Globally, over 4.5 billion people are using the internet right now, and over 90% of all online experiences start with using a search engine. We are all familiar with that magnifying glass icon in our search bars; it has become the go-to for millions of queries. This has become a lucrative leverage point for anyone who needs the search to lead to their website.
If you have a website for e-commerce purposes or a portfolio for freelancing, you will undoubtedly need to position yourself in a way to be found by the ideal client.
Effectively positioning your online business or portfolio starts with SEO (Search Engine Optimization) tools that use keywords to reach the right client base.
This process will require a bit of keyword research to start – determining what the ‘problem’ is that people need a solution for. This article takes a look at what keyword tools are and how you can choose the ones that suit your needs.
What are Keyword Research Tools?
To understand keyword research tools, it’s useful to have a clear understanding of keywords first. Keywords are simply the specific words typed into a search engine. These words are not standalone and can be phrases; recent SEO statistics indicate that almost 50% of search terms are four or more words.
Keyword research tools prioritize dominant words used for a search topic, so when people search it, it will position a website at the top of the search results, if not the first search result depending on how these tools are used. It will also manage and track keywords so that a website and SEO can remain up to date as the online world is constantly evolving.
How to Choose the Right Keyword Research Tools
Choosing the right keyword tools will depend on what you need; if you are a complete novice, at the beginning stages of setting up your business or portfolio, a free option will be sufficient as an introduction. However, for an established e-commerce business or start-up, opting for a premium option will provide more advanced tools to scale up.
There are numerous free and premium keyword research tools on the market, and some might argue why opt in for a premium option when there are free options available? Premium options provide more advanced services tailored to the needs of your business. It’s worthwhile to do the necessary research of what each company offers and their pricing plans and terms.
Below are five of the top free and premium Keyword Research Tools to look into
Wordstream (Free)
Wordstream, in partnership with Google, offers a host of free resources to assist with online marketing. These range from the Google Ads Grader, Facebook Ads Grader, Google My Business Grader, and Google Ads Landing Page Grader. Additionally, the free Keyword Tool helps you find your keywords by emailing you 25 suggestions, including long-tail keyword variations.
Infinite Suggest (Free)
Infinite Suggest offers free ‘never-ending Google keyword suggestions’. All you need to do is enter your keywords, and you will find various suggestions and related data. Additionally, you can save your keyword search, filter, and export data. To access more information, you will need to log in to an account.
Keywordtool.io (Free and Premium)
Keyword Tool uses the Autocomplete feature in search engines like Google to find keywords hidden in its Keyword Planner. This leverages the power of keywords that might be missed when using the Google Keyword Planner, focusing only on a specific, often general, set of keywords. The free version will give up to 10 autocomplete suggestions, where the Keyword Tool Pro offers twice as many across various platforms. Pricing starts at $69 to $159 per month.
Ahrefs (Premium)
Ahrefs starts with a Trial period of 7 days for $7, after which you can choose between four plans from $99 to $999. Ahrefs is a popular choice, with over 2,000 subscribers, including Netflix and Facebook. They offer various Keyword tools like Site Audits, Rank Trackers, Site Explorers, Keywords Explorer, Alerts, and extra tools like batch analysis and domain comparison.
Google Ads (Premium)
Google Ads is one of the most popular Keyword tools; you can start without a payment plan. However, you will need to pay for posting ads, and the prices range between $15 to $800. It also assists with creating new campaigns, including Smart Campaigns and specific ad groups to optimize search performance. From the interactive dashboard, you can easily manage ads and measure your results.
Summary
Using a Keyword Research Tool will give your business structure to effectively develop website traffic flow and more insight into your competitors. Although some options are more expensive than others, the choice will depend on your business needs and goals.