Every person starts a website with the hope of flooding the site with organic traffic and hoping for some conversions. However, many do not realize that you need to use the best keyword research tools to find out which are the keywords that need to be used for this purpose. Dwelling more on keywords, did you know that the secret lies in using long-tail keywords and LSI keywords as part of your content strategy to get the targeted organic traffic.
However, how and where do you find such keywords? You need the appropriate tool, and what if you manage to find the best free keyword research tool? Shouldn’t that make you doubly happy and thrilled at the prospect of being able to use a free keyword research tool to drive more organic to your website? While there are many tools available that are commendably good at throwing up the right keywords that will induce the buyers to hit the “buy now” button, you need to go for the best in class keyword research tools, and here’s the coveted list for you:
1. Google Keyword Planner
Firstly, the plus point is that it is probably the best free keyword research tool that you can find. This amazing tool is part of Google Adwords and is used extensively by websites for increasing the efficacy of their content by finding and inserting the best keywords the tool throws up. It is not a highly sophisticated or difficult tool from a user point of view. Even a blogger or a novice SEO analyst, as well as a seasoned SEO punter, can adeptly use the Google Keyword Planner to find the appropriate keywords with statistics of the number of searches conducted.
Google Keyword Planner is meant to be used by users of Google AdWords for finding the best keywords that will help them bid for ads they can place for driving traffic to their sites. However, it also automatically serves another general purpose of finding hundreds of keywords that are closely related, and the results include the precise number of searches made for the particular keyword.
How does it work?
To be able to use Google Keyword Planner you need to log into your Google account which you can do by clicking here, and if you don’t have an account yet, opening one is quite simple. Once you’ve logged in, you’ll come to the home page where you need to select Google Keyword Planner from the drop-down menu tools. Then enter the word or phrase, which is the seed keyword that will help you find the appropriate keyword/s. There are several keyword filters including language, location, and even negative keywords that you need to ignore.
While searching for the keyword you want, you can also use any of your competitors URLs in the landing page tab (before you enter your URL) to check which keywords they rank for, so that you get a fair idea of how things work.
Now, let’s see the pros and cons with using Google Keyword Planner:
Pros:
- It is unarguably the most used tool for researching keywords. With the reach Google’s tentacles have, you should be able to come up with an exhaustive list of related keywords.
- You can simply type in the URL in question (yours or your that of your competitor) and filter the keywords that the particular page is ranking for
- Of course, it is a free tool that can be used by anyone without any restrictions
Cons:
- It is primarily meant to be used by advertisers, hence makes the keyword competitiveness of websites quite meaningless
- While you’ll find all the keywords that are used extensively, you’ll never find unique keywords that are hardly used because no one is targeting them. You’ll have to look elsewhere for profitable keywords, using some other research tool.
2. Keywordtool.io
If you are looking for a large quantity of long-tail keywords, Keyword tool.io is what you need. This keyword research tool lets you use your seed keyword and throws up quite some long-tail keywords. The keywords, of course, will be based on Google, Bing, Yahoo as well as Apple app store, though not necessarily in that order. The research tool is free and throws up a commendable range of keywords, some of them may not have been as yet but may be worth trying.
How does it work?
Keywordtool.io is based on Google’s auto-complete feature, where a seed keyword that you use to commence a search throws up suggestions automatically. Hence, this keyword research tool helps you save a lot of time but helps you find the appropriate keyword. For instance, if you were to search with a seed keyword like Uber cab, the tool throws up 358 unique keywords like:
- Uber cab service
- Uber cab app
- Uber cab number
- Uber cab rates
- Uber cabs
- Uber cabs near me
- Uber cab cost
- Uber cab driver
- Uber cab phone number …and more.
Of these ‘Uber cabs near me,’ and ‘Uber cab cost,’ as well as ‘Uber cab phone number’ are good long tail keywords that can give you some good ideas for generating your long tail keywords relevant to your website. This is probably the major feature with Keywordtool.io as it throws up suggestions that can be used to form your keywords. All you need to do is write compelling blog posts using some of these keywords to generate organic traffic.
