Top 10 Backlink Checker Tools, Free and Paid

Top 10 Backlink Checker Tools, Free and Paid

Getting quality backlinks to your site is a great way to raise your page rank and get more visibility in search results.

One way to get better backlinks is to check out your competition and see where they are getting their links. You can easily find out what backlinks your competition has by using on the many tools on the market.

There are both free and paid options to help you spy on your competition. Here are our picks for the top 10 backlink checker tools:

1. Majestic SEO

Majestic SEO actually offers several tools to help webmasters. Its backlink checker crawls the web itself – it doesn’t use third-party data to deliver the information. You can use it to find the backlinks pointing to your own site or to that of a competitor, including the number of referring domains and IPs.

You can also see the anchor text, how many links are set to follow, and more.

Majestic SEO is free, but it offers additional information on a paid subscription.

2. Ahrefs

Register for a free account with Ahrefs and get a complete analysis of your backlinks, including how many you have, where they come from, the anchor text used, and so on.

If you sign up for a paid account, you can get more in-depth analysis and track your progress over time. Of course, you get all the same information for a competitor’s site, and you can compare your progress to see where you can improve.

3. Open Site Explorer

Moz is another giant in the search marketing world, and its Open Site Explorer is considered one of the best tools available for backlink analysis. It gives you the number of links for a site, of course, but also information like the newest links, the page authority, the spam score, and domain authority.

Free searches only get you so much information. The paid account lets you run unlimited reports, track links over time, and more.

4. Google Search Console

The Google Search Console is part of the Webmaster Tools that the search giant provides. Under the Search Console, you can check out “Links to Your Site” under the “Search Traffic” section. There you’ll see the total links to your site, as well as your most linked content, the sites that link to you the most, and the anchor text used.

You can only use the Search Console to check out links on your own site, but it is an important resource that offers up-to-date information right from the source.

5. SEMrush

SEMrush gives you a lot of important information about any URL that you enter, including the backlinks pointing to the site. You can track multiple competitor sites and get comprehensive information about the links. You’ll need to sign up for a paid account for this though, since the site gives you a very limited number of searches for free.

6. Backlink Watch

Backlink Watch is designed specifically to spy on competitors. It gives you information like the total number of links, the anchor text used, the page rank, and more. You can also sort by links that are set to dofollow or nofollow.

Backlink Watch is totally free, and you can use it as often as you like.

7. Rank Signals

Rank Signals is another free backlink checker that provides plenty of useful information. In addition to providing the number of external links, the tool also shows how many followers the site has on social media, its Alexa traffic rank, and its page rank.

The tool is free, but you’ll need to create an account to get a complete report.

8. Open Link Profiler

Open Link Profiler works the way a lot of the other tools do. Put in a URL and get a link profile. The information offered is much more extensive though, including breakdowns of links by age, industries, context, countries, and more. You can also use the tool to analyze what links need to be removed to improve your page rank. There are numerous filters to help you sort the data the way you want.

9. Buzz Sumo

Buzz Sumo is a paid tool, but it provides comprehensive information about who is linking to your competitors, how content performs as a result of those links, and what pages are being shared most often. You can not only identify opportunities for links, but also find out what type of content attracts the most links.

Links are essentials to the success of your site. Use these tools to keep tabs on your own link profile and to spy on competitors to find link opportunities to grow your site.

Accelerated Mobile Pages Rolls Out for Global Search

Google introduced accelerated mobile pages (AMP) back in August with limited reach. Prior to that, these results only appeared in “Top Stories.” The August move had them showing up in organic mobile search results.

Now, AMP results are moving more broadly into global mobile search results.

Page Ranking

One of the first things that marketers are likely to want to know is how this change will affect page ranking.

Google officials have clearly stated that the AMP rollout will not be accompanied by a ranking change.

Articles that are formatted for AMP will not get a boost in search results. However, if you have a version of your article for desktop search and an AMP version for mobile search, Google will choose the AMP version for display. You just won’t get a boost over pages on other sites.

AMP pages are designed to load much faster than other pages. Therefore, if you have more of your content formatted for AMP, it will load faster for visitors, which means that you will have a lower bounce rate and a faster overall speed for your site, both of which will improve your page rank.

These qualities create a positive feedback loop. The faster your content loads, the more improved your overall SEO, which moves you to the top of search and helps you get more visitors, thereby improving your SEO even more. And so on.

Types of Content

AMP isn’t just for traditional content like blog posts and articles. Google notes that AMP is being used for a great variety of content.

Google officials say that AMP is being used for news content, shopping pages, cooking pages that include recipes and videos, travel content that includes maps and other interactive elements, e-commerce pages with order forms and shopping carts, and entertainment pages, among others.

The goal, according to Google, is to make websites more accommodating for mobile users. The search giant is using its influence to make that happen by providing the tools to make it easier and rewarding those who use those tools.

Reach

So far, Google said that the use of AMP has grown quickly and officials are happy with the response to it.

This summer, there were only about 150 million AMP-enabled pages. Now, there are about 600 million pages that have AMP.

The reach of the pages is also broad. The pages represent about 230 locations and are written in more than 100 languages. Major companies like WordPress, Bing, Reddit, and eBay are even using AMP to promote their content.

Those numbers are only expected to grow with this global rollout. One day, we expect to see the majority of content formatted for AMP.

How to Get AMP

All you have to do to take advantage of AMP is to learn how to code your pages in the appropriate markup.

Google offers an extensive tutorial on this markup language that walks you through every step of creating your AMP page. You can go through each aspect of the page, including adding a photo, modifying your layout, adding your content, previewing and validating your page, and publishing it.

Google also provides guidelines about including media and iframes, including third-party content, ensuring that your page gets seen, validating your page, and configuring your analytics.

