What Keyword Research Tool To Use?

Keyword research is essential part of on-line presence. Without proper tools we can only shoot in the dark and hope for the best. Fortunately we have many free tools available.

Every serious on-line writer needs to know at least something about keyword research. I write on-line about five years now and if I can expose only one skill which should be mastered to get at least some traffic to web pages, it's definitely a keyword research.

I tried many of available tools among which large percent just don't deliver what should. So I decided to make a lit of 10 best free tools which can help us building a list of keywords with traffic / earning potential. For your convenience I present them right here and right now.

1. The Best Keyword Tool Is Not Even Designed For Keyword Research!

You heard it right. Google Keyword Planner is the best and if you are not using it, you are missing big time. But in my experience even people who use it, don't use it right. This is actually caused by Mr. G, because this tool is made for planning advertisement campaigns, not for keyword research.

If you intend to use only one tool, that's the one: Google has largest database of keywords in the world

https://adwords.google.com/

Pros:

- free (you need free Google account)

- by far largest database

- many options for sorting and filtering

Cons:

- not very reliable at 'related keywords'

- limited with just 800 suggestions (all other free tools are similarly limited, while some paid versions offer more than 10 thousand keywords)

- everybody gets the same data, what often leads to insane competition.

2. Tool for massive suggestions

We often start with one of few keywords, but want to expand the list and one of the fastest methods is built-in auto-suggestion option in Google's search box. But instead of entering each phrase and first letter one by one, you can do that massively with next tool:

http://ubersuggest.org/

Just enter your string of words and wait for suggestions. There are several variations on this popular tool available, and in all cases you can get hundreds of interesting keywords available. Have your notepad ready!

3. KW tool for massive suggestions with volume and PPC value

Next tool works very similarly to Ubersuggest above, but provides more data. With estimated volume and Cost Per Click values your research should be even faster.

https://serps.com/tools/keywords

This tool is great for brainstorming and not only for one article, but for a basic strategy of on-line writing too. If you know a thing or two about on-line marketing, you probably already know, one article is never enough. You need to build a niche and this starts with a list of relevant and related keywords.

Some phrases should be used for titles, other for subtitles, other for building relevant links, etc.

Sooner or later you should invest in knowledge

How to Find Low Competition Long Tail Keywords Using Free Tools (On...

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4. Keyword tool with multiple sources of data:

Believe it or not, Google is not the only browser with a small box to type your keywords in. Next tool offers several sources of keywords and it's interesting to note how people tend to use different phrases in different environments.

http://www.soovle.com/

Soovle offers very different resources and some of them can provide very valuable keywords with clear commercial intention. This tool is indispensable for every affiliate marketer, especially if he or she can't afford payed tools yet.

5. A keyword tool for Amazon

You knew this was coming, right? Amazon is not the most profitable site for affiliates, but it's a standard, with huge authority and very good conversions.

Definitely a site which deserves full respect and the site we can always learn a thing or two from it. Remember - the moment we stop learning new things is the moment we start falling behind.

Next tool is dedicated to Amazon searches only:

http://www.merchantwords.com/

Build your niche!

How to find Profitable Niches: Everything you need to kno...

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While you are limited with just five suggestions in free version, you can expand this number with sorting keywords by alphabet, number of searches, experimenting with categories, entering related searches etc.

6. Tools with competition analysis

This is the area where the real game starts. It's not enough to write an article. It's not enough to write an article with proper keywords in proper places. You have to beat everybody else competing for the same keyword string too!

But how can you estimate the competition? There are several options which may be used and none of them offers a definite answer. I intend to write a dedicated article on this subject in near future. Until then, this tool is probably next best thing you can use for free:

http://www.keywordrevealer.com/

You need a free registration, you are limited to only three keywords per day and seven estimations of competition (in numbers from 0 to 100). Trust me - it's enough. My favorite kw tool ever!

