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6 Free Keyword Research Tools: A Side-by-Side Comparison

September 8, 2021 DJ Team

6 Free Keyword Research Tools: A Side-by-Side Comparison

When you’re starting out with a small or nonexistent SEO budget, you have to get creative. Free SEO keyword research is a tactic that digital media pros can use to guide their blogs, website content, and paid campaigns toward the right target.

Keyword ideation is something that you can start yourself with industry and customer research, talking to your sales team, and even looking in Google Analytics to see how visitors found your site through organic search. Dig into your buyer personas to think through what questions you would ask if researching your product or service.

Once you have your basic topics and keyword ideas, you’ll need a free keyword tool to analyze how popular and how competitive those terms are, as well as a free keyword generator to suggest related keywords you might have missed.

Can I Do Keyword Research for Free?

You might wonder, are there any other free keyword tools? Yes, there are many free options or free versions of keyword research tools. Most of them offer basic keyword analytics data or a limited quantity of keyword searches as a preview of a paid software program.

Google keyword research data is embedded in its products such as Google Ads Keyword Planner, Google Search Console, and Google Trends. Those first two features require a more advanced setup, while the third needs no setup but offer very basic historic data.

What Is the Best Free Keyword Research Tool?

When evaluating keyword research tools, you should look for the following basic features: monthly search volume, difficulty/competition rating, keyword suggestions, and the ability to create and save lists.

Keyword Research Tools Must Have Features

Some free keyword research tools give very basic keyword ideation and metrics, while others offer a full suite of analytics and list-building for just a limited number of keywords. We’ve reviewed a few of the most popular free keyword research tools below.

DemandJump

When doing SEO research, you need a tool that can take you from research to results. DemandJump automates the keyword research process. With one-click SEO content briefs for new content, recommendations for updating current content, and linking content to revenue generated with marketing attribution you are sure to see results.

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Google Ads Keyword Planner

Google Ads Keyword Planner is Google’s own keyword research planner. To use it, you must create a Google Ads account with billing information and then pause your campaigns to continue for free. Keyword Planner offers a basic keyword search function with the ability to create and save lists. However, some functions like competitor domain analysis are missing, while other functions like precise search volumes are reserved for accounts running paid campaigns.

Moz Keyword Explorer Free Version

Moz Keyword Explorer’s cloud account offers several proprietary scores for keywords including a difficulty score and SERP analysis. However, with only ten free search queries per week, it will be difficult to launch a thorough campaign from its free version.

Keyword Surfer

Keyword Surfer is a Google Chrome extension that populates search volume traffic, average cost-per-click, and keyword suggestions in your Google search frame. While it delivers on a simple concept, the added data and text make Google search results difficult to read.

Ubersuggest Free Version

Ubersuggest by Neil Patel offers a clean interface, relevant metrics, and list creation. However, the search cap of three keywords per day makes for slow research.

People Also Ask

People Also Ask by Topic is a free tool that provides questions around topics in Google. While this tool is good for ideation, it doesn’t offer metrics or list-building and the keywords are limited to—you’ve guessed it—questions.

Comparison of six free keyword research tools

Whether you’re a webmaster, a digital marketer, or a content writer, keyword research will give you a blueprint to create more effective content.

Free Keyword Research With DemandJump

When doing SEO research, you need a tool that can take you from research to results. DemandJump automates the keyword research process.

DemandJump automates the keyword research process

With one-click SEO content briefs for new content, recommendations for updating current content, and linking content to revenue generated with marketing attribution you are sure to see results.

Work smarter with automation tools designed to make content marketers look like rockstars.

Write content that ranks fast, and save time doing it - get started today!

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