Top 15 Keyword Research Tools for Better SEO

Is your SEO stuck? Not sure where to start?

A good keyword research tool can propel your SEO further than you imagine.

Below, I’ll introduce you to powerful keyword research tools. And I’ll share how I’ve used them to capture competitive advantage.

What Are Keyword Research Tools?

Keyword research tools are software platforms that help users create effective SEO strategies and monitor results.

The best tools unlock competitive insights which you can use to gain market share.

Most Powerful Keyword Research Tools

Let’s begin with the tools that offer broad reporting of keyword-related metrics.

Semrush Keyword Magic Tool

Enter a topic into the Semrush Keyword Magic Tool and you’ll get a list of related keyword ideas.

You can narrow down the results by using the KD% (Keyword Difficulty) drop-down filter.

After all, you want a reasonable chance of ranking in the top 10 of Google for your chosen keywords.

I find it helpful to also filter the results by Intent.

Intent refers to the typical goal that searchers have when they use the keyword.

Semrush labels every keyword with at least 1 intent.

Intent	Intent Label	Description	Examples
Informational	I	Broad terms. Searcher is gathering basic information.	“English literature”
Navigational	N	Searcher is looking for a specific page or site.	“Lowe’s credit card login”
Commercial	C	Searcher is researching/comparing products.	“geico vs progressive”
Transactional	T	Searcher is on the brink of buying.	“book alaska cruise”

For instance, if you have an online store, there’s clear value in prioritizing keywords that signal buying intent.

So you could choose keywords labeled Commercial or Transactional that are “Easy” to rank for and have worthwhile volume.

This is one of the most effective tactics for e-commerce SEO.

Key Features

• Keyword Difficulty rating
• Keyword Intent labels
• Country-based searches
• Search volume data
• Cost-per-Click (CPC)

How Much Does Semrush Magic Keyword Tool Cost?

The Semrush Keyword Magic Tool comes bundled with the Pro ($139.95/month) and Guru plans ($249.95/month).

Exploding Topics Keyword Tool

The Exploding Topics Keyword Tool is free and intuitive. Enter a keyword, and you’ll get basic data. You’ll also get a list of related keywords.

Each keyword appears on a row, along with:

• Volume
• KD% (Keyword Difficulty)
• CPC (cost-per-click)
• # of Results
• Search Trend

We entered “mechanical keyboards” and got a bunch of alternatives.

This is the only free tool that uses Semrush’s database of 25+ billion keywords. However, if you want more data, filters, or keywords, you’ll need to sign up for Semrush.

Overall, our Keyword Research Tool is a good choice for beginners making their first foray into SEO research.

It provides instant results, it's totally free, and it doesn't even ask you to log in.

Key Features

• Semrush keyword database
• Easy to use
• Provides 4 metrics and trend charts

How Much Does the Exploding Topics Keyword Tool Cost?

The Exploding Topics keyword analysis tool is free.

Exploding Topics Pro

Exploding Topics Pro analyzes unstructured data across the internet to identify products, ideas, and people that are about to trend.

Most SEO software analyzes trends after the fact. But Exploding Topics Pro is unique in its predictive ability.

Investors, entrepreneurs, and e-commerce store owners use this software to position themselves at the forefront of trends.

For instance, store owners can identify trending products with significant growth potential and profit margins. And yes, you can use this as an Amazon keyword research tool.

Common uses for Exploding Topics include:

• Planning inventory
• Content marketing
• Buying web properties
• Finding trending topics

Enter a seed keyword like “solar” or “solar devices,” and you’ll get a series of trending keywords.

A dashed line at the upper right of the chart indicates predicted growth over the next 12 months.

Key Features

• Trend tracking
• Trending products
• Meta trends
• API

The Trending Startups feature allows you to filter by growth, total funding, latest round, and more.

How Much Does Exploding Topics Pro Cost?

Pricing starts at $39/month for the Entrepreneur plan, making this one of the most affordable keyword research tools.

Semrush Organic Research

Semrush Organic Research helps you discover and track your competitors’ keyword strategies.

