Keywords are the concrete foundations of your website that hold it all together.
Keyword research tools help you find the phrases your users are typing into Google and you probably have a favorite tool already. Maybe your go-to tool is one of the tools everyone else uses; Ahrefs, Moz, SEMrush, etc. Each tool has its own advantages and fans. Each tool offers a unique insight into what keywords mighty prove profitable to you.
Choosing one or more of the lesser-known keyword research tools reviewed in this article could give you the edge over your competitors. Give some of the tools outlined here a try and see if they work for you.
Ubersuggest.
Ubersuggest is a freemium tool that gives all the keywords you need and is simple to use.
Enter your dream keyword in the welcome panel you see when you open Ubersuggest. A new panel opens with hundreds of keyword suggestions: You can see 100 keywords without even giving your card details, but there are thousands if you decide you like the tool enough to take out a paid subscription.
The keyword table has columns for search volume, cost-per-click, search difficulty, and paid difficulty. When you click on your preferred keyword phrase, another panel opens that lists the web pages that rank at the top of Google for it. The panel also tells you how many backlinks that site has, the domain score (a measure of site quality), and the number of times the page has been shared on social media sites.
When you click on any website in the detail panel, another page opens that details the traffic, top pages, and links to its most popular pages.
All this information is available free and will help you decide which keyword terms you can rank for within a few months.
BiQ.
BiQ has a free trial which you need to sign up for so you can see everything it can do. Plans start at $19 per month.
When you enter your initial keyword, BiQ opens a list of related keywords that could be helpful. Each related keyword is classified in terms of user intention; as informational, transactional, or navigational, which will help you decide how profitable it could be. There is a traffic light color coding classification that helps you find keywords that will give you good traffic for minimal outlay.
There are Trending Searches and Popular Questions tabs that are useful to narrow your keyword search.
TwinWord.
You get one search free, but then need to upgrade to a paid plan (Start at $18 per month.)
When you enter your initial keyword TwinWord generates a list of several hundred related keywords and lists them along with cost-per-click, search frequency, and competition (organic and paid.) You can apply multiple filters to the list to narrow down the possible keywords you need to look at in more detail. Filters include User Intent, Localization, and Competition Score, and these make TwinWord particularly useful.
Keyword Tool.
You can use the free version of Keyword Tool indefinitely. If you decide you want more long-tail keywords, you can opt for the Pro version that starts at $69 per month without CPC or Google ads competition data, or $79 per month if you want CPC and competition data. The Pro version includes keyword analysis for your competitors’ sites.
If you are targeting non-English speaking customers, then Keyword Tool is especially useful because it generates keyword data in every language that Google supports. Even if only a small number of your buyers prefer to speak Spanish than English, you need to have a Spanish version of each web page and that page must be focused on the keywords Spanish speakers use.
Both versions of Keyword Tool draw their data from the Autocomplete function that every search engine has. This gives you long-tail keywords that people are entering into their search boxes every day.
KW Finder.
You get a 10-day free trial without providing credit card details. If you decide to stick with KWFinder a subscription starts at $30 per month.
When you enter your initial keyword you get a list of related keywords including many from Google Autocomplete. KWFinder will also suggest competitor sites to analyze.
The interface is simple to use and includes data on search volume, CPC, and search difficulty based on the site quality of the pages that Google shows on its first results page.
Summary.
Keyword research is time-consuming, just as digging out the ground and laying foundations for a house are time-consuming. However, if you skimp on the foundations of your website, you might as well turn your computer off and save electricity and hosting fees – Without in-depth keyword research, you are never going to even get a visitor, let alone make a dollar.
You could easily spend hundreds of dollars every month on expensive and well-known keyword research tools, the same tools everyone else uses.
Alternatively, you could try a different approach, one that will give you keywords your competition won’t have. Investing in the tools reviewed here will give you unique insights into the niche keywords you should be targeting, ones you can rank at the top of Google for, but without spending a fortune on paid ads.
