One of the most crucial and pivotal part of SEO is keyword. The primary foundation of SEO is keyword research. In addition to keyword research, there are other factors such as Writing SEO friendly content, a good UX and drafting content which satiates the user intent. There are a few other factors, along with the ones already mentioned, that are crucial in performing SEO.
All the keywords that you wish to focus on for the right search engine optimization (SEO) efforts are extremely important for the success and the ranking of your website.
It is not always intuitive or easy for you to pick the right keyword. You will not only need a lot of research but also a lot of data to decide whether the given keyword is right for you or not.
Now, when you have the adequate knowledge of the basics of keyword research and know how valuable it can be, it is time to delve deeper and get a better understanding on the subject.
At present, there are mainly two types of Keyword research tool available. These include:
- Basic Keyword research – The Basic Keyword research can be used by you to seed the keywords so as to dig in the most profitable ones.
- Competitor based Keyword research – Under the Competitor based Keyword research, you can find the proven keywords which are actually helping other sites to pull out more traffic.
Honestly, in my personal opinion, I like the Competitor based Keyword research a little more effective than the Basic Keyword research tool since the function of the Keyword research is to dig in some profitable keywords. And there just couldn’t be anything more profitable than something that is already working great for someone.
So, basically, all that you have to do is create a page which targets profitable keyword and reap in great benefits of your keyword research.
However, in the exclusive guide provided here, we have included both the type of keywords. Please note that almost all type of these keyword research tools are paid. However, there are some mentioned here, which are free too.
Semrush
When you think of those typical keyword research tools, you limit your thoughts. However, SEMRUSH does a lot more than just researching keywords. You know, what happens with most of the keyword research tools? You’ll have to add seed keywords before you can start your research. On the other hand, with SEMRUSH, you can just add your URL or the URL of your competitor and on the basis of it, you’ll see all the keywords which are ranking for the site. Based on this, it is really simple for you to find both the short tail as well as the long tail keywords which you can target and thereafter, beat your competition.
With this, you can get in depth details on:
- Traffic stats
- Search engine reports
- Website Analysis
- AdSenseCPC
- Backlink Analysis
In addition to these, you can get other details which are needed by you to properly manage your SEO campaign.
Ahrefs Keyword Explorer Tool
If we judge by popularity, Ahrefs is definitely one of the most popular keyword research tools available out there. Honestly, what I really like and appreciate about Ahrefs is its extensive detail including the keyword difficulty. With Ahrefs, you can even see how many clicks you’ll get with the search engine.
This is undoubtedly, a very useful tool after knowledge graph integration. You must have experienced, that there may be some keywords which have massive traffic yet despite that they do not get any clicks on the search engine.
You know what’s the reason behind it is? The reason is, that they get answers directly from the Google search result.
For instance, one such query is the “date of any festival.”
This is not it. There is more to what Ahrefs Keyword research tool offers. This tools, has a great User Interface and the amount of data it offers is unmatchable. So, when you have Ahrefs, you don’t have to use excel. And this is an amazingly time saving feature of Ahrefs.
Google Keyword Planner
When we talk about the keyword research tools, the first name that comes in mind for most people is the Google Keyword Planner tool. This is definitely the most popular and undoubtedly the most used keyword research tool out there.
The primary reason for the popularity of the Google Keyword Planner tool is that it is 100% free for use. Moreover, it is integrated with Google AdWords and this adds on to its popularity. Further, this is very easy to use.
Now, before you begin using this tool, you need to have a Google AdWords account. In case you still don’t have one, just click here, and you can begin creating your account.
Let’s understand the Google Keyword Planner tool a little more.
Features
The best feature of the Google Keyword Planner tool is that it offers deep information on the Google, which you all know, is the largest available search engine.
Limitations
Of course, the feature mentioned above, can sometimes, even act as a limitation. Moreover, if you wish to know how your site or even a given keyword, is going to perform on other search engines, that’s something Google Keyword Planner tool won’t help you with. So, this definitely is a big limitation of the Google Keyword Planner tool.
Pricing
As for the pricing of the Google Keyword Planner tool is concerned, it is absolutely free to use
On the whole, if your website’s SEO is on its initial stages, the Google Keyword Planner tool can be a great tool to use.
Sometime ago, this used to be my favourite free tool however, the fact that it is limited and does not provide the exact data is disappointing. So, if you need a detailed and a competitive analysis, I would recommend you to opt for the other advanced tools that I have listed below.
KW Finder
In case, you are on a lookout for a tool that is 100% dedicated to keyword research, then there’s no better bet than the KW Finder. Though it is a relatively newer tool in the market yet it is one of the fastest growing SEO tool company.
Using the KW Finder you can get the Keywords, which will help you drive highly targeted traffic. If you make use of the Questions based Keyword research option, you can easily find some long tail keywords which will help you in problem solving.
There’s no doubt in the fact that the problem solving content does help you get a more targeted traffic and conversion. You can get both free and paid plans in the KWFinder.
For a lot of users, the basic plan of the KW Finder is the best. However, before you go with the paid version of the KW Finder, we recommend you to use the free version of the tool to check and analyze the effectiveness of the KW Finder keyword research app.
Long Tail Pro
One of the most popular tool in this list of the Keyword Research tools is the Long Tail Pro tool. The Long Tail Pro is cloud based software that you can use for your keyword research. Though this is a paid keyword research tool, you can use this to find amazing keywords for your niche as well as the micro niche websites. There is a platinum version for the tool available, which you can use to get some really amazing and detailed keyword analysis feature. The Long Tail Pro also offers a competition checker. This will make it incredibly easy for you to pick the right keywords.
SpyFu
As of today, one of the best SEO optimization software products available in the market, is the SpyFu.
