering the similarities of features shared by some paid keyword research tools and free ones, you’ll need to be clear on what you need from them.
Below are factors that can help you decide which SEO keyword research tool best fits the content strategy you have in mind.
Keyword Research Features
How extensive is your need for keyword suggestions?
Most free keyword research tools can give you comprehensive results, but they lack advanced features like in-depth ranking difficulty analysis and position tracking only accessible through paid tools.
You can start with a free version to familiarize the basics, but if you’re serious about getting competitive search engine results, subscribing to a paid keyword planner is the best way.
Ease of Usage
The best keyword research tools are designed to make search marketing easier.
However, software navigation isn’t a piece of cake for many.
When finding a tool, it helps to try it out before subscribing.
Several research tools we’ve listed offer limited-time free trials that you can maximize by studying how it works.
Find something you’re comfortable using.
Going for something complex might overwhelm and discourage you from using most of its features.
Cost
Free keyword research tools are your best bet for basic keyword ideas search.
But if the goal is to establish domain authority for your site, you must be ready to invest in tools that land you on Google’s first page.
Paid research tools are costly, and most, if not all, have monthly fees specific for a single user and not an entire enterprise.
Apart from the features, take time to assess if your budget covers the cost of your chosen tool.
Otherwise, work on listing alternatives you can start with and scale later.
Product Reviews
How do other users find the product?
Keyword research tools with the best features and functions will satisfy marketers, and this will show in their reviews.
Go for a keyword planner with a high star rating and positive online reviews to be on the safe side.
Also, you’d want to check the feedback for the tool’s customer support response.
Not every software has a dedicated phone line to answer your queries in real time.
Some may take up to 72 hours, which can be a deal-breaker, especially for large agencies with huge clientele.
Built-In Content Marketing Features
This is optional, but since you’re paying for the service, you might as well look into the other things you’re getting when signing up.
Add-on features you’d want to look out for include social media management tools, listing management, marketing analysis, and SEO content template tool.
My Personal Take
We’ve tested out several tools and scoured reviews from users to come up with the best picks.
We’ve included an overview of our top picks below. For detailed information on each pick, scroll down.
- Google Keyword Planner – Best for Paid Keywords
- Moz Keyword Explorer – Smart and Fast Keyword Researcher
- Ahrefs Keyword Explorer – Linkbuilder’s Choice
- Semrush – SEO Tool for Experts
- Keyword Surfer – Handy Chrome Extension for Instant Keyword Search
- Google Trends – Google’s Trendiest Terms With a Click
- Google Search Console – Easy Monitoring of Google’s Search Performances
- Jaaxy – Keywords Explorer for Affiliate Marketers
- Serpstat – Best in Competition Analysis
- QuestionDB – Top Questions Asked Around the Globe
- Ubersuggest – Multilingual Keywords Explorer
- Soovle – Keyword Generator With a Classic Feel
Our Top Picks
Ahrefs is my top choice for keyword research due to its powerful, data-rich platform. It offers detailed insights on keyword volume, competitor search strategies, and accurate difficulty scores.
With a vast database of over 10 billion keywords, Ahrefs provides actionable metrics that help me target high-potential terms. The comprehensive backlink analysis also enhances SEO strategy, giving me a full overview in one place.
While it’s pricier, its robust features make it invaluable for professionals looking to go beyond basic SEO research.
Semrush comes close to Ahrefs in terms of keyword research capabilities, especially with its intuitive interface and broader range of features.
I find Semrush especially useful for keyword gap analysis, revealing competitor opportunities I can leverage. Its keyword tracking and organic traffic insights are essential for content planning.
I also appreciate Semrush’s all-in-one approach—it’s versatile for SEO, paid search, and social media analysis.
Though its keyword difficulty scores aren’t as precise as Ahrefs, Semrush is a strong choice for a comprehensive marketing toolkit with excellent keyword insights.
A free, beginner-friendly tool offering basic keyword data, ideal for PPC campaigns and small businesses.
Google Keyword Planner is a valuable keyword research tool, especially for budget-conscious users, as it provides reliable data directly from Google.
Offering insights into search volume, competition, and bid estimates, it helps marketers identify high-impact keywords for both SEO and PPC campaigns, making it ideal for targeted audience reach.