All you have to do is create the page and publish it. Google will then select that page for mobile results when crawling your site.

Mostly, the markup language just adds AMP JS library information and a boilerplate to the basic page HTML.

If you aren’t that proficient with code, you can easily test and preview your page before you publish it to ensure that everything is showing up the way it should and you have no errors in your code.

There are also numerous online forums and chat rooms where you can troubleshoot your AMP markup and get answers to your specific questions about how to accomplish something specific with the markup.

Of course, you also have the option to hire someone who can do the markup for all your pages if you are not confident in your ability to handle it yourself. The expense of hiring outside help will be well worth it with the benefits you will get having your pages available for faster loading on mobile devices.

The number of mobile users has grown significantly in recent years, and it is only expected to grow more. Finding ways to reach more of those users and to make your site load faster will only improve your online marketing strategy and help you get more brand exposure and more leads and sales.

If you haven’t already started implementing Google’s AMP, now is the time to start. Check out the tutorials or hire someone to take care of the work for you.

What Our Online User Behavior Study Reveals

Understanding how users behave online is key to creating a marketing strategy that gets results.

If you don’t understand how your audience behaves, how will you know where to post your ads? Or what kind of content to create? Or what kind of SEO strategy to adopt?

You can hire a company to perform extensive audience research for you, or you can commit your own time and resources to doing it yourself. CodeFuel has made it a little easier for you by conducting the research on your behalf.

Here’s what our extensive online user behavior study revealed:

 Content Discovery

No surprise: Google is the top way that people find content.

They go to Google to put in search terms for exactly what they want. They might type in a specific question, or they might put in more general terms to get broader information about a topic.

What may surprise you is that the second most popular way that users get content is through content websites. These are sites like CNN, Wired, Huffington Post and more.

This makes sense when you think about how you find content yourself. You wouldn’t do a Google search for an interesting think piece or article about a subject you don’t even know, but if you see it linked or recommended on another site you trust, you might be interested enough to follow through and learn more.

Use the right content discovery tools to make sure your content is getting in front of the right audience and your brand is getting maximum reach.

Content Consumption

Once users are on your site, what do they do? How do they navigate the content presented?

Our research found that 73 percent of users said they browse websites in the morning to get the latest updates. They are settling down with their cup of coffee and logging on first thing in the morning, and they want to find out what might have happened during the night or in the early morning hours.

Approximately 43 percent of users say they browse content in the afternoon because they want to take a break. You likely have these slumps in your own day – when you are working but your productivity is failing because your concentration is waning. Instead, you go online to see what’s new and maybe to check your social networks.

Knowing this and other content consumption habits can help you plan the type of content you want to publish at different times of the day. You can conduct more research to find out what days of the week your particular audience is most active, as well.

Videos

You may already know that video should be an important part of your online marketing strategy, but you may not realize just how important it is.

CodeFuel’s research found that more and more people are watching video, and it is a very important tool for marketers. Users like to watch videos on all platforms, including personal computers and mobile devices. Therefore, it is important that you create video with all formats in mind.

We also found that users prefer certain types of content to be in video format. For example, 39 percent of people said they prefer to get entertainment content as video, and 31 percent said they prefer tech content as video. In contrast, 70 percent said they like to get their news in the written format.

Video consumption also broke down on gender lines. Women prefer to watch videos on cooking, fashion and style, while men like to watch videos on cars, sports and technology.

Ad Consumption

Many people are now using tools to actively avoid seeing ads.

They have become so used to ads that these promotions are seen as nuisances rather than helpful pitches.

However, our research showed that certain ads and strategies can attract attention.

For example, 43 percent of respondents told us that they would watch all of a video ad so long as it had interesting content. Additionally, 39 percent of people said that they would click through on an ad so long as it had a compelling offer.

Users are not even wary of ad-supported content. Approximately 79 percent of people said they prefer to access free content that is supported by ads. They are more willing to sit through ads than they are to pay for the content they want.

Your users are primed to view and interact with your ads. You just need to use the right strategies to get through.

Understanding how people behave online can help you create the strategies that will get results. With the right strategies, you can reach more of your audience, keep them more engaged, and get more leads and sales from your ads and your content marketing. Use these insights to reevaluate your content or to create a new strategy for your site.

Bing vs. Google: Which is Better?

When we talk about search, we are usually talking about Google. All the think pieces, tutorials, and strategies revolve around keeping up with the constant algorithm changes that the search giant inflicts on its unsuspecting followers.

Yet many of us seem to forget that there are multiple other search engines in the game, including one that is a major competitor: Bing.

In the battle of Bing vs. Google: Which is better? Here are a few pros and cons to help you consider whether to add Bing to your search strategy:

Search Quality

Many users report that the quality of results they get with search is as good or better with Bing.

The reason, some suspect, is that Google has refined its algorithm to the point that is more cerebral than practical. The search giant has become so focused on figuring out what users are really looking for that it sometimes overlooks what they are actually asking for.

Bing often returns the results that users actually need for basic information. It has also proven better at returning older results that often get buried by those gaming the system in Google.

If you’re a marketer, that means that you likely have a better chance of reaching your customers in Bing, where the search results will often be better aligned with what the user needs.

Video Search

Bing has acquired a reputation for delivering better search results for video.

Though Google has prioritized video in search, it still filters the results heavily. In particular, it filters out anything that could be seen as adult content, even if it’s not x-rated. Bing, on the other hand, shows far more videos in its search results, helping you to find more of the content you want.

The good news for marketers is that they can reach more people with their videos on Bing. Creating more video and more variety in the types of video can help you reach far more of your audience.

Autocomplete

When you start searching on Google, it will populate the bar with some suggestions.

