If you own a website or run an online business, you must be familiar with the importance of SEO keyword research. From publishing content to selling products or services to drive traffic, search engine optimization is the key to get eyes on your site. You must also be aware of the importance of Keyword match types for are helpful to boost your PPC strategy more effectively in Google and bing adwords.
And keyword research plays a crucial role in this. There is no limit to SEO keyword research software, there are hundreds of options available online, each claiming to be the best than others. These platforms range from beginner-focused to highly advanced, free to pro plans, and basic to super valuable.
If used right, an efficient SEO keyword research software can simplify your SEO workflow. You can find relevant keywords, get required data to rank them, analyze competitors, and whatnot. Hence, it is important to choose the right keyword explorer and planner platform.
After in-depth evaluation and review, we have listed 5 such tools for you:
SEMrush
SEMrush is definitely one of the most expensive tools available in the market, but if you want an advanced solution, then there is no better option. It is a complete SEO tool that helps you conduct detailed keyword research and improve SEO ranking. You can also check out Best SEO Software for Small Businesses helpful to lay strong business foundation, track progress, achieve great digital marketing results. The platform shares required keyword data to make it easier for you to gather details, such as SERP features, site links, granular analysis, etc. You simply need to enter the keyword and have the complete picture in front of you, including monthly search volume, trends, and more. SEMrush is referred to as the gold standard when it comes to SEO keyword research software with more than 40 tools and reports to help you with social media management, content marketing, listing management, PR, local SEO, marketing analysis, and more.
SEMrush also offers content-driven keyword research and competitive analysis, which set it apart from others. When you look for a particular keyword in SEMrush, it also shows a list of other similar keywords that you can use along with organic search results to find where your competitors stand for those keywords. It also has a Keyword Gap feature that lets you check your competitors’ websites in the Domain Overview to see their keyword data, organic search terms, and other metrics. With Organic Research Tab, you can see relevant keywords, competitors’ search engine ranking positions, traffic value, and more.
There is a bonus of SEO Content Template to help you optimize content. It grades your content according to originality, readability, tone, and SEO so that you can strike the right balance in your article. It also checks SEO recommendations, such as adding relevant links & images and using related keywords as you go.
Pricing- The paid plans start at $119.95/month for 100 searches per day, 3000 results per day, and 250 keyword metrics updates per month
Ahrefs
Ahrefs Keyword Explorer started as a backlink analysis tool. It has the largest backlink index globally and is the best platform for link building. For any link, you can find out if it’s a do-follow or no-follow link, when it went live, its anchor text, and more. Talking about SEO keyword research software, Ahrefs is finally catching up with SEMrush, offering similar features. You can check the site’s ranking history for different keywords, analyze and monitor outbound links, automate internal linking, see the links that bring the most traffic and find better link opportunities & backlink prospects.
Also Read: Top 10 SEO ranking checker Tools for tracking your website
By typing a specific keyword in the search box of Ahrefs, you can come up with other relevant keywords to target. It provides you with a complete list of keyword suggestions that you can use on your website and in your content. It also lets you check keywords that your competitors are ranking for so you can target those keywords as well while creating new content on the same subjects. One distinguishing feature of Ahrefs is its unique click metrics. For a particular keyword, you can see the number of search results, average number of clicks per search, how often people search one keyword in a month and click distribution between organic and paid results. Moreover, its competitive intelligence functionality lets you see new keywords and their movements in search queries.
Pricing- There is no free version. Paid plans start at $99/month with a seven-dollar seven-day trial.
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic is also a SEO keyword research software but works a bit differently from others. It aggregates Google autocomplete suggestions, and you can find long-tail keywords here related to any topic. The tool does this by creating a word cloud that groups together related keywords. It presents those keywords in a visually appealing format, but you can also see them as a list or download a .CSV file. If you are just starting out your career in SEO and keyword research, then this is the best tool for you to start from the basic. You don’t need an account to use it, simply type the keyword or phrase, and it will show you all the related questions that people are asking around that word. Unlike other keyword research tools, it doesn’t show keyword volume or click data.
What makes AnswerThePublic an excellent tool is its assistance with content ideation. Its word clouds help you find more specific questions and search phrases that the target audience is looking for, which you might have missed otherwise. You can use its suggestions to create more relevant content. The keyword results shown here are based on Bing and Google auto-suggest features, using data from 191 countries. Click on any of the keywords for Google search and it will direct you to a new tab. It will show the content that are ranking for those specific keywords and if there is a featured snippet on it.
Also Read: Best Conversion Rate Optimization Tools for SEO Specialists
Pricing- Its free plan is great for bloggers but it offers a limited amount of searches based on the traffic its domain receives. So, for unlimited searches and regular use, opt for the paid plans that start at $79/month.
Serpstat
Serpstat is another excellent SEO keyword research software for link building, content, and more. This SEO software suite is one of the best options for premium and budget-friendly platform and allows you to view the top Google search results for your target keywords. Although it doesn’t specialize in keyword research, it has a decent tool for the same purpose. Its main focus is competitive analysis so you can compare your website to competitors and get a detailed report on the top sites for specific keywords. You can see the number of keywords a site is targeting with their organic content and paid ads, the number of common keywords with your site, and examples of ads for those keywords. It gives you separate reports for paid and organic searches.
Serpstat’s keywords search results include website that appears in the featured snippet at the top. Also, when you choose to get reports on your competitors for the same keywords, you get the indication of their online visibility. Serpstat has an edge over others when it comes to competitive analysis. Therefore, one of its best features is competitors graph that lets you visualize all the sites that are competing for given keywords and related phrases.
Pricing- It is free for 10 requests per day and the paid plan starts at $55/month.
Moz
Moz is already a leading name for SEO and its online platform offers various tools that are specifically designed for keyword research. It is the pioneer of Domain Authority, Whiteboard Fridays and also has a free Chrome extension to help you know Page and Domain Authority of any page. MOZ Keyword Explorer gives you basic keyword data that includes site audits, rank tracking, and page optimization reports. Although it doesn’t show as many point as other fully-featured tools, we think it’s a benefit. It offers less overwhelming results and user experience for beginners or those who are not experienced in SEO. Moreover, it gives a Priority Score, one of its most amazon feature, so you can identify if a keyword is worth targeting or not. It calculates the score automatically based on the keyword’s data and the score you give based on the relevancy of the keyword to your business. It is called ‘My Score’ which you assign based on youe expertise and knowledge of your industry.
Also Read: Best Email Marketing Tools To Look Out in 2022
Moz has a keyword planner tool that allows you to search any keywords and check its difficulty level, monthly volume, and organic clickthrough rate (CTR). You can scroll down to go through the complete analysis of the current ranking results and suggestions for similar keywords. Another factor that makes Moz unique is that it’s SMART, which means that it provides you with outside-the-box suggestions that you might not find anywhere else. However, Moz lacks a ew functionalities that are offered by Ahrefs and SEMrush, such as SERP position history or number of ranking results a keyword ranks for. Also, it hasn’t been updated much over the past few years, making it hard to keep up with other tools. Having said that, it is a great platform for users who want more intuitive but less overwhelming tool.
Pricing- Free for up to 10 queries/month. For more than that, Pro plans start at $99/month that allows 150 keyword queries/month.
Conclusion
SEO Keyword research software are important to see how a website is performing for specific set of keywords and show the average CTR (click-through-rate). You can get detailed analysis report to improve your keyword rankings and boost online visibility. We are sure that the given list of the best keyword research tools will help you find the best platform for your business. Consider all the pros and cons and them make a wise decision to get the best results.