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. 

In this post

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.

Google SERP Updates for 2024

Google is always changing its algorithm.

If it’s not making formal changes then it’s testing out potential changes. At this point, the only thing that would be surprising is if Google didn’t have some surprises up its sleeve.

Recently, Google has started toying with some new changes. Some are only in the testing phase, and some have been established.

Here’s what we know about the Google SERP updates for 2024:

Longer Title Tags and Descriptions

Marketers may soon get more wiggle room in what they can include in title tags and descriptions.

Traditionally, the title tags that Google shows in its search results have been limited to only 50 or 60 characters. Yet, in early May, some astute observers noticed that search results were showing up to 70 or 71 characters in the title tags.

That might not seem like a lot, but it’s enough to fit in at least another word or two, which may be all you need to complete the headline you really wanted.

Additionally, Google has increased the characters it allows in the meta descriptions. Sites can now include about 100 more characters in the descriptions, which is about one more line of text. Instead of two lines of text, the descriptions now include three lines.

However, some results are still being shown cut off at two lines, even if Google is processing the additional line of text.

Longer Mobile Title Tags

The rules for mobile have always been a bit different than the rules for desktop.

With the latest changes, only the longer title tags are being applied to mobile search.

However, the changes don’t transfer directly. Actually, mobile search results get even longer title tags — 78 instead of 71. That’s a big improvement over the previous 50 or 60 characters that were displayed.

This creates more opportunities for marketing on mobile, but it also presents a bit of a conundrum. Marketers can’t just write the same content for both versions of the site and expect the responsive design to do the rest. They must create content specifically for mobile and specifically for desktop — which is something they should already be doing as mobile grows more and more separate from desktop.

Addition of Rich Cards

A while back, Google introduced rich snippets, which show just a little more than the basic title and description. Rich snippets include a thumbnail of the page picture or video, and the formatting is a bit larger and more noticeable.

Now, Google is introducing rich cards, which are small boxes that look just like the shopping results in search. The rich cards include a larger photo, a short title, a rating, and a time marker that shows recency.

The rich cards appear right at the top of search results, and users can scroll through them quickly to find what they need. The purpose of these rich cards is to make it easier for mobile users to search — again, showing the dominant position that mobile has taken.

Marketers will need to create content with these rich cards in mind. Specifically, they will need to choose great, eye-catching photos for their posts and write engaging headlines.

Right now, rich cards are being used to display recipes and movies, but industry experts are sure that their use will quickly grow to other categories. It is important that marketers start thinking about how to take advantage of these changes now, even if they are not immediately affected. Having that practice will help them be more competitive when the use of rich cards grows wider.

Moving Forward

It’s still unclear whether the longer title tags and descriptions will be made permanent. Google often tests out new features before it introduces them, and it has made no announcement about these latest changes.

Therefore, the longer titles and descriptions could slip away just as discreetly as they were introduced.

In the meantime, it is a good idea for marketers to experiment with the longer tags to see what difference they make to their results. Marketers can look at their history to see if they have gotten different results since the changes were introduced at the beginning of May, or they can conduct A/B testing of their own to find out what impact the changes make — if any.

It also important for marketers to start creating content with rich cards in mind, as well as to find other ways to make search better for mobile users. Mobile is expected to continue growing, so mobile marketing will be more and more important.

Of course, Google could change anything at any time, so it is also important that marketers remain aware of the current algorithm and any minor tweaks as they occur. They shouldn’t wait until they notice a decline in traffic or search ranking before they start wondering why. A good offense is also better than a good defense.

Moving away from an over-reliance on keywords and focusing on intent-based search instead will also help you to remain relatively untouched by unexpected changes.

What is Buzz Marketing?

In your quest to find more effective ways to reach your target audience and grow your business, you are bound to come across the term “buzz marketing.”

But you may be scratching your head and asking yourself “Exactly what is buzz marketing?”

The purpose of buzz marketing is to get people talking about your brand, or to create buzz. That’s it.

Of course, your ultimate goal is to create buzz and make a sale, but buzz marketing does not always include direct sales material. Sometimes, you are just sharing other people’s stories or sharing something your audience would find funny. You are engaging them and getting them to talk about what you shared, so that lays the groundwork for your other sales strategies later.

Buzz marketing content falls into six primary categories. They are:

Taboo

Nothing gets people talking more than the subjects they aren’t supposed to talk about.

When someone tells you not to do something, you just want to do it more. Think about how tempting it would be to press a button over and over again that someone put in front of you and told you not to push.