For example, if you type in “why do I,” you will get suggestions like “why do I pee so much” and “why do I owe taxes.”

Google and Bing both provide these autocomplete suggestions. However, Google only provides four suggestions, while Bing provides eight.

This is an important feature for marketers because it potentially helps audiences find more of their content. For example, if the user is searching for a product, the autocomplete can suggest more related products, some of which you may sell.

Extra Features

Both Bing and Google offer a host of extra features to enhance search or get more out of the engines, but Bing was surprisingly first on some of these features.

For example, Bing introduced the infinite scroll for image search results before Google did, allowing users to browse images more easily. Bing also included filter options front and center, while Google made users drill down to find these filters.

Bing also introduced a search rewards program before Google, allowing users to get credits for their activity on the site.

The fact that Bing has introduced some features before Google doesn’t necessarily make it better, but it certainly shows that it is a serious competitor in the search field. As a marketer, you need to have a strategy for both search engines if you want to reach the most customers.

Paid Search

Many first-time site owners and marketers find out right away that Bing gives them better opportunities to advertise their site for less money.

You can target the same keywords on Bing and Google and pay less for those ads on Bing. You’ll also face less competition than you would on Google. That means that yours ads will perform better, which will result in a much higher ROI than you would get with Google.

If you are just starting out, Bing is the perfect option for getting more exposure for your site. Even if you have been at it for awhile, Bing is a great option for getting more exposure while also keeping your budget low.

Even once you look at all the pros and cons of what each search engine offers, there is really no “winner” between Bing and Google. Both offer great advantages for your site. However, it is important that you recognize that Google is not the only game in town and that Bing actually has a lot to offer your site.

When you are putting together your marketing strategy, it is important that you consider how to improve your SEO on Bing, as well. Mostly, your strategy will be the same as it is with Google, but you will need to make some tweaks to stand out on the site. You’ll also do well to start a PPC campaign on Bing.

Top 25 Best Keyword Research Tools 2023 [Paid + Free]

Keywords may not be as important as they once were, but they will always have a place in search engine marketing. You just can’t get around needing to know the terms that your audience is using to search to help them find your products or services. Google may tweak its algorithm to use more and more other signals, but it will always use keywords to understand how to match up searchers and sites. There are keyword research tools (we checked, they are hundreds of them), free and paid, beginner-friendly to seasoned marketing skills required. Their value also varies greatly, from basic and not helpful to worth-every-dollar solutions. 

How can you sift among all those keyword tools and find the ones worth using? We did the heavy lifting for you. To create this list, we looked into keyword research tools that simplify finding the right keywords to target and gives you a clear picture of their ranking, without having to take a mortgage to pay for them. Here is our take on the Top 25 keyword research tools you should know:

Best Keyword Research Tools Summary

#1 Best Free Keyword Research Tool Overall: [Moz Keyword Explorer] [FREE & Paid]

#1 Best PPC Research Tool: [Google Keyword Planner] [FREE]

#1 Best Keyword Research Tool for Questions: [QuestionDB] [FREE & Paid]

#1 Best Keyword Research Tool for Amazon: [Soovle] [FREE]

#1 Best Extension as a Keyword Research: [Keyword Surfer] [FREE & Paid]

#1 Best Keyword Research Tool Price for Quality Features: [Ahrefs] [PAID]

#1 Best Keyword Research Tool for SEO Experts: [Semrush] [PAID]

#1 Best Keyword Research Tool for Non-English Markets: [Serpstat] [PAID]

Using the right tools can help you find the right keywords to target. Here is our pick of the best free and paid keyword research tools.

 Best Keyword Research Tools [FREE & PAID]

What we considered to make this list? We looked at the range of features, the value for money (or for the free product), and the ease of use, as the main factors. Short on time? Here is a summary of our top 25: 

Summary table for SEO Keyword Research Tools:

Tool
Moz Keyword Explorer (Free & Paid)
Google Keyword Planner (Free)
Ubersuggest (Free+Paid)
Keyword Tool (Free+Paid)
Buzz Sumo (Free)
Majestic SEO (Paid)
SEO Book Keyword Tool
Keyword Spy (Free)
Wordtracker (Free & Paid)
Google Trends (Free)
Ahrefs (Paid)
Keyword Surfer (Free & Paid)
SEO PowerSuite [Free Limited Version & Paid Full Access]
GrowthBar (Paid)
SE Ranking (Paid)
SEMrush (Paid)
Answer the public (Free & Paid Pro Version)
KWFinder (Paid)
Soovle (Free)
QuestionsDB (Free + Paid)
TubeBuddy (Free and Paid)
Long Tail Pro (Paid)
Serpstat (Paid)
Jaaxy (Free & Paid)
AlsoAsked Questions (Free & Paid)
Summary
The Moz keyword research tool is full of eatures, such as filtering, and priority score, which makes it an all-in-one solution.
This simple tool from Google is a great starting point, by giving detailed information about each keyword.
Good for content planning, it gives content suggestions besides keyword suggestions.
Generates log tail keywords with detailed information
It has content discovery features and trending information about what’s popular in social networking for your target keywords.
This platform gives you metrics that you don’t get with other tools, such as a search score and a trust score.
Their keyword tool uses a proprietary custom database.
Helps you find which keywords your competitors are using.
Fast and free helps discover high-performing keywords in minutes.
Great to discover new trending keywords
All in one solution for SEO and keyword research
This Chrome extension displays keyword suggestions directly in the SERP.
Essential keyword research and SEO optimization features.
Basic keyword research data that appears in the search results page
Different from others solutions in that it gives insight into the keywords quality.
Advanced SEO and keyword research eatures
Lets you know what people is asking online. Good to discover new keywords.
This tool specializes in finding keywords with low SEO difficulty.
Keyword research features and keyword suggestions from 15 different search engines.
Similar to Answer the Public, this tool gives you a list of related questions people ask online about your seed keyword.
Keyword research and SEO optimization specifically for YouTube channels
Keyword research specialized in finding high-performing long-tail keywords
Fully featured SEO suite with detailed keyword research features. Supports several languages and locations.
Helps find affiliate programs that may work according to your target keywords
This tool aggregates the “People Also Ask” questions related to the seed keyword.

