Those who have been engaged in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for any given amount of time will tell you that Keyword Research is one of the most important SEO tasks that bloggers and website owners should be seized with. In fact, one can be as bold as to say that Keyword Research is where Search Engines Optimization begins. Without it, nothing else really matters in terms of getting a website ranked favorably by Search Engines. But, what, really, is Keyword Research and what are some of the best keyword research tools that you can use during the current year. Before delving deeper into this topic, here are some of the best Keyword Research Tools that can be found out there;
| Full Review | Starting Price/M | |
|---|---|---|
| Long Tail Pro | Read | $25 |
| SearchMetrics | Read | $69 |
| KWFinder | Read | $10.75 |
What is Keyword Research?
In SEO, Keyword Research is the process of determining the terms and phrases that are typed into Search Engines by people who are looking for a particular product or service.
A not so brief explanation
Whenever people look up a product, service or information on the internet, they use certain words that enable them to find whatever it is that they are looking for. Search Engines, on their part, have the all important task of indexing all the data that makes up the World Wide Web.They use the hyperlinks that exist between web pages as highways, on which to travel while cataloguing everything that’s on the internet.
An Example
If, as an example, you have a company that provides 24 hour plumbing services in the city of Dakar, in Senegal, you will need, as part of creating a website for your company, or as part of ongoing content creation activities, to carry out keyword research that will tell you exactly what the people who are looking for your services type into Search Engines.
Without this research, your efforts to attract customers by having your company become more visible online could very well be misdirected and futile. The good news is that many of the keywords that you would need to include in your content in order to rank high on Search Engines are rather intuitive. As an example, the owner of the plumbing business will probably need to include the term “24 hour plumbing service Dakar,” in his or her website’s content. This brings us to the next point;
Long Tail Keywords
Long tail keywords are the longer phrases that are typed into Search Engines by people who are looking for specific information about a specific product or service. They are very important because people who use them are not just looking for information out of curiosity, but genuinely need to have something done. They therefore represent a great opportunity for you to generate fruitful leads.
A Review of the Best Keyword Research Tools
Having defined and explained Keyword Research, it is now time for us to identify the best keyword research tools that can be found out there;
Long Tail Pro
Remember what we have just been saying about long tail keywords? Long Tail Pro, without doubt, is one of the most useful Keyword Research tools that can be found out there in this regard. This amazing tool gives you the ability to look for and find the best keywords for your content marketing effort;
Features
Long Tail Pro comes with a number of unique features, many of which you will not be able to find on any other Keyword Research tool;
- Keyword competitiveness scoring
- Calculate keyword profitability
- Sort niches and track favorites
- Custom difficulty targets
- View metrics
- Export results
- AdWords Data: CPC, local/global monthly searches
Searchmetrics’ Keyword Research Tool
Network Bees recommends Searchmetrics Essentials, which comes with the best keyword research tool that you will be able to find anywhere out there. Searchmetrics Essentials contains serious SEO software for those who are looking for a well rounded Search Engine Optimization experience. Rather than getting SEO tools from ten different places, why not just sign up for Searchmetrics Essentials and get the following in one place;
- A keyword research tool
- Website analysis and optimization
- SEO and PPC performance and rankings
- Competitor Research and analysis
- Social Links
- Backlinks analysis
- Much more
What we like most, at Network Bees, is that with Searchmetrics Essentials, no longer do you need to subscribe for each of the above essential SEO services with five or six different companies. All that you have to do is sign up for Essentials and you will get a great deal on a wide range of crucial SEO tools. Click on the banner above or on this link to get a great deal on Searchmetrics Essentials.
Google Keyword Planner
Cost: Free
Google Keyword Planner is, perhaps, the best known Keyword Research tool that you will be able to find out there. That is really not surprising, considering that Google is the master of search. Anything that the company produces in this regard is bound to be taken seriously by the majority of SEO experts. Keyword Planner is a great AdWords tool, that you can use when planning your Search Engine Optimization efforts.
Besides allowing you to carry out detailed Keyword Research, Keyword Planner also allows you to bring several keyword lists together to create a new one, and to get a glimpse into the potential performance of a particular list of keywords. The tool also gives you historical keyword statistics.
The best thing about Keyword Planner is that it is free and can be used even by beginners who are looking to get their SEO efforts off the ground. You can either use it when launching new campaigns, or when you are looking to refresh existing ones with new keywords.
Keyword Planner was designed as an aid to people who are looking to launch AdWords campaigns. However, you can still use it for your own Keyword Research, as part of your Search Engine Optimization efforts.
SERPs- Keyword Research Database
Cost: Free
The good thing about keyword planning is that most of the best keyword research tools that are out there are offered free of charge. The Keyword Research Database from SERPs is one such tool. It comes with a number of features that are unique and useful. The search results that you get when using this tool give offer you a glimpse into the monthly search volume and the estimated CPC. Another parameter that is listed is the estimated Value of each keyword. This figure represents the search volume multiplied by the CPC.
Moz Pro -Keyword Explorer
Cost: From $50/ Month
Another of the great keyword research tools that are out there is the Keyword Explorer from Moz Pro. It costs from $50 a month, although you can try it out for free for one full month. This tool does cover a wide range of metrics that are not available in free Keyword Research Tools.
The Keyword Explorer not only gives you the monthly search volumes for any given keyword, but it also estimates how difficult it will be for you to overtake the pages that are already ranked at number one on SERPs for your chosen keyword.
You are also presented with an “Opportunity,” estimation, that is, an estimate of the click through rate for your keyword on organic search results. There is also an estimate of each keyword’s potential, that is, its potential ability to achieve your desired results based on your chosen settings.
KWFinder
Cost: Beginning at $12 per month (Free to try)
KWFinder is another paid keyword research tool that you can use to launch you Search Engine Optimization campaign. One of the main selling points for this tool is that it can be used to find long tail keywords, which is great, considering that they have a greater chance of turning into leads. After trying out the KWFinder tool, you will see why it is offered on a monthly subscription basis when there are so many free Keyword Research tools out there.
The tool returns data on a wide variety of useful metrics, including on how your chosen keyword has been trending over the past 12 months, its search volume, its CPC, its PPC and, last but not least, the keyword’s SEO difficulty.
On top of that, you also get to see the Google SERP for your chosen keyword. These are, in effect, the pages that you are going to have to beat if you are going to rank at number one. KWFinder also gives you an estimation of how difficult it is going to be for you to beat these websites.
Bing Keyword Research Tool
The final in our list of the best keyword research tools that you can use during your SEO campaign is Bing Keyword Research. All that you need to do in order to use it is sign up for a Bing Webmaster Tools, which you can do with your Microsoft account, if you already have one. The tool provides you with up to six months of data from organic traffic. This includes keyword ideas that are organized by language, country or region, which allows you to fine tune your keyword ideas to the specific markets in which you hope to have an impact. It also keeps a history of up to 25 keywords, which allows you to quickly make reference to the topics on which you have carried out research.