Top 10 Best Keyword Research Tools for SEO (Free & Paid)

Whether you are an online business owner or a blogger, doing keyword research will help you understand the latest trends in the industry.

Create new content or optimize current posts using the most searched keywords and increase your organic traffic. For that, you need a powerful SEO tool. It will tell you what topics people are searching for for each keyword, how likely it is to rank for those search queries, and how much revenue you can expect from user clicks.

Today, we prepared a list of the best keyword research tools on the planet. Some of them are free and provide in-depth metrics like search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC rate, searching trends, etc. Analyze those things to find low-competition keywords and rank higher in SERPs easily.

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Table Of Contents

Best Keyword Research Tools 2025
FAQ

Best Keyword Research Tools 2025

These are the top keyword research tools for 2025,

1. Semrush

Semrush is the leader in keyword research and SEO. It provides the most accurate and the latest data on the keyword you entered. By default, you will see metrics from desktop users in the United States. However, you can change those filters from the top menu to spy on searches in your region.

It will show the average difficulty for your keyword, CPC, global search volume, and trends as the first. Scroll down to explore them in detail.

Semrush will organize keyword results in different sections like variations, questions, related keywords, and others. SERP analysis is a major advantage of Semrush keyword research. It will list the top 100 web pages ranked for the keyword, along with the number of backlinks they have, search traffic, and ranking keywords.

Click a link to get additional details, including top organic keywords, traffic costs, position changes, and more. Open the URL in a new tab to know what information is covered there. Do this for other top-ranking pages as well. If you create a unique article with all relevant information, it will rank better in Google search results.

Key Features

Total search volume by countries
Keyword difficulty, CPC rate, and competitive density
Search trends for the last 12 months
Advanced filters to find low-competition, profitable keywords
SERP analysis
Keyword Manager to add and manage keywords

Semrush Pricing

Semrush offers three subscription plans,

Pro: Best for bloggers, marketers, and start-ups. 3000 reports per day + 10,000 rows per report + 3 website projects + 500 keywords to track + 10 social profiles to post + 50 social profiles to monitor = $117.33/mo

Guru: Best for small-scale businesses and agencies. 5000 reports per day + 30,000 rows per report + 15 website projects + 1,500 keywords to track + 30 social profiles to post + 100 social profiles to monitor = $208.33/mo

Business: Best for agencies, businesses, and eCommerce projects. 10,000 reports per day + 50,000 rows per report + 25 website projects + 5000 keywords to track + 50 social profiles to post + 50 social profiles to monitor = $416.66/mo

Visit Semrush (7-day free trial)

2. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is a powerful SEO platform for keyword research, competitor analysis, website audit, and rank tracking. It is best for businesses and agencies to manage unlimited website projects and generate white-label reports with full data.

Enter your seed keyword and set a target location to research. SE Ranking will display keyword ideas with difficulty score, CPC, and search volume in top traffic locations. You will see related keywords, questions, search trends, and top-ranking content on the same page.

Add ideas to your keyword manager instantly to collect related keywords and prepare a comprehensive article around the topic. SE Ranking can also compare your website with competitors to identify keyword and backlink gaps. Discover your missing opportunities and fill the gap to dominate your niche industry.

Key Features

Keywords with search volume, difficulty, search intent, and CPC
Organic results
Organic SERP history
Rank tracking
Backlink analysis
Website audit
Content marketing
Reporting

SE Ranking Pricing

Essential: 5 projects + 1000 keyword research/competitive reports per day + 500 keywords tracking + 17,500 backlinks monitored per account + Unlimited SEO reports = $52/mo

Pro: 30 projects + 5000 keyword research/competitive reports per day + 50,000 rows per export + 2000 keywords tracking + 30,000 backlinks monitored per account + Unlimited SEO reports = $95.20/mo

Business: Unlimited projects + 20 competitors per project + 10,000 keyword research/competitive reports per day + 1,00,000 rows per export + 5000 keywords tracking + 90,000 backlinks monitored per account + Unlimited SEO reports = $191.20/mo

Visit SE Ranking (14-day trial)

3. SpyFu

SpyFu is a popular SEO marketing suite for keyword research and competitor analysis. It also helps you build new backlinks, track search rankings, and analyze PPC advertisements.

Enter your target keyword, and it will instantly come up with monthly search volume, estimated clicks, and mobile and desktop search data for it. Check the keyword difficulty score and cost per click so you can know whether your keyword is profitable or not.

SpyFu will display similar keywords and questions matching your keyword. Collect low-competition keywords to generate content and optimize your PPC marketing strategies.

