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Keyword research is one of the most important steps when preparing content for your blog.
Without proper keyword research, you might end up creating content that is not optimised for SEO.
But the biggest question is;
Which tools are reliable for keyword research – since there's hundreds of similar tools out there?
To address this question, l have tested many different tools and l have compiled my top 5 – based on various metrics.
These includes:
When it comes to the world of keyword research, there is no doubt that Ahrefs is the ‘king'.
This tool is probably the best tool right now – since it comes with a lot of advanced keyword research features.
These includes the ‘Keyword Explorer’ feature – which allows you to insert a ton of keywords at once – and the tool will give you relevant metrics related to those keywords i.e. search volumes, competition levels, etc.
This allows you to determine if a certain keyword is worth your time or not – since you'll be able to predict if you can rank for those keywords or not.
They also offer the ‘Keyword Ideas' feature – which gives you some content ideas based on what people are searching for.
For example, if you have a primary keyword like ‘Digital Marketing’, you might not know the search queries which people are searching for – related to that keyword.
But if you utilise this feature, you'll get some content ideas in the form of phrases which people are searching for.
You'll be surprised by the number of content ideas which you can get from a single keyword – since you can get dozens of content ideas that your can work on.
If we don't mention the ‘Site Explorer’ feature, then the article will be incomplete.
Ahrefs allows you to ‘steal' your competitor's keywords which are performing well for their sites.
All you need to do is to paste your competitors’ urls, relax, and watch the magic happen.
Ahrefs will give you metrics related to top performing pages, best keywords, as well as traffic volumes.
This will save you a ton of time and energy in trying to figure out content ideas – since you'll be able to replicate what's already working for your competitors.
Now let me mention this:
Ahrefs is more expensive than most tools.
However, its high price is justified by the quality of features which comes with this tool.
But if you're on a limited budget, you might need to utilise other tools like Long Tail Pro, Uber Suggest, or even Google Keyword Planner.
2. SEMRush
2. SEMRush
Next to Ahrefs – we have SEMRush
This tool is also famous among bloggers – since it offers some of the best keyword features in the industry.
For example, the ‘Keyword Magic Tool’ – which allows you to get content ideas related to a certain keyword.
All you have to do is to type-in your primary keyword – and the tool will pull data based on what people are searching for.
It also gives you metrics related to search volumes & competition levels – hence allowing you to go for keywords which are good for your site.
They also have the ‘Keyword Overview’ feature – which gives you phrase matches, related keywords, etc.
For example, if you type in ‘Best VPNs', the tool will give you related phrases like ‘Best VPNs For Android', ‘Best VPNs For Netflix', ‘Best VPNs In 2021’, etc.
Using this data, you can be able to create separate articles for your blog – hence generating more traffic to your site.
Apart from that, SEMRush also offers ‘Site Audit' tools – which helps to assess the performance of your site.
This allows you to take corrective measures when there's some problems on your website.
They also offer the ‘SEO Writing Assistant' – which helps in crafting SEO rich articles.
Using this feature, you can easily optimise your content for SEO (through adding the right keywords) – hence allowing your content to rank better.
If you're on a limited budget, then Long Tail Pro might be the right option for you.
This tool is probably one of the most budget friendly tools out there – since its price is on the lower end of the spectrum.
Long Tail Pro allows you to add your website url – and the tool will analyse some metrics related to Domain Rating, Backlink Profile, etc.
Using this data, the tool is able to pull relevant keywords which your site can rank for.
For example, if you type-in a keyword like affiliate marketing, the tool will only give you content ideas which are ideal for your site i.e. based on competition levels.
This helps to direct your efforts on keywords which your site can rank for rather than spending time trying to write dozens of articles – hoping that some will magically rank.
But what l like the most about this tool is their video tutorials.
Long Tail Pro offers some free video tutorials – which educate its users on how to do proper keyword research.
This helps to reduce the learning curve for complete beginners – since keyword research can be very complex if you're just starting out.
This tool was created by the famous SEO guy – Neil Patel.
After building some trust and authority in the industry, Neil Patel decided to launch a keyword research tool – in order to help his audience with keyword research.
I personally use this tool for my blog – since it is one of the cheapest options right now.
Uber Suggest offers a generous free plan – which allows you to make up to 3 searches per day.
Frankly speaking, this is more than enough for most bloggers – since most people only write 1 or 2 articles per week.
Thus, Uber Suggest can be a great option if you don't want to invest some money in a keyword tool.
Just like most tools, Uber Suggest comes with the ‘Keyword Overview' feature – which allows you to see the average monthly searches of your target keyword, as well as the competition levels of that keyword.
Uber Suggest also shows ‘Related Searches’ – which will further give you some content ideas that you can write on your blog.
It also comes with the ‘Competitor Analysis’ feature – which allows you to see what's working for your competitors – thus, you can easily replicate their strategies for your own site as well.
The truth is, we should not worry too much about keyword research since our competitors already did the job for us.
Last on our list is Google Keyword Planner.
This is probably one of the most underutilised tools – since most people don't understand the power of this tool.
In order to use this tool, you need to signup for Google Ads Account.
You don't necessarily have to launch an ad campaign, but you just need to create an account in order to access this tool.
Once logged in, you can easily get started with this tool by simply typing your target keywords.
The tool will pull content ideas related to that keyword, and it will give you data related to search volumes and competition levels.
And we know that this data is more reliable since the tool pulls data from Google’s database.
You can easily come up with dozens of content ideas – since this tool provides content ideas related to your target keyword.
However, the only limitation of this tool is that it does not show detailed information related to competition levels.
It only shows competition in terms of High, Medium, Low – instead of actual figures.
This can be limiting for some people – since the definition of ‘low' varies from one person to the other i.e. for some people, 30 is low, whilst for others, this figure is huge.
Other than that, Google Keyword Planner is a great tool to use if you're just bootstrapping – since this tool is 100% free
Wrapping Up
Wrapping Up
So this completes our top 5 keyword research tools.
But it is important to mention that the usefulness of these tool depends on what you want to accomplish in your keyword research campaign.
Also, the question of which one to use also depends on your budget – since each of them comes at a different price.
If you're on a shoestring budget, then start with free tools like Google Keyword Planner or Uber Suggest.
But if you have some money to spend, then Ahrefs might be the best option – since it comes with more advanced features.
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