Why We Chose This for Top Pick
Nothing beats Ahrefs Keyword Explorer in terms of link-building and backlink analysis.
This keyword planner has the most expansive backlink database worldwide, which helps professional marketers get the nitty-gritty of paid and organic search results for content marketing.
Ahref’s database is updated monthly, ensuring users get new data from pages across the web.
One of its key features is Keyword Difficulty, which gives you precisely the required backlinks to your site to land it on Google’s first page.
Whereas most tools only give vague tagging like ‘Easy’ or ‘Difficult,’ Ahrefs data in numbers is a game-changer in getting specific organic traffic insights.
This keyword tool also provides a comprehensive SERP analysis report, allowing you to understand the factors that affect a page’s ranking. These factors include on-page optimization, internal and external links, and page speed.
Its innovative click metric is also great for analyzing search history and identifying how many clicks are paid or organic.
- Pricing: Starts at $99 per month.
- Best For: Medium to large-size agencies that need all-purpose SEO tools.
Why We Chose This for Runner-Up
Semrush is built to provide all-out support for search engine optimization strategies, making it an essential tool for anyone serious about SEO.
That being said, Semrush’s paid version may not be for beginners.
The sheer volume of functionalities it offers can be overwhelming for starters.
It’s packed with features like the Keyword Magic Tool, which finds related keywords you won’t often think of when doing a manual search.
Linking this to Google Analytics unlocks more features you can use to uncover organic keywords.
This keyword tool can also show you terms already ranking on your competitors’ sites, making it easier to plan your content ideas to ace keyword competition.
If you’re unsure of what to search for, Semrush’s Phrase Match feature provides a comprehensive keyword list of long-tail keywords relevant to the topic you provide.
Once you’ve gathered keywords for your site’s content, you can use Semrush’s SEO content template tool to create a content brief.
This serves as your outline for writing posts, ensuring their format and hierarchy are at par with content ranking high on search databases.
Its position-tracking functionality also helps identify high-ranking keywords, including your competitors’ keyword profiles.
- Pricing: It has a free version for basic functions. The paid version offers a 7-day free trial and starts at $119.95 monthly.
- Best For: Advanced SEO users, large agencies, and PPC experts.
Why We Chose This for Budget Pick
Google’s keyword planner is part of the search engine’s advertising platform, meaning a Google ads account is required.
Setting up the account is free. Once active, you can use Google Keyword Planner to get keyword suggestions based on a topic.
The tool’s Keyword Ideas feature allows you to view related keywords to a single term. Results include search volume data, impressions, and historical records of how much advertisers paid for that keyword.
The keyword planner also has the refine keyword tool that helps you narrow down results based on specific filters.
For instance, if you’re searching for ‘oily hair,’ you’ll have the option to refine search results by condition, hair type, symptoms, and more.
It’s important to mention that since this tool is designed for Google ads, the keyword search results are focused more on pay-per-click rather than organic data. This means keyword data from this tool will best benefit paid advertising campaigns.
- Pricing: Free, but will require you to set up a Google Ads account, which asks for your billing information.
- Best For: gies and paid marketing efforts.
Alternatives
Moz Keyword Explorer simplifies keyword research with insights on search volume, difficulty, and organic click-through rates. Its unique “Priority” score helps you assess keyword potential quickly, while its keyword suggestions feature aids in expanding niche relevance.
AnswerThePublic focuses on user intent, visualizing popular questions, prepositions, and comparisons from Google’s autocomplete data. This tool is perfect for identifying long-tail keywords and creating content that directly addresses audience needs.
Free Option
WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool offers essential metrics like search volume and competition, with industry and location filters. While basic, it’s ideal for beginners or those needing a quick, budget-friendly solution for keyword insights.
About the Alternatives
When it comes to keyword research tools, Moz Keyword Explorer and AnswerThePublic offer a refreshing complement to Ahrefs, the top pick, by focusing on unique aspects of keyword research.
Moz Keyword Explorer stands out for its “Priority” score, making it easy to identify high-value keywords without diving too deep into metrics.
This prioritization, along with detailed data on search volume and keyword difficulty, is ideal for users who want streamlined keyword insights.