Although the keyword research tool is free, if you wish to expand your search volume, you’ll need to upgrade. However, upgrading entitles you to more privy info like CPC and the level of competition you are contending with. To start with you could use the free version to generate some fantastic ideas, which can be worked upon before you graduate to an upgrade.
Pros:
- The tool throws up a large number of relevant and related keywords
- The same keywords can be used as they are as Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) keywords in your blogs.
Cons:
- The free version comes with certain limitations and does not give you enough to analyze keyword competitiveness.
- If you want more information on CPC or PPC, or details of search volume, you’ll be forced to upgrade to view such info.
3. Long Tail Pro
This is one of the most powerful keyword research tools around. Long Tail Pro helps you find the profitable keywords that can help you achieve more conversions as more traffic gets diverted to your site. It is a fact that Long Tail Pro will help you locate keywords that never figured on the Google Keyword Planner searches. It has something known a keyword competitiveness score that helps locate the top 10 results on Google. The Rank Value Feature even lets you work out the profitability of a particular keyword depending on whether yours is an Adsense site or an Amazon affiliate site, and neither of the two, because you sell your products.
How does it work?
Long Tail Pro lets you find long tail keywords that contain a specific number of words. Moreover, you can also customize your search options and set them to a particular range of searches for a set period, say a month. You can also find the exact matching domains (EMD) by filtering the results. Long Tail Pro can throw up close to 800 keywords from a single seed keyword;
Hence, the possibilities are practically limitless. However, you’ll need to locate the perfect keyword in the lot and keep applying that as the seed keyword until you find the perfect keyword you have been looking for. The tool also helps you get in-depth Domain and page-level metrics. What’s more is the starter plan costs just $25 and entitles you to:
- 10,000 keyword searches or a month’s usage
- Get the KC score or keyword competitiveness score and competitor analysis
- Work out the keyword profitability using the New Rank Value Feature
- Have access to custom keyword difficulty recommendations for your site
Pros:
- It is unarguably one of the best keyword research tools
- You get up to 800 keywords for a single seed keyword and their search volume as well, along with PPC, competitiveness and top 10 page ranking on Google for the keyword.
Cons:
- It is rather slow in grinding out results when compared to a close competitor, SEMRush.
- You need to give access to your Google AdWords account each time you want to evaluate a keyword using this tool.
4. UberSuggest
UberSuggest is a free keyword research tool, and all you need to do is to append letters at the end of each query for it to throw up multiple keyword choices. With no dearth to the number of keywords this tool can generate, you can easily gain access to a whole lot of long-tail keywords that can be sprinkled in the web content of your niche site as well as the blogs you will be posting. UberSuggest is great for people who have writer’s block because the tool can generate some fantastic blog post ideas that will floor even a seasoned blogger.
How does it work?
You just key in any keyword, like for instance a simple word like a blog, and the tool throws up an exhaustive list of 360 keywords in alphabetical order. While the word blog may be weak as a keyword by itself, the long-tail keywords that the tool generates will certainly help get more ideas on how to use these long-tail keywords to your advantage. Ubersuggest works on almost a similar feature like Google’s autosuggest feature. It adds keywords to your seed keyword. For example, keying in blog throws up the following:
- Blog sites
- Blog meaning
- Blog name generator
- Blog definition
- Blogto
- Blogspot
- Blog names
- Blog examples
- Blog ideas
- Blog templates
- Blog Azul
- Blog and mablog
- Blog apps ….and more.
However, the tool is very basic; hence, it does not give any data about monthly searches and the level of competition of the generated keywords. The best bet is to use the generated keywords on other keyword tools like Google Keyword Planner or Long Tail Pro to get to know the competition.
Pros:
- The sheer volume of keywords that can be researched is overwhelming! One needs to enter the keyword in the box and hit the ‘suggest’ button.
Cons:
- It lacks the feature that can give details of search volume or competitiveness.
- There is a need to use another research tool like Google Keyword Planner to know the real potential of the generated keywords.
5. SEMRush
SEMRush is another premium tool, though there is a 30-day free trial option that sounds interesting. They claim that this is an all-in-one marketing toolkit exclusively meant for digital marketing professionals. This keyword research tool is ideal for beating the competition, thanks to the extensive keyword research results. SEMRush has the intelligence to give you access to keywords that your competitor sites are ranking for.
