A strong SEO strategy always starts with understanding the keywords your audience is searching for. Keyword research tools make this process easier by helping you uncover the terms, questions, and phrases people use when they’re looking for products, services, or information like yours.
Instead of guessing what your audience might type into Google, these tools show you real search data, trends, and variations you may not have considered. And because search queries come in endless forms, keyword tools help you focus on the ones that truly matter so you can target topics with the best chance of ranking.
The good news? You don’t need a huge budget to get started. Many powerful keyword research tools offer free features or completely free plans, making it possible for anyone to build an effective SEO strategy.
In this guide, we’ll walk through the best Keyword Research Tools for SEO, including both free and paid options, and how you can use them to find high-impact keywords that drive traffic and rankings.
Google Keyword Planner
A free method to discover and retrieve keywords is to use Google’s keyword planner tool. Found under Google Ads’ platform, you can sign up for free and use the tool to find data such as:
- Suggested keywords
- Average monthly search volume
Additionally, it provides the average CPC prices of these keywords on Google Ads as well as the competition amongst advertisers. While these are not directly applicable to SEO keywords, they serve as indicative proxy metrics as to the degree of difficulty.
To use Google’s keyword planner tool, you will need to first key up to 10 search terms of interest. From there, keyword planner will suggest more keyword ideas for you to dive into.
Pro tip: Do not just consider the search terms primarily related to your core business or home page. Instead, get a full list of all valuable search terms within your industry. Even if your website is not optimal now for certain keywords, you can create new content later to be used to rank for the keyword.
Google Search Console
[/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space][vc_single_image image=”31301″ img_size=”large” qode_css_animation=””][vc_empty_space]Google Search Console (GSC) is another free tool that is a goldmine for finding new keywords. GSC has many different functions, but for the purpose of identifying keywords, you will want to view the performance report. GSC’s performance report shows all search terms that your website has had impressions for on Google. In addition, it shows the corresponding clicks as well as the average position of the search term.
Within this report, you can find search terms that your website is having impressions in high volumes yet are not receiving traffic from. Specifically, if the average position of the search term is not great, then there is a clear opportunity for you to adopt the search term as a keyword. Thereafter, focusing on the keyword will allow you to quickly capture a highly search keyword.
From another viewpoint, GSC also reveals niche terms within your industry that your audiences are searching for. Used correctly, the performance report reveals a multitude of long tail keywords to be ranked for using secondary or blog content.
Google Trends
Google Trends is the third free tool provided by Google for you to identify up and coming keywords. The primary value provided here is the user-centric presentation of the patterns of user searches for various keywords. This helps you to visualize any patterns in searches made, be it in terms of days of the week or months in a year. Additionally, it displays search terms that are trending upwards in searches. This helps you get ahead of your competition in adopting new breakout keywords and optimizing your website for them.
It should be noted that Google Trends does not display hard search numbers unlike those seen on Google Keyword Planner and Google Search Console. Instead, it compares the level of interest over time. As such, it can be difficult to compare and estimate the search volume potential between multiple keywords.
Google Autocomplete
Best for: Spotting real-time, trending keyword ideas
How I use it: Type slowly in Incognito and watch Google’s suggestions
Pricing: Free
Google Autocomplete might feel too simple to be a “real” SEO tool, but it’s one of the most powerful places to start. Just open Google in an incognito window and slowly type your topic. As you type, Google suggests phrases people are searching for right now.
These suggestions often reveal keywords that don’t appear in paid tools because they’re new or trending. Some of my highest performing articles came directly from Autocomplete results, later validated with Keyword Planner.
If you want to understand how people actually search, this is the closest you’ll get to real user behaviour.
What exactly is Google Autocomplete?
Autocomplete is Google predicting what you’re about to type based on real search activity. The suggestions shift constantly depending on trends and what users are searching for at that moment.
Google Autocomplete: Pros and Cons
Pros:
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Shows real-time keyword demand
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Helps uncover keywords with hidden or underestimated search volume
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Helps identify content angles that match real user language
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Completely free
Cons:
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Doesn’t show search volume or difficulty (you’ll need another tool for that)
Honestly, that’s the only drawback. For speed, accuracy, and trend discovery, Autocomplete is unbeatable.
