10 FREE Keyword Tools You Can Use for Your SEO Strategy
Before you build and enact your SEO strategy, you need to determine what keywords will garner the attention of your target demographic. These keywords are what your customers will search for when looking for specific products or services. They can also help frame your content strategy.
Rather than utilize paid services, which can become costly and not have an immediate return on investment, here are 10 free keyword tools you can use for your SEO strategy.
1. Google Search Results
One of the most invaluable search tools is Google and its “related searches for keywords” at the bottom of the search results page. To use this tool, simply type in the keyword you want to use, scroll down, and see what other words or terms Google recommends. Other search engines, like Bing, also have this feature. By getting familiar with these search engines, you can better understand what people search for on any given topic.
2. Google Keyword Planner
This is a feature of Google Ads (ads.google.com), which you can sign up for free. To get to Google Keyword Planner, upon logging in to your account, go to Tools and Settings, then under Planner, click on Keyword Planner.
This tool's main purpose is to see the search volume a keyword has and how much competition it has. In other words, how often people search for it and how many people use it in their paid marketing strategy. However, this is an excellent tool for discovering new keywords. The goal is high search volume with low competition.
3. Google Search Console
This is another Google-provided service run through Google Analytics, which you can also sign up for free. Setting up Google Search Console takes a little backend work because you need to connect analytics to your website and then connect it to Google Search Console through the GA platform.
Despite the work involved, this is an invaluable tool because it shows you what people search for to bring them to your site in real-time. Some of the search terms might surprise you!
4. Google Trends
Found at trends.google.com, this is the last Google keywords platform on this list. This is the right tool for you if you want to see historical data and understand keyword patterns. For example, let’s say you are a travel company and want to know when people are most interested in flying. You can use Google Trends to see the dates, months, and years when the keyword “flying” had highs, lows, and significant spikes.
5. Keywords Everywhere
Keywords Everywhere is one of my favorite keyword tools because it is so convenient. Once uploaded, it is a browser extension that will pull up information about every keyword you type into a search engine. For instance, it will show you related keywords, give long tail keyword suggestions, and provide you with competition information. Although this same information can be found on Google Ads or Google Trends, it saves considerable time.
6. Moz
This is a paid SEO tool, much like SEMRush or Ahrefs. Although all these sites typically offer a free trial, Moz offers a free version in which you can get 10 search queries monthly. Moz is a great SEO platform if you want to see what keywords you are currently ranking for and what search term opportunities exist.
7. UberSuggest
Created by SEO guru Neil Patel, UberSuggest is a keyword tool that is helpful if you want to see what your competitors are currently ranking for. While you can do this with the keyword tools mentioned above, UberSuggest gives you a lot of free data to capitalize on. Find keyword gaps, discover new keywords, and use all of these in your SEO strategy.
8. Keyword Chef
Some of the tools above can be overwhelming, especially if you have little experience using SEO keywords. However, Keyword Chef intends to do away with the “meaningless metrics” and instead focus on the important stuff (like search volume and competition). It also automatically eliminates redundant or what it deems junk keywords, which can help you avoid black hat penalties. Therefore, this tool is worth a look if you need a more streamlined keyword process.
9. Wordstream
Wordstream is another tool you can use if you are new to the world of keywords. It works similarly to Keyword Chef but is more pared down. Once you go to the website and type in a keyword or domain, you will be given a list of related keyword results with the monthly search volume, top-of-page bid (high range and low range), and the competition. This is an excellent tool if you want to find keywords fast but do not want to spend a lot of time analyzing the data.
10. Answer the Public
Answer The Public takes keywords and then offers suggested autocomplete questions using the following visualizations: What, Can, Are, How, When, Where, Which, Will, Who, and Why. For instance, if I type in SEO, Answer the Public may return “How do small businesses start SEO.” Answer the Public will also provide prepositions (Is, Can, For, Without, To, With, and Near) and comparison results. For example, a comparison result for SEO might return “SEO or PPC.”
This is a great tool for long-tail keywords, discovering user search intent, or creating blog topics (which will give you more room to add additional keywords to your website).
Build Your Perfect SEO Strategy with the Right Keywords
The above tools will give you a robust platform to build your keyword search strategy. Once you have the right search terms, you can begin to tailor your content to match.
You can also contact us to help build the perfect keyword list! We provide short and long-tail keywords, search volume, and competition.
