Keywords are one of the most critical and important parts of SEO. We have already discussed this in detail here.
The basic foundation of SEO is keyword research.
Afterward, other factors like on-page optimization, quality of content, a good site UI, and some other factors come into the picture.
Many companies invest thousands of dollars to pay for keyword research to get such targeted content.
But you don’t need to do that. Just follow this guide…
The keywords you choose to focus on for your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts are critical to the success of your website’s rank.
Choosing the right keywords isn’t always easy or intuitive and you need a lot of data to know whether a given keyword will work for you.
If you are completely new to keyword research tools and the process of keyword research, here are some guides from the past which will help you understand the basics:
So now you know the basics of keyword research and you have an understanding of how valuable it can be.
Fortunately, there are many tools available that can help you figure out which keywords work the best for your overall web strategy. There are mostly two types of Keyword research tool:
- Basic Keyword research: Use the seed Keyword to find profitable Keywords
- Competitor based Keyword research: Find proven keywords which are helping other sites to drive traffic.
Personally, I find Competitor based Keyword research to be more effective as the purpose of the Keyword research is to find profitable Keywords. What could be more profitable than something which is already working for someone?
All you need to do after that is to create a page targeting that profitable keyword & reap the benefit of keyword research.
In this exclusive guide, I have covered both the type of Keywords. Most of these keyword research tools are paid and only a few of them are free.
Here are the list of tools listed below:
- Google Keyword planner
- SEMRUSH (Have given a link below to try SEMRUSH for 15 days without paying a dime)
- Ahrefs (Offers 14 days trial)
- LongTailPro
- KWFinder (Have free plan as well)
- SpyFU
- WordTracker
- SERPStat
Best Keyword Research Tools: 2017 edition
1. Google Keyword Planner <Free>
The Google Keyword Planner tool is one of the most used and popular keyword research tools out there.
The only reason for it being so popular is it’s free and is directly integrated with Google AdWords.
To start using this tool you need to have an AdWords account (which you can create one for free).
- Features: The biggest feature of the Keyword Planner tool is the deep information it offers on Google (the largest search engine).
- Limitations: In some ways, that’s also a limitation. If you want to know how your site or a given keyword is doing on other search engines, you won’t get it here.
- Pricing: Free to use.
The Keyword Planner tool is a good, basic tool for the early stages of a website’s SEO.
This my favorite free tool, but if you need more detailed and competitive analysis, I would recommend going for one of the advanced tools that I have listed below.
Check out the Google AdWords Keyword Planner here
2. SEMRUSH <14-Day Free Trial (worth $150)>
“What is the easiest keyword research tool for a blogger?”
The answer:
- SEMRUSH
SEMRUSH is not a typical keyword research tool; it offers so much more than just researching keywords.
Unlike other tools where you need to add seed keywords to start your research, here you just need to add your URL (or your competitor’s URL) and it will show you all of the keywords that are ranking for that site.
This makes it easier for you to find short-tail and long-tail keywords that you can target and beat out your competition.
You can get in-depth details on:
- Traffic stats
- Search engine reports
- Adsense CPC
- and so many other details that you need in properly managing an SEO campaign.
This is a highly recommended product.
- You can read a detailed review of SEMRUSH here.
Download a 14-day (completely free) trial of SEMRUSH here
3. Ahrefs Keyword Explorer tool
Ahrefs is one of the most popular keyword tool out there. What I really like about them is extensive detail including the keyword difficulty. Ahrefs uses clickstream data to also show how many clicks you will get from search engine. This is very useful after knowledge graph integration, as many keywords may have huge traffic but they hardly get any clicks from search engine. Reason being, they get answers directly from the Google search result. Example of one such query is: “birthdate of any celebrity”
Another thing which makes Ahrefs Keyword research tool stand out is the great UI & the amount of data they provide. You can also create a list of keywords to target directly from Ahrefs dashboard. You don’t need to use excel & this is a huge time saving.
LongTailPro is a cloud based software for keyword research and one of the most popular in this list.
