Small Business Alert: Best Keyword Research Tools to Boost Your SEO

It’s no use spending time and money creating a beautiful website filled with great information about your products and services if no one reaches it. Small businesses need to know ways to drive traffic to their websites. Building high-quality keywords into your website content boost site traffic through search engine optimization or SEO.

Businesses use SEO keyword research tools to find the best-producing keywords for your site. All keyword research tools are not equal in how they perform. Some tools are free, while some are not. We’ve compiled a list of the top keyword research tools for your review, broken down by the top 5 free keyword research tools and the top 5 paid keyword research tools.

Top 5 Free Keyword Research Tools

1. Google Ads Keyword Planner

It’s hard to find a top keyword research tool list that doesn’t include Google Ads Keyword planner. It’s amazing that you can still obtain this keyword research tool-free. Google’s keyword database is mindboggling in size, forming the main reason to use the tool. The data used in the tool is extremely reliable, and the tool is rather basic. It’s designed for Google Ads, making it a useful tool for businesses using Google Ads and for business websites.

2. Soovle

This keyword research tool offers autocomplete suggestions for SEO keywords from Google, Bing, YouTube, Yahoo, Amazon, and Wikipedia. You choose which source to use and put your word in the box. The autocomplete feature may give different suggestions based on each resource. The tool allows you to save the ideas you like to download later. Soovle is speedy, efficient, and helpful in finding keywords.

3. UberSuggest

Ubersuggest is a great tool to use in conjunction with Google Ads Keyword Planner. First, find keywords through Keyword Planner. Next, search Ubersuggest to keywords not included in the Google software results. Ubersuggest will come up with a very long list of keywords to supplement your original query.

4. QuestionDB

Are you interested in keyword ideas from Reddit? The keywords are question focused. You can sort those keywords by popularity and create blog posts and other content around responses to the questions asked. It’s a bit of a different tool for this list, offering a different approach from an alternate to finding out what keywords work for you. And it’s free like the others in this section.

5. Google Trends

Two types of searches are possible in Google Trends. First, you have your basic keyword search for a specific word or term. This search results in related queries terms. The other type of search involves exploring whether a keyword has been growing in popularity. That way, you can tell if a search term is on its way in or on its way out. Google Trends includes a YouTube search feature as well.

Top 5 Paid Keyword Research Tools

While the tools below are paid, check their websites to find free trial offers based either on a limited time or on a certain maximum number of searches.

1. SEMRush 

If you’re used to entering a keyword, SEMRush may take some adjusting. In this tool, you enter a competitor’s domain name in the search bar. SEMRush displays the keywords that competitor ranks for. You can search in Canada or choose another country from a list. The information provided can be analyzed to tell if the organic search traffic converts into buyers or not by also providing the traffic cost. You can also find the top keywords that your competitor ranks for and all the keywords that the URL ranks for. Talk about a list to start from. SEMrush offers more features, making it a valuable, but not inexpensive, tool.

2. Ahrefs Keyword Explorer

Ahrefs Keyword Explorer offers very in-depth information. It’s well-known for providing backlink analysis. For keyword searching, it generates information on search volume, first-page competition, and keyword difficulty. Business content creators will find the Ahrefs tool very useful. Pricing plans vary.

3. KWFinder

KWFinder has a reasonable price for what’s offered. It’s an intuitive program that gives you a list of keyword difficulty not only for your search term but for every term displayed. It’s very easy to navigate and provides precise data. It comes in a package with other tools for one price.

4. Serpstat

Serpstat has all the tools you need at a reasonable price: keyword research, SERP analysis, backlink analysis, website analytics, a rank tracker and website audit features. Like KWFinder, the price is modest. It has a good keyword research tool, but it’s not as specialized as tools designed primarily for that function.

5. Moz Keyword Explorer

Do you sometimes feel like some tools are smarter than others? The keyword search feature on Moz Keyword Explorer feels that way. The tool offers many lateral keywords to your search time, providing more ideas for you. It provides information on whether you should target a keyword based on what you can expect from it. Unfortunately, Moz comes in a pricey suite of tools that you must buy together.

Summary

When you’re trying to create content, keywords for SEO are king. It takes a lot of time and effort to do the research. If you can narrow your focus to one or a few tools that meet your needs, that will save time. Go through the list and determine which options will help you most. Decide if your small business can afford a tool, or if you need to use a free version. There are plenty of options from simple to in-depth, and you should find something to meet your needs.

Once site traffic is optimized, your business will grow. Choose the best keyword research tools for you. Keep abreast of new tools and new keywords as they’re developed to stay ahead in the growth game.

Want to see a list of keyword your website is currently ranking for? Contact us today and we’ll send you the list FREE.

Thanks for reading.