AnswerThePublic, on the other hand, is tailored to user intent and question-based searches.
By visualizing queries in a creative format, it aids marketers in creating content that directly answers popular search questions, making it ideal for capturing long-tail traffic.
For a budget-friendly approach, WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool offers essential keyword data without the cost, making it an accessible option for newcomers.
Although it lacks the depth of Ahrefs and Semrush, it’s a reliable choice for quick keyword research needs
Together, these tools provide valuable options for users seeking specialized or cost-effective keyword research tools, covering everything from SEO-focused metrics to content-driven keyword discovery.
Other Options
Keyword Surfer – Handy Chrome Extension for Instant Keyword Search
Keyword Surfer is a free Chrome extension that generates keyword results for related queries.
This free tool helps find Google-backed results in an initial query and similar keywords based on location.
You can toggle the global search volume on and off to narrow down your search intent.
Once installed, you’ll see a keyword’s monthly searches, the number of times it appears on a page, and a Title Changed indicator below the title, signaling that Google changed its title tag link.
You can also save the keywords generated from your search and download them as a CSV file for future reference.
If you’re using this free keyword tool to assist you in writing, its AI article generator is a plus.
It gives you structural suggestions or outlines of how you should compose your article to reflect the hierarchy that search engines rank similar posts.
- Pricing: Free extension.
- Best For: Anyone who wants a quick keyword data result directly from Google.
Google Trends – Google’s Trendiest Terms With a Click
If you need to know the trendy keywords, look no further than Google Trends.
It’s a free tool designed to capture the most popular keyword hits over time in any location.
And since it’s powered by Google, the world’s largest search engine, you can bet the data is timely and legit.
Google Trends is great for helping you with seasonal campaigns, as it displays keyword popularity for a specified time frame.
Viewing the Related Queries section helps you identify potential topics that are gaining popularity among your target audience.
Google Trends also shows reliable search volumes, allowing you to view the increase or dwindling attention to a topic.
One keyword can have more Google search results in 5 years but might show lesser searches for the previous year compared to rising related searches.
Knowing this help you plan ahead and pattern your content ideas to reflect trendy keyword ideas.
Moreover, Google Trends can also capture keywords’ popularity on YouTube.
So if your strategy’s focused on video content, knowing what’s ‘in’ can help boost your post’s popularity.
Keeping an eye on Google’s trendy topics gives you a heads-up on things that’ll likely go big in the coming months, thus allowing you some time to pattern your SEO strategy to fit the consumption demand.
- Pricing: Free.
- Best For: Anyone who needs to know the trendy keywords in real time.
Google Search Console – Easy Monitoring of Google’s Search Performances
Google Search Console is a keyword research tool best for generating blog post ideas based on existing ones.
This tool shows you keywords you already rank for but have yet to focus on.
For instance, a keyword can have many impressions but a low position ranking.
This tells you that the content is enticing enough to get people to click.
However, your site has very little similar content featuring that keyword.
This becomes your opportunity to craft posts centering on that term instead of finding new keywords from scratch.
Google Search Console is compatible with Google Analytics, and linking them gives you even better results in keyword research.
Details like the number of clicks, impressions, click-through rates, and position are displayed in columns for easy tracking.
- Pricing: Free. You only need a website.
- Best For: Anyone looking for opportunity keywords from those existing ones on their website.
Jaaxy – Keywords Explorer for Affiliate Marketers
Jaaxy is the most straightforward keyword research tool on our list.
You need to enter the term or topic in the search bar, and it’ll give you all the relevant keywords along with search volumes, impressions, and traffic.
Jaaxy taps into its rich database of fresh keywords that help you discover niche markets often missed out by some tools.
With its exclusive competition tracking tool, SiteRank, Jaaxy can provide users with comprehensive ranking insights.
You can set the frequency on which you test rank your site against competitors, and the tool notifies you of the result within the platform.
What sets this keywords explorer apart from the others is its access to affiliate marketing info that you can feature in your content.
You can even join them if you’d like.
They have several sources for affiliate programs, including Digital River, ClickBanks, Link Share, and Commission Junction, which means more program choices.