This is a paid keyword research tool which will help you find amazing keywords for your niche/micro-niche sites. With their “platinum” version, you can get a really amazing and really detailed keyword analysis feature.
They also have a competition checker, which will make it easier for you to pick the right keyword.
You can see a detailed review of LongTailPro here.
Get $30 off of LongTailPro here
5. KW finder:
If you are looking for one tool which is completely dedicated to Keyword research only, KWFinder is your best bet. They are new in the market yet they are one of the fastest growing SEO tool company.
KWFinder helps you get the Keyword that will help you drive highly targeted traffic. Using Questions based Keyword research option you can quickly find long tail keywords that are related to problem solving. It’s no brainer that problem solving content helps us get more targeted traffic & conversion.
KWFinder offers both free & paid plans. For most of the users basic plan is the best. However do use the free account to see the effectiveness of KWFinder keyword research app.
6. SpyFu
SpyFu is one of the best SEO optimization software products on the market. It’s especially useful if you’re trying to analyze and stay ahead of the competition in a tight niche.
Here’s what you need to know about this one:
- Uses: SpyFu is highly useful for two important reasons.
- Understanding your competition’s SEO platform.
- Discovering under-served, un-tapped, or emerging markets.
- Features: SpyFu also has several modules.
- Compare Websites module
- Keyword History module
- Domain History module
- Related Keywords module
- Limitations: This program doesn’t have the depth of keywords that some competitors do, although this is changing. Also, the data for SpyFu is monthly, rather than real-time.
- Pricing: SpyFu offers two basic pricing plans as well as an “Agency” plan.
- The basic plans are $79 and $99 per month (with a discount of more than 40% if you buy a one year term).
- The “Agency” pricing is $999 per month.
SpyFu is a solid SEO product.
It’s useful if you want to check up on the competition as well as find new areas in which to market.
7. WordTracker
WordTracker is used by small businesses to research keywords, build new links, and develop a strategic SEO platform.
- Uses: The three main tools in WordTracker are the-
- Keyword Tool (which helps you research keywords)
- Link Builder (which identifies inbound link prospects)
- Strategizer (which takes a step back and looks at your entire SEO ranking strategy).
- Features: There are some features that are really cool here.
- The Link Builder tool is unique to WordTracker and are not found on any of the products on this list.
- The Strategizer gives you a kind of bird’s-eye view that you won’t get anywhere else.
- Limitations: WordTracker often gives fewer results than other services and the interface isn’t particularly intuitive.
- Pricing: WordTracker includes a 30-day free trial.
- Monthly pricing is $69 per month.
- Subscribe to a full year at $449.
I would not recommend you pick up all of the tools listed above, but instead stick to one or two and get used to its system.
If you have been using the Google Keyword Planner tool for a while, you have a good basis for getting started with any of the paid and professional tools listed here. Take a look at some of these tools and decide which works best for your business strategy.
My recommendations:
- If you are looking for an easy, yet great solution, go for SEMRUSH.
- If you are researching keywords for micro-niche sites, use Ahrefs
Whatever you choose, use these tools to supercharge your SEO.
For more on SEO, check out:
- Search Engine Value: The Not So Secret Mantra for SEO Success
- On-Page SEO Techniques To Rank On First Page: 2017 Edition
Are you using one of the keyword research tools from the above list? How has your experience been so far? Share your thoughts in the comments!
Did you find this guide useful? Share it with your friends on Facebook, Twitter, and Google Plus!
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Wow!
Obviously, everyone has their unique reason for going with whichever Keyword research tool they prefer. But, all you’ve mentioned are good.
I Use semrush, google keyword planner, they work great for me!
Thanks for sharing!
ShoutmeLoud Guys you are awesome . i am very excited that my website rank on google its all because of your articles thanks.
Hi, thanks for sharing great information about Keyword Research Tools this article is very helpful.Recently I am using Google Keyword Planner.
Thanks for sharing these tools. I use Google keyword planner for now.
Very nice post buddy. I use SERP to do my keyword research. If I decide to choose one from the above list, which one would you recommend?
@Nishant
Pick SEMRUSH or Ahrefs.
