Keyword research is an art backed up by science. However, you need proper strategies to go after the most sought out keywords operating in your industry. While search volume plays a major role, there are many other factors in action too. Your focus should be on working with keywords that people are already looking for.
Keyword research should actually be treated as the first step in any digital marketing campaign. This step will further help you figure out things that are valuable to your customers. Using the right keywords can have a significant impact on your page rank on various search engines. Despite the hundreds of pages that appear in the search results, 75 percent of internet users never even bother turning to the second page.
So how is this relevant to you? Naturally, you need to strive harder to ensure you appear on the first page!
Discovering and utilizing keywords that instantly connects with your audience should be your ultimate goal. The following are some of the advantages that the top keyword research tools can offer you:
- Engaged audience
- Increased organic traffic to your website and conversions
- Access to marketing insights
- Expand your long-tail keyword efforts
- Strategies that allow you to rank with keyword placement
Now that you know the direction let’s sum up the top five keyword research tools for 2018 you can start using right now!
Google AdWords
Keyword research is directly linked to advertising your business. Google AdWords is undoubtedly one of the best keyword generating tools you can use this year.
In addition to the other features this fantastic tool has to offer, there are a few hidden gems related to keyword generation that you can explore. The first one is the Google Keyword Planner. This is a feature most marketers are already familiar with. This is the perfect tool that helps you with both feedback and volume for a variety of keywords. But these are not the only purposes it is used for.
One of its best features is ‘competitive analysis.’ For instance, you can simply add a URL of a landing page or website into it to access the keywords that particular site is targeting. This can help you keep a close watch on your competitors and their marketing activities.
Simply identify them and drop their website’s URL into the bar and get the idea instantly.
Keyword Planner allows you to:
- Get easy search volume for a list of keywords
- Get organic traffic forecast for keywords
- Discover new ad group ideas and keywords
You cannot ignore Ad Groups as it works together with keywords towards a successful SEO. This is the next important feature you must utilize. Simply browse through the Ad Groups and pick the ones you like.
These keyword ideas are generally missing from the set displayed to you. However, they play a major role in setting up a successful SEO. In case you are planning to do PPC and SEO together, you can still utilize Keyword Planner for finding the best keywords you can use with advertising.
People who reviewed both Google Keyword Planning and UberSuggest were more inclined towards the latter for various reasons. This is a very straightforward SEO tool you can use to search for profitable keywords. The fact that it’s totally free to use and does not include other paid features is one of the main reasons why UberSuggest is such a popular keyword research tool available in the market today.
In addition to helping you with keyword discovery, you can also access the other aspects of UberSuggest for your online marketing campaigns and SEO for your business. This simple and easy to use keyword research tool is a robust platform that can be used for generating fantastic keyword ideas and suggestion without any hassle.
Source
In short, it’s the best free tool you can use to access more data and insights on a single keyword. Whether you are using it for SEO purpose or PPC, you can instantly get an overview of everything. This powerful SEO tool offers data on volume, cost per click, and seasonality for free.
There are no limitations on how many times you can use UberSuggest. The tool also gives information on the difficulty of a keyword to provide you with a clear idea of how hard it could be to use it for organic ranking. The data it pulls from Google is realistic and more reliable.
And when that’s not enough, UberSuggestcan even offer you insights on specific keyword ranking. You can find out if someone’s ranking high due to particular keywords or if the pay-per-click option is offering better advantages. The competitive overview is indeed a fascinating section of this tool that gives you detailed data on your competitors and their marketing strategies.
Unlike other active keyword research tools you can use in 2018, UberSuggest comes without a price tag.
Moz’s Keyword Explorer
This could be another weapon in your arsenal as your most reliable keyword research tool this year. This is a relatively new tool by Moz that offers additional dimensions to the existing concept of keyword research. Other than providing data based on ‘difficulty’ and ‘volume,’ other things you can expect from Moz’s Keyword Explorer include:
- The criticality of specific keywords for your marketing campaign
- Relative CTR for SERP results
- A set of all essential keywords based on metrics to help you prioritize
The tool utilizes Related Searches, Google Suggest, and Keyword Planner to draw the keywords. If you have been using a different tool for finding keywords, you can gain more insights on those keywords using Keyword Explorer. This helps you make a list and prioritize accordingly.
The tool also helps with more information to help you with a thorough understanding of why some pages rank higher on search engines based on their social data and links. This information can further be used for building your SEO strategy separate from keyword discovery.
KWFinder
KWFinder is another exciting keywords tool that works better with long-tail keywords.
The best feature of KWFinder is the amazing user interface. It’s a one-stop for all your information needs. You can access search volume trends, CPC, and difficulty level in results.
By simply clicking on an individual keyword result, you can access a second pane that also gives you insights on its difficulty level on a scale of one to hundred. The results will also include the pulled data from Google search.
The details show the targeted keywords along with details on traffic, social shares, and page’s back-links. These are the additional dimensions of the keyword with high relevance for the user planning on integrating it with content marketing and SEO.
To make things more efficient, KWFinder also allows you to dig deeper into keyword research locally by giving you targeted results based on city, region, state, or country.
Wordtracker Scout
It is high time to realize the benefits your competition can offer you. Yes, you read it right. Your competitors can provide you with the best keyword data you can access this year.
While there are a lot of keywords research tools out there, including the ones on this list, this particular tool can help you generate lots of in-depth keyword lists based on your competitor’s keyword research activities.
The idea is quite simple. That’s something most businesses casually do. They check out different competitors’ websites and dig for keyword data. By navigating through different pages, it becomes easier to identify both primary and secondary keywords.
However, doing so manually requires both time and effort. And there’s a chance of missing out on some important keywords too. This is where the Wordtracker Scout tool will help you. The automated mechanism of digging for keywords ensures your success.
You can’t ignore your competition and their marketing tactics no matter which industry you cater to. And therefore, this tool plays a major role in helping you with your keyword research. This tool is a super-powered Chrome extension that helps you dig deeper into your competitor’s websites to learn about their keyword strategies.
After installing the extension, go to the webpage you wish to scan, hover the content on the page and click the ‘W’ button. An extension of dialogue box will appear on the page showing you page summary, insights, and keywords.
By simply looking at it, you can notice what the entire content is all about.
Other outstanding features associated with this keyword tool include:
- Access to effective keyword metrics
- The ability to analyze the keyword research activities of your competitors
- Easy to use and understand
This keyword research tool is particularly very important for newly established websites. It is imperative to know what your competition is doing. Information on what steps they are taking to improve their search engine ranking and generating more traffic can be of great use to you.
While it requires much more than just a few sets of keywords to outdo your competition, this could be your first step towards success. Also, there’s no limit to how many web pages you can target for analyzing keyword data using this fantastic Chrome extension.
Wrap-up thoughts
Searching for the right set of keywords is a never-ending process. You need to spend both time and effort to get real results. However, the tools can save you from managing everything manually.
So instead of wasting hours in putting everything together, utilize one or more of these fantastickeyword research tools and take your marketing strategies to the next level!