For instance, imagine you own an eco-friendly store. You want to add socks and hoodies to your catalog.

In the example below, we added consciousstep.com as a competitor for analysis.

You’ll get an overview of metrics like branded traffic and traffic cost.

Scroll down to see tiles: each represents a report that can be accessed by clicking.

For example, in Top Position Changes, we see that “dog socks” fell from position 21 to position 61.

By clicking on this keyword we see it’s easy to rank for and has Commercial intent.

This is the type of information you can use to make smart content marketing decisions.

Key Features

• SERP features trends
• Position changes
• Top Keywords
• Keywords by Intent

How Much Does Semrush Organic Research Cost?

Semrush Organic Research comes bundled with the Pro ($139.95/month) and Guru plans ($249.95/month).

Semrush Keyword Gap

The Semrush Keyword Gap tool shows you which keywords your competitors are ranking for, but you aren’t.

In my experience, this is one of the best tools for keyword research and competitor analysis. The insights are often surprising and powerful.

Say you’re a content marketer for a digital agency. You’re preparing for a meeting with your client: SignNow.

You’d add the client domain and 2 competitors into the Semrush Keyword Gap tool.

I filtered this example to only include keywords with Commercial or Transactional intent and a volume of 1,001-10,000.

On the left, you’ll see Top Opportunities. On the right is a visual summary.

Scroll down, and you’ll see a list that can be filtered in 13 ways, including by Keyword Difficulty.

For your content marketing plan, you choose a set of keywords for SignNow to win. These keywords:

• Signal buying intent
• Are easy to rank for
• Have good search volume.

Key Features

• Competitor rankings by keyword
• 13 filters
• Organic, paid, and PLA keywords

How Much Does Semrush Keyword Gap Cost?

Semrush Organic Research is included in the Pro ($139.95/month) and Guru plans ($249.95/month).

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer provides in-depth analysis of any keyword.

This tool displays standard metrics like:

• Search volume
• Keyword difficulty
• Organic traffic
• Traffic value.

This tool is similar to the Semrush Keyword Overview.

Like Semrush, Ahrefs is a comprehensive SEO platform made up of multiple tools.

Both platforms have a database of 25+ billion keywords.

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer provides 6 reports, including:

• Terms match
• Phrase match
• Questions.

Each keyword row in Explorer has a “parent keyword” link. Click the link and you’ve got an instant topic cluster.

Marketers who create topic cluster content for clients will appreciate this.

The ability to easily access Questions is helpful for content planning, too. These are popular questions related to the seed keyword.

I’ve used Ahrefs for years. Its interface and resources are excellent.

Key Features

• Traffic Potential
• Keyword Difficulty
• Search Volume

How Much Does Ahrefs Keyword Explorer Cost?

Keyword Explorer is included in all paid Ahrefs plans. Pricing starts at $129/month.

Ryan Robinson’s Free Keyword Research Tool

For ease of use, it’s hard to beat Ryan Robinson’s free keyword research tool.

Type in your topic, and you’ll get a list of keyword ideas.

Each idea is displayed with:

• Estimated monthly search volume
• Keyword difficulty (low, medium, high).

Imagine you live in New Hampshire and run a local tourism blog. You want to make hiking recommendations so you can include links to your affiliate partners that offer lodging and guided trips.

Type in “New Hampshire hikes,” and you’ll get useful ideas for your blog.

For instance, by scrolling down, we found these ideas.

• “Easy new hampshire hikes” has a comparatively high monthly search volume (4.2k). It also has a low (i.e., easy) keyword difficulty.
• Likewise, “new hampshire hikes with kids” also has “low” difficulty and decent monthly volume (3.2k).

The results are also somewhat random. Try the tool a few times in a row, and you may get different results.

But if you’re in the “less is more camp” and appreciate limited options, check this tool out.

Key Features

• Generate keyword ideas
• Keyword difficulty rating
• Search volume data

How Much Does Ryan Robinson’s Keyword Research Tool Cost?

This free tool has no strings attached. You don’t even need to sign up to use it.