The same is true for content. If people see you talking about something that is taboo — like sex — they are going to take notice.

“Taboo” can also be synonymous with “controversial.” So if you can’t find ways of including taboo subjects into your topic area, you can find stories in which to take a controversial stance.

For example, if you write about finance, you can take a controversial stance like that you shouldn’t save for retirement or that real estate is a bad investment. Of course, you need to follow up with good information or else your readers will see through your attempts to grab clicks without offering value.

The Unusual or Unique

A house with a nearly all glass exterior is quite unusual and unique. So is a dog that has markings to look like a cheetah.

These are the kinds of things that will grab users’ attention, whether they are scrolling their news feed or are visiting your blog. They are also the kinds of things that they will want to tell other people about on their own social networks and blogs.

Try to find these stories yourself so that you are the source. That way, when these stories are shared, you are given the credit. If you are only curating the content, the original source will show up when the stories are shared.

The Remarkable

There are inspiring stories all around us. Find them and share them with your audience.

Tell your audience about the single mother who became a successful entrepreneur or the elderly woman who became a body builder after she started lifting weights at 60.

Find stories about the remarkable in your niche to inspire your audience to do something similar — by using your products and services, of course.

The Outrageous

Remember when Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the VMAs to say that Beyonce should have won instead of her? So does everyone else in the world.

Outrageous stories like these get people talking. “Can you believe it?!”

What are the outrageous stories happening in your niche? What about the outrageous stories that are relevant to your audience? Find them and share them.

The Hilarious

Make people laugh and you will get them telling all their friends about it.

Here’s the perfect place where you can make your own content instead of relying on what other people are doing. Create funny videos. Put together some funny memes. Tell funny stories.

Even if your product isn’t especially fun or exciting, you can still find ways to make it funny. Just look at how the lawyer dog meme made the law funny. Do something similar for your brand.

Secrets

Every business should be able to share secrets that will improve the lives of their customers. What are yours?

Do you have a secret for making money faster? For quitting smoking with ease? For looking like a celebrity?

Promise to share a secret and then follow through. If you share something effective, you will get people talking.

Creating buzz-worthy content is just part of the equation. You then need to market it effectively to make sure that people see it so they can talk about it and share it.

CodeFuel offers tools that position your content on the right channels and in the right format so that you get more traffic and more sales. With the right placement, you can engage more customers, which will encourage them to share your content and spread your reach. The more customers are talking about you, the better a position you will be in to engage customers and increase your sales, ensuring your long-term success.

Top 10 U.S. Online Publishers

Identifying the influencers in your niche is important for many reasons.

You can follow those publishers to get a handle on what stories are trending, how your competitors are successfully reaching your audience, and when the best times are to share stories.

You can also follow those publishers to get ideas for your own content, such as by taking alternative viewpoints, writing about a related subject, or exploring a more narrow focus of a subject.

You can also work to build partnerships with those publishers so that you can grow your influence.

First, you need to find out who the top publishers in your niche are.

Results will vary by niche, but we have rounded up our picks for the top 10 US online publishers across categories.

The New York Times

The Gray Lady has long been the top newspaper in the country, and it has handled the transition to online publishing with the same authority.

The New York Times continues to offer the same high quality of content even among a sea of listsicles and celebrity gossip. Yet it also finds ways to stay relevant and engaging, maintaining a strong social media presence and staying on top of breaking news.

Wikipedia

Wikimedia proves that the lowest common denominator can sometimes result in the best content.

Though the site is written and edited completely by volunteer users online, it has high standards for quality and its community ensures that it meets them.

Anyone may be able to write or edit an entry for Wikipedia, but anyone else can (and will) come along to quality check it and make corrections as needed. The site proves again and again that what users want is reliable and quality content.

Demand Media

This publisher shows that even content mills can be successful if they are operated right.

Demand publishes sites like eHow, Livestrong and Cracked, and it gets content from an assignment database. It recruits thousands of writers and editors, who are added to an interface and are able to choose from generated topics.

Topics are created around keyword research, and headlines are generated according to formulas designed to get the most traffic. It’s a formula that works since eHow alone gets 50 million visitors a month.

Huffington Post

The Huffington Post started as an “Internet newspaper,” and it has grown to become one of the most visited and shared sites on the web.

Not only does the site share hard news, but it also invites bloggers from around the web to share their content for greater exposure. Bloggers are not paid for sharing their content, and the site gets the benefit of viral views.

Web MD

It’s a popular joke that if you check your symptoms on Web MD, you’ll convince yourself that you’re dying.