I know these are the best tools ever but for us, they are too expensive. So we’re searching for some free one that can help us find long tail & low competing keywords.
I recently found LSIGraph tool but that’s also not helping me because it has no much powerful features.
It would be so nice if you share with me some free keyword research tools.
Ikram,
Thanks for listing out keyword research tools! Lots of tools works best if you only want to get an idea, but SEMRUSH is giving more opportunity to pick the perfect keyword.
Great post!!! Its really useful information for SEO. Its helpful for finding best keyword research .
You did a wonderful work by sharing such a informative post. Keep updating such type of information with us….
Hi, Dominick.
Nice post. Great list of Keyword Research tools. Really helpful article. I am using different keywords research tools. Google keyword planner is really good, it is free. This tool is beginner friendly. But SEMrush is the most powerful keyword research tool. It is really easy to find the profitable keywords using SEMrush. Thanks for your article.
from my experienced if you Semrush is best tool for free.
Ahrefs is Best Digital Tool till now but it’s a Paid.
Btw thanks again Harsh 😉
I am using keyword planner and Spyfu free analysis. I found spyfu gives few net-net result which is nice. Right now my website is in the initial stage and I am not generating revenue at this moment. I usually do keyword research from with the help of these 2 tools.
I am really interested in getting Semrush, but it is very expensive. What do you recommend? Should I Buy SEMrush Is It Worth to Use Now?
Very Useful Content sir, From the beginning i was just using Google Keyword planner but now i believe there are other tools too. I’ll use it thanks a lot
Google Adwords and SEMRush works just fine for me 🙂 But really wanna try other tools too.
Thanks
How can people possibly love using Google Keyword Planner more than SEMrush & co?!
This is a mystery for me.
With Google you can only extract keywords but you still lack of the competition analysis. Also, if you don’t run any PPC campaign you receive a volume range which even more imprecise.
For me it’s a no no.
Thanks Vistage for Sharing Valuable Important Post. Keyword research is the main part of SEO and search engine ranking. Without research, we did not get good results. I think google keyword planner is the best and another one is SEMRUSH. I always use both keyword research tools for best results.
Hi Dominick,
For me, the Google keyword planner is the best tools till today. I have tried the other tools also but found that Google’s tool is best for me.
Thanks for sharing this excellent post.
SEMRush is undoubtedly a winner!
i am using Google keyword planner the best keyword researcher tool till date 🙂
Hi, How I can get more keywords high CPC with high income.
I want to get more website to sent the high keywords related your website.
Thank you very much.
Hello Harsh
On Google KWP, I have used a strategy and found success. I have used my competitor site as landing page and searched KW. This gives me such good results, that I don’t get for my own landing page. May be try it and see what happens? Thanks.
I find Ahrefs the most reliable keyword research tool i 2017. There updated data-base processes millions of backlinks every fifteen minutes while their keyword tracker is perhaps the best i’ve seen.
Also, i find semrush and kwfinder second fiddle to ahrefs. However, it depends on what you like.
I recently purchased Long Tail Pro and i simple love it , The most amazing feature is t find out Keyword Competition/Difficulty , i would suggest you should also add that in your list.
Hi Harsh and Dominick,
Thanks for sharing these amazing tools.
I know only about Google Adwords Keyword tool,
I will surely check and use the other tools mentioned in this post.
Thanks for sharing this.
May you both have a great and profitable weekend.
Best Regards.
~ Philip
Thanks Harsh, all these are nice keywords tool. I must confess that I only make use of Google Keyword planner, maybe I should give others a try too.
The Google Keyword Planner one of the best tools for keyword research and it’s integrated with many more features. that is Keyword research is one of the most important, valuable, and high return activities in the search marketing field. Ranking for the right keywords can make or break your website.
Hello Sir,
One of the good post, SEMRUSH is a great tool for your SEO.
