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Finding the right keyword research tool can be quite a herculean task, especially with the emergency of lots of tools across the web. Some may not provide accurate metrics while some may be a bit pricey and you can’t afford it.
How do you know the right tool that will deliver accurate high-ranking keywords to drive organic traffic to your site? This article has carefully answered this question.
As a platform dedicated to helping you find the right SEO tools, we have collected and reviewed the best keyword research tools including their features, pricing, and of course how they work.
Without much ado, let’s dive in!
Why use a keyword research tool?
People are constantly searching for information online and it is your duty as a website owner to provide answers to those queries and subsequently grow your site’s organic traffic. It also adds more credibility to your brand.
Keyword research tools help you spot what people are searching for and you are able to create your content around the topics. You can also analyze your competitor’s website and see the keywords they are ranking for, improve your content to target those keywords, and eventually steal their audience.
Let’s look at the best keyword research tools that we have:
Ahrefs keyword explorer is the first on our list and definitely our favorite because of its robust features. The tool runs a large database of more than 7 billion keywords, so, you’ll never run out of keyword ideas.
The platform uses clickstream data to track search queries from all over the world and delivers accurate keyword metrics like search volume, number of clicks, cost-per-click (CPC), and Global volume. You can tailor your keyword search to a particular country or search engine including YouTube, Amazon, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, and many more.
Aside from finding keyword search volumes, Ahrefs also shows you how tough or easy it would be to rank for the keyword based on the high-ranking pages. The keyword difficulty score is calculated on a scale from 1 to 100 with 100 being the toughest.
To help you with more unique and high-ranking topic ideas, Ahrefs takes a given keyword and generates ideas in different ways including phrases that match, search suggestions, and newly discovered search queries and questions.
Ahrefs also helps you to spy on your competitors by analyzing their websites and finding out the keywords they rank out the total number of organic traffic and the value. You can then check out their content, and the keywords and find new ways to improve on what they have written and draw in their traffic.
Key features
- Supports 10 different search engines including Google
- Delivers accurate search volumes and keyword difficulty score
- Saves keywords for future references.
- Reviews the SERP and ranking histories of top-ranking pages
Pricing
Ahrefs has four pricing plans broken down as follows:
- Lite – $99/month (For small businesses and freelancers)
- Standard – $199 (For SEO professionals and in-house marketers.)
- Advanced – $399 (For growing businesses)
- Enterprise - $999 (For big agencies and enterprises)
Alternatively, you can pay annually and get 2 months free.
SEMrush is a keyword research tool with over 20 billion keyword databases. With this tool, you can easily see the number of times a keyword was searched globally within the last 12 months, including the purpose or intent of the search and how hard it would be for your website to rank on Google’s top 10 search results for the given keyword.
You can narrow and filter your searches by volume, keyword difficulty, search intent, cost per click, or language.
To save time, SEMrush allows you to search for up to 1,000 keywords at a go and each search reveals more keyword variations and questions your target audience has about your brand. You can also gain insight from real ads targeted to your keyword.
In addition, you will gain insight into your competitor’s SEO metrics, and find out the keyword they are ranking for, how much traffic they generate monthly, and the cost.
Finally, the SEMrush keyword manager enables you to collect and save keywords that suit your brand's SEO strategy and export them into an XLSX or CSV file to share with your team members.
Key features
- An easy and user-friendly interface
- Find the best keywords in any region
- In-depth analysis of competitor’s SERP
- Use filters to narrow your keyword research
- Save and export your favorite keyword
Pricing
SEMrush offers a 7-days free trial and 3 paid plans. They include:
- Pro - $119/month (For marketing newbies and small in-house teams)
- Guru - $229.95/month (For growing businesses and marketing consultants)
- Business - $449.95/month (For large enterprises and agencies)
Worthy mentions
Ahrefs, SEMrush, and Growth Pro are the core keyword research tools currently in the market. As you have seen above, they have strong features that ensure accurate keyword metrics and generate topic ideas for your website to gain more organic traffic.