1.Moz Keyword Explorer (Free & Paid)

Moz Keyword Explorer

Features:  difficulty, CTR and monthly volume, similar keywords, priority score

Moz’s keyword research tool has multiple features that help with keyword search. The Keyword Explorer feature, enables you to search for a target keyword and instantly see its difficulty, CTR and monthly volume. They also offer suggestions for similar keywords. The Moz Keyword Explorer gives you all the information that the Google Keyword Planner does and more. You can learn about opportunity for certain niches, get keyword suggestions, and even get suggestions for blog post ideas around a topic. The keyword suggestions are also parsed into different topic areas, which makes it easier for you to explore new directions.

The best feature in our opinion: The keyword tool includes a “priority score” which tells you if the keyword is worth it or not. The keyword explorer uses the keyword’s volume, CTR and difficulty to calculate the score. You can also set your criteria for prioritizing keywords.

Pricing:

Moz allows up to 10 free queries per tool per month. You can also have up to 1000 keyword variations and SERP analysis per query for free. If you need more, the platform offers Pro plans starting at $99/month.

Moz Keyword Explorer Pros and Cons

Pros
Free
Offers essential features an analysis
Keyword prioritizing score
Cons
limited range of data points
Limited to 10 queries

2. Google Keyword Planner (Free)

Google Ads Keyword Planner

Of course, Google offers its own Keyword Planner as part of its host of tools for AdSense. The planner has undergone some changes in recent years, but it still serves as a solid starting point for your keyword research. You’ll learn about local and global search volume, average ad rates, and current competition.

Features: PPC, search volume, competition, bid range

Google Keyword Planner is the best keyword research tool when it comes to PPC keywords. It is free, without a premium paid plan. You can use it for explore and discover new keyword ideas or for research on search volume and in-depth forecasting. It has a feature called “Keyword ideas”, it is similar to other keyword research tools. You input a search term, and the platform generates other keyword variations. You can visualize also the monthly search volume, the competition, bid range and how the keyword importance changed. 

Google Ads Keyword Planner

The best feature is that you can refine the list by source website, brand or non-brand keywords. It is especially useful for Google Ads users, which can budget and plan their strategy.

Pricing:

Free

Google Keyword Planner Pros and Cons

Pros
Free
Specific metrics for PPC keywords
Keyword planner filters for forecast
Cons
Offers fewer suggestions for eywords
Few keyword filters

3. Uber Suggest (Free & Paid)

Ubersuggest Keyword Research Tool

Most keyword tools start with the assumption that you know what keywords you want to research. But sometimes you don’t. Sometimes you just don’t know where to start. Uber suggest helps by giving you keyword ideas that aren’t even yet available in the Google Keyword Tool. Just put in a simple, generic term, and uber suggest will help you narrow down the options with its suggestions. You’ll get related keyword suggestions as well s search data.

Features: keyword suggestions, search volume data, and difficulty, top 100 Google results, number of backlinks, domain score, social shares

This free tool offers keyword suggestions, search volume data, and difficulty. The tool also displays the top 100 Google results for that keyword with number of backlinks the domain score and social shares. If that wasn’t enough, Ubersuggest also shows content related to your keyword to give you content ideas. The Chrome extension also gives you keyword suggestions, daily rank tracking and personalized SEO suggestions.

The first thing you see when you insert a keyword in the search box is the difficulty, ran, and cost per click of the keyword

UberSuggest

Then you see keyword ideas, which can be in the form of questions, prepositions or related keywords:

Ubersuggest Keyword Ideas

Pricing:

Free in the basic plan. There is a paid plan that starts at $29/month.

Ubersuggest Pros and Cons

Pros
Great onboarding tutorial and training
Chrome extension
Inexpensive
Social media results
Cons
Low competitor limit on the basic plan
Can be slow sometimes

4. Keyword Tool (Free & Paid)

Keyword Tool

Despite its generic name, Keyword Tool delivers great results for your keyword research. Just enter in a search term and Keyword Tool will generate up to 750 long-tail keyword suggestions. You’ll need to upgrade to the pro version to get information like search volume, cost per click and competition.

Features: Google Autocompletе, search volume, trend, CPC, competition data

This solution uses Google Autocomplete to provide keyword suggestions. The paid version offers search volume, trend, CPC and competition data. It is a basic tool that works well if you only need to create a list of keywords to target or to begin research on. You can also use it to find keywords for Amazon, Bing, YouTube, eBay and Instagram.

Pricing: 

Free limited tier, Plans start at $69/month.

Keyword Tool Pros and Cons

Pros
Great to create content ideas and topics
Provides detailed keyword research in the paid plans
Cons
Limited features
It is priced as an all-in-one SEO but lacks more features.

5. Buzz Sumo (Free)

BuzzSumo

Keyword research should look beyond basic search. This tool from Buzz Sumo helps you see what’s being shared so you can get a handle on what’s popular on social networking. Buzz Sumo lets you look at the most shared social media posts and articles by keyword or by domain. You can filter the results by date range, length, language, country of origin, content type and more. With this tool, you’ll see what types of content are most popular, not just what types of keywords.

