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Which Is The Best Keyword Tool? – An In-Depth Comparison Of 6 Tools

With Google changing its algorithm almost every other day, bloggers and webmasters are finding it difficult to rank their websites and are suffering a huge loss in traffic due to this ever-changing importance of on-page and off-page factors. One thing that remains constant in the midst of all these changes is the importance of a good keyword in your article. This is where choosing the best keyword tool becomes important.

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Keywords are, and have always been, the backbone of any article. If you choose a good keyword and structure your content around it, your site will get good traffic and will generate money.

The problem lies in the fact that it is not easy to find a good keyword which others are not already targeting. Once you get hold of a great keyword, half your job is already done but how do you find that keyword?

There are some amazing keyword research and generation tools out there which help you find keywords which can take your blog to the number one position in SERP results. These tools not only help you find new keywords to target but will also generate variations of that particular keyword for better SEO.

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Image source: moz.com

These tools save a lot of your time and the top web owners and bloggers invest heavily in these tools since they make their job easy. Manual searching only provides you with limited data and this can make all your backend efforts worthless if you target the wrong keyword.

But you have to first find out which is the best keyword tool for you.

What do you need to understand about keyword research?

In layman’s language, a keyword is something a blog post is about.

For example, a person searches for “best shoes under 500$” online and if you have curated your content around this keyword, your post shows on top of the search results. Of course, there are many other factors which affect your ranking but keyword selection is one of the most important among them.

Your selected keyword should be a longtail keyword, should have a good CPC, should have a low completion and should have a high search volume. These four criteria are a must to keep in mind while selecting a keyword.

The lower the competition in that particular keyword is, the easier it is to rank.

Another important criteria to keep in mind is the target country. Your keyword might have a good search volume in India but if you are targeting USA, you need to check the search volume of that particular country.

Affiliate Disclosure: This page contains affiliate links to products. We may receive a commission for purchases made through these links without any additional cost to you. However, this does not impact our reviews and comparisons. We try our best to keep things fair and balanced, in order to help you make the best choice.

Which is the best keyword tool? – My 6 best tools

Now that you know how a keyword forms the backbone of any piece of content in the eyes of Google, we will introduce you to 6 keyword generation and research tools that are there to help you find some great keywords which will help your website immensely when it comes to ranking and traffic:

1. Ahrefs

Best keyword tool - screenshot of Ahrefs
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Revered as one of the the best keyword tools, Ahrefs gives you a detailed analysis of any keyword you search for.

From its general statistics like search volume, difficulty, and CPC to its traffic potential and volume by country, this tool makes it very easy for you to generate and save your keywords.

Another great feature of this tool is that you can analyze your competitors as well to see which keywords they are ranking for.

The site updates its keyword directory every month and there are more than 3 billion keyword suggestions in their database.

They support more than 100 countries and even give you suggestions for keyword variation once you enter your seed keyword. It offers four options for keyword generation which include phrase match, also rank for, having same word, and auto-suggestions.

It also lets you know about how many backlinks you will need to rank that keyword.

Ahrefs does offer a paid 7-day trial at a nominal cost and has four plans you can choose from. The standard plan is the most popular among bloggers but here are all the features of the four plans:

Features Lite Standard Advanced Agency
No of keywordsyou can track
500
1,500
5,000
10,000
New Keywords
5
15
40
100
Keywordgeneration
Keyworddifficulty
Rows/report
1,000
5,000
10,000
30,000
Keyword lists
CompetitorAnalysis
Cost/month
$99
$179
$399
$999

Who can use Ahrefs?

This tool is preferred by beginners who find it difficult to understand the concept of keyword difficulty and competitor analysis through manual research.

The tool displays data in an easy-to-understand way to help the user get all the statistics on fingertips. It might sound expensive but with such detailed data, this tool is very popular.

Pros:

– Offers you a wide range of data along with detailed metrics.
– Comes with the phrase match feature and sends keyword alerts through email.
– The keyword difficulty score is easy to understand and it shows how you can rank for this keyword.
– Has more than 3 billion keywords in its database and supports more than 100 countries.
– Helps you store and export your keyword lists easily.

Cons:

– The tool is definitely a little expensive, if you want to access just the keyword research feature.
– It does not display relevancy score of keywords which can be an issue.

2. SEMRush

Best keyword tool - screenshot of SEMRush
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SEMRush is a little different to other keyword generation tools. If you want the best keyword tool out there, you can give this a try.

It is preferred by users who want to track their competitors by seeing which keywords they are ranking for. It helps you find longtail keywords for which your competitors are ranking for and how can you rank for that particular keyword.

The tool supports more than 16 languages and 25 countries in its database.

You can also analyze the organic and paid search results for that particular keyword and check its trend to see if it remains a viable keyword in the coming months.

