Keyword research is a crucial aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) and content marketing. It helps you identify the terms and phrases that your target audience is using to search for products or services like yours. By using the right keywords in your website and marketing materials, you can increase the chances of your content being found by the right people.
There are many keyword research tools available on the market, each with its own set of features and pricing options. In this blog post, we’ll introduce you to 12 of the best keyword research tools out there. From free options to paid tools with advanced features, we’ve got you covered.
Whether you’re just starting out with SEO or you’re a seasoned pro, these tools can help you find the perfect keywords to target in your marketing efforts. So let’s dive in and take a closer look at some of the top keyword research tools available.
1. SEMrush
Semrush is an all-in-one tool for online marketing needs, including SEO, PPC, and social media marketing. It has a wide range of features that are designed to help users achieve measurable results.
Semrush is trusted by some of the world’s leading brands and agencies because it offers the tools you need to be successful in today’s digital world.
It’s suitable for businesses that want to do online marketing, people who want to learn about digital marketing, and agencies who want to outsource marketing projects.
Pros and Cons
- All-in-one tool
- Provides exhaustive keyword analysis
- It has a vast database
- Great value for money
- Rich keyword and backlink data
- It eliminates toxic elements on backlinks
- May report inaccurate data about ad spend, export and traffic analytics
- The user interface is not easy to understand and requires some experience using the tools
- The tool only provides data from Google
Pricing
Pro
The Pro Plan includes:
5 projects
500 keywords to track
10,000 results per report
Competitor analysis
Keyword research
Website audit
Advertising and Social media tools, and more
Guru
The Guru Plan includes everything in Pro, plus:
15 projects
1,500 keywords to track
30,000 results per report
Content Marketing Toolkit
Historical data
Multi-location and device tracking
GDS integration, and more
Business
The Business plan includes everything in Guru, plus:
40 projects
5,000 keywords to track
50,000 results per report
Share of Voice
Extended limits
API access
PLA analytics
Free migration from third-party tools, and more
Conclusion
Ultimately, Semrush has a lot to offer. Even if you’ve never used the tool before, it’s worth taking the time to see what it can do for your business. That said, you need to understand what you’re getting with this tool and how you can use it most effectively. Only then will you be able to determine how valuable it will be.
2. AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is a tool that helps users generate ideas for content marketing and content creation by providing a visual representation of the most popular questions and topics that people are searching for on a particular subject. It is based on data from Google Autocomplete and is designed to help users understand what questions and topics are most relevant and popular among internet users. AnswerThePublic can be useful for generating ideas for blog posts, social media content, and other forms of online content. It can also be helpful for keyword research and understanding the needs and interests of target audiences.
Pros and Cons
- Free and easy to use
- You can export the results into a CSV file
- It provides relevant long-tail keywords
- It offers a free email course on how to use the tool
- A broad range of keyword search results
- The free version limits the number of searches to three a day
- To set a different language and location, you must upgrade to Pro
Pricing
Monthly
The Monthly Plan includes:
Unlimited searches
Up to 3 users
Compare data over time
5 Search Listening Alerts
CSV export
Hide branches & suggestions
High-resolution images
Priority customer support
Education package worth $248 E-Book Consumer Insight in the Age of Google (worth $49)
Video Course How to Master AnswerThePublic (worth $199)
Annual
The Annual Plan includes everything in Monthly, plus:
Up to 5 users
Education package worth $447 Video Course Search Listening and the Customer Journey (worth $199)
Expert
The Expert Plan includes everything in Annual, plus:
Unlimited searches
Unlimited users
20 Search Listening Alerts
Conclusion
AnswerThePublic is a powerful tool for generating content ideas and seeing what topics are driving the internet. It’s particularly helpful for discovering questions people have about related subjects, which can be fodder for blog posts or other forms of content creation. While this tool is not perfect, it can be helpful when generating ideas and planning content that drives traffic and leads.
3. Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest is a keyword research tool developed by Neil Patel, a well-known digital marketer, and entrepreneur. It is designed to help users generate new keyword ideas for their content marketing and search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. With Ubersuggest, you can enter a seed keyword and the tool will suggest a range of related keywords, along with data on their search volume, competition level, and cost-per-click (CPC) in Google Ads. You can also use Ubersuggest to analyze the SEO performance of a particular website and get ideas for improving its ranking in search engine results. Ubersuggest is available as a web-based tool and can be accessed for free on the Neil Patel website.
Pros and Cons
- Easy to use
- Offers a helpful onboarding video tutorial
- Find keywords and content ideas that fit your target audience
- Provides free training about SEO strategy
- It incorporates location-based data into its index, making it very easy for search engines to categorize websites by geotarget
- Some users have complained about the difficulty of finding relevant results for niche markets
- The software may be slow to run more than one report at once
Pricing
Individual
The Individual Plan includes:
SEO Training & Support
150 Reports Per Day
1 Project
100 Chrome Extension Search Limits
125 Tracked Keywords per project
Daily Update
Mobile Rank Tracking
20 Locations
Data Reporting
1,000 Pages crawled per report
Weekly Crawling
Historical Data
20,000 Keyword Suggestions
2,000 Content Ideas
2,000 Rows of data exporting per report
Filtering
5 Tracked Competitors
2,000 backlinks
Business
The Business Plan includes everything in Individual, plus:
300 Reports Per Day
7 Project
300 Chrome Extension Search Limits
150 Tracked Keywords per project
Unlimited Locations
5,000 Pages crawled per report
50,000 Keyword Suggestions
5,000 Content Ideas
5,000 Rows of data exporting per report
10 Tracked Competitors
5,000 backlinks
Enterprise
The Enterprise Plan includes everything in Business, plus:
900 Reports Per Day
15 Project
900 Chrome Extension Search Limits
200 Tracked Keywords per project
10,000 Pages crawled per report
100,000 Keyword Suggestions
10,000 Content Ideas
10,000 Rows of data exporting per report
15 Tracked Competitors
10,000 backlinks
Conclusion
Ubersuggest is a fantastic tool for content marketers and SEOs to generate new keyword ideas for their projects. It’s particularly useful for broad topics that you’d like to learn more about and will help you come up with specific keywords your target audience is searching for on Google. It also gives you a good idea of the strength of those terms and how much competition they’ll face when ranking in search engine results.
4. Ahrefs
Ahrefs is a suite of SEO tools that helps users improve the visibility and ranking of their websites on search engines such as Google. The tools provided by Ahrefs include keyword research, link building, site audit, and content creation tools, as well as tools for tracking and analyzing the performance of websites.
Ahrefs can be used by individuals and businesses to improve their search engine rankings and drive more traffic to their websites. It is considered a comprehensive and powerful tool for SEO professionals and digital marketers.
Ahrefs is a suite of SEO tools that helps users improve the visibility and ranking of their websites on search engines such as Google. The tools provided by Ahrefs include keyword research, link building, site audit, and content creation tools, as well as tools for tracking and analyzing the performance of websites.
Ahrefs can be used by individuals and businesses to improve their search engine rankings and drive more traffic to their websites. It is considered a comprehensive and powerful tool for SEO professionals and digital marketers.
Pros and Cons
- It helps users find relevant and high-volume keywords to target in their content
- It shows users the links pointing to their website, as well as the quality of those links
- Identifies and fix technical SEO issues on their website
- Helps users find new content ideas by showing them the topics that their competitors are ranking for
- Tracks the ranking of their website and its pages on search engines
- The cost can be a barrier for some users, especially small businesses or individuals who are just starting out with SEO
- It may take some time to learn how to use all of the features and get the most out of the tool
- The data provided by Ahrefs may not always be accurate or up to date
Pricing
Lite
The Lite Plan includes:
SEO Dashboard
Site Explorer
Keywords Explorer
Site Audit
Rank Tracker
Alerts
Standard
The Standard Plan includes everything in Lite, plus:
6 months of history
Position history chart
SERP updates
Site Explorer
Content gap
Broken backlinks
Broken links
Outgoing links
Link intersect
Domains and countries comparison
Calendar view
Content Explorer
Alerts
Mentions
Batch Analysis
Reports sharing (Soon)
Advanced
The Advanced Plan includes everything in Standard, plus:
2 years of history
Site Explorer
Site Structure
HTML source (Soon)
Site Audit
HTTP authentication
Google Data Studio
Dashboard folders
Ahrefs Search (Soon)
Enterprise
The Enterprise Plan includes everything in Advanced, plus:
Unlimited history
Access management
Pay by invoice
Directory listing
Audit log
API
SSO
Conclusion
Overall, Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO tool that can be used by individuals and businesses to improve the SEO of their websites and drive more traffic and sales through search engines.
5. Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a tool offered by Google Ads (formerly known as Google AdWords) that helps users research and plan their search engine marketing campaigns. It allows users to find keywords and get estimates on the cost of running ads targeting those keywords.
To use Google Keyword Planner, users can enter a list of keywords or a website URL, and the tool will provide information on the search volume, competition level, and cost-per-click (CPC) for those keywords. This information can be used to help users understand which keywords are most popular and valuable, and to plan their search engine marketing campaigns accordingly.
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool, and it can be accessed by anyone with a Google account. It is a useful resource for businesses and individuals looking to advertise on Google and improve their visibility in search results.
Pros and Cons
- User-friendly
- Budget-friendly option for businesses and individuals
- Reliable and accurate information on search volume and other metrics
- Provides a wide range of information on keywords, including search volume, competition level, and cost-per-click (CPC)
- Great Integration
- Does not provide long-term keyword suggestions
- Those who use a negative keyword list may not find this tool useful
Conclusion
Overall, Google Keyword Planner is a useful resource for businesses and individuals looking to advertise on Google, but it should be used in conjunction with other tools and best practices to get the most out of it.
6. Long Tail Pro
Long Tail Pro is a software tool designed to help online marketers and content creators identify and analyze long-tail keywords, which are specific, longer phrases that people search for in search engines like Google. These types of keywords are often more specific and less competitive than more general, short-tail keywords, and can be used to help improve the search engine optimization (SEO) of a website or to generate ideas for content creation.
Long Tail Pro includes features like keyword research and analysis, keyword rank tracking, and competition analysis, which can help users identify and target the right long-tail keywords for their business or content strategy. It also includes tools for analyzing search volume, keyword difficulty, and other metrics that can help users understand the potential impact of using different keywords in their marketing efforts.
Pros and Cons
- User-friendly Interface
- Wide range of features and tools
- Efficient keyword analysis
- Great Integration
- Customized keyword lists
- It limits the number of keywords that can be searched using seed keywords
- Manual keywords could be capped at a higher number
- The tool has numerous bugs
Pricing
Starter
The Starter Plan includes:
800 Keyword results per 24 hours
800 KC calculations per 24 hours
800 SERP lookups per 24 hours
Custom Difficulty Targets
Keyword Profitability
CPC and Advertiser Competition
Filtering and keyword grouping
Unlimited Export Results
30 Tracked Keywords
Unlimited Tracked Domains
Daily Rank Updates
Rank tracker email notifications
2 Projects
250 Pages crawled per Crawl
2 Crawls per day
2 Crawls per project
1 Simultaneous login
Email and chat support
Pro
The Pro Plan includes everything in Starter, plus:
2500 Keyword results per 24 hours
2500 KC calculations per 24 hours
2500 SERP lookups per 24 hours
200 Tracked Keywords
5 Projects
1000 Pages crawled per Crawl
10 Crawls per day
10 Crawls per project
3 Simultaneous login
1 SEO Specialist call per month
SEO Templates & Worksheets
Agency
The Agency Plan includes everything in Pro, plus:
6000 Keyword results per 24 hours
6000 KC calculations per 24 hours
6000 SERP lookups per 24 hours
1000 Tracked Keywords
10 Projects
2000 Pages crawled per Crawl
30 Crawls per day
30 Crawls per project
5 Simultaneous login
2 SEO Specialist calls per month
Conclusion
Overall, Long Tail Pro is a useful tool for anyone looking to identify and analyze long-tail keywords for use in SEO and PPC campaigns. It can help users save time and effort by providing a range of features and tools for efficient keyword research and analysis.