Features: competitor intelligence, content discovery, new keywords, suggestions, tracker 

BuzzSumo is focused on content marketing data, with strong features for content research. Their keyword research tool provides competitor intelligence, and content discovery. It discovers new keywords and provides suggestions. It also features a keyword tracker and identifies questions for your target keywords.

Pricing:

Buzz Sumo has a free tier with 10 free searches a month and a max of 1000 results. The paid plan starts at $99/month.

Buzz Sumo Pros and Cons

Pros
Great for social listening
It has a “questions feature
Accurate social share counts
Keyword and competitor research in depth.
Cons
It provides limited automated reports
It is priced as an all-in-one SEO but lacks more features.
The paid tier is more expensive than similar solutions
It doesn’t include Instagram insights

6. Majestic SEO (Paid)

Majestic

The tool at Majestic SEO gives you many metrics that you don’t get with other keyword tools. The tool returns URLs that have the keywords, and it provides a search score that is broken down by total hits, hits in title, hits in anchor, and so on. It also provides the number of backlinks for each URL, as well as a trust score. You’ll get a better idea of how the keywords are performing outside of basic volume.

Features: all-in-one SEO tool, target keywords, researching competition, trustworthiness and authority of sites

All SEO features available in a single solution. Majestic offers an all-in-one SEO tool to find easy to target keywords, including researching the competition. The platform also analyzes the trustworthiness and authority for the websites.

Pricing:

It has a free trial of three searches. The keyword tool is only available in the paid plans. The SEO toolkit plan starts on $83.33 when you pay annually.

Majestic SEO Pros and Cons

Pros
Website explorer and topics report
Trackers and keyword checker
Huge database of over 8 trillion URLs
Easy to interpret reporting
Cons
Limited user accounts on the lower paying plan
The basic plan doesn’t have an historic index tool.

7. SEO Book Keyword Tool (Free)

SEO Book

SEO Book is a leader in the SEM field, and it offers a keyword tool that uses its own custom database. This tool provides daily search volume for Google, Yahoo! and Bing, links to trends and other tools, links to topical databases, links to ad programs for price matching, and more. Whatever you need to find out for your keyword, you’ll be able to find it here.

Features: keyword research, on-page optimization, link building, competitive research

SEO Book offers basic SEO features, such as keyword research, on-page optimization, link building and competitive research.

Pricing:

It has a free/basic account. The paid plans are currently closed to new members.

SEO Book Pros and Cons

Pros
Easy to use
Always updated
Rank checker
Shows overall impressions and clicks
Cons
Limited keyword suggestions
Doesn’t show keyword exact volume

8. Keyword Spy (Free)

Keyword Spy

One way to find out what you need to do is to find out what your competitors are already doing. Keyword Spy lets you know what keywords your competitors are using and how they are ranking with them. You can also see what your competitors are spending on their PPC campaigns so you know what is going into their results. The tool can also help you identify competitors you didn’t know you had.

Features: advanced keyword research, competitive intelligence, competitor’s most profitable keyword/copy, view competitor’s PPC campaigns

This keyword research tool specialized in advanced keyword research and tracing for competitive intelligence. You can find out what your competitors have been advertising on their PPC campaigns. The platform also indicates your competitor’s most profitable keyword/copy combination. 

The platform lets you filter your search by domain, keywords, URL and copy content. It even discovers the ad spending budget for your target sites.  Keywordspy provides statistics on key metrics, such as search volume, position and cost per click.

Pricing: 

We couldn’t find pricing information, but some sites say it is free.

Keyword Spy Pros and Cons

Pros
Tracks and gives in-depth details on specific keywords
Advises which other keywords the competitors may target
Granular keyword research
Competitive information about the target keyword
Cons
Lack of summary report or filtering

9. Wordtracker (Free & Paid)

Wordtracker promises to help you find high-performing keywords in minutes. The free tool gives you search volume, competitor information, and related keywords. It tells you what keywords you should be focusing on based on your area of interest.

Features: keyword ideas, competitors’ keywords, niche explorer tool, trending keywords, API for SEO

Wordtracker keyword research tool offers keyword ideas, and discovering competitors’ keywords. I also has a niche explorer tool and a feature that uncovers trending keywords for any niche. It has an API for SEO on the go and it has a free trial. With Wordtracker you can look up from a 1000 keywords and over 200 territories.

Pricing:

It has a free 7-day trial period. The paid plans start at $195/year and include from 1000 keyword results and 7 territories up to 10,000 keyword results with 200 territories for $640/year.

Wordtracker Pros and Cons

Pros
Easy to use
API
Affordable
Cons
Doesn’t display key metrics such as difficulty
It is not very accurate
For beginners

10. Google Trends (Free)

Google Trends

If you have a news site or some other general interest site, your potential keyword base can be quite large. You can get fast answers by looking at Google Trends. Just check out what the hot topics are right now and create some relevant content. Or, if you prefer, you can look at trends over time to find topics that will be of interest for longer than a couple of weeks.

Once you’ve found the right keywords, you can start putting together the right content marketing strategy to get the results you want. You’ll reach the right customers and get more conversions with less effort.

Features: trend data

You can review trend data for a specific period, and location. The platform provides you trends data at a glance for a specific area. It also gives you the interest in the topic for the last month or year. 

Pricing:

Free

Google Trends Pros and Cons

Pros
Free
Easy to use
Data visualization
Up-to-date insights
Cons
Trends are based on the searches made on Google
Locations are not deep, only at country level
Difficult to understand and interpreting data

11. Ahrefs (Paid)

ahrefs Keyword Research Tool

It is a keyword research tool with similar features to SEMrush. Ahrefs features a keyword explorer to discover thousands of keyword ideas and suggestions. You can see which keywords the competitors are ranking for and you aren’t. The platform displays results from over 171 countries and 10 different search engines.