Keyword Research Tools for Content Marketers

Once you’ve selected a batch of keywords, you’re ready to create content. These next 4 tools will assist in meeting search intent as you write.

I’ll also explain how to discover questions that searchers have about your chosen topics.

Google Chrome Incognito

Incognito is the privacy-enhanced version of the Google Chrome browser.

By using this version of Chrome, Google will ignore most of your personal preferences from previous searches.

This recommendation may surprise you. I routinely use Incognito for keyword research. And of course, it’s free.

Open Chrome in Incognito mode by typing:

• (Mac) Command + ⌘ + n
• (Windows) Control + Shift + n

Then, enter your keyword. Many (but not all) keywords will cause the People Also Ask (PAA) section to display in Google search results.

People Also Ask is an expandable list of searchers' most common questions on your topic.

Here’s an example of PAA.

Click on any question, and more questions will appear.

Pick a few of these common questions to answer in your article. In this way, your content will be more comprehensive and useful to searchers.

How Much Does Chrome Incognito Cost?

It’s free. No sign-up is required.

QuestionDB

Like AlsoAsked, QuestionDB makes it easy to discover People Also Asked questions tied to specific keywords. However, this tool goes further and pulls in relevant questions from Reddit and Quora forums, too.

After the rollout of Google’s Helpful Content Update, Reddit and Quora forum questions began to be featured in the top 10 of many Google search results.

This tool can help you make the most of that change.

These keyword-related forum discussions can help you understand your audience’s problems and desires. And that can help you produce helpful content that ranks higher on Google

QuestionDB also pulls data from regular SERP results as well as Google’s People Also Search feature.

Here are a few results of my search for “organic coffee.”

I find the report font to be faint, but that’s a minor quibble.

Key Features

• Low-competition keywords from PAA and SERP
• Reddit and Quora insights
• CSV exports.

How Much Does QuestionDB Cost?

The free tier allows 5 searches per month. Paid plans range from $9.99 to $69.99 per month

AlsoAsked

AlsoAsked mines Google data to provide clusters of People Also Ask questions related to your keywords.

The results are displayed as an easy-to-read interactive mind map.

In my experience, the mindmap results are generous, high-quality, and easy to navigate.

The image above is just a small part of the overall diagram I got for my “organic coffee” search.

PAA data can help you create content briefs in addition to helping you meet search intent.

Key Features

• People Also ask data
• Country and language-based searches
• API

How Much Does AlsoAsked Cost?

You can get 3 free searches per day. Paid plans start at $9/month.

AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic is another tool that enables you to discover questions people have related to your keyword.

The interface is simple. Add a keyword to the field and click search.

What’s unique about AnswerThePublic is you can click on tabs to search by platform, including Google, Bing, TikTok, Amazon, and Instagram.

I’m not a fan of the spiral layout of results. It’s a bit hard to read and navigate. Bump up to a paid plan to export results via a CSV file.

How Much Does AnswerThePublic Cost?

The free version of AnswerThePublic gives you 3 searches per day. Paid plans start at $9/month, paid annually.

Globe Explorer

Globe Explorer was created as an alternative to search engines. But I’ve found it’s an excellent content planning tool.

Part of creating a comprehensive article is to cover a generous number of sub-topics. Globe Explorer can help you do that.

Say you have an online keto product store. Reviews are crucial for attracting customers.

You might enter “best keto protein bars” to get ideas on covering this topic well.

To the right of the outline are images with text headings. Click on a hyperlink like “fiber content” for a quick description.

Key Features

• Outlines and subtopics
• Source links
• Visual-based search

How Much Does Globe Explorer Cost?

Globe Explorer has a free version. Upgrade to $9/month (or $85/year) for faster answers and more detailed research.

These paid features use OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Anthropic’s Claude-3-Opus.

TubeBuddy

TubeBuddy is an SEO tool designed to help YouTube creators grow their audience faster.

According to Search Engine Journal, YouTube is the second-largest search engine. And an estimated 2.4 billion people log into YouTube daily.

Instead of guessing which video content to create, you can use TubeBuddy’s Keyword Explorer to discover relevant trends and track your rankings.