However, other keyword research tools are worth mentioning and much more affordable just in case you’re working with a lower budget.
SuferSEO is by far the easiest and fastest tool on our list. It comes as a chrome extension. So instead of searching for keywords from their website, you can easily add the tool to your chrome browser and use it on the go.
Each Google search reveals the estimated search volume of the keyword and the cost-per-click. You’ll also see similar keywords and the number of times people have searched for it in a month.
Here is what we have after a quick Google search on “Online courses”.
The correlation chart helps you to discover the estimated traffic from top pages, and the number of keywords they rank for. Finally, the SuferSEO keyword surfer is 100% free to use and best suited for small business owners.
Key features
- Designed as a chrome extension
- Free and easy to use
- Supports over 70 countries
- Reveals monthly search volumes and keyword ideas
Mangools KWFinder is a keyword research and analysis tool that focuses more on helping you discover long-tail keywords with lower SEO difficulty and high search volume. The tool has over 2.5 billion keyword databases and is supported in more than 52k locations.
You can either search by keyword or domain name and select the location and language of your choice.
Each search reveals other related keywords that can be used including their search volume per month and ranking difficulty. You will also see websites currently ranking for the keyword, their domain and page authority, the number of external links, and the number of times the link was shared on Facebook.
These insights give you a better idea of how to create or repurpose your content to outrank your competitors. Mangools KWFinder is easy to use and though has 3 paid trials starting from $29 per month, offers a 10-days free trial period to get you started.
Key features
- Long-tail keyword suggestions
- Allows data to be exported
- Analysis of competitor’s website
- Discover keywords in any language and target any location
Serpstat’s keyword database is collated from two major search engines - Google and Yandex. You can tailor your search to any of them and gain insight into the search volume of the keyword, Cost-Per-Click, PPC competition, and keyword difficulty.
In addition, you’ll find related keywords, search suggestions, and search questions, which will be beneficial in creating a content plan for your blog site.
Serpstat goes further to analyze your competitor's website and discover keywords they are ranking for, and their most popular pages, including organic traffic and ads that attract the most sales. In the end, you can export your search and save it for future purposes.
Overall, Serpstat has a very friendly interface and is super easy to use. The least subscription starts at $55 per month.
Key features
- Analyzes trends and keyword suggestions
- Find high-ranking pages and keywords in your competitor’s site
- Budget-friendly
FAQs
What is the most accurate keyword research tool?
Ahrefs by far has the largest keyword database and is supported in more than 100 countries. Also, users are not restricted to keyword insights from one search engine.
Other marketing channels like YouTube, Amazon, Bing, Yandex, Baidu, and many more are supported on the platform and it gives you all the data you need to rank your website.
What tools do bloggers use for their keyword research?
Bloggers use keyword research tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, Serpstat, Mangools KWFinder, SuferSEO, and Growth Pro for their keyword research. It all depends on their budget, features beneficial to their SEO strategy, and their expertise in using research tools.
What is the easiest way to find SEO keywords?
The easiest way to find SEO keywords is to use keyword research tools. Alternatively, you can rely on Google’s related searches or the “People also ask” section to figure out what your target audience is searching for.
Can keyword research be done without a tool?
You can conduct keyword research without subscribing to a tool or even using the free ones. Google suggestions or the auto-complete feature gives you a clear idea of the information people are looking for.
Final thoughts
These are the best keyword research tool currently in the market. To find the one that best suits your business, you should first check your budget and then examine your brand’s SEO focus.
If you want to target multiple search engines in your keyword research, Ahrefs is your best bet. And if you want a simple, go-to keyword research tool, SurferSEO is an ideal choice since you can easily add it as an extension to your chrome browser.
Regarding affordability, Serpstat, and Mangools KWFinder top the list and then, there is SurferSEO which is 100% free to use.