Thanks & Regards
Pravin Fargade
It is a nice article for new and old user. And all the keyword researcher tool are good ,Now I m using SemRush Tool
Amazing tutorial it help me to rank my keywords via Digital Marketing guide by you! Good Work Brother
Hey Vistage
Thanks for sharing a great keyword research tools it’s really helpful for my blog
I love to use Google Keyword Planner for keyword research. This always will be my first preference because it’s easy to use and of course it’s free!! Thanks for sharing the list of free tools.
Thank you for this blog. its help me alot for my business. thank you for sharing.
Hi Vistage nice article to know which one is best keyword research tool but is there any android app or windows app to research keywords?
Hi Vistage ,
Thanks for this article, i was confused between the SEMrush and Ahrefs.
Now its clear to me.
A good list of tools. I also use Keyword.io tool, it is also a great free tool.
That is a really helpful post. SEMRUSH is a great tool for your Keyword research. I am using it and I am loving it.
But anyways, it always good to carry additional knowledge for everything.
Thanks for sharing
Personally, I like ahrefs.com for keyword suggestion. It provides all the details about you keyword like competition, searches, no. of backlinks need to get first page of Google.
Hi Dominick,
I use Long Tail Pro and have been using it for several years. I really like it now that it’s gone to the cloud and isn’t a desktop software. The downside is that you only get so many searches per month.
It seem to work out fine for me and I am able to use it to find the keywords I need for my blog posts.
I haven’t used any of the others mentioned on the post. But I’ve read some great things about SEMRUSH.
Thanks for sharing these tools with us, I know that they’ll help so many bloggers uncover those golden nuggets.
Have a great day 🙂
Susan
Google keyword is still the best keyword planner as it costs nothing. It is totally a free service with best results. So, I would like to recommend google keyword planner for use.
Google adwords itself is now a paid service and nothing is free, The tariff plan is there on signup page and its compulsory as follows:
Budget
Rs.789.47 per day (average)
Rs.24,000.00 per month (maximum)
You’ll be charged only for clicks that your ad received, even if you don’t reach your budget. You may pause your ad or change your budget at any time.
I do not how we can signup free for G adwords and then to keyword planner. Correct me if I am wrong. Thank you
We use semrush and google keyword planner but semrush are quite good enough for perfect keyword research.
Great post, i Use google keyword planner that works great for me 🙂
Very interesting article. This serves as a big help to capture ideas about best keyword research tools niche. What I like the most in this article is now updated. It is definitely worth of my time reading it. This is very helpful for me and for others as well. Thank you for sharing your ideas. thanks a lot for this!
Hi Harsh nice article and I am really happy that yu are ranking (Google.co.in- (position) 67 ) for the keyword Top SEO Tools in such a short time (I noticed that the article was published in (01/01/2017). Appreciate the effort. Other than SEMRUSh and Google Keyword planner the remaining tools are new to me. I should start using it.
hey Vistage,
Thanks for this useful article on keyword research tools.
I use Toolfeast Autosuggest which is completely free. I also use kwfinder free version.
Once again thanks for this article.
Google Keyword Planner is not providing free service. For new bloggers it is very difficult handle. Can you suggest me any alternative Harsha. Thanks.
I have lots of problem with my blog all of content written by myself. I just add related keywords when a publish. But still I do not get any traffic upto now, about 3 months past when I started to post. I do not understand the reason. I use free blogger account.
Bear in mind that many people use the Google Keyword Planner and other stuff, especially Keyword Planner. Sometimes it’s better to use many tools and your mind to come up with something more creative.
Hey Harsh,
Thanks for your detailed post. I have used google keyword planner, SEMRUSH and Long TAIL Pro. Among all i liked Long Tail Pro and i believe it gives more specific results.
Its great article, but i would like to share my experience and will recommend you to use following tools for what you want to get:
>for key word difficulties use MOZ.
>to keep an eye on your competitor use SEMrush
>for keyword research LTP.
Following all Tools are Great But I use Google Keyword Planner.
Thanks for sharing this information
If you are AdWord advertisers, Keyword Planner is for you.
Excellent list Vistage. I am using keyword planner for the keyword research. thanks for the sharing more keyword research option. good job.
hey Vistage,
I use MozBar (Chrome plugin) and I find it very useful! are there any keyword research chrome plugins that I can use for free?
