Every webmaster wants their site to rank high on search engines. To say that the competition is fierce is an understatement. It’s a bloodbath! That being said, even if you’re a new website owner, you should never put aside your keyword performance. We can help you kick off your web journey by giving you the best free keyword tools on the web. The sooner you start – the better!
What are Keywords?
The definition could be seen from two different perspectives.
For webmasters, keywords are ideas or topics that best represent your content. For instance, if you’re the owner of an online clothing store, you’ll most likely use words related to it like “skirt”, “jeans”, “trendy jacket”, “cheap gown”, and so on.
For users, keywords are ideas or topics that they type in the search bar, to find the best websites with relevant information.
Why are Keywords Important?
Considering the definition, it’s obvious that keywords act as a link between various content on the web and what people are looking for. Your main goal as a webmaster is to rank as high as possible on search engines so that more people visit your site.
More importantly, your keywords should be targeted and SEO optimized. Sticking to the clothing store example, you don’t want people looking for a gym membership to visit your page, do you? Random keywords may increase the traffic, but they won’t turn into loyal visitors.
That being said, keyword tools are as important as the keyword itself.
8 Top Free Keyword Tools
Picking the best free keyword tool shouldn’t be bothersome, especially because we’ve got you covered on this! Here are our top picks:
1. Google Search Console
The main feature of Google Search Console is reporting your own website performance in Google search results. However, you can surely use it as a powerful and free keyword tool for research.
The first thing you need to do is go to the Google Search Console page and verify your site. No need to worry, it’s a simple process.
Once verified, you can have access to your site’s performance report. Go to your Search Console account, then head to Search Traffic -> Search Analytics -> Queries. This is what you’ll see:
Apart from showing the keyword metrics, Google Search Console will also notify you through email whenever Google identifies issues on your files. Once you’ve fixed them, it will tell you which URLs are affected.
2. Google Trends
You can rely on Google for almost everything, including keyword research. Just type in a word and let Google gather the insights for you. For example, here are the results for the word “chocolate”.
As you can see, you can also customize results by editing the options. Time range option in this keyword tool is useful if you want to measure seasonal trends. Set the time range for the past 5 years, then you’ll see the increase of search in February each year, mostly due to Valentine’s day.
Another useful feature is Related queries, which lists the frequently searched keywords related to what’s written in the first place.
There are several other options like Compare, Region, and Related Topics. Don’t be afraid to get creative and explore more.
3. AdWord & SEO Keyword Permutation Generator
In Math, permutation is defined as a number of ways a particular set can be arranged. This keyword tool works using the same principle.
Let’s just demonstrate this. You have a bunch of keywords but you’re not sure how to put them all together. You can group, first based on the context and input them to the tool.
The result shows all the possible combinations of each keyword. As they don’t always make sense, make sure to double-check or edit the result yourself.
Although it is simple, this tool is particularly useful for generating long tail keywords.
4. Answer the Public
The name is cool, the user interface is visually pleasing, but what about the functionality of this keyword tool?
Well, when it comes to generating keyword recommendations, this free keyword tool is quite thorough – combining various aspects such as questions, comparisons, and prepositions. Let the example speaks for itself. In this case, we use the word “fried chicken”.
Note: you can also change the view from lists of data to an image (visualization)
For questions, the tool presents the recommendations in the interrogative context. Some of the results are:
“is fried chicken good for you”
“which fried chicken chain is the best”
“when to season fried chicken”
For prepositions, the tool combines the seed keyword with prepositions using a particular format – [seed] [comparison] [relatted words]. Some of the results are:
“fried chicken without flour”
“fried chicken for diet”
“fried chicken near union square”
There are three more categories, namely comparisons (fired chicken vs. something else), alphabetical (Google Autocomplete Suggestions), and related (similar topics from the seed keyword).
See? It’s a lot. This tool helps you grasp the idea of how one seed keyword could be incorporated into various topics.
5. Google Correlate
Even though this keyword tool seems like “another Google product”, the functionality is different. The main function of this keyword tool is to see which keywords get searched together. Take a look at the example below:
People who search for “ birthday present” also search for related phrases like “birthday gift ideas”, “anniversary ideas”, and “senior pictures”.
Sometimes the connection seems a bit too far. The seed keyword has to correlate with other phrases one way or another.
The trick is to pick closely related keywords. If you’re making a series of blog posts about birthdays, for example, you can use Google Correlate to gather the information regarding the related topics. Overall, this keyword tool is a must for every webmaster.
6. Keywords Everywhere
Unlike the previous five, this free keyword tool comes in the form of a browser extension. You just need to download it, set up the API key, and you’re set to unlock its amazing features.
Nope, that’s not an exaggeration. Despite being completely free, it shows the same results provided by the premium Google Keyword Planner – showing search volume, CPC, and competition for queries.
It is also far from complicated. You don’t even need to search the keyword to see the result. Just type in the keyword on Google search bar and you’ll see the data in the Google Autocomplete section.
Wait, did we say Google search bar? The fact is, it integrates well with various search engines such as Bing, Ubersuggest, Amazon, and even YouTube.
If you think the tool makes your interface look too cluttered, you can always activate/deactivate it whenever needed. You can also download the results as CSV or PDF files.
7. Keyword Shitter
The name makes it seem like a joke, but it really is not. Quite the opposite, this free keyword tool is pretty generous in giving you tons of recommendations.
When we say tons, we’re not kidding. Here’s how it looks if you enter a keyword “web hosting”:
Notice the number at the top and Stop job button at the bottom? That means that it will keep on searching for keywords until you stop the job. The result could be thousands or even more.
After you stop the process, you can use the filter options. For example, we would like to apply the term “buy” in the filter. If you choose Positive filter, results will only show keywords containing that term. On the contrary, keywords containing the term “buy” will be excluded from the results if you choose the Negative filter.
8. Wordtracker Scout
We’ve been talking about our keywords up to this point. But, we want to know those of our competitors too, don’t we? The answer should be yes and the free keyword tool built for that purpose is Wordtracker Scout.
First thing first, install this keywords tool extension to your Chrome browser – Yes, only limited to Chrome. Such a bummer, but the feature is great nonetheless. Then go to any website and hit the extension button. With that simple action, you’ll get valuable data like shown below:
Head to the keywords tab to find out more insights like searches, competition, and opportunities.
Conclusion
Keywords are the link between your site and internet users. Therefore, it is important for any webmaster of any stage to optimize their keywords. No need to worry if you still don’t have the means to afford the premium service. Our selection of free keyword tools might just work for you.
Here’s the highlight of each tool:
- Google Search Console: Giving you the report of your keywords performance. It can also notify you whenever an issue arises.
- Google Trends: An overview of how keywords are searched over time. Other filter options include region, related queries, related topics, and comparison.
- AdWord & SEO Keyword Permutation Generator: This keyword tool helps you create long tail keywords. This is especially useful if you have quite a lot of keywords to build.
- Answer the Public: Generating keyword recommendations based on questions, prepositions, comparison, alphabetical, and related topics.
- Google Correlate: Correlating a keyword with other phrases which are frequently searched together.
- Keywords Everywhere: A browser extension that enables you to see keyword analysis right from the Google Autocomplete Section. It integrates well with various browsers.
- Keyword Shitter: Keywords miner. You could get thousands of results with a single click on this keyword tool.
- Wordtracker Scout: A Chrome keyword tool extension that enables you to mine your competitors’ keyword data.
Considering that everything is free, none of them offers all-in-one functionality. Get to know each keyword tool, get creative, and combine them accordingly for the better result.
