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There’s one simple formula that is bulletproof when building an SEO strategy:
It’s the tried-and-test way millions of businesses, website owners and bloggers drive targeted and profitable traffic back to their website.
But it all hinges on one crucial element…
Keyword research.
You need to be able to find data-driven keywords to make smart choices which will improve your rankings and revenue. And how do you do that?
With keyword research tools.
They’re the not-so-secret weapon in the arsenal of the world’s best SEOs.
And today, I’m going to show you how you can use them to your advantage.
What Will I Learn?
Keyword research tool platforms help you find and analyse keywords for your SEO strategy by showing you metrics like:
This information removes the “hit-and-hope” element of keyword research.
Because it provides you with actionable data:
Basically where free tools aim to suggest keywords, paid keyword research tools aim to help you understand and implement them effectively.
By using some of the best keyword research tools available…
I’ve been able to increase my organic search traffic.
Often using keywords I’d never have found (or understood the value of) without them. I can’t stress the value of using keyword tools enough…
Especially if you’re serious about increasing your website’s traffic.
Let’s start by looking at the best keyword research tools available…
There are four keyword research tools I recommend.
They depend on where you are and your current SEO goals and budget but each one of them can help you to build a full spectrum keyword research strategy.
With all of these tools you will be able to increase your organic traffic by finding targeted, niche keywords that are unavailable with free keyword research tools.
Let’s take a look at the unique features of each of these keyword research tools.
And help you find the right fit for you.
SEMRush has been at the forefront of SEO tools for years…
The most recent version of their software packs an incredible punch.
Use their Keyword Magic tool to find loads of related terms in no time and then you can instantly find related keywords and identify any keyword gaps on your site too.
Their keyword research tool is a strong competitor for Ahrefs!
Their interface is arguably the simplest and easiest to use of any of the tools on this list.
Here are the best ways to use SEMRush to find the right keywords for your business-
SEMRush’s Keyword Magic tool really sets them apart.
It’s a unique tool which can slash the amount of time you spend searching for keywords, and increase the amount of informed data you have to work with.
Let’s say you were looking for related keywords for a travel website.
By entering one target keyword – like “travel guides”…
You can create a page with thousands of related keywords and their relevant metrics.
What I love about this feature is it prompts you to look at keywords from different angles.
Also you can consider prefixes and suffixes which can help you gain more traffic. Like these results for keywords ending in “pdf”:
These keywords are all easily exportable into CSV files and you can do it for up to one million keywords at a time. Not bad for one keyword and a couple of clicks, right?
SEMRush has a great function to help you find hidden long-tail keywords.
By entering just a few details you can find hundreds of data-driven keywords. Just enter your target keyword into their keyword overview tool…
You’ll be presented with a ton of data.
Most importantly you’ll be given a list of phrase match keywords and related keywords:
As you can see for this search…
It’s returned nearly 30,000 relevant keywords for my target keyword, “travel guides”. But the section we’re interested in is related keywords.
In the full report you can see live updated data-sheet of long-tail keywords and metrics:
In this example there are over 1,500 keywords which could be cherry-picked and used in a piece of content, or across an entire travel guide website.
Keyword gaps are the keywords which your competitors are ranking for, but you are not. Most of the time these are keywords you didn’t even know existed!
SEMRush has a tool called “Domain vs Domain” which can help you uncover these.
Let’s say I was doing keyword research for my SEO blog.
I’d simply enter my domain name and that of two of my major competitors:
SEMRush will then analyse all of the keywords on these three domains.
It finds what each of them does (and doesn’t) have in common. That leaves you with a Venn diagram like this:
The sections which overlap are keywords you have in common with these websites.
All of the sections which aren’t overlapping are keywords which don’t feature on your website, and could be used to drive traffic.
You can adjust this view to a table view to see the exact keywords these domains rank for.
Allowing you to dive into their metrics and data:
You may need to do some sifting with this method because there will be keywords like branded keywords, which just won’t fit your website.
But you will also find a lot of tried-and-tested keywords…
Which you can build content around and “steal” rankings with.
If you’ve decided SEMRush is the right tool for you, take a look at my much more detailed SEMRush review or my Semrushbot post.
I’ll show you tons of different ways you can use it to increase your search presence.
Ahrefs is a must-have tool for anyone serious about their SEO results.
They have built a comprehensive suite of SEO tools and have one of the best backlink checkers in the business!
Whether you’re a freelancer, agency or full-time website owner…
You should give Ahrefs some serious consideration.
Here’s a closer look at what the tool can do.
One of my favourite features of Ahrefs is their ability to turn a handful of keywords into thousands (or even hundreds of thousands) of new keyword suggestions.
They do this by taking your seed keywords – the focus keywords of your website…
And turning them into actionable suggestions for new keywords to use their site.
Simply enter your keywords into their keyword explorer tool:
Which will return a page of data and metrics relevant to those keywords.
In the sidebar you will see a keyword ideas menu:
You can select the type of keywords you want to see suggestions of.
I usually just select “all” which will return an insane amount of keyword results. In fact, the above search returned 69,737 keywords:
To filter through this data and find targeted keywords to work with, I recommend you use a keyword difficulty parameter of 30.
You can do this right here:
This will show you low-competition high-reward keywords to implement right away.
As you can see here, this has returned over 37,000 keywords with high search volume which would be super easy to rank for:
All you have to do now is come up with ideas for content to create.
OR how to work them into your existing content.
Ahrefs can give you a powerful insight into:
In essence, you can “steal” their keywords and use them to bring traffic to your website.
