10 free keyword research tools

Keyword research is essential for effective SEO. However, not wanting to invest a large budget in this task is understandable.

In this article, the professionals at the Montreal-based SEO agency My Little Big Web introduce you to some free keyword research tools.

After reading this article, you can easily find the most relevant keywords for your industry, discover interesting long tail keywords, their search volume, and learn more about your competitors’ strategy. All these analyses are essential if you want to improve your positioning on search engines!

Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free keyword planning tool from the Google Ads advertising platform.

Whether you are creating your website or producing your content, the Google Keyword Planner keyword research tool helps you optimize your website’s SEO by extracting information directly from Google.

Say you own a dental practice in Montreal, simply enter a sample query like “Montreal dentist” and Google Keyword Planner will suggest relevant keyword ideas.

This free tool also lets you analyze other data, including:

• The average number of searches for a keyword,
• The degree of competitiveness of an ad for a keyword,
• The lowest and highest amounts that advertisers paid for the top-of-page bid of a keyword, etc.

Google Trends

Google Trends is a free tool in the Google suite that lets you view the evolution of search trends for a query.

You can filter the results by specifying a country and a time period to analyze. This tool also lets you compare two queries with each other.

Simply enter a keyword in the “search term” section and you will have access to a variety of information such as:

• The evolution of interest in this search,
• The regions in which the keyword was most searched for the defined period,
• Associated topics, i.e. when a user who has searched for your keyword searched for other topics,
• Associated queries, i.e. when a user who has searched for your keyword also searched for the following queries.

Google Search Console

Google Search Console is another free tool in the Google suite that lets you analyze the keywords you are already positioned on. As such, this is a tool that should not be overlooked.

Go to the Google Search Console and then to the “performance” section of the menu on the left.

This free tool allows you to analyze the number of clicks and impressions that a keyword has generated so that you can determine which keywords are worth your effort.

In addition, you will be able to analyze the following data:

• The total number of clicks, which is the number of times users have clicked on a link to your website,
• The total number of impressions, i.e., the number of times users have seen a link on Google to your website,
• The average click rate,
• The average position of your site on search engines.

Keyword In

The free Keyword In tool is perfect for generating long tail keywords, i.e. a precise sequence of at least three words.

Simply fill in your keywords and terms that you think are important and Keyword In will create a mix of these words to provide you with a list of relevant long tail keywords.

Here is the example presented on the Keyword In website.

Once you have filled in the different columns with your choices, press the “generate” button at the top right of the page.

Soovle

The free Soovle keyword research tool suggests autocomplete queries from various search engines, not just Google, to increase your search volume.

You can also do this in the Google search bar, but the advantage of Soovle is that it includes other sources such as Yahoo, Bing, YouTube or Amazon.

This tool can provide you with interesting suggestions for content creation. Remember that search engines take into account your keyword during analysis, as well as the vocabulary related to the query.

Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is the free keyword research tool from SEO specialist Neil Patel.

This tool gives you access to the following information:

• An SEO report that lets you discover the web pages where your competitors are ranked for certain keywords,
• Keyword suggestions, long tail queries,
• as well as the volume, competition and trends of these queries,
• Article topic ideas related to these keywords.

AdWord & SE Keyword Permutation Generator

AdWord & SE Keyword Permutation Generator is an excellent free tool for finding relevant keywords that align with your marketing strategy.

Simply enter different keywords in the first three columns and click on “generate permutations”. Note that the more keywords you add, the more suggestions you will have.

While some of the suggested requests do not really make sense, it can already help guide you towards new ideas.

AnswerThePublic

AnswerThePublic is a very interesting free tool that stands out from the other tools. This one shows you the search intent of Internet users for a given keyword.

If you are wondering what search intent in SEO is, it is simply the answer that a user expects to find when entering a certain query on Google.

These suggestions will be listed according to the type of user search: who, what, why, where, how, when, etc.

Our SEO experts are unanimous in their opinion that this tool is very useful, especially for choosing your blog post topics. If you write articles that answer questions from users, you will generate traffic to your website.

Wordtracker Scout

Competitive intelligence is very important for increasing your online visibility. The free Chrome extension, Wordtracker Scout, allows you to analyze your competitors’ web pages.

After installing the extension, simply visit a page, such as an article from your competitor’s blog, for example, and click on the “W”.

You will then see the keywords of the page being analyzed and their performance.

Obviously, knowing your competitors’ keywords won’t be enough to position you at the top of search results. However, it is always a good idea to gather all the possible information you can to adapt your strategy to your competitors and trends.

IMforSMB Bulk Keyword Generator

As its name suggests, IMforMSB Bulk Keyword Generator is a free keyword generator.

This tool is particularly interesting if you want to optimize your local SEO since it mainly suggests local keywords.

First, you have to choose your type of service:

Then enter the name of the city where you want to operate and click on “generate keywords”.

The disadvantages of this tool are that it is only available in English and the number of services offered is quite limited. However, you can generate results in English, get inspired by them and translate them into the language of your choice.

Conclusion

Keyword research is one of the pillars of good search engine positioning. However, this research can take a long time, and time is money for any entrepreneur.

In addition, when you perform your own keyword research, you might miss relevant keywords or focus your efforts on the wrong keywords.

If you need help choosing the right keywords, don’t hesitate to contact us and our SEO experts will be happy to help you!

Eugénie Delhaye

Cofondatrice et Spécialiste Marketing Internet et Référencement Naturel (SEO) Ma maîtrise des techniques de référencement, combinée à une analyse minutieuse des tendances du marché, me permet de créer des stratégies SEO sur mesure, efficaces et durables.