7. Serpstat
Serpstat is a comprehensive SEO tool that can help you in every phase of your SEO efforts. It is an all-in-one platform for professionals, with a rank tracker and site audit tool to help you gain insights into the search engine results pages (SERPs) and fix any issues on your site. Serpstat is available as a web-based platform, and it can be used by individuals and businesses of all sizes.
Pros and Cons
- Offers comprehensive SEO tools
- Provides a very detailed analytic data
- You can access reports that provide clear, detailed visualizations.
- Analyze keyword trends
- It tracks universal search results
- Collects data about keyword volume, difficulty and competition
- The website sometimes loads slowly
- SEO research is sometimes inaccurate
- A few of the audit points are too technical to understand without further explanation.
Pricing
Lite
The Lite Plan includes:
4,000 Searches per day
10,000 Results per report (Website analysis)
10,000 Results per report (Backlink analysis)
1,000,000 Export rows per month
Access to Search Analytics API
Access to Backlinks API
100,000 API credits per month
1 API request per second
Access to Site audit API
10 Rank Tracker and Site Audit
100 Share access
15,000 Position checks per month
Competitors rankings
Daily updates
Organic keyword rankings
Paid keyword rankings
Desktop and Mobile rankings
150,000 Pages to Audit
Page audit
12 Data retention period
15,000 Tools credits
Access to task lists
Search volume crawling (upon request)
SERP crawling (upon request)
1 Member
3 Scheduled reports
Chat support
Customer Success
Standard
The Standard Plan includes everything in Lite, plus:
5,000 Searches per day
30,000 Results per report (Website analysis)
5,000,000 Export rows per month
500,000 API credits per month
10 API request per second
Access to Rank tracking API
50 Rank Tracker and Site Audit
500 Share access
60,000 Position checks per month
400,000 Pages to Audit
24 Data retention period
60,000 Tools credits
3 Members
Branded reports
Advanced
The Advanced Plan includes everything in Standard, plus:
8,000 Searches per day
50,000 Results per report (Website analysis)
15,000,000 Export rows per month
1,000,000 API credits per month
75 Rank Tracker and Site Audit
1,000 Share access
150,000 Position checks per month
1,250,000 Pages to Audit
36 Data retention period
150,000 Tools credits
5 Members
Phone support
Enterprise
The Enterprise Plan includes everything in Advanced, plus:
12,000 Searches per day
75,000 Results per report (Website analysis)
25,000,000 Export rows per month
2,000,000 API credits per month
100 Rank Tracker and Site Audit
10,000 Share access
300,000 Position checks per month
2,500,000 Pages to Audit
60 Data retention period
300,000 Tools credits
7 Members
White Label reports
Development team
Conclusion
Serpstat can help you out at several different stages of your SEO campaign. It is a highly effective rank tracker, which will allow you to track the position of your site in the SERPs and see how it evolves over time. The price may be a little steep, but if you are looking for a strong all-around SEO platform, this is definitely one worth trying.
8. Spyfu
SpyFu is a website that helps you research your competition and see what they are doing to be successful. You can also track your own progress and see how you compare.
SpyFu offers unlimited projects, which allows users to track and analyze an unlimited number of keywords and domains. It has a money-back guarantee, so there’s no risk in trying it out. It integrates seamlessly with other SpyFu tools, so you’ll never have to use more than one program at a time. This makes it easy to keep track of all your projects in one place.
Pros and Cons
- Provides an overview of a domain’s SEO and PPC performance
- Provides insights and recommendations for improving a website’s ranking in search results
- Allow users to track and analyze their own and their competitors’ PPC campaigns
- It provides recommendations that fetch clicks to Adwords or SEO campaigns of businesses
- Free Trial available
- PPC reporting is sometimes inaccurate
- Manual research is necessary
- Exporting is limited to data only
- The tool sometimes runs very slowly
Pricing
Basic
The Basic Plan includes:
10k row search results
10k row data exports
100 domain overview PDFs
6 months of historical data
250 sales leads & domain contacts.
5k weekly tracked keyword rankings.
Professional
The Professional Plan includes everything in Basic, plus:
Unlimited search results – see all the data
Unlimited data exports. All you can eat.