By entering a competitor’s domain name into their site explorer tool, you can get a complete overview of their website and metrics:
In the sidebar you can select the top pages section…
Which will show you all of their ranking pages and their focus keywords:
But, this isn’t where the research stops.
You can also see every single keyword the page is ranking for and how much traffic that drives to the page:
This can help you to find high-performing keywords which you can use to create content.
It’s normal for seemingly profitable keywords to have low search volumes.
So low, it often feels like it’s not even worth your time.
Take a look at the target keyword for this article, for example:
It’s nothing to write home about, right?
Well this is because when we look at a keyword in isolation, we rarely see its full potential.
It’s like judging one egg on its ability to make a four egg omelette!
These keywords usually make up part of other keywords. Namely long-tail keywords which when used together, can receive a high amount of traffic.
Ahrefs enables you to see the FULL potential for a keyword. How?
Simply enter the keyword into their keyword explorer tool and it will show you the real traffic stats for that keyword.
Including all of the related keywords which come with it:
All of a sudden, those 300 searches a month has morphed into nearly 4,000 website visits!
Before giving up on a keyword, it’s really useful to use this tool to understand the true power of a keyword and if it’s actually is worth your time and effort.
Feel like Ahrefs is the tool for you?
If so, I’ve got you covered.
My full Ahrefs review on how to use the tool effectively and unleash the power of all its features in your business.
Long Tail Pro focuses on helping you find low-competition, high-traffic long tail keywords.
They’re the only tool on this list which is only focused on keyword research…
This enables them to offer cool features the other tools can’t.
They perform research which finds profitable keywords, target competitiveness and keyword rich content ideas.
It also means the cost of the tool is much lower at around $55 cheaper than the second cheapest tool on this list.
Let’s take a closer look inside the tool to see what it can do…
One of my favourite Long Tail Pro features is how they highlight the competitiveness of keywords you should be aiming for.
It does this based on:
So, when I start researching for keywords relating to the topic “VPN”…
It tells me the exact keyword difficulty I should start with:
This means any keyword within this bracket, I should be able to rank for quickly and easily.
I just need a little link building and on-page optimization.
Being able to see this can shave hours off your research…
And weeks off your trial-and-error content creation.
Long-tail keywords are great for helping you structure content and come up with ideas.
Sticking with the above example, let’s say I wanted to create a post about VPNs (virtual private networks) but I didn’t know what to write about.
I’d simply enter the seed keyword (VPN), into their keyword research tool:
It will then retrieve a bunch of relevant keywords related to that seed topic.
Combining this with the last step, you can look for keywords which are relevant and within your keyword competitiveness parameters. Like these two here:
Using this information I know if I was to create a topic around this:
I could also run “best free VPN” through the tool to see what related keywords come up. This would help me to better structure my article or add LSI keywords.
All of these keywords could make up subsections of my article, for example:
This entire research process took me less than two minutes.
And I’ve got a viable content idea with well-trafficked keywords and planned subsections.
Not a bad weapon to have in your arsenal, eh?
Long Tail Pro enables you to do some real filtering to help find profitable keywords.
One of the ways I like to use it is by adding prefixes and suffixes to my searches like:
Which help to uncover keywords with high levels of commercial intent:
If you do any form of online selling – from affiliate marketing through to Ecommerce SEO…
These types of keyword will be really beneficial.
Long Tail Pro is a great keyword research tool for anyone looking to find profitable long tail keywords to drive traffic back to their site.
If you’d like to learn more about what you can do with this tool…
You can read my full Long Tail Pro review.
I might be biased but my free inteligent keyword research spreadsheet is the best keyword research tool.
Why?
Because it connects to the Ahrefs or SEMRush trials to help you do all of your keyword research in minutes rather than days.
I had it specially developed to spit out personalized keyword research strategies based on what is working right now in less than 5 minutes.
It does a bunch of things behind the scenes-
Read this entire guide and you’re still not sure which keyword research tool to go for?
Don’t worry; I’ve got something to help you decide. Below is a table with all of the major factors which make up these tools.
And how they stack up against each other.
| Feature | Ahrefs | SEMRush | Long Tail Pro | My Free Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cheapest Package | $99/Month | $99.95/Month | $25/Month | Free |
| Keyword Database Size | 7.4 Billion | 9.4 billion | – | 9.4 billion |
| Find Competitor Keywords? | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Find Keywords You Already Rank For? | Yes | Yes | Yes | No |
| Keyword Difficulty Score | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Advanced Traffic Metrics | Yes | No | No | No |
| Clickstream Data | Yes | Yes | No | No |
| Topic Research | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Filter By Featured Snippet | Yes | No | No | >Yes |
| Search Result History | Yes | No | No | No |
| Keyword Rank Tracking Integrations | Lots | Lots | None | None |
| Countries Supported | 100+ | 100+ | 100+ | 100+ |
| Organisation/Keyword Lists | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Trial Available? | Yes. $7 for 7 days. | Yes. Freemium Model. | Yes. 7 Days Free. | Free! |
But if you just want to build a solid keyword strategy…
…then save yourself the headache and just download my free inteligent spreadsheet.
I hope by now you have a clearer idea of:
If you’re still not sure, or you have any questions…
I’d love to help you find the right fit for you.
Just leave a comment on this post and I’ll get back to you as soon as possible.
But you really should just use my spreadsheet to plan out your keyword strategy with my keyword research template.
And, remember, I have a list of free SEO tools that you can check out too!