Keep writing!
Great stuff Dominick! What do you think about Moz Keyword Explorer? It is doing a lot for me.
hi
great article
i want seo tool online that can give accurate results to find what my competitor rank for ?
no proplem if it is paid or free
use SEMRUSH
Dominick – thanks for the great rundown of SEO tools.
I’m hooked on Google’s Keyword Planner in conjunction with SpyFu. You can get very detailed info from Spyfu and broader brush data from Keyword Planner.
All the tools have some excellent info, but, as you recommended, pick a few that work for you and really dig into how they work.
Thanks again Dominick!
I always use and recommend Ahrefs and semrush for my keyword research, well long tail pro is also a best alternative.
If you can’t buy semrush or pro research tools, you could do the basic research with google keyword planner.
Well Thanks for the article.
Keep Updating
Regards
Aditya
Hi
As per your recommendation, i have purchased keywordspy tool on 18th Oct 2016. but so for i am not received login credentials.
I try to contact keywordspy folks and also live chat & fax not working, it would be big help if you provide contact number of keywordspy.
Please don’t recommend keywordspy, if possible kindly remove from you list. Because we believe your words and experience
Thanks
Saravana
Hey Saravana,
Sorry to hear that.It happens sometimes. Try to contact them via twitter or facebook. Social media is very effective. Also, you can drop them an email.
P.S: We don’t have Keywordspy in our list. It’s spyfu.
For us, it was the ahref which worked best.
Following all Tools are Great But i use Ahref tools. This is a paid Tools But 14 days Trial version available !
Thanks for sharing this information
Nice list of keyword research tools.
but sir I am vtotally confused about which one is best? SEMRush or Google keyword planner?
Please inform me sir i need this.
Hey Tushar,
No doubt that Semrush is the best. You can go for a free trial for 14 days initially and then buy it.
I use paid version LTPro for searching key works. For me, LTPro is still the best tool.
Great post.. i Use semrush, google keyword planner and long tail pro.. that works great for me.. 🙂
Hi Vistage, It really an excellent article, Now i understood the whole concept of keyword Research, and how it is useful to one’s website. I really very thankful to you..keep posting like this article.
Google Keywords Planner is a great free tool to use, haven’t yet tried any other tools and definitely love to try it out.
Hello VISTAGE,
Google Keyword Planner is the best free tool for keyword research. I am personally use and recommend SEMRUSH also because you can find your competitors weak points using this.
Thank you VISTAGE for this great list of tools.
Keyword planner and Semrush both are best to use, Semrush provides way more valuable data than other keyword research tools.
Well, I am surprised you didn’t add Ahrefs in your list? Best tool ever not included in this list.
Hi Dud, your article regarding keyword research tool is a very helpful article for me and other SEO executives. I love to use SEM rush as I like its easy user-friendly. and 2nd option is keyword planner. after this article, I knew about more keyword research friendly tool. Thank you for the post
Hey Kulwant,
Glad that you like it. Do share your feedback with us.
Out of all software, I would go with Long Tail Pro it easy to use and gives more information.
@Dominick
Great Article Buddy I was confused about which to use , you solved that by this article by giving a brief intro about each seo tool here. I Would Personally recommend Long Tail Pro semrush and keyword spy to everyone.
Thanks for the article.
Regards
Aditya
Nice article on SEO, I am using semrush. After reading this one I will try all this tools one by one. Thanks.
Hi, as you said most people use google keyword planner for keyword research and I’m also using Keyword planner, Because it is free and also provide good results. So I want to when there is a good tool like google Keyword planner then why we need other paid keyword research tools?
As beginners have less money to spend in blogging, I found Google Keyword Planner tool best among all tools described here. Thanks to Google for serving this great keyword research tool absolutely for free. And
Vistage, Thanks for sharing this great post in Shoutmeloud. Keep blogging here.