How does it work?
The specialty of SEMRush is probably the feature that lets you keep track of keywords for which the main competition is ranking. You get to do a bit of serious competitor analysis, and can easily find out the keywords that are generation a lot of traffic towards your competitor sites. A simple seed keyword like ‘mower’ threw up the following:
- Lawn mower
- Lawn mower repair
- Zero turn mowers
- Riding lawn mowers
- Lawn mowers
- Bad Boy lawn mowers
- Honda lawn mowers
- Riding lawn mower
- Lawn mower parts
- Craftsman lawn mower ….and much more.
Moreover, it gives vital information like CPC distribution, volumes for organic search and paid search, as well as trend and SERPs.
Pros:
- It is probably the best keyword research tool that boasts a comprehensive suite of keyword research tools available in the SEO market.
- It lets you catch a glimpse of keywords use by your competitors, and their competitors as well
Cons:
- As only the premium version is available, you will have to buy the premium plan after the brief 7-day free trial is over.
- The tool is comprehensive and research oriented, making it a bit confusing for newbies. It takes time getting used to.
6. KWFinder
The main attraction with KWFinder is that it is premium keyword research tool that also boasts a free version. It claims that it will let you find long-tail keywords with low SEO competition.
How does it work?
The tool is quite fast, and also a great alternative to Google Keyword Planner. The UI that is lacking in Google Keyword Planner and AdWords will be pleasantly surprised to note that KWFinder has amazing UI. Moreover, you can get the search volume for any keyword and locate the SEO difficulty for a particular keyword. You can also search keywords in any language.
Another feature of this keyword research tool is the graph showing “interest over time” which describes the popularity of the keyword you are researching over a period (1 year, two years, etc.). It also shows the other sites that rank for the keyword in question and throws up details of the social metrics.
Pros:
- This is one fast keyword research tool that throws up results almost instantly.
- It displays Google ranking sites for the keywords you are researching and the history of the trend over a period.
Cons:
- While the tool generates a set of good keywords, the quantity is rather less from a researcher’s point of view. To view more keywords one is forced to upgrade to premium.
7. Jaaxy
Jaaxy is a new entrant in the field, and the best feature of this keyword research tool is that it does not depend on Google Keyword Planner to generate keywords.
How does it work?
Jaaxy is almost like any other keyword research tool available in the SEO market today. You need to key in the seed keyword, and the tool throws up long-tail keywords and is somewhat similar to Long Tail Pro. However, Jaaxy does have some exclusive features, which cannot be found in the other keyword research tools, including Google Keyword Planner. The exclusive features include:
QSR which expands to “quoted search result” and will provide you with the web pages targeting the very same keyword.
KQI which expands to “Keyword Quality Indicator” is a feature that displays the keywords in red, green and amber colors. While red indicates very poor quality, green indicates that the particular keyword is the best one to use. Amber is in-between that you can either use or ignore.
SEO is a feature that is somewhat similar to the keyword filter feature found in most other premium keyword research tools. Jaaxy ranks on a scale of 1 – 100 and the keyword with the score 100 being the easiest one to rank.
This premium keyword research tool also has a free version for trial purposes, that let you try out the efficacy before paying up.
Pros:
- Does away with the need to rely on Google, hence displays keywords that are non-shady. Tools relying on Google tend to not display potential keywords.
- There is a unique brainstorm feature that helps generate new keyword ideas that in turn lead to new long-tail keywords.
Cons:
- Most bloggers may not like the idea of a keyword research tool that does not use Google for the purpose. Most of the blogging fraternity is highly dependent on Google for finding keywords.
- The free version comes with limitations that allow only 30 searches per user. Hence, by the time you are used to the tool, it is time to pay up.
8. Keyword Revealer
Keyword Revealer is a very fast keyword research tool that is offered in two versions, free as well as premium. It throws up keywords as soon as you key in the seed keyword and generates hundreds of related long-tail keywords.
How does it work?
The moment you key in a seed keyword, this amazing keyword research tool starts generating relevant long-tail keywords almost instantly. For instance, if your type in the seed keyword ‘footwear’ the tool throws up 701 results like:
- Boots
- Shoes
- Nike Shoes
- Famous Footwear
- Sneakers
- Sandals
- Clark shoes
- High heels
- Keen
- Basketball shoes
- Flip flops
- Running shoes
- Heels …..and much more.
