Below is a list of free keyword research tools I have been using this year. Let me know if I missed anything worthwhile.
For a comprehensive list of inbound marketing tools, visit our SEO Toolbox.
6 Free Keyword Research Tools
Ad Preview Tool
Google’s tool that allows you to preview unbiased organic rankings and paid search ads per any given keyword and geography. Use for checking keyword rankings. When you search on Google.com you will see search results personalized to you so you need to use this tool to figure out how the first page on Google really looks like for the user.
Google’s Keyword Tool
Allows you to identify keywords to target based on actual search volume to make sure you are including the keywords your customers are actually searching for in your SEO strategy. In addition, this tool will help you discover additional keywords related to your original word or phrase. Use for keyword research, discovery, and content creation ideas.
Google Trends
Formerly Insights for Search. Shows you what is trending online and what people are searching for. Use for identifying trending keywords and to validate your keyword strategy. For example, you may be better of targeting low-volume, less-competitive keyword that is trending hot and is a long-term investment.
Ubersuggest
Get keyword ideas with Übersuggest, the free keyword suggestion tool that makes good use of Google Suggest and other suggest services. You can choose a language and Übersuggest can get suggestions either from regular Web search or from search verticals like Shopping, News or Video. It is a great tool for vertical and multilingual keyword research.
SEMRush
Provides you with insights on how competing sites are performing in search. SEM Rush has a great dashboard functionality and combines couple different data sources in one place. Use to check how competitors are ranking on keywords.
SEO Chat – Suggestion Keyword Finder
This tool provide you a list of related keywords to a word or phrase. You can use this information to discover new keyword opportunities your competitors may be ignoring to include in your SEO Strategies.
For a comprehensive list of inbound marketing tools, visit our SEO Toolbox.
All good looking tools to me Matthew 😉 I sway toward Google’s tool but use SEMRush for sites to check out their stats. All in all, a super roundup here.
Thanks for sharing!
Ryan
Thanks Ryan – I do the same – tons of value in Google’s tools – but for bigger, complex SEO campaigns I look into the other tools to allow to expand and scale the keyword pool
Good list Matt,
i’d also recommend having a look at our concatenation tool http://www.found.co.uk/ppc-keyword-tool/ .
Really great if you need to put together a big list.
Thanks Will – I will check it out
Hey Matthew!
We included you in our Monthly Resource Round-up: http://www.aseohosting.com/blog/2013/09/seo-content-marketing-social-media-best-august-2013/.
Cheers!
thanks Nicky
Way cool! Some extremely valid points! I
appreciate you penning this write-up and also the rest
of the website is very good.
Hey there, I thought I’d share two more keyword tools I’ve been using. Soolve (http://soovle.com) and KeywordSuggest (http://keywordsuggest.org). They’re basically using suggestions from search engines, but I’ve found them quite useful in certain cases, coupled with Google’s Keyword Planner and Google Trends. KeywordSuggest one also has this interesting feature with Google: you can use the * character before the keyword, like this: * reviews or l* reviews. Really spits the niches out.
Hey Tom – thanks for recommendation! I particularly like Soolve – it puls the data from couple different sources, like Amazon and Answers.com, which is pretty awesome in terms of identifying niches – I will test it more and add it to our SEO Toolbox -> http://www.searchdecoder/seo-toolbox
Hi Matthew,
Nice list, but for me it’s missing the keyword research tool I use every day, Market Samurai.
I know that this is a premium tool but they also offer a free version which has quite a lot of the features available on it.
I’ve done a pretty in depth review of the software on my own blog, feel free to include it in your article if you like it! 🙂 … http://www.jamie-anderson.com/market-samurai-review/
Cheers,
Jamie.
Thanks Jamie – I will be sure to check it out!