Features: keyword explorer, rankings, breakdown of the competition, keyword difficulty, backlink profiling, domain check, content gap check, competitor comprisons, built-in crawler, project performance tracker

Besides the keyword explorer and ranking, it displays new keywords and keyword movements. The best feature: it gives in-depth information on each keyword. For instance, a breakdown of the competition for the first page, and also how many searchers click on a result. It also displays the keyword difficulty and how many backlinks you need to rank on the first page of Google, which sets it apart from other solutions

Ahrefs also has a domain verification system that lets you use the platform with multiple sites. It is also inexpensive to add seats for Ahrefs. The platform also has a feature that spots untapped keywords.

Ahrefs Keyword explorer helps you with keyword ideas when you type a keyword in the search box. You’ll see a list of suggestions, the difficulty, search volume and CPC. 

ahrefs

Pricing: 

Sadly, Ahrefs has no free tier. The paid plans start on $99/month. It may be pricey, but it offers a great value for price.

Ahrefs Pros and Cons

Pros
Full features for SEO
Easy to use
Tracks keywords at city level
Check content GAP
Track keyword performance
Cons
The most affordable plan is still very limited
No free trial
Confusing pricing model
No mobile app

12. Keyword Surfer (Free & Paid)

Keyword Surfer

This keyword research tool works as a Google Chrome extension and displays keyword suggestions directly in your SERP.  The tool automatically shows keyword suggestions on the right side of the SERP.

Features:  related keywords overlaps,  search volume, group & save keywords

The related keywords overlaps with the original search query, showing the search volume and other metrics. You can group and save the keywords.

Pricing: 

Free, the Content tool is paid

Keyword Surfer Pros and Cons

Pros
Keyword insights in the SERP page
It show if the meta title has been changed by Google or not
Easy to use
Cons
Costly for small websites

13. SEO PowerSuite [Free Limited Version & Paid Full Access]

SEO PowerSuite

SEO Powersuite is a comprehensive tool that goes beyond keyword research. You get essential keyword research along with optimization features.

Features: SEO Audita, competitor tracking, link management, keyword research

This tool features include SEO audit, competitor rank tracking, link management and keyword research. According to the reviews in TrustRadius, it includes four essential tools full of features — SEO SpyGlass, Link Assistant,Website Auditor, and Rank Tracker. Each of the four application focuses on a specific aspect of SEO. WebSite Auditor helps users run audits that tackle technical issues. and provide recommendations. SpyGlass is great at finding backlink opportunities, while LinkAssistant helps run link outreach campaigns. Finally, the Rank Tracker helps you with rank monitoring, including competitor’s analysis, and look for new keyword ideas.

Pricing:

A limited free plan, and two premium plans with full features. The paid plans are expensive, starting at $299 a year.

SEO PowerSuite Pros and Cons

Pros
Can track massive amounts of keywords
Rank Tracker
Competitor Research
Website Auditor
Cons
Costly
Not user friendly
Semantic SEO is poor

14. GrowthBar (Paid)

Growthbar

GrowthBar is a keyword research tool that provides fast and at a glance results. The ranking difficulty and keyword suggestions appear in the same page as the search results. It also features a content outline generation with keywords, word counts, headers, images, and links. The competitor research feature enables you to explore your competitors profile for organic keywords and backlink data.

Features: keyword rank & difficulty, long-tail suggestions

You can track keyword rank and find the keyword ranking difficulty. It also offers exportable keyword data including long-tail suggestions.

Pricing:

It has a free 5-day trial. Each plan has a higher threshold of keywords they let you search, with the most expensive plan allowing to search unlimited keywords.

GrowthBar Pros and Cons

Pros
Easy to use
Keyword tracker
Entry level plan is affordable
Fast way to access SEO data
Cons
SEO features are basic
It doesn’t display keyword difficulty scores.

15. SE Ranking (Paid)

SE Ranking

SE Ranking Keyword research tool is different to the other solutions because it gives you insight into the quality of each keyword. Once you input the seed term, you can see the difficulty score, search volume, CPC, and competition or each keyword. You can filter and refine your keyword list, and adjust your strategy.

Features: Check the list below 

But SE Ranking is more than a keyword research tool. It gives a full website optimization solution. Besides giving a detailed analysis of each keyword. You can also group keyword suggestions, visualize and export the data. Features include:

  • Keyword analisis
  • SEO reporting tool
  • Multi-domain support
  • Backlink management
  • Keyword suggestions
  • Backlinks checker
  • Page grader
  • Lead Generator
  • Content marketing tool
  • Site audit
  • SERP ranking trackng
  • Task management
  • Site recommendations
  • Competitive analysis
  • Local, Global and Mobile SEO

Pricing:

Free 14-day trial. It is more affordable than other solutions. The Starter plan starts at $31.20 and allows to track 250 keywords.

SE Ranking PROS and CONS

Pros
Easy to set up
Filter by location
Keyword grouping function
Cons
Takes too long to get results
Rankings are often inaccurate
Local SEO rankings are not very detailed

16. SEMrush (Paid) 

SEMrush

Semrush is not for beginners, but it has a learning curve, which makes it ideal for advanced SEO professionals. This keyword research tool displays a lot of keyword information. .

Features: advanced SERP features ( featured snippet, reviews, image pack, links), backlink analyzer, content gap, project tracker, site audits, keyword intent

The broad range of keyword research tools Semrush offers, makes them the best tool for professionals. Some of the features include, a Keyword Overview, a Magic Tool to discover new keyword ideas, a Keyword Manager, competitive gap analysis, and traffic insights. It links to Google analytics, too. Semrush even has a tool that helps you automatically create a content brief with SEO optimization as you write.