Head to the ‘Also rank for’ section to identify niche keywords for which the top-ranking domains for your seed keyword also rank. Thereby, SpyFu opens up endless opportunities for you to create new articles and buy new ad slots.

Key Features

Monthly search volume and estimated clicks
Filter by countries
Keyword difficulty, paid clicks, and top advertisers
Related keywords
Ranking history
SERP analysis

SpyFu Pricing

SpyFu has two subscription plans,

Basic: 10,000 search results + 10,000 row exports + 100 domain overview + 5000 weekly tracked search rankings + 6 months of historical data = $33/mo

Professional: unlimited search results + unlimited row exports + unlimited domain overview + 15,000 weekly tracked search rankings + 10 years of historical data + API = $58/mo

Visit SpyFu (30-day money-back guarantee)

4. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the best free keyword research tools. It helps you to find popular search queries in Google, Bing, Amazon, YouTube, Yahoo, and others. Results will appear along with their keyword difficulty, search volume, number of clicks, CPC, etc.

Search for keywords either individually or as a list. Set your target location to know how people search for the keyword in your region.

Click a keyword to find related keywords, questions, and others. Use filters to find less competitive, high-paying keywords in your niche. Enter certain words (For, e.g., login, signup, email) to remove unnecessary keyword ideas from the list.

Key Features

Search volume by countries
Keyword difficulty, CPC, and number of clicks
Advanced filters
Word count search

Ahrefs Pricing

Ahrefs has four subscription plans,

Lite: Best for bloggers and marketers. 750 tracked keywords + 50 keyword lists + 6 months of historical data + Unlimited verified projects = $108/mo

Standard: Best for startups and agencies. 2000 tracked keywords + 100 keyword lists + 2 years of historical data + Unlimited verified projects = $208/mo

Advanced: Best for businesses. 5000 tracked keywords + 200 keyword lists + 5 years of historical data + Unlimited verified projects = $374/mo

Enterprise: Best for large enterprises and top-tier agencies. 10,000 tracked keywords + 500 keyword lists + Unlimited years of historical data + Unlimited verified projects = $14,990/yr

Visit Ahrefs (7-day trial for $7)

5. Keyword Tool

Keywordtool.io is a free keyword research tool for businesses and blogs. It helps you to find long-tail keywords that can bring more traffic to your pages and boost revenue. From Google searches to social networking sites, you can detect money-making keywords and popular hashtags using the autocomplete feature on any platform.

If you are a content creator, eCommerce merchant, or social media marketer, you may need to find what people are searching for and buying. Being integrated with all leading channels, Keyword Tool can locate trending keywords on your target platform easily. It supports Google, Bing, Amazon, Instagram, and many others to get keyword suggestions on them.

Key Features

Search volume, competition level, and Cost-Per-Click
Find keywords your competitors are ranking for

Keyword Tool Pricing

Keyword Tool has three pricing plans,

Pro Basic: Best for beginners. = $69/mo

Pro: Best for startups and growing businesses. = $79/mo

Agency: Best for agencies. = $159/mo

Visit Keyword Tool (20% off)

6. KWFinder

KWFinder is another popular keyword research tool for traffic building. It also works best for SERP and backlink analysis.

Enter your seed keyword to discover matching keywords and questions around it. By default, KWFinder shows data collected globally. However, you can set a target location or language to get custom results. Turn on filters to discover the most popular and profitable keywords in the subject.

Every keyword is accompanied by an increase or decrease in the search trend, search volume, CPC rate, PPC level, and keyword difficulty. Choose keywords that you want to use in the content and click the star icon to add them to your list. On the right side, KWFinder will display the top web pages that rank for the keyword. Analyze their domain authority, citation flow, link profile strength, and the number of backlinks to predict your chances of ranking for the keyword.

Key Features

Search volume and search trends
CPC and PPC level
Keyword difficulty
SERP checker
Backlink analysis

KWFinder Pricing

KWFinder has three types of pricing plans,

Basic: Best for beginners. 100 keyword lookups/day + 200 keyword suggestions/day + 100 SERP lookups/day + 200 tracked keywords/day + 20 website lookups/day = $29.90/mo

Premium: Best for startups and marketers. 500 keyword lookups/day + 700 keyword suggestions/day + 500 SERP lookups/day + 700 tracked keywords/day + 70 website lookups/day = $44.90/mo

Agency: Best for agencies and businesses. 1200 keyword lookups/day + 700 keyword suggestions/day + 1200 SERP lookups/day + 1500 tracked keywords/day + 150 website lookups/day = $89.90/mo

Visit KWFinder (10-day free trial)

7. Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is a browser extension that helps you discover SEO keywords and boost your traffic. It supports leading search engines, social media, and eCommerce platforms to identify opportunities.