Apart from the regular features like search volume and CPC, the tool also has a feature called “Keyword Magic” which pulls out a relevant rankable keyword from its massive database of 800 million keywords.

There are three plans you can choose from apart from a customized enterprise plan.

The features of all the plans are summarized below:

Features Pro Guru Business
Users
1
1
1
KeywordResearch
Keywordmagic tool
Keyworddifficulty
Results/report
10,000
30,000
50,000
No. of Keywordsyou can track
500
1,500
5,000
PPC keywordtool
Cost/month
$99.95
$199.95
$399.95

Who can use SEMRush?

People who want to track their competitors and rank content for similar keywords should definitely check out SEMRush. It offers detailed insights on your competitor’s domain and ranked keywords.

Pros:

– It generates longtail keywords for the keywords your competitor is ranking for.
– The keyword magic tool is great for finding new keyword ideas.
– The tool has a keyword database of more than 800 million keywords.
– It supports multinational and multilingual keywords as well.

Cons:

– The tool has such a large keyword database that sifting through keywords can be time-consuming.
– You cannot save a search list to review it later on the dashboard.


3. KWFinder

Best keyword tool - screenshot of KWFinder
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With more than 1300 million keywords in its database, KWFinder is one of the most intuitive keyword generation tools you can find.

It is a new tool in the market. This is the reason why it is probably the cheapest keyword generation tool.

It helps you find longtail keywords and hide keywords which have a low traffic or a low CPC. It also gives you localized results for place-specific keywords.

You can check out the keywords which are easy to rank for and have not been noticed by your competitor.

The tool pays a lot of attention to search volume and keyword difficulty so you get exact results for similar keywords as well. It makes it very easy to organize and segregate your keywords using lists.

The tool offers three paid plans. There is a free version too, but it is quite restricted. The features of all the plans are summarized below:

Features Basic Premium Agency
Keyword suggestions/month
200
700
700
No. of keywordsyou can track
200
700
1,500
Keywordresearch
Keyworddifficulty
Simultaneous logins
1
3
10
Cost/month
$29
$39
$79

Who can use KWFinder?

Again an absolute must-have for beginners and people on a tight budget, KWFinder is a great SEO tool which can transform your content drastically with its longtail keyword suggestions and detailed search results. It is very affordable too.

If you are looking to test the waters by trying out an affordable tool, this is the best keyword tool for you.

Pros:

– It helps you find longtail keywords that your competitor might have missed.
– The price of the tool is quite affordable as compared to the features it provides.
– You can organise your keywords using keyword lists and filter out keywords you don’t need.
– You can find localized results for place-specific keywords using the amazing user interface of the tool.

Cons:

– It limits the users when it comes to competitor research.
– It can become a little slow and clumsy, if you are doing some heavy-handed keyword research for professional agencies.

KWFinder - find long tail keywords with low SEO difficulty
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4. LongTailPro

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Specially designed for finding longtail keywords, LongTail Pro is the best keyword tool to invest in, if you have a micro-niche site.

It has a very simple user interface and can be used by everybody including those who do not have a lot of knowledge about keyword research. The tool also helps you find keyword-rich domain names if you are planning to start a website.

You can create country-based campaigns and filter longtail keywords on the basis of CPC, search volume, search difficulty, and more.

It also offers competitor analysis and lets you export all the keywords you have found to an excel file for ease of use.

It has three paid plans offers a 7-day free trial as well. One amazing feature of the annual plans is that you get a full Longtail Pro keyword research course from the Longtail Pro University. The features of all the plans are summarized below:

Features Starter Pro Agency
Users
1
2
5
No. of keywordsyou can track
30
300
1,000
Keywordresearch
Keyworddifficulty
Keyword searches/day
1000
2,500
6,000
Cost/month
$37
$67
$147

Who can use LongTail Pro?

It is an affordable tool for micro-niche website owners who are looking for high-CPC longtail keywords. It has a great user interface and you do not need a lot of experience in keyword research to use this tool.

Pros:

– Helps you to find longtail keywords with low difficulty and high CPC.
– The monthly plans are quite affordable and the annual plans come with a complete keyword research course.
– The tool helps you generate better keywords from your seed keyword and allows you to eliminate keywords which are not of much use.
– You can check the ranking of your keywords in various search engines using LTP.

Cons:

– The tool is a bit slow when compiling keyword statistics.
– It does not offer competitor analysis for keywords.

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5. Serpstat

best keyword tool screenshot of Serpstat
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This is a relatively new tool but has been garnering significant attention due to its ease of use and affordable plans.

You can do an in-depth URL analysis of any website and find out the keywords it is ranking for along with their search volume, competition, and CPC.

It also helps you find missing and related keywords for your seed keyword.

The tool offers some amazing features like keyword trends, longtail keywords finder, keyword relevancy, and more. The database covers all countries and you can also find keywords related to a particular country for local targeting.