Pricing:

Semrush has a free, and a paid plan. The free plan gives you 10 analytics reports a day and you can track up to 10 keywords.  The pay plan is kinda pricey but it offers a good value for money, you can have 3000 reports a day and track 250 keywords.

SEM Rush Pros and Cons

Pros
Free plan
Broad range of tools
Advanced analytics
Cons
Not for beginners
The free plan is limited

17. Answer the public (Free & Paid Pro Version)

Answer The Public

This keyword research tool displays different types of keywords related to what people are searching online in a data visualization graphic.

Features: seed keyword, common words, suggested keywords, topic ideas, data visualization tree

The visualization tool displays a chart similar to a tree, with the seed keyword as the trunk, with the common words as branches and suggested keywords as the leaves. This tool helps you find topic ideas and find what people are looking for. The best features is the data visualization tree which shows you how the keywords are connected. You can save and organize the searches. With the paid plan you can hide unwanted keywords from the visualization tree.

Pricing:

It has free and paid versions. The free plan offers a limited number of searches, while both paid plans offer unlimited searches and data comparison over time.

Answer the Public Pros and Cons

Pros
Visualized data
Free plan
Useful for identifying keyword gaps
Cons
Limited number of queries per day
Doesn’t show exact volume or keyword difficulty

18. KWFinder (Paid)

Mangools KWFinder

This tool focuses in finding keywords with low SEO difficulty among other features.

Features: keyword competition, SERP overview, keyword suggestions, import keywords in bulk, filter non-profitable keywords, competitor’s and long-tail keywords

It has an easy to navigate interface, and lets you find keywords in any language target. You can have advanced statistics for keyword competition, and SERP overview. You can refine your list of keyword suggestions with filters. You can import keywords in bulk, and filter non-profitable keywords. You can also find competitor’s and long-tail keywords.

Pricing:

It offers a 10 days free trial, with a money-back gurntee. There are three paid plns, starting at $29.90/month.

KWFinder Pros and Cons 

Pros
Good for beginners and experienced users
Simple to use
Multiple SEO metrics, pulls information from Moz, Majestic and other SEO platforms.
Cons
Doesn’t support multiple tabs
Keyword resuls are limited
Pricey

19. Soovle (Free)

Soovle

This keyword research tool also collects search suggestions across 15 different search engines.

Features: search suggestions across different platform,  find new long-tail keywords

You can compare search suggestions across different platform, which helps find new long-tail keywords to target. Once you input your target keyword, Soovle displays top suggested searches related to it. You can click on any suggested long-tail keyword to see a live search result page.

Other features includes a user-friendly interface, showing you the top ranking page for each search term, and the top internet keywords.

Pricing:

Free

Soovle Pros and Cons

Pros
Simple to use
See the top ranking page for each term
You can save your search suggestions
Cons
Limited features
The interface is a bit outdated
Is not all-inclusive

20. QuestionDB (Free & Paid)

Question DB

This keyword research tool will show you a list of related questions people ask online when you input a keyword or topic into their search box.

Features: pulling questions from Google & Bing

While other keyword research tools source the questions from Google or Bing, QuestionDB broads the range, pulling questions from across the web. It sources questions from Reddit, Quora, and Stack Exchange. It is a good alternative to Answer The Public. 

The best feature: it sorts the results by popularity.

Pricing: 

It is free for the first 50 results per search. QuestionDB also features a paid keyword research tool that gives you complete results for up to 500 searches per month. The price? $15/month.

QuestionsDB Pros and Cons

Pros
Free and the pro plan is not expensive
Sources questions from all across the web
Sorts results by popularity
Cons
Limited results in the free plan

21. TubeBuddy (Free & Paid)

TubeBuddy

This browser extension helps YouTube creators optimize their channels. It includes a keyword explorer for discovering long tail keywords and trending topics from YouTube and Google Trends.

Features: research keywords specific to YouTube, split testing, templates, 

It enables you to research keywords specific to YouTube, do split testing and it has templates you can use. Since it is a browser extension, it works once you have granted it access to your YouTube channel. The platform offers a lot of features.

When you search for a keyword, it will show you a score, which considers the competition you have for that keywords and the optimization score for your videos. With the paid plan, you can access scores specific for your channel. 

You can see a snapshot of the current YouTube results for a keyword, performance data. SEO, best practices and video tags.

Pricing:

The free plan lets you access the top three results per search in Keyword Explorer, up to 25 searches per day. The platform offers several paid tiers, starting on $11.99 per month.

TubeBuddy Pros and Cons

Pros
Specific for YouTube creators
Several features even for the free plan
Cons
The free plan includes just tree results
Very few searches per day.

22. Long Tail Pro (Paid)

LongTailPro

The importance of long tail keyword in SERP rankng is known. Long Tail Pro is a keyword research tool that generates long-tail keywords for niche sites.

Features:  long-tail keywords, overview of data how you rank, top results in search engines

The platform offers recommendation for easy to find long-tail keywords. With Long Tail Pro, you can search up to 2,500 SERP lookups per day. This premium keyword tool displays an overview of data, including how you rank against competitors in the first page of Google. You can also look at what are the top results in search engines for a particular keyword.

Analyze SERP

Pricing:

It has no free plans, only a 7 day free trial. There are three paid tiers for users: Starter, at $24.75/month, Pro, at $44.75/month,  Agency,  at $98.08/month.

Long-tail Pro Pros and Cons

Pros
Specialized in long-tail keywords
The paid tiers are not expensive
Cons
No free tier

23. Serpstat (Paid)

SerpStat Keyword Research Tool

Serpstat is a fully featured SEO suite. It offers website analytics, SERP analysis, rank tracker, website audit features, and backlink analysis.