You can also find out the keyword difficulty for a particular long-tail keyword by clicking on the ‘Evaluate’ button, which displays data like the level of competition, a number of monthly searches, Adwords CPC, Domain availability, and location as well. You also get to view top 10 competitors ranked by Google with Moz Domain Authority, Moz Page Authority and Moz page rank, etc.
The keyword competition indicator will tell you whether a keyword is worth ranking or not. It automatically brainstorms keyword ideas and helps you find new keywords that have a high potential for buyer intent. Along with the CPC, you also get to know the profitability and potential earning capacity of a particular keyword.
Pros:
- The tool predicts the keyword difficulty level, which gives you a valuable hint on whether you should go for a keyword or not.
- The Adwords CPC is displayed for every single keyword, along with the potential profits that can be generated.
- The tool also indicates the availability of EMD domains for each of the keywords.
- The free version does not come with any catches like a time frame for validity.
Cons:
- The number of keywords generated for a seed keyword is far less when compared to what Google Keyword Planner or Long Tail Pro generate.
9. Keyword Eye
Keyword Eye is a free keyword research tool that comes up with keyword suggestions and lets you know what people are searching for on Google, YouTube, and Amazon. It is very easy to locate the long-tail keywords that will be beneficial for your site.
How does it work?
Keyword Eye also has a special feature known as ‘Question Finder’ which lets you know what type of queries people pose on the Internet. This can give you valuable information that can be great research material for blog content. What’s more is up to 10 members can work with a single account and can share their research findings with their team members.
This free keyword research tool also lets you know what your competitors are up to and also gives you an idea about what type of content is trending on the Internet currently. The best feature is probably the option that lets you check your keyword on soolve.com which throws up multiple long-tail keywords the moment you type your seed keyword.
You can also check the keyword on Google “allintitle” or reddit and find out the relevant synonyms for your seed keyword. Some of the features that Keyword Eye boasts are not found in any of the above-mentioned keyword research tools.
Pros:
- The data is presented as a visual graph
- The feature that allows you to research keywords for their synonyms (on Google allintitle and Reddit) and the one that is similar to Google autosuggest help you check the keyword search strings on the other sites right from this tool itself.
Cons: The display space allocated for the keywords is rather narrow and forces one to keep on scrolling to find the last entry.
10. SECockpit
SECockpit lets you find virtually thousands of profitable Google keywords in a jiffy. This keyword research tool is ideal for niche sites and is very useful in site planning and improving the ranking of the site. The tool claims to help conduct keyword research at warp speed, and is meant to be used by any country and is available in several languages. It also gives unrestricted keyword analysis data and helps you find a ton of valuable keywords in a matter of seconds.
How does it work?
You can find better keywords than the ones your competitors are using, and you also get a Rank Tracker as a special bonus that comes with the keyword research tool. The keyword tool not only gives long-tail keywords based on the seed keyword you enter, but it also lists out low competition keywords for the particular seed keyword and displays keywords that get a minimum cost-per-click (CPC) in Google Adwords. It also displays keywords with YouTube, eBay and Amazon results right on the first page.
Pros:
- You don’t need to have any other account like Adwords or Moz for using SECockpit. You can login and start your research immediately.
- It has a keyword research module, keyword ideas generator via Google Suggest, Amazon and YouTube Suggest.
Cons:
- This is a new interface, hence takes time getting used to.
- There is a limited free trial offer, after which the tool is premium and costs $40/month.
In conclusion, we can say that it is not enough to access one of the best keyword researching tools unless you know how to use such keywords in your blog for generating organic traffic. Unlike popular claims, there are no shortcuts to SEO, and it is mostly painstaking work that yields good results.
While a keyword research tool can generate tons of keywords, not all would be worth working on. Some low competition keywords may be good for your niche site, and keywords with low search volumes may come out as winners simply because they carry buyer intent.
The post 10 Best Keyword Research Tools That Are Ruling The Internet Market appeared first on Affiliate Blogging Tips.
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