Jaaxy’s Quoted Search Result feature is excellent at providing information on websites competing to rank a specific keyword.
- Pricing: $49 per month.
- Best For: Marketers looking for a straightforward keyword research tool with access to affiliate marketing programs.
Serpstat – Best in Competition Analysis
Serpstat excels in competitive analysis and doubles as a budget-friendly keyword research tool.
It provides data on keyword trends, group keywords, and related terms to help you create content with chances of ranking higher on search engine results pages.
The main highlight of this tool is its intuitive way of providing data about your direct competitors.
It features a Competitors Graph page that shows colorful bubbles representing your competition.
You’ll also see those keywords you share with your competitors and view which of them are targeted by organic or paid ads.
- Pricing: Starts at $55 per month.
- Best For: Freelance SEO specialists and small agencies who want to focus on market competition.
QuestionDB – Top Questions Asked Around the Globe
Are you looking for keyword ideas to feature in your next article? QuestionDB can give you extensive options.
This tool works like a reversed Q&A portal where you input seed keywords, and the tool gives you a list of specific questions people around the web are asking about it.
For instance, searching for ‘Keyword Research’ generates results like, ‘Am I doing my keyword research wrong?’
Since QuestionDB’s results are sourced from forums like Reddit and Quora, you can trust those questions to be issues that real audience is asking.
Plus, there’s a source link to all sections that you can use to view the whole thread relating to that topic.
One of the best things about this tool is the ability to sort results by popularity.
This leads you to topics with the highest search volume.
- Pricing: Free for a maximum result of 50, paid plans start at $15 per month with unlimited results.
- Best For: Content writers and SEO specialists looking for blog topics.
Soovle – Keyword Generator With a Classic Feel
Soovle is an easy-to-use target keyword search tool with a classic feel.
It pulls out keyword suggestions from the world’s biggest search databases like Google, Bing, Youtube, Amazon, and more.
You don’t even need to shift tabs or click on links to find keywords.
You type terms or phrases in the search box, and all the top suggestions start to appear over the platforms’ logo on that same page.
One cool thing about this keyword planner is the ability to save word suggestions with a simple drag and drop.
This helps content managers track new keywords for future entries to a site’s blog section.
- Pricing: Free
- Best For: Content writers and marketers looking for fresh topics or ideas to write about.
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We evaluated several factors to recommend the best keyword research tools:
Data Accuracy
Tools with reliable data sources (like those directly tied to Google’s search data) were prioritized.
Accurate search volume and competition metrics are crucial for planning content effectively.
Feature Set
We favored tools that go beyond basic keyword suggestions, focusing on ones that offer advanced features like competitor analysis, SERP position tracking, and keyword difficulty scores.
User Reviews
We checked user feedback from trusted platforms like G2 and Capterra to ensure the tools were well-regarded by real users.
A mix of positive reviews and ongoing product updates factored into our selections.
Pricing
While we included premium tools, we also ensured to recommend free or affordable alternatives for those just starting out or on a tight budget.
Suitability for Different Levels
We selected tools for varying expertise levels, from simple platforms for beginners (like Ubersuggest) to more comprehensive solutions for advanced users (like Ahrefs or SEMrush).
Are Premium Keyword Research Tools Worth It?
It’s worth it if you’re serious about your SEO strategy and willing to put in the work.
Efficient use of these tools is proven to drive organic search traffic, catapulting pages to Google’s first page.
However, results don’t happen overnight, even with the best tool at work, so you’ll need to set proper expectations.
You still need to work on incorporating the tool into your existing campaign and using it to improve your content delivery.
What Is the Best Keyword Research Tool?
There’s no official record naming a single tool that beats the others.
The best tool is the one that gives you the features you require.
However, you can use any of the product’s unique selling propositions to base their performance quality as affirmed by the users.
For instance, if you’re after backlink data to enhance your SEO strategy, then Ahrefs is a worthy choice.
It’s more costly than the others but has the best database for building links.
How Much Should I Spend on Keyword Research?
This is purely up to you. If you have the budget, the skills, and a large website to run, Semrush should be on top of your list.
Yes, it’s expensive, but with the reports you get to keep your content strategy at pace with your competitors, this could be a worthy investment.
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