Features: competitor graph features, keyword difficulty, popularity and trends

The competitor graph features lest you understand your competition. You can also find keyword difficulty, popularity and trends, in the Keyword Research Tool. For a paid option, it is budget friendly. It also helps find the right search term.

Serpstat shows you the top Google results for your keyword.  Including the page of the featured snippet. They can also view details about your competitors for your target keyword.
Serpstat Keyword Result

Pricing:

Serpstat offers a trial membership. The paid option starts at $52/month

Serpstat Pros and Cons

Pros
All-in-one solution
Competitive research
Advanced analytics
Cons
Pricey

24. Jaaxy (Free & Paid)

Jaaxy Keyword Research Tool

Jaaxy keyword research tool is very simple to use. You just input in a keyword or topic and the tool gives you a list of keyword variations, with basic statistics on each. What differences Jaaxy’s from other keyword research tools is that it helps you find affiliate programs to feature on your site.

Features: find affiliate programs

Helps find affiliate programs, sources from LinkShare, Digital River, ClickBank, and Commision Junction.It gives you the listed commission for each program.

Pricing: 

It has a free limited plan, and the paid plans start at $49/month.

Jaaxy Pros and Cons

Pros
It offers additional features such as affiliate program search
Cons
The free plan is very limited (only 30 searches with 20 results each)

25. AlsoAsked Questions (Free & Paid)

AlsoAsked Questions

This tool collects the “People Also Ask” questions and displays it when you input a keyword in their search box. People Also Ask is a treasure of topics and questions related to your target keyword.

Features: PAA related questions

When you input a target keyword, Also asked shows you what PAA questions are related to your keyword in a diagram showing the relation between these questions. For example, when asking for the keyword “women boots” this is what we got: 

AlsoAsked Questions generation

Although the features are limited to this, it allows you to export this data as a CSV or as an image to use in presentations.

Pricing:

It has a free tier that allows you to perform 10 searches per month. The paid tiers start at $15 per month and lets you perform 100 searches.

People Also Ask Pros and Cons

Pros
Gives you insights on long tail keywords and keywords variations
Cons
Just one feature

Which are the Best Free Keyword Research Tools

After that long list, we can summarize the best free keyword research tool is Moz Keyword Explorer. It offers full basic features even in the free plan.  

Best Google Keyword Research Tools to use

Google offers great keyword research tools, such as the:

  • Google Keyword Planner and 
  • Google Trends. 

There are also other solutions that work with Google,  such as: 

  • Ubersuggest, 
  • TubeBuddy and 
  • QuestionDB. 

Which keyword research tool is most accurate?

Although free, simple to use and offering a very basic features, Google Keyword Planner is actually the most accurate source of keywords data on the market, because the results come from the Google search engine. 

What is the best way to search for keywords?

You can search a website for keywords but if you want to have better insights, you must use a specific keyword tool. The right keywords will consider the relevance, authority and volume. You want to find highly searched keywords fr your audience. 

What is the best free keyword research tool for SEO?

We chose Moz as the best free keyword research tool for SEO. Other alternatives are Ubersuggest, and Google Keyword Planner

What tools do you use for keyword analysis?

Once you discover and find your target keywords, you need to analyze them for relevance, volume,competition and difficulty. The best keyword research tools also provide analytics features. They provide keyword gap analysis and competitive data that enables you to see how the keyword is used by your competitors.  

Which tool is used for Amazon keyword research?

Many of the top keyword research tool alo pull keywords from Amazon. For example, Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, and KEyword Tool. AMZ.One is especialized in Amazon sellers, offering a suit of tools, including keyword rank tracking and On Page Analyzer. 

FAQs

Is there a free keyword tool?

Yes. If you are starting and cannot yet invest in an paid suite, there are several free solutions to choose. Some of them offer a basic free plan, while others are completely free. Here is a short list: 

  • Moz Keyword Explorer is our top choice, and has a free basic plan. 
  • For PPC keywords, or if you need basic but deep features, Google Keyword Planner can be a good choice. 
  • Ubersuggest is completely free and also give content recommendations. 
  • QuestionDB is good for finding question-based keywords

There are more above in our guide, but this is a short list. 

Which is the best tool for keyword research for SEO in 2023?

If money is not an object, it’s a tie between Ahrefs and SEMrush. They provide robust all-in-one SEO suites that can help you with research and application. If you are looking for free tools, you may look into Moz, Google Keyword Planner and Ubersuggest. Google’s tool offers basic features but it is still powerful if you don’t need much more. 

Is Google keyword research tool free?

Yes, both Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends are free. 

Which Google tool is used for keyword research?

You have two, Google Keyword Planner and Google Trends. Google Keyword Planner is a great place to start, wich gives you a list of related keywords along with simple metrics. This will help you understand the competition around ech one and the search volume. Google Trends, as its name suggests, gives you trending topics in your category, or location. You can even compare between different keyword variations. Just click on Compare and it will give you interest in both over a period of time. 

Which tool is used for keyword research?

To research keywords across the web, you should use a specialized tool, called a keyword research tool. This will give you keyword suggestions, ideas and content suggestions. 

How do I find the best keywords to search?

The best tools give you competitive intelligence. That means they allow you to see which keywords are your competitors using. You can start from there. You can also use Google trends to identify what’s trending in your area and category.  

When choosing the right keywords for SEO, the most important factor is relevance. Think about your audience and how they would look for your product. Be specific and take the location into account too. There are tools that can help you identify potential keywords, among the the Google Keyword Planner, and Keyword Tool.  

How do I research keywords for free?

There are numerous ree tools for keyword research.