Thanks for the wonderful article Vistage. Bloggers will get a clear idea about different keyword research tools from this post. I use the free tool Google Keyword Planner. If you want to use a free keyword research tool, from my point of view Google Keyword Planner is the best but you will have to a bit tricky. If you can find “hidden” keywords that have a decent search volume, but less competition, your organic search traffic will grow rapidly. I use the competitors website url for the landing page to get some keyword ideas on which I can work on.
Good coverage! I’ve been using SpyFu + SEMrush + Google KW tool to manage SEO, then I switched to Serpstat. It’s great but LITE package is not enough for me, and since STANDARD a bit pricy for me ($89/mo) I’m looking for a tool that has similar abilities like URLs comparison (not domain comparison). Would appreciate your help, Thanks!
Thanks Vistage for sharing this post. In search engines optimized keywords plays major role and without these tools its impossible to check the keywords, their competition and bids. I generally use google adwords and semrush!
Thank you very much for this review. I am still sad that market samurai is lagging behind these last years.. I really loved the fixed price and say what you want, they have a lot of good possibilities in their program.
Keep it up!
Michiel
I’ve been using SEMrush for a long time, but switched to Serpstat because it updates more frequently. There’s a also a great feature where you can compare URLs back to back.
Serpstat’s PRO package is a bit pricy ($89/mo), so I’m looking for similar tool that would be cheaper and has the ability to compare pages! (Not the domain comparison like in SEMrush, mind)
PLEASE HELP!
Man, glad I came across this. I’ve been looking to compare different tools and thought I had a good grasp on everything that was out there. I have a broad idea about the SEO competition. I have tried quite a few but have not come across to one that seems to both give an accurate prediction and at the same time scalable. But I lean heavily on manual review (not real scalable, I know). But, once I have found a decent opportunity using a tool like SEMrush, I’ll run the query through Google and analyze the first page results by MOzbar domain authority. Not the most accurate metric, but a solid directional cue.
This post is such amazing! Most of them are really useful.. Thank you!
Keep with the good work…
SEM rush is really an excellent tool as it provides with the keyword of your competitor site.
Good list of software for find long tail keyword…
M using long tail pro and seeing a great result..now m receiving 50% of organic traffic….
I love to use keywordspy as I like its easy userfriendly interface. And for second option I like keyword planner. Others tools are also fine but it depends what is your like. Thanks I got some new keyword tool to rough my hand on them. Thanks for the post.
Thnx Dude…
I only know about Google adWords but after this article i find more option for me..
hi bro , very helpful aricle,and bro i thing i wanna ask that is there any free tool to check the competition of keyword plz give some tool..
@Rahul
I can recommend Traffic travis: https://www.shoutmeloud.com/traffic-travis-review-free-seo-software.html
Well, was aware about the 3-4 popular tools, but heard of most of them for the first time. Will definitely try these tools as they looks promising. Thanks for sharing them.
Hey Dominick,
I’ve heard a lot of buzz about MS, but never got a chance to use it (I always had some issues with their payment systems).
As of now, I’m using Google Adwords Keyword tool, it’s been giving me the best results. Looking forward to use the remaining (few are totally new to me).
Thank you Vistage. You have introduced 7 keywords tools in this article. Which one is best in your experience? Would you like to share with us 🙂
I used both Traffic Travis and Keyword Elite 2.0. Both keyword tools have their unique features and benefits. One cool feature of TT (Traffic Travis ) is that the program will show you how to optimize your content for good SEO. I also like the fact that Travis include the feature to display backlinks for given URL so that you can spy on competitors.
Keyword Elite 2.0 is a powerful desktop application develop by Brad Callen and his team of developers. KE 2.0 is more suitable for those targeting Google Adwords, however it can also be use to good effectiveness to find relevant keywords.
Hi Harsh,
Very useful list for finding keyword search. I was using only google. But these other tools are also friendly.
Thanks
I use market samurai a great deal. It helps to extract the exact low competitive keyword. i cannot write an article with out samurai.
I’m using Traffic Travis 4. How is that compared to the others mentioned in the article?
SemRush is my baby, I love it although the subscription is bit pricey, it is definitely worth the bucks for Keyword Research