In addition, TubeBuddy includes a YouTube Shorts idea generator. You can use this to turn your existing video library into compelling clips.

The TubeBuddy Legend plan includes A/B tools to discover the titles and thumbnails that will drive more click-throughs and engagement.

These A/B tools are indirectly linked to SEO: the more video engagement, the higher your videos will rise in YouTube’s search engine.

For this reason, I recommend the Legend plan.

TubeBuddy installs as a browser extension that shows up in YouTube Studio.

Key Features

• Keyword Explorer
• A/B Testing
• Channel Optimization.

How Much Does TubeBuddy Cost?

TubeBuddy Pro starts at $3.75/month (paid annually). Upgrade to the Legend package for $16.50/month.

Keyword Research Tools from Google

Since most of us want to rank in Google, it makes sense to tap into the data it provides in its own tools.

In fact, much of the data you’ll get from free Google tools is the same as the data in the tools you pay for.

Google Keyword Planner

If you want to run ad campaigns, you’ll need related keyword data.

This is where Google’s Keyword Planner comes in.

As part of Google Ads, the Keyword Planner is a free tool that will help you find effective keywords to run ads on.

You can also use the planner to get estimated ad performance for different keywords. (“Performance” includes impressions, clicks, and conversions.)

You’ll see CPC (cost-per-click) and overall cost estimates, helping you plan your campaign.

Keyword Planner is free, so it’s ideal if you’re looking for the most affordable keyword research tools.

But you’ll need to enter your billing information and create a campaign before using the planner.

Alternatively, you can use the Keyword Planner in Semrush.

Key Features

• Generate keyword ideas related to your business
• Estimate costs and results
• Organize keywords into categories

Local Service Ads are a good pick for realtors, consultants, auto repair shops, firewood providers, HVAC and plumbing businesses, and more.

How Much Does Google Keyword Planner Cost?

Google Keyword Planner is free. To use it you’ll need to create a Google Ads account and provide your billing information.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a free tool that monitors your site’s health and performance.

The Performance feature lists the Top Queries (keywords) for your site. These are the terms that are driving the most clicks and impressions.

Once you set up a Google Search Console account (it’s free), click on Performance in the left-hand navigation column. Then, choose a time period to analyze.

You’ll see a chart showing Total Clicks, Total Impressions, Average CTR (click-through rate), and Average Position.

Scroll down to see:

• Top Queries (with clicks and impressions)
• Top Pages
• And Top Countries

Google Search Console can serve as a quick check on results.

For instance, if you improved some pages, can you see a corresponding improvement in clicks for your targeted keyword?

Key Features

• Track Top Queries over time
• Review Clicks and Impression data
• Site Map and URL error tracking

How Much Does Google Search Console Cost?

Google Search Console is free. There is no paid version to upgrade to. You can associate as many websites as you like with a single GSC account.

What to Look for in a Keyword Research Tool

We’ve covered a variety of keyword research tools here. As you can see, some are specialty tools, limited to a single function.

Some, like Semrush and Ahrefs, are comprehensive platforms with many tools. And others, like Exploding Topics Pro, are truly unique.

So, depending on your goals, consider these guidelines.

• Is there a free trial?
• Is the tool easy to use or confusing?
• What usage limits are on my plan?
• Can I pay monthly and cancel anytime?
• Does the database size support my needs?

Content marketers and agencies might also look for the following:

• Topic cluster tools
• Quality competitor insights
• White label reports
• Agency tools

While you can’t go wrong with Semrush or Ahrefs, specialty tools like Exploding Topics Pro or AlsoAsked fit specific niches.

There may not be one ‘best’ tool for you since many solopreneurs and marketers use multiple tools.

Take the First Steps with Semrush

With so many keyword research tools available, it can be difficult to know which one to try first.

Semrush stands out as a comprehensive solution for all SEO needs.

As well as being a keyword research tool, you can conduct detailed competitor analysis and track trending topics that can boost your traffic very rapidly.

Sign up for Semrush and try its keyword research tools for free.