Ahrefs
Best for: Competitor keyword analysis and SERP research
How I use it: Filter by keyword difficulty and modifiers like “best,” “how to,” or product names
Pricing: Starts at $129/month
Ahrefs has been a core part of my SEO workflow for nearly a decade. It’s one of the most robust keyword research and competitor analysis tools available, and it shines when you want deep insights.
Inside the Keyword Explorer, type in a seed keyword and head to the Matching Terms report. You’ll get a massive list of ideas. From there, use filters to find the opportunities worth targeting, low difficulty keywords, question-based terms, modifiers, and more.
It’s also excellent for reverse-engineering competitors. Enter any competitor’s site to see what keywords they rank for, where their traffic comes from, and which pages drive results.
Ahrefs: Pros and Cons
Pros:
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One of the most advanced keyword tools available
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Excellent for competitor research and content gap analysis
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Strong SERP analysis to understand ranking difficulty
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Great for discovering link opportunities and content clusters
Cons:
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Expensive compared to entry-level tools
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Keyword data can sometimes lag unless you refresh (which costs credits)
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Many marketers rely on Ahrefs, so competition can be higher on popular keywords
Ahrefs Pricing
(As of the latest update)
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Lite: $129/month
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Standard: $249/month
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Advanced: $449/month
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Enterprise: ~$1,499/year
(Enterprise includes API access and custom limits)
Reviews & Ratings
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G2: 4.5/5 (589+ reviews)
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Capterra: 4.7/5 (579+ reviews)
Ahrefs isn’t cheap, but it’s easily one of the most comprehensive SEO tools on the market, especially if you’re serious about keyword research and competitor analysis.
LSI Keyword Generators
Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is an age old concept in SEO. LSI keywords are search term variants that are semantically similar to a particular keyword. So long as you have a base keyword, you can then find other keywords that are similar to it.
The biggest benefit of using this tool is in finding keyword variants that are valuable and that can be mapped to the same page. In this way, you would be preventing keyword cannibalization while also providing a naturally LSI optimized page. Conversely, if the LSI score is high, we would recommend against mapping the keywords to separate pages in order to prevent conflict.[vc_column_text]
KeySearch
Best for: Affordable keyword research with powerful autocomplete
How I use it: The Brainstorm tool for clean, unbiased keyword suggestions
Pricing: Starts at $24/month
KeySearch is one of the most budget-friendly keyword research tools I’ve used consistently for years. Think of it as a lighter, cheaper alternative to Ahrefs. The interface isn’t the prettiest, but it gives you everything you need to find solid keyword opportunities.
The Brainstorm Feature
This is where KeySearch shines. It pulls autocomplete suggestions not only from Google but also from YouTube, Bing, Amazon, and other platforms.
The best part? The suggestions aren’t influenced by your search history like Google’s can be, even in incognito mode. You get clean, unbiased results every time.
Keyword Analysis Tools
Drop in any keyword and you’ll see search volume, CPC data, and a full SERP breakdown including Domain Authority and Page Authority pulled from Moz’s API. It’s a simple way to check competition and understand which sites currently dominate the results.
KeySearch Pros and Cons
Pros:
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Very affordable compared to most SEO tools
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Great for beginners, this was the first keyword tool I personally paid for
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Includes extra features like AI content tools, competitor analysis, and rank tracking
Cons:
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The interface looks dated
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Some data loads slowly
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Search volume pulled from Moz can feel less accurate today
KeySearch Pricing
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Starter: $24/month or $240/year
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Pro: $48/month or $480/year
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Includes more searches, a larger keyword tracker limit, and more AI credits
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Both plans include keyword research, SERP analysis, autocomplete, competitor insights, and more. A 7-day free trial is available.
Customer Ratings
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Trustpilot: 3.8/5 (26+ reviews)
AlsoAsked
Best for: Finding question-based H2/H3 subheadings
How I use it: Turn the mind map questions into blog structure
Pricing: 3 free searches, then from $15/month
AlsoAsked has quickly become one of my favorite tools for planning blog outlines. I don’t use it to find my main keyword. Instead, I use it to understand all the related questions people ask about a topic.