Enter your seed keyword, and this tool will tell you the monthly search volume, competition level, CPC, and 12 months of search trends on over 20+ platforms. Competitor analysis is another advantage of Keywords Everywhere. You can know monthly traffic and the top 10,000 keywords of any website easily. Compare your website with competitors to identify the keywords they rank for, but you aren’t.

Key Features

20+ platforms
Traffic analytics
Keyword gap analysis
Moz link metrics
YouTube metrics
Trend charts
Bulk trends data
On-page analysis

Keywords Everywhere Pricing

Keywords Everywhere has four subscription plans,

Bronze: Top 1000 keywords per website + Top 1000 backlinks per website = $2.25/mo

Silver: Top 2000 keywords per website + Top 2000 backlinks per website + Premium ChatGPT prompts + 5 users = $6/mo

Gold: Top 5000 keywords per website + Top 5000 backlinks per website + Premium ChatGPT prompts + 20 users = $25/mo

Platinum: Top 10000 keywords per website + Top 10000 backlinks per website + Premium ChatGPT prompts + 100 users = $80/mo

Visit Keywords Everywhere

8. Google Search Console

Google Search Console is a great, free keyword research tool for website owners. Find which queries bring visitors to your site and on which page they land. Sign in to your webmaster account and visit the Performance tab from the left pane to dig into your search analytics.

GSC shows detailed statistics of your organic keywords, including the number of impressions and clicks you got for each ranking keyword. Detect your most popular pages and optimize them with more relevant keywords to improve their search engine visibility. Scan those pages using page speed test tools like GTmetrix and follow suggestions to reduce their loading time. These strategies will help you to boost organic traffic significantly.

Google Search Console will also help you find long-tail keywords on your website, so you can optimize the relevant content to get more page visits.

To do so, visit the Performance menu and click ‘+New’ from the main screen. Choose ‘query’.

A pop-up box will appear. Enter your seed keyword and apply. It will pull in all long-tail keywords on your site that match your query. See the average ranking position, impressions, and clicks you got for the keyword. Switch to the Pages tab to know which page is ranking for it. The Countries tab will list main countries that divert more traffic to your pages.

Key Features

Organic keywords with their impressions, clicks, and CPC
Discover popular pages in your site
Historical data
Traffic comparison
Identify your target audience for each keyword
Inspect your pages individually
URL submission
Sitemaps

Visit Google Search Console

9. Bing Webmaster Tools

Bing Webmaster is another less-known, free keyword research tool for content creators. Sign in to Bing Webmaster tools and expand the SEO menu from the left sidebar. Visit Keyword Research, which will show your main organic keywords on the main screen.

Enter a query and tap the get details button to perform keyword research with Bing. By default, it will show global metrics for the keyword. Change settings to target a specific country, language, or device type if needed.

Explore results to understand how many impressions it has in each country and detect related keywords, questions, and newly discovered phrases that contain your target keyword.

Examine the search trends and impressions of each and if they are increasing, either prepare fresh content or update existing posts accordingly.

Key Features

Free keyword research with expected impressions in each country
Search trends
Search analytics for your website with ranking keywords, average position, impressions, clicks, and CTR
Discover your top-performing pages
Backlink analysis
Free SEO audit
URL submission
XML Sitemaps
Competitor analysis

Visit Bing Webmaster Tools

10. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a powerful keyword research tool for bloggers and growing businesses. It comes with many features to increase your website traffic, such as competitor analysis, rank tracking, SEO audit, traffic analytics, etc.

Enter your niche keyword to start keyword research with Ubersuggest. It will display results in different sections like suggestions, related keywords, question keywords, comparisons, and prepositions. Analyze their total search volume, CPC, and keyword difficulty to detect your ranking possibilities.

Apply filters to list just profitable and low-competition keyword variations. Top-ranking web pages will appear for each keyword on the right side. So you can quickly know how many page visits they get every month for the ranking keywords.

Key Features

Total search volume, CPC, and Organic and paid search difficulties
SERP statistics
Content ideas
Traffic analyzer
SEO audit
Backlink analysis
Historical data

Ubersuggest Pricing

Ubersuggest has three subscription plans,

Individual: Best for beginners. 100 reports per day + 3 website projects + 100 tracked keywords per project + 20,000 keyword suggestions + 2000 content ideas = $29/mo

Business: Best for startups and marketers. 300 reports per day + 7 website projects + 150 tracked keywords per project + 50,000 keyword suggestions + 5000 content ideas = $49/mo

Enterprise: Best for enterprises and agencies. 900 reports per day + 15 website projects + 200 tracked keywords per project + 1,00,000 keyword suggestions + 10,000 content ideas = $99/mo

Visit Ubersuggest (7-day free trial)

Read How to Find Best Paying AdSense Keywords with Semrush

FAQ

What is keyword research?