Unlimited domain overview PDFs
10+ years of historical data
500 sales leads & domain contacts
15k weekly tracked keyword rankings
API Access
Conclusion
SpyFu is a great tool for analyzing the viral marketing and advertising campaigns of your competitors and seeing how you can improve your own strategy to compete with them. This way you can always stay informed about what’s happening and why, and you’ll be able to measure the impact of your website efforts in real-time.
9. KWFinder
KWFinder is a tool that helps you find keywords that you can easily rank for. It also tells you what your competitors are ranking for so you can see what is working well for them and try to do something similar. Additionally, it has historical data so you can see how popular a keyword is over time and plan your content around that.
KWFinder offers a very accurate keyword difficulty score, which helps you determine how easy it will be to rank for a particular keyword. It also has a large database of keywords, which makes it easy to find new keywords to target. Finally, KWFinder offers detailed SERP analysis, which helps you see what your competitors are ranking for and identify potential opportunities.
Pros and Cons
- Easy to use
- Quickly loads keyword suggestions and information
- Great for analyzing the relevance of keywords to your search term
- Helps you find keywords that will be easier to rank for in the SERPs
- Wide variety of options for researching keywords to target with your ads
- Free Trial available
- Does not analyze every keyword used on a competitor’s website
- Daily keyword searches are limited
- No keyword gap analysis tool
- Does not support keyword research in multiple tabs
Pricing
Basic
The Basic Plan includes:
100 Keyword lookups per day
200 Keyword suggestions per search
200 Keywords per import
25 Competitor keywords per search
100 SERP lookups per day
200 Tracked keywords daily
100,000 Backlink rows monthly
20 Site lookups per day
Premium
The Premium Plan includes everything in Basic, plus:
500 Keyword lookups per day
Unlimited Keyword suggestions per search
700 Keywords per import
Unlimited Competitor keywords per search
500 SERP lookups per day
700 Tracked keywords daily
500,000 Backlink rows monthly
70 Site lookups per day
3 Extra seats included
$19 Additional seats per month
Agency
The Agency Plan includes everything in Premium, plus:
1,200 Keyword lookups per day
1,200 SERP lookups per day
1,500 Tracked keywords daily
1,200,000 Backlink rows monthly
150 Site lookups per day
5 Extra seats included
$19 Additional seats per month
Conclusion
KWFinder is a great resource for SEOs and content marketers to find ideas that they can easily rank for, and it also helps you keep an eye on what your competitors are doing. It’s a well-designed tool, and one that can be very helpful in your SEO efforts if used correctly.
10. Growthbar
GrowthBar is a tool that helps you write content for your blog or website. It’s an AI-powered content recommendation tool that allows you to collaborate with writers, marketers, and editors faster than ever before. This tool allows you to write perfect SEO-friendly content for blog posts, website pages, and articles so that you can dominate your niche market.
Pros and Cons
- User-friendly Interface
- It gives you the information that you need to carry out a simple but effective SEO campaign
- The Chrome extension allows users to easily access SEO data, on the go
- There are no limits to the number of keywords or domains you may search
- Analyses Google Ads and Facebook Ads
- Free trial available
- The keyword suggestion list does not display the difficulty score
- The backlink research features aren’t advanced
- Broken link building is not possible
- The content-generation tools need to be improved
Pricing
Standard
The Standard Plan includes:
25 AI Content Outlines
Unlimited AI Blog Ideas
Unlimited AI Meta Descriptions
500 AI Paragraph Generations
Unlimited Keyword Research
Track 25 Keywords Across 1 Site
300 Competitor Keywords Per Query
300 Competitor Backlinks Per Query
300 Competitor Google Ads Per Query
Unlimited Chrome Extension Use
Email Support
2 User Accounts
Pro
The Pro Plan includes everything in Standard, plus:
100 AI Content Outlines
Unlimited AI Blog Ideas
Unlimited AI Meta Descriptions
2,000 AI Paragraph Generations
Unlimited Keyword Research
Track 1,000 Keywords Across 3 Sites
1,000 Competitor Keywords Per Query
1,000 Competitor Backlinks Per Query
1,000 Competitor Google Ads Per Query
Unlimited Chrome Extension Use
Email Support
5 User Accounts
Agency
The Agency Plan includes everything in pro, plus:
300 AI Content Outlines
Unlimited AI Blog Ideas
Unlimited AI Meta Descriptions
5,000 AI Paragraph Generations
Unlimited Keyword Research
Track 5,000 Keywords Across 25 Sites
2,000 Competitor Keywords Per Query
1,500 Competitor Backlinks Per Query
2,000 Competitor Google Ads Per Query
Unlimited Chrome Extension Use
Live Support
10 User Accounts
Conclusion
GrowthBar is a collaborative and easy-to-use tool to help you write better content for your website. It’s full of features to help you manage and monitor your content, so you can get more traffic, more leads, and more customers to turn your business into a success.
