The 10 Best Free Keyword Research Tools

Trying to rank a website without having the right keyword research at your disposal is a pointless endeavour.

This might sound like a harsh truth but it is one that you are better off knowing about before you get your hopes up of securing your visible spot on Google without proper keyword planning.

Without keyword research, instead of soaring, the website is going to stay invisible on the net, or worse, it will be optimised for something that doesn’t even remotely relate to what it is that you (or your client) is offering. When this happens all the hard work that you have put into getting your name or that of your client, out there, is in vain.

Keyword research tools are an invaluable part of the SEO expert’s arsenal. It is where the entire SEO process gets its wings and luckily, there are numerous free options when it comes to keyword research tools.

What are keywords?

(If you already know what a keyword is, you can skip the next few paragraphs and go straight to the tools)

Before you start trying to navigate this tricky aspect of the SEO world, it is important that you know what a keyword is.

Every SEO company will begin a campaign with keyword planning as these are the phrases that will be searched for by those who are looking for the products and services that you are promoting. Keywords can consist of just a few words or they can be longer phrases that include the intent of the buyer.

When choosing keywords, it is important to take a few things into consideration.

Firstly, the competition relating to the keyword has to be checked. Some keywords can be just about impossible to rank for unless you have a huge SEO budget while other keywords are easier to rank for but perhaps get fewer searches.

Secondly, the search volume is important. While you can get ranked faster on keywords that have low difficulty and low search volume, it is often pointless to rank for such words because, well, no one is looking for them, to begin with.

How do I find my competitor’s keywords?

The easiest way to see what it is that your competitors are doing in terms of keywords is to look at their website’s title tags as well as their content. The words that you see repeating or which mention particular products, services or areas, are more than likely going to be their keywords. Alternatively, if you are using a keyword research tool you can sometimes analyse the website and see what keywords they are using. Keep in mind though that some free keyword research tools don’t have the option to analyse the competition.

What is the best free keyword research tool?

The web is full of keyword research tools these days. From the freebie ones that give you what you need to make good decisions regarding your keyword choices to the paid-for variety that gives you so much more than just a list of keywords, their search volume, and their difficulty.

For the most part, though a free tool is all you will ever need unless you aim to become an SEO professional, in which case pay out the money for the paid version of the tool, you’ll need it.

How do you target keywords?

Targeting keywords means choosing one or two keywords that will become the focus of your page. The target keyword is the one that people will use to find your website. Ideally, to target your keywords, you should select the keyword that has low difficulty and high search volume and then uses it on the appropriate page of your website.

How do I find longtail keywords?

The most common way to find longtail keywords is to look at Google’s suggested search terms which you can find at the bottom of a search results page. The other way to find longtail keywords is to have a look at forums as well as Q and A sites while going through Wikipedia is also a good idea. Another great idea is to look at a keyword research tool to see what it suggests.

1.    Google Keyword Planner + Google Search Console

Both of these tools are free to use, but Google Search Console is only available to website owners and SEO’s who have verified the websites that they either own or are working on.

Much like its name gives away, the Google Keyword Planner will do exactly that. This tool is used to search for and plan out a keyword strategy, using the information supplied by Google. The search engine keeps track of every term that has ever been searched for and you can just feed it ideas and it will give you related terms as well as information for the term you have entered.

As for the Google Search Console, once you have a verified website, you will be able to track the site in such a way that you will be able to see the search terms that people have used to find your website. Often, some of the keywords that have been used to find the site, are not actually being optimised on your website. You could say these are opportunity keywords and now that you have access to them, you can add them to your site to really drive up your visibility.

2.    Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

With a trial and a paid-for option, Ahrefs has quickly become the preferred tool to use. Ahrefs has been designed to give you so much information, and this in turn means that you can be in full control of your entire keyword research and planning process.

Ahrefs can show you how your backlinks have grown, it can give you traffic estimations and it can also give you search engine results for up to 10 different search engines.

The downside is that to get all of these features, you will have to register and pay for an account, something that might be a financially necessary option.