But the joke exists because the site is a juggernaut. It is the go-to source for medical information by people around the world.

Martha Stewart Omnimedia

Martha Stewart is the name in home decor and baking, and her sites are the first that many people visit to get tips and tutorials.

Even her legal troubles weren’t enough to tarnish her image or stumble her business. Her authority in the home and kitchen has been so well-established that it cannot be shaken.

Salon

Salon is the place that people go when they want more than just the hard news. It’s where they get in-depth analysis and commentary about the impact that the news has on politics, society, and more.

Salon also offers up interesting personal pieces and essays.

Conde Nast

For travel information, Conde Nast is one of the top publishers. It includes a variety of travel magazines that cover different niches.

Of course, Conde Nast also publishes magazines like Vogue, so it has its finger in quite a few jars. It has become a giant in the online publishing world just as it is in print.

National Geographic

National Geographic has long been a trusted source of information for scientific, historic, and sociologic issues.

Like other print institutions, it has handled the transition to digital publishing deftly. The magazine has a strong online presence, including on social media.

Buzzfeed

Love them or hate them, Buzzfeed is an undeniable force in online publishing.

Buzzfeed popularized the listsicle format, and it has had unparalleled success with it. You can find lists on everything from toys you may have loved in the 90s to the weirdest places to visit before you die.

Online publishers across niches have tried to copy what Buzzfeed does because it consistently gets viral traffic for its stories, and it has an amazing social media presence.

Study these online publishers to get ideas for your own content marketing strategy, including topics, writing techniques, and marketing ideas. If you get even a fraction of the traffic that these sites get, you’ll be very happy indeed.

Top Apps of 2015

What were the top apps of 2015?

Nielsen, the same company that produces statistics for TV viewing, has released a list of the top smart phone apps for 2015 based on the number of average unique users.

Perhaps not surprisingly for many, the entire top 10 consists of apps put out by Facebook, Google, and Apple. The list reflects the growing influence of both social media and smart phone usage.

Nielsen also said that the use of smart phones grew to 80 percent in the United States at the end of the third quarter of 2015. ComScore still shows smart phone penetration at 78 percent, but the difference is negligible. It is important that online marketers embrace mobile marketing if they are to continue to be successful.

Here’s a look at the top 10 apps and Nielsen’s findings:

Facebook

The Facebook app had the most average unique users, coming in at 126.7 million.

That’s 8 percent more people than were using the app last year.

Marketers already know that Facebook is a great way to reach customers, but this data shows that marketers should also be targeting them through the mobile app and not just the main site or even the mobile site.

YouTube

Parents already know how great the YouTube app is for the phone. But many others use the app to watch music and catch up with viral news.

The app draws in 97.6 million average unique users, which is 5 percent more than last year. YouTube continues to show that it is a force to be reckoned with in digital marketing.

Facebook Messenger

Facebook made waves when it required users to access their messages through this separate app instead of offering it as an option.

Yet users quickly adjusted, and there has been little discussion about it since the change was made.

Likely because of the required change, the Facebook messenger app saw the most year-over-year growth, at 31 percent. The app has 96.4 million average unique users.

Google Search

Google is already the search king, but the app has made it easier for people to perform a quick search without having to open their phone’s browser and type in the search engine’s URL.

The Google search app had just over 95 million average unique users, which was an increase of just 3 percent over last year.

Google Play

Google Play is the app store for Android users, and it is the place to get movies, TV shows, games, music, and more.

It’s not surprising that the app was one of the most popular for the year. It had 89.7 average unique users, which was 7 percent more than the previous year.

Google Maps

Google Maps quickly toppled Mapquest after it came out, and most people use it as their de facto GPS locator.

That’s partially due to the fact that when you search for a business or other place on Google, it provides the directions through Google maps. You have to copy and paste the address to get directions from a different provider.

Google Maps had 87.78 million users this year, up 8 percent.

Gmail

Not surprisingly, Google products dominate this list.

Google has become the authority on the web, and most products that it introduces succeed.

Gmail was one of its early offerings, and it has continued to be one of the top providers of free email. The app has 75.1 million users, which was up 4 percent from the previous year.

Instagram

Instagram exploded onto the scene when it was introduced, and it has become a mainstay in social media.

The app had 55.4 million average unique users, which was up 23 percent over the previous year.

Apple Music

Everyone loves to listen to music on their smart phone or to stream it through their car stereos.

The Apple Music app had an average of 54.55 unique users, which was up 26 percent from the previous year.