SpyFu is a great tool and is especially useful when you are trying to analyze your competition and work your way to stay ahead of it despite the small niche.
Here are some pivotal details that you need to know about the SpyFu Keyword research tool.
Uses of the SpyFu
There are two primary reasons for which SpyFu is incredibly useful. These include:
- SpyFu helps one understand the SEO plan of the competitor.
- Using SpyFu, you can actually discover emerging or untapped markets to cash on them ahead of your competitors.
Features of the SpyFu
There are several feature based modules of the SpyFu. These include the following:
- Compare Websites module – For Competitor Analysis
- Keyword History module – For mainly Keyword research process
- Domain History module – For Website Analysis
- Related Keywords module – This is again related to keyword module only.
Pricing of the SpyFu
With SpyFu, you get two basic pricing plans as well as one Agency plan. If you opt for the basic annual plan of the Spy Fu, you will have to pay $33 per month.
On the other hand, if you want to take the basic plan on monthly basis, you’ll have to bear a cost of $39 per month.
You can also avail the Team pricing which is chargeable at $199 per month, if opted for the annual plan.
Similarly, if you go with the monthly plan, you’ll have to bear $100 extra since it is charged at $199 per month.
Undoubtedly, SpyFu is an extremely solid SEO product. Whenever, you wish to find new areas to tap on or if you want to keep an eye on your competition, this can be an amazing tool.
SERPStat
Another comprehensive keyword research tool which is relatively new is the SERPStat. It is a great tool and has been incredibly helpful especially when it comes to helping one identify some traffic winning keywords.
With the SERPStat keyword tool, you can gather a variety of useful details. These include the following:
- Search volume
- Competition
- CPC
- Keyword difficulty score
With the SERPStat keyword tool, you get a detailed keyword difficulty score section. Under the keyword difficulty score section, you get the list of the top 10 web pages which have taken ranking for the said keyword.
Further, it is not limited to just this, and you can also get useful details such as external backlinks, page rank and referring domains.
All of this data happens to be incredibly useful especially when you wish to evaluate whether or not you can rank for the specific keyword or not.
If you are into PPC, the SERPStat keyword tool can be helpful for you too. Since with the SERPStat keyword research page, you can see all the domains that are advertising for your target keyword in search.
You can also know the type and category of the ads which are running. This is a unique feature of the SERPStat keyword tool, something which you might not find even in the best tools of the Keyword research.
Mostly, it is seen that the SERPStat is used by the small business houses. It serves a variety of purposes. These include:
- Research keywords
- Develop a strategic SEO platform, and
- Build new Links
Keyword Tool
Last in our list of the Keyword research tools is the Keyword Tool. It is a free tool and helps you avail the keywords research data which is primarily based on the Google Auto Complete feature.
Now, what is this Google Auto Complete feature? The Google Auto Complete feature is a feature which is mainly used in the Google search. It helps you to fasten up the searches which are performed by the users on Google.
The search terms which you get using the Google Auto Complete feature are primarily selected depending on the variety of different factors. One such factor is how often the users have been searching for the given search term in the past.
With the help of the Keyword Tool, you make a choice of a specific Google domain out of the 192 supported domains. You can even make a choice of one out of the 83 languages which will be further used to produce the keyword suggestions.
There’s no doubt about the fact that the Keyword Tool is by far the best alternative to the Google Keyword Tool. But why is that so? Let’s study the features of the Keyword Tool, to answer this question.
Features of the Keyword Tool
- You can get the free version of the Keyword Tool. This tool generates over 750 long tail keyword suggestions for each search term.
- Unlike the Google Keyword Planner as well as the other competitive tools, the Keyword Tool is incredibly reliable. It works at most 99.99% of the time
- Lastly, the Keyword tool is absolutely free for use. Moreover, you can use it even without creating an account.
There is an advanced version of the Keyword Tool available, by the name of the Keyword Tool Pro.
If you are using, or have used the Keyword Tool Pro, you already know that on an average, this tool provides you two times more keywords in comparison to its counterpart free version.
In addition to all of this, the Keyword Tool Pro also provides you a handful of other useful features.
Purposes served by the Keyword Tool
With either the free or the paid version of the Keyword Tool, you can quickly find and further analyze thousands of relevant long-tail keywords as well as the short tail keywords. These keywords can then be used by you for serving a multitude of purposes such as:
- search engine optimization
- content creation
- pay-per-click advertising, along with the
- other marketing activities.
Pricing of the Keyword Tool
You can avail the basic plan of the Keyword Tool at a cost of $89 per month. However, the Business plan of the Keyword Tool is slightly costlier and can be availed at $199 per Month. In case, you opt for the annual plan of either of these, you can get a 20% discount on the chosen plan.
Final Words
This is all about some of the most useful and incredibly popular Keyword Research tools. In the end, I would like to sum up by saying, that I definitely do not recommend you to opt for all of these tools that we mentioned above. Rather, you should just pick one or two of the Keyword research software and stick to it. Over time, you will get used to its working and it will indeed reap in great results since all of these are great tools for Keyword research.
In case, you have been using the Google Keyword Planner tool in the past, you already have a good base to start with. So, now, you can upgrade from it to any of the paid and professional tools mentioned by us here. You can take a quick look at some of these tools, and then based on its working, decide which one works the best for your business strategy.
If you ask me, my recommendation for you is to opt for SEMRUSH. It is my personal favorite, and it is undoubtedly a great and an easy to use, Keyword research tool and a good solution for all your SEO needs.
Lastly, no matter, what you choose, makes sure the tool picked by you, does bring in good results for your website and actually boosts the SEO of your site.
If you do plan on using either of the keyword research tool from the above list shared by us, you can write to us in the comment box, sharing your experience with the tools and its working.