3.    WordStream’s Keyword Tool

WordStream has been around for quite a while and it is fairly reliable especially if you are researching some real niche keywords. This tool can help you group terms together to create the perfect Google AdWord set up and it features a handy opportunity score that allows you to determine whether or not the keyword will be worth the effort.

When researching your keywords, you can choose them based on your industry as well as your country. This really helps with local SEO.

Other features that make WordStream an attractive tool includes the fact that you can upload your downloaded keywords to Google Ads and you can even link your Google account to the tool.

WordStream has both a free-to-use and a paid-for option, with the free option allowing you to research up to 30 keywords at any given time.

4.    Ubersuggest

Recently acquired by Neil Patel, Ubersuggest is an incredibly user-friendly, and more importantly, a free keyword research tool. By entering just one keyword, this tool will provide you with a nearly endless list of keyword variations to explore.

To make your research process that little bit easier, you can have your various keywords categorised alphabetically and once you have selected the keywords that you’d like to have included on your website, you can download your research as an Excel sheet.

This tool is the perfect option for anyone new to SEO and who wants to avoid the complexity of the Google Keyword Planner.

5.    Source Code

So this is not exactly a tool but it is a great (free) way to spy on what it is that your competition is doing.

Any person can access a website’s source code by going to the developer tools in the browser or by right-clicking on the web page and selecting “inspect” or “view page source”.

Don’t be alarmed when you do this because it is going to present a load of code either at the bottom of the page or on the right-hand side. You can ignore most of the digits and numbers and focus on the headings which are marked as <h1>, <h2>, etc. You should also have a look at the metas of the page, which should be visible and marked <meta>.

If the site is being optimised for SEO, these tags should have keywords in them. Source code scanning is especially helpful because it can also show image alt text and other vital information. The downside of using this approach is that it can be time-consuming.

6.    Google Ads Display Planner

The sheer amount of free Google tools really makes SEO research easy.

All Google Ads are based on keywords. The number of searches the words get as well as the price of each keyword, will determine how valuable the keyword is for SEO.

The greatest benefit of using this tool is that it does so much more than display keywords. It also provides details regarding the demographics which can help you to personalise your content in such a way that it speaks directly to the types of clients that you’d like to attract.

7.    InstaKeywords

A great alternative to the Google Keyword Planner, as well as Ubersuggest, with InstaKeywords you can extract all the important data you need, such as keyword suggestions, search volumes, and competition.

Unlike the Ubersuggest and Google Keyword Planner, InstaKeywords will allow you to export your keywords with just one click, it can customise your data so that it only reflects search stats from mobile devices, it can help you plan longtail keywords, and it will display all of your results on just one page, instead of over many pages, which does make it more user friendly.

8.    Keywords Everywhere

Up until just a few months ago, Keywords Everywhere was a completely free tool. But when its popularity went through the roof (and with good reason, this tool is so helpful) the developers spilt access to the tool into 2 categories; free and paid.

The free version of this is still incredibly useful to have and can be installed on your browser. When you next Google a keyword, for research or other purposes, you will see a list of related keywords come up on the right-hand side of the page.

While you won’t get search volumes or competition stats with the free version, it is still a fantastic way to source longtail keywords as well as see which keywords are trending.

9.    Wincher

Wincher is a fantastic tool for those who already have a website up and running but who want to give the site a proper boost.

To make this programme work to your advantage, you will need to insert your website URL and then wait for the tool to work its magic. Once the site is up, you will see keyword suggestions for each page.

The downside of using this tool is that the free option is limited to a trial and this means it is not really practical for those who are working on a budget or who are only going to need it once off.

Our experience with this tool is limited and since it can’t be practically used on a daily basis, it might be one of those tools that you can safely give a skip.

10.    GetKeywords

Local SEO is one of the most important aspects of the SEO world and it is one that needs quite a bit of careful thinking and planning. When using this tool, you will be able to narrow down the results according to the provincial and even city level, giving you the exact data you need to attract anyone looking local or “near me” for products and services that you or your client sells.

This tool will also tell you from which type of device the keyword gets the most searches and it will also give you a list of the top FAQs relating to each keyword you search for. And like every other keyword planner, it will also give you loads of related keyword suggestions.