Keyword research is the process of finding the best keyword suggestions based on your seed keyword. A keyword research tool will generate matching keyword ideas, similar keywords, and questions to give you an idea about upcoming blog posts. It will display the ranking difficulty score, CPC rate and search volume for each keyword, so you can know if it is easy to rank in SERPs and profitable.

What are keyword research tools in SEO?

Keyword research tools help you find rankable niche keywords in popular search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, Amazon, etc. Semrush is a popular tool in this category. With frequently updated data, it helps you analyze keywords on various parameters and prepare compelling content that can drive more traffic to your pages.

Why is keyword research important?

Keyword research provides valuable insights into what your target audience is searching for, enabling you to create content that aligns with their interests and increases your chances of ranking higher in search results.

What is the difference between short-tail and long-tail keywords?

Short-tail keywords are generic and typically consist of one or two words, while long-tail keywords are more specific and consist of three or more words. Long-tail keywords often have lower search volume but higher conversion rates.

How can I identify low-competition keywords?

Look for long-tail keywords or phrases with lower search volumes. You can use keyword research tools to analyze keyword difficulty metrics or explore niche-specific terms that align with your target audience’s interests.

Is Google keywords free?

Google Keyword Planner is free. However, it has several limitations compared to other keyword research tools like Semrush, Serpstat, etc. The Keyword Planner is designed for advertisers to give them an idea about PPC competition and collect ads from them. Such data would not be of much use to publishers.

Can I use keyword research to improve my paid advertising campaigns?

Yes, keyword research can help optimize your paid advertising campaigns by identifying high-converting keywords, negative keywords, and areas where you can outperform competitors. It provides valuable insights for targeting your audience effectively.

Which keyword tool is most accurate?

Semrush has the world’s largest database of 25.2B keywords across 142 geographical locations. It is the #1 keyword research tool that can deliver the most accurate data on any topic and up to 20M ideas for each keyword.

Is keyword research free?

Keyword research tools have free and paid options. A free tool will have limitations in terms of the number of searches, number of rows, etc. Free users can make a limited number of searches based on the tool you use. However, paid users can perform more searches and retrieve more information.

Should I focus on high-volume keywords only?

While high-volume keywords may bring more traffic, they are also highly competitive. It’s beneficial to target a mix of high-volume and low-competition keywords to increase your chances of ranking and attracting relevant traffic.

How do I optimize my website for keywords?

Optimize your website by incorporating relevant keywords into your page titles, meta descriptions, headers, content, and image alt tags. However, ensure that the keywords fit naturally and do not compromise readability.

Should I use exact-match keywords in my content?

While exact-match keywords were once favored by search engines, they now prioritize context and user intent. It’s essential to focus on creating valuable, informative content that naturally incorporates relevant keywords.

How often should I update my keyword research?

Update your keyword research regularly as search trends and user behavior change over time. Aim to reassess your keyword strategy every few months to stay up-to-date and ensure optimum performance.

Are there any alternative methods for finding keywords?

Yes, apart from keyword research tools, you can also gain insights from social media trends, online forums, customer feedback, and competitor analysis. These sources can offer unique perspectives and uncover untapped keyword opportunities.

How long does it take to see results from keyword optimization?

The timeline for seeing results varies based on factors such as competition, domain authority, and the quality of your content. Generally, it takes several weeks to months before significant improvements in rankings and organic traffic are noticeable.

Is keyword research a one-time process?

No, keyword research is an continous process. As search patterns and user behavior evolve, it’s important to continually refine your keyword strategy to stay ahead of the competition and maintain visibility in search results.

Can I use competitor analysis for keyword research?

Yes, analyzing your competitors’ keywords can provide valuable insights into their strategies and help you identify potential gaps or opportunities. However, it’s crucial to focus on creating unique and valuable content rather than simply copying competitors.

How do I measure the success of my keyword optimization efforts?

Key performance indicators (KPIs) such as organic traffic, keyword rankings, click-through rates (CTR), and conversions can help measure the success of your keyword optimization efforts. Analyze these metrics regularly to track progress and make adjustments as needed.

10 Best Keyword Research Tools for SEO (Free and Premium)