Web is eseentially a playground and we all compete

7. Spy on your competition through advertisments!

One of the easiest ways to find profitable keywords is checking the advertisements. If you want to see what keywords are your competitors willing to buy for, how much are they worth, and how many sites actually compete for certain keyword in PPC in organic searches, this is the answer:

http://www.keywordspy.com/

You can pick few additional keywords by the way.

8. New generation keyword tool

More and more users use search engines to find answers for specific problems and more and more questions are entered in search boxes instead of keywords. There is a tool which is able to predict and compile such questions from seed keywords provided by you.

http://answerthepublic.com/

You know what they say - the public is always right!

What kind of keyword research tools are you using?

9. LSI based keyword research tools

LSI stands tools are advanced tools which don't just look at keywords, but at the whole vocabulary in a niche where a specific keyword belongs. This is one of possibilities to distinguish a spammer from true expert - they can both write an article with a specific keyword in the title, but they will very likely use completely different words in their works.

http://www.nichelaboratory.com/

To help you understand the idea behind the LSI, I'd like to use this article. It's about free keyword research tools and it's only natural to find this and very similar phrases in this article. But to estimate if it's really written by somebody who knows what he is talking about, several other, not necessary very similar strings of words should be present. For instance:

Keyword tools became very sophisticated

long tail

highest volume

opportunity

searcher intent

average monthly

etc.

You got the idea?

10. Keyword manipulation tools

Every text editor or spreadsheet can help you with keywords, where all kinds of manipulations are necessary. If you want to make unique combinations of longtails, sort keywords by volume or competition, remove duplicates and so one, this tool may be oh great help:

http://www.toolsvoid.com/string-tools

With this we conclude the list of 10 best free tools for keyword research. Well, maybe not the best, and at least few of the free versions have serious limitations, but it's definitely enough for an inspiring affiliate marketer.

If this is still not enough, here is an expanded list of free keyword tools.

Enjoy in your research and don't forget keywords are just a beginning. You still have to write good articles!

Updated: 05/03/2015, Tolovaj

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Tolovaj on 09/18/2024

Welcome back, HollieT. It's always great to see a familiar face. Keyword reasearch is a necessity, I agree. Still, it's not enough. But without keywords you hardly stand a chance to get noticed, so it's the best possible first step.

HollieT on 09/06/2024

This is really helpful, I've returned to content writing after a 10 year break. Things have changed so much and I have been trying to find more info about free keyword research

Tolovaj on 09/16/2023

Yes, DerdriuMarriner, there are numerous courses. Some are very expensive, raging up to several tens of thousands of dollars. But you can start on YouTube for free and have a good headstart.

DerdriuMarriner on 06/14/2023

Your first tool, The Best Keyword Tool Is Not Even Designed For Keyword Research!, can be a vicious circle.

Google Keyword Planner helps us the most. But at the same time, it intends to plan ad campaigns. Also at the same time, many know not at all how to use Google Keyword Planner correctly.

How would one be trained or train oneself in proper Google Keyword Planer use? Would there be some kind of internet course?

Tolovaj on 12/19/2017

Thanks, Afzal Alam, i hope, my article helped you at least a bit.

Afzal Alam on 10/03/2017

I've attempted some of these subsequent to perusing your article. It's great to remember catchphrases and watchword apparatuses. I saw that my articles don't come up in serps. I imagined that was on the grounds that Google is hitting destinations like our own truly hard. Be that as it may, perhaps I'm not utilizing enough catchphrases. Certainly a comment as a primary concern.

Tolovaj on 03/28/2017

Thanks, gomezpeter. Did you try any of other tools? Adwords doesn't list all keywords, especially if they don't have commercial value. I always include adwords, but only as a part of keyword stategy, never as a standalone tool.

gomezpeter on 03/22/2017

Its quite useful information you have shared with us, that’s really great. But the only tool i liked the most from your mentioned list is adwords.

Tolovaj on 12/04/2015

Glad to present it, Rose:)