It’s a perfect tool for making your content more helpful, more complete, and better structured for SEO.
How It Works
Paste in your target keyword and the tool generates a visual map of related questions. These are pulled from Google’s “People Also Ask” data.
The output makes it incredibly easy to decide what your H2s and H3s should be, especially when you want to improve topical coverage and match search intent.
AlsoAsked Pricing
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Basic: $15/month – 100 searches
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Lite: $29/month – 300 searches
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Pro: $59/month – 1,000 searches
If you publish multiple articles per month, the Lite plan is usually enough.
Customer Ratings
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Product Hunt: 5/5 (2+ reviews)
Answer Socrates
Best for: Discovering question-focused keywords with modifiers
How I use it: Pull “what / how / why” questions to shape content ideas
Pricing: 3 free searches per day, paid plans start at $9/month
Answer Socrates works a lot like AlsoAsked, you enter a keyword, and it generates a full list of related questions people ask around that topic. The difference is that it groups them by modifiers like what, how, why, which, who, and will, which makes it easy to understand exactly how people phrase their questions.
It basically expands your keyword into dozens of specific, real-world search queries. These make great blog sections, FAQs, and long-tail optimisations that support both SEO and AI visibility.
Why I Like It
Google autocomplete can be influenced by your search history. Answer Socrates gives you clean, unbiased ideas every time. The free version is limited to one search per day, but the paid plans are some of the most affordable in this entire list.
Answer Socrates Pricing
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Socrates Lite: $9/month – 100 searches
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Seneca: $29/month – 500 searches
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Aurelius: $49/month – unlimited searches
All plans include CSV exports, keyword metrics, AI model tracking, cluster credits, and CPC/competition data.
Customer Ratings
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Product Hunt: 5/5 (1+ review)
Semrush
Best for: In-depth competitor analysis
How I use it: Enter a competitor’s domain to find keyword gaps and opportunities
Pricing: Starts at $139.95/month
Semrush was one of the first keyword tools I ever used back in 2016, and it’s still one of the most powerful platforms available. It does everything such as keyword research, site audits, backlink analysis but where it really shines is competitive intelligence.
You can plug in any competitor domain and instantly see the keywords they rank for, what pages drive their traffic, and where you can outrank them. If your SEO strategy heavily involves studying competitors, Semrush is the top choice.
Semrush Pricing
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Pro: $139.95/month – 500 tracked keywords
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Guru: $249.95/month – 1,500 tracked keywords
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Business: $499.95/month – 5,000 tracked keywords
There’s a lot more included beyond keyword research, Semrush is basically an all-in-one SEO suite.
Customer Ratings
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G2: 4.5/5 (2,700+ reviews)
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Capterra: 4.6/5 (2,300+ reviews)
LowFruits
Best for: Finding low-competition keywords ideal for new websites
How I use it: Scan SERPs to spot weak competitors and easy ranking wins
Pricing: Starts at $29.90/month
LowFruits is one of the more underrated tools on this list, but it’s extremely useful if your site is new or has low authority. Instead of giving you a generic keyword difficulty score, it digs into the SERP and highlights keywords where weak sites are ranking.
Those weak spots are your best opportunities, the “low-hanging fruit” that the tool is named after.
It’s especially helpful for small teams, startup blogs, or niche sites trying to build early traction without competing against giants.
LowFruits Pricing
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Standard: $29.90/month – 3,000 credits
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Premium: $79.90/month – 10,000 credits
Credits are used for keyword checks, SERP analysis, competitor extraction, and sitemap analysis.
Customer Ratings
LowFruits doesn’t currently have published reviews on major platforms.
Interested To Learn More?
Keen to build a strong link profile for your website? Speak to our SEO consultants at MediaPlus Digital. We are a leading digital marketing and SEO agency in Singapore, who has run 100s of SEO campaigns for our clients. The cost of SEO for businesses varies according to various factors and it is important to understand them before embarking on a campaign.
At all times, we help brands to achieve their marketing goals while also delivering transparent data metrics for them. This allows us and our clients to make informed decisions with positive marketing impact.
