10 Best Keyword Research Tools for SEO

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Finding the right content ideas for your site takes a lot of thought and planning, but just writing great content often isn’t enough.

You also need to do keyword research to make sure you’re using the right terms so people can actually find your content!

Luckily, there are some outstanding keyword research tools that can make your job easier by providing content ideas, important keyword metrics, competitor analysis, and more so you can spend less time digging for data and more time helping your prospective customers.

The Best Keyword Research Tools

Below are 10 of the best keyword research tools that will help you find new content ideas and provide the information you need to evaluate keyword ideas.

1. Ubersuggest

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Ubersuggest is the first keyword research list on this tool that offers free features.

While it was originally built to scrap Google Suggest terms, it has since been taken over by marketing expert Neil Patel and now specializes in generating new keyword ideas.

All you have to do is type in a keyword, and Ubersuggest will give you thousands of variations and related keywords, along with their search volumes, CPCs, and Paid Difficulty ratings.

Features:

  • 100–900 reports per day for paid plans
  • Enter a competitor’s domain for more keyword ideas
  • Easily export keyword ideas and backlink data to an Excel file
  • Access to historical data

Price: Free plan available; paid plans range from $29/month (individual) to $99/month (enterprise). Full details here.

2. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner may not seem as fancy as other tools on this list, but its key advantage is that its data comes straight from Google (so you know it’s the real deal).

You’ll need an AdWords account to use the Keyword Planner, but it’s completely free to use. You’ll get tons of synonyms and variations, as well as the standard metrics for each keyword.

Features:

  • Easily find commercial keywords using the “top of page” bid range
  • Get accurate search volumes directly from Google
  • Great for business websites
  • Simple and straightforward

Price: Free

3. Keyword Surfer

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Keyword Surfer is a free, easy-to-use extension that instantly provides important metrics for keywords as you enter them into your browser’s search bar.

Features:

  • Analyze search volumes for over 70 countries
  • See the word counts of top ranking pages
  • Get results as you’re typing your search—saves time and effort!
  • Discover related terms and keyword suggestions
  • Extremely fast and easy to use

Price: Free

4. Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

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Ahrefs is one of the best tools out there not just for keyword research, but for SEO in general. Their Keyword Explorer provides highly accurate difficulty scores, over 1,000 keyword suggestions, and click metrics to improve your CTR (click-through rate).

In addition, you can easily find your site’s top competitors and see which keywords they’re ranking for, which might inspire some new content ideas of your own.

Though it’s one of the priciest options on this list, Ahrefs offers a comprehensive set of tools that can help you take your site to new heights. Plus, if you sign up for annual billing, you’ll get 2 months free!

Features:

  • Simply enter a competitor’s domain to see their top-ranking posts and keywords
  • Get thousands of keyword ideas with the Keyword and Content Explorers
  • Uncover backlinks to top-ranking posts
  • Quickly and easily export your findings to an Excel, CSV, or Google Sheets file

Price: From $99/month; see full details here.

5. SEMrush

SEMrush is a great choice if you want to keep an eye on your competitors’ top-ranking keywords. The tool also allows you to compare several domains against each other to scope out the competitive landscape.

Features:

  • Discover new organic competitors
  • Uncover long-tail keywords
  • Find phrase matches and related keywords
  • See how domain positions change
  • Conduct deep link analysis
  • Get a technical SEO audit

Price: $99–$399/month. Enjoy a free 7-day trial!

6. KWFinder

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KWFinder was designed by Mangools, a developer known for great keyword research and SEO tools across a number of categories.

This tool offers precise data on keyword competition, and you can easily sort and filter results for the most relevant keyword ideas.

Features:

  • Find long-tail keywords
  • Discover competitors’ keywords
  • Find the search volume and other important metrics of your keyword ideas
  • Find location-specific keywords

Price: $29–$79/month. Check out the full pricing details here.

7. SECockpit

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Though anyone can benefit from SECockpit’s keyword research tool, SEO experts will likely get the most from its in-depth results.

You can even customize your results by choosing to include Google Suggest, Related Searches, and Google Ads.

Features:

  • Create projects around sets of keywords on your dashboard
  • Summarizes the most important data in a simplified overview
  • Thorough competitor analyisis
  • Discover backlinks

Price: $25/month for a personal account. Full details here.

8. Jaaxy

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Jaaxy is a powerful, straightforward tool that lets you save, share, manage, and export your keyword research.

Uncover the search volume, competition, and potential traffic for each keyword idea, along with the “quoted search result,” which gives you an estimate of how many other sites are trying to rank for that exact keyword.

Features:

  • Perform up to 5 searches at once with multithreaded search functions
  • Get traffic, competition, ranking, and domain data in seconds
  • Many keyword ideas that aren’t available with other tools

Price: Free–$49/month. More info here.

9. Serpstat

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Serpstat doesn’t really specialize in keyword research—most of their tools focus on content, link building, and other areas of SEO. But, they still have a highly effective keyword research tool that’s worth checking out.

The tool provides a thorough list of keywords that have historically worked for your competitors and helped them rank high in search results.

Features:

  • Competitors Graph shows you which sites are competing for a keyword.
  • Adapt keywords to different countries
  • Provides long-tail keywords
  • Check the relevancy of your web pages and analyze trends.

Price: $69/month (“Lite” Plan) – $499/month (“Enterprise” Plan); full details here.

10. KeywordTool.io

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KeywordTool is a simple, straightforward tool that feels a lot like Ubersuggest.

You can get keywords suggestions for free (750 per search), but you won’t be able to view search volume data or other metrics without upgrading to a Pro account.

Features:

  • Instantly generates thousands of unique keyword suggestions
  • Easily filter or expand results based on location, currency, network, language, etc.
  • Generate lists of keywords based on competitor content
  • Get suggestions for Instagram, eBay, Amazon, YouTube, the App Store, and more

Price: $69/month (Pro Basic) – $159/month (Pro Business). Full details here.

How Do You Use Keyword Research Tools?

When using these keyword research tools, it’s important to remember that most of the data provided are estimates and not 100% accurate. (This applies to metrics such as search volume, cost per click, difficulty ratings, etc.)

However, even if the numbers vary slightly from tool to tool, they can point you in the right direction by indicating which terms might be worth using in your content and other site features.

The data provided by keyword research tools will show you the areas your target audience is most interested in, so you can be sure to address those interests and needs on your site. For more on how to analyze that data and create excellent content, check out our guides on how to do keyword research and how to write a blog post!

Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!

 

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