What comes to mind when you hear the phrase “keyword research?”
There’s no denying that keyword research is critical to any SEO strategy. However, some digital marketers find the process challenging.
In this situation, having the right SEO keyword research tool on your side can make the process not just easier, but a lot more effective.
In this post, I’ll share not just the top ten keyword research tools, but the twenty top tools for you to choose from.
Let’s get started!
1. Ubersuggest
I developed the Ubersuggest SEO keyword research tool with one aim in mind – to help digital marketers find the perfect keywords no matter their marketing budget.
Ubersuggest is ideal not just for keyword ideas but also for checking out your competitors, discovering backlinks, and gathering content ideas. If you want to improve your SEO, it’s a fantastic, affordable, all-in-one tool.
Getting started is as simple as entering your keyword and clicking the search button.
As well as average monthly searches over the past 12 months, there is a breakdown of:
SEO difficulty – the estimated competition in organic search.
Paid difficulty – the estimated competition in paid search.
Cost per click – the average cost per click for a Google Ad.
While this gives you lots of valuable data, the real research begins as you dig deeper. Click Keyword Ideas in the left sidebar for a list of long-tail keywords alongside their SEO difficulty, paid difficulty, and cost per click.
2. SEMrush
SEMrush is the Swiss Army Knife of SEO tools. You can use it to do comprehensive keyword research, optimize your on-page SEO, identify backlinking opportunities, and keep an eye on your competitors.
I love the little extra details it provides when you’re doing keyword research. For example, it tells you the search intent of the keywords it suggests, making it easier to create targeted content that drives conversions.
As SEMrush offers so many different tools, it can feel overwhelming to the novice digital marketer. However, if you invest the time, you’ll see why it’s one of the best keyword research tools on the market.
3. Ahrefs
Like SEMrush, Ahrefs provides a thorough, all-in-one solution for keyword research. Both offer detailed keyword research alongside other tools like competitor and backlink analysis.
Another cool feature of Ahrefs that makes it stand out from the crowd is Webmaster Tools.
Free of charge, you can use Webmaster Tools to see which keywords your website is ranking for in the search engines. This can help you identify which pages need a little extra push to rank on the first page of Google.