11. Majestic
Majestic is a website that helps you find out who links to your website and how strong those links are. It offers a free trial, which is great for anyone looking to see if this service is right for them.
The interface is easy-to-use, so even if you’re not an expert in SEO, you can still use it. Majestic provides detailed data on backlinks and their sources, which is great for anyone who wants to know more about how links influence website ranking and search engine results.
Pros and Cons
- Wide range of tools to help you analyze backlinks and domain
- Rank tracker and keyword checker
- Deep crawling feature
- Comprehensive analytical charts and statistics
- Enhanced website performance tracking
- Lacks the Historic Index tool
- Does not have SERP results and CPC/PPC metrics
- Custom Majestic metrics are complicated
Pricing
Lite
The Lite Plan includes:
1 million analysis units
Fresh Index
Site Explorer
Keyword Generator
Link Graph
Link Context
Related Sites
Trust Flow
Topical Trust Flow
Referring Domains
Referring IPs
Referring Subnets
Backlink Campaigns
Bulk Backlink Checker
Keyword Checker
Use OpenApps
Verified Domains
Pro
The Pro Plan includes everything in Lite, plus:
20 million analysis units
Historic Index
Index Merger
Raw Data Exports
Custom Reports
Compare Sites
Flow Metric History
Clique Hunter
Backlink History
Search Explorer
Share Campaigns
Email Alerts
Network Neighbourhood
Full Business Profile
Experimental
Rank Tracker (via Google Search Console)
API
The API Plan includes everything in Pro, plus:
100 million analysis units
Full API
Custom Monthly Data
Create OpenApps
Conclusion
Majestic is certainly a service worth considering, especially if you run a website that is frequently updated with new content or have a blog that receives regular comments. It allows you to see who is linking to your website, track those links and their sources, and measure the strength of those links. You can sign up for free if you want to check the service before you fully commit.
12. Keyword Tool
Keyword Tool is a free online tool that helps you find keywords related to any topic.
It can be used to generate up to 750 long-tail keyword suggestions for every search term, and it is extremely reliable, working 9999 of the time. Furthermore, it can be used without creating an account, which makes it perfect for people who just want to get started and don’t need to worry about saving their searches or tracking their data.
Pros and Cons
- Very easy to use
- Can search across multiple platforms
- Allows you to perform a broad keyword search and display related keywords
- Provides detailed search volume data
- Easily find long-tail keywords
- Inaccurate search volume
- Competition analysis feature is not robust enough
- Lacks direct phone support or customer service
Conclusion
Keyword Tool is an excellent tool for getting started with ideas for your own content, or for finding powerful words to optimize your writing for search engines. It doesn’t have all the features of some paid tools, but it’s very straightforward and simple to use, which makes it great for people who just need some keywords to get started.
Final Thoughts
Keyword research is an essential part of any SEO strategy and can greatly impact the success of your online content. The right keyword research tool can save you time and effort while providing valuable insights into the language and phrases your audience is using.
We hope that this article has helped you to understand the best keyword research tools on the market today. We have tried to include a variety of different types of tools in order to meet your needs, whatever they may be.
Ultimately, the best keyword research tool for you will depend on your specific needs and budget. By carefully evaluating the features and pricing of each tool, you can find the perfect fit for your business.