The filters available for sorting keywords and the tree view keyword distribution are some of the other great features of this tool.

It offers four paid plans along with a free basic plan with restricted limits. You can choose between personal and business plans as per your requirement. The features of the plans are summarized below:

Features Plan A Plan B Plan C Plan D
No of keywordsearches/day
300
400
6,000
8,000
Rows/reports
100
15,000
40,000
50,000
URL analysis
Missing &related keywords
x
Keywords youcan track
200
700
2,000
5,000
Competitoranalysis
Mobiletracking
x
Keyword clusteringand analysis
0
4,000
12,000
25,000
Cost/month
$19
$69
$149
$299

Who should use Serpstat?

This is the best keyword tool for bloggers and small business owners who want to access an affordable keyword generation tool with competitor analysis. The tool has a great user interface and also provides many other SEO – related features apart from keyword generation.

Pros of Serpstat:

– The tool is quite affordable and offers customized plans as per the requirement.
– You can find missing and related keywords according to your seed keyword.
– The keyword trend analysis feature is quite useful for researching future potential.
– You can access the database of the tool for free with limited features.

Cons of Serpstat:

– The free plan as well as the basic paid plan offer very limited features.
– It does not offer many Google databases as only 12 databases can be accessed.


6. Keyword Revealer

Best keyword tool - screenshot of KeywordRevealer
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Called the ultimate keyword intelligence tool, Keyword Revealer helps you find low-competition keywords and evaluate them for potential according to the recent trends. You can save these keywords and generate longtail keywords using this tool and export the list for ease of use.

The keyword brainstorming tool is a wonderful feature which helps you explore new niche ideas around your seed keyword.

The bulk keyword upload feature is good for bloggers and website owners who want to research a batch of keywords together and check the ranking of these particular keywords in the SERP results.

The tool offers one free plan and three paid plans to its users with an option to choose the monthly or the annual cycle. The features of the plans are summarized below:

Features Free Basic Pro Elite
No. of keywordsearches/day
3
25
150
400
Keyword brainstorming
3
25
150
400
Keyword ranktracker
0
25
150
400
No. of keywordsyou can save
0
25
150
400
Bulk keywordupload
x
Cost/month
Free
$9.97
$27.97
$47.97

Who should use Keyword Revealer?

This tool has limited features but works very well in finding new niches related to your seed keyword. People who are looking to expand their reader base can use it to find better and low-competition keywords.

Pros:

– The tool helps you to find rankable low-competition keywords for creating your content.
– You can upload bulk keywords and save lists easily.
– The keyword brainstorming tool helps you find new niche ideas for your website.
– The paid plans are quite affordable as compared to other keyword generation tools.

Cons:

– It does not allow competitor analysis or domain audit.
– The free plan is very restrictive and does not offer most of the features.


So this was the detailed guide on some of the best keyword tools which can take your content to the 1st page of the search engines in no time. A keyword can make or break your content and these tools make sure that your content always shines in the eyes of the search engines. Comparison of some of the main features of all the tools is summarized below:

Features Ahrefs SEMRush KWFinder LongTailPro Serpstat KeywordRevealer
Free versionavailable
x
x
x
Affordable
x
x
Keyword ranktracking
Competitoranalysis
x
x
x
Multi-usersupport
x
x
x
x
Cost/monthstarts from
$99
$100
$29
$37
$19
$10

These keyword generation tools are absolutely a must-have if you are a website owner or a blogger.

You do not have to buy all these tools but choose the best keyword tool which suits your requirements.

Which is the best keyword tool among these 6 tools?

Performance

In terms of overall performance, Ahrefs and SEMRush are clear winners but they can be a bit expensive for small agencies and new bloggers.

Price

If you are a little low on budget and do not want to spend a lot of money on a keyword research tool, you can go for KWFinder or LongTail Pro as these tools offer you most of the features at a very competitive price. LongTail Pro is great for micro niche sites, as it helps you to find keywords which have low competition and better CPC and search volume.

Best in everything

Overall, if you look for great features related to keyword research and generation, SEMRush is the best keyword tool for you. It is not very affordable but it has some great features with a very easy user interface which does not require an in-depth SEO knowledge. You can track your domain and your competitor’s URL to check for keywords they are ranking for and the tool has a huge keyword database. The tool might sound expensive but the plans work really well for someone who is looking for a thorough keyword research and generation tool.

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Using a keyword generation and research tool can transform your content in more ways than you can imagine.

It not only helps you save a lot of time manually sifting through keywords but also keeps all your keywords in one place so that you can refer to them later.

These tools are changing the way content creators work and are simplifying their task by eliminating useless keywords and allowing competitor analysis.

Your investment is completely worth it if you use the tool well and the return on investment will make you realise that these tools pay for themselves in the long run.

Have you used a keyword management tool? Which one is your favourite among all these?

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