Apple Maps

Finally, Apple Maps came in at Number 10, with an average of 46.4 unique users.

The app grew 16 percent over the previous year.

By paying attention to the trends in app usage, you can identify new advertising strategies for your brand. These apps cover the market, so you can reach every niche with one or more of these apps.

In addition to in-app advertising, you can look into mobile marketing on other websites that are popular among users.

It is important that you do not put money into the mobile version of a site when the app is more popular. For example, most people access Facebook through the app not by entering the URL on their phone.

Make sure you understand the audience you will be reaching and how that compares with your other options when putting together your advertising strategy. Working with a consultant can also help you identify the right advertising opportunities and create the most effective campaign.

What You Should Do Instead of Facebook Business Page Verification

Facebook business page verification just isn’t an option for most businesses.

The social network claims that only certain pages and profiles are eligible for verification:

  • Celebrities and public figures
  • Global brands and businesses
  • Media

In other words, most of us just can’t verify our Facebook business page.

However, Facebook isn’t the only network around, and there are other ways to verify social accounts online.

Why Verification Helps Businesses

Verification, whether it’s by Twitter or Facebook or another social network, helps both businesses and people stand out online. In general, verified accounts are more likely to show up in search results and feeds than unverified accounts.

This is clearly a marketing benefit, so it’s certainly understandable that a business would want to become verified.

What to Do Instead of Facebook Business Page Verification

If your goal is to create social accounts that stand out when your customers are looking for brands, products, and topics, then there are a few other steps you can take:

Complete every last detail of your business pages and profiles across all of your social media accounts.

Facebook states that this is another way to improve your rankings in Facebook searches. And it’s also a way to help yourself stay visible in Twitter, on Pinterest, Tumblr, and virtually every other social network.

Like Google, social networks’ internal search engines rely on keywords. So when you fill out your profile descriptions, your about tabs, and even your business name, consider packing in as many relevant keywords as you can think of.

Whenever and wherever possible, connect your accounts to telephone numbers, websites, and other pages or profiles. This will help the social networks know that you are authentic and serious about your accounts.

Be active and authentic.

This may sound basic, but many people mistakenly believe that they can put up a page and start getting clicks. The less active you are, the less likely you are to appear in front of other users.

When you are active on the sites and interactive with other users, the social networks interpret this as real, human activity. They are therefore more likely to feature your content in feeds and search results.

Get involved in the Facebook Place Tips program.

Place Tips for business is a new program that’s still in testing, but it can certainly boost a brick-and-mortar business’s visibility on the social network. This feature allows businesses to feature user-generated content when people are close to a business’s location.

The feature is still experimental, but it is opening up to businesses. To get Place Tips for your business, you’ll need to order a Facebook Bluetooth beacon, which tells the network when customers are close by. The beacon is free, so if your page is full of content, you might be able to request one from Facebook.

Verify your Twitter profile.

Though not everyone can be verified on Twitter, it’s possible to become verified, even if you aren’t a celebrity or a global brand. That’s not to say that it’s easy – it often involves having connections with someone at Twitter or getting noticed by Twitter’s @Verified account.

Verify your Google+ Business Page.

Fortunately, this process is much more straightforward. Verifying a local business on Google+ will allow your business to appear on maps, and it will most likely improve your search rankings. The process usually only involves a postcard or a phone call.

Verify your YouTube account.

This simply involves giving YouTube your cell phone number and typing a code into YouTube. Benefits include the ability to upload longer videos, appeal copyright claims, and use custom thumbnails.

Verify your YouTube name.

YouTube name verification is slightly different from YouTube account verification. Like Twitter account verification or Facebook Page verification, this credential places a small icon next to your account name, proving that you are who you say you are.

To verify your YouTube name, connect your YouTube channel to your Google+ Page or Profile, which must be authorized by your brand, company, or product. As long as your Google+ page links to your company website and your YouTube channel has a large number of subscribers, you should be able to verify your YouTube name.

Verify your Pinterest account.

When you verify your website with Pinterest, it automatically adds your website to any picture or pin that is sourced from your site. The process for Pinterest verification is relatively straightforward: you can place a custom meta tag on your site or upload a custom HTML file.

 

Social networks continue to search for ways to demonstrate authenticity on the part of their users. Whether it’s Google’s now-defunct authorship status, Facebook’s Page verification status, or Twitter’s verification badge, these status symbols can help you stand out in search results and prove to customers that your business is real. When these types of verification aren’t an option, it’s always a good practice to demonstrate authenticity through other means, such as cell phone connection, website connections, and completed profiles.