58 Experts Reveal Best Tools For Keyword Research

#1: Gael Breton (Authority Hacker)

​1 - SEMRush: Who doesn't want to know what their competitors rank for? That's my #1 way of finding keywords (see how here)

2 - Google keyword planner: No matter how many fancy keyword tools there are out there, the keywords planner gives you the trends and allows you to enter landing pages (from your competitors) to extract high volume relevant keywords.

3 - Ubersuggest: The best (free) tool to expand on a base keyword and find long tail variations to talk about / include in your article.

#2: Geoff Kenyon (GeoffKenyon.com)

The three tools that I use most frequently for keyword research are, KeywordTool.io, SEM Rush, and Excel. While each of these are useful tools, they all serve very different purposes. KeywordTool.io is great for discovering variations of keywords to built pages around. Frequently, I use this the most for developing content. I will use the tool to pull in a lot of keywords related to a theme and group them into relevant topics. These topics will either become their own content page or will be combined with other topics to create a page. KeywordTool.io is similar to other tools out there such as Uber Suggest, which I've used for a long time, but it tends to produce more keywords and it provides search volume for the keywords.

SEMRush is great for competitive keyword research. If you look at the organic competitors section of the tool, it will show you who you're competing with for common keywords. You can then go in to each of those competitors and identify keywords that you might not be targeting now, but you should be. In addition, you can dig into the paid side of search and find out what keywords your competitors are bidding on, and then leverage those keywords for your own organic benefit if you're not already doing so. Search Metrics does this as well, but I've found SEM Rush to provide a greater range of keywords and they save more historical keyword data than Search Metrics.

Excel serves a couple different purposes in my keyword research projects. Most simply, I've found Excel to be one of the most effective ways to simply and actionable present keyword research data. I use Excel to create keyword mapping documents where I provide the URL along with the associated keywords, titles, etc. I've also found Excel to be very useful when you are working with a site that offers services in different areas. Using the concatenate or & formulas, you can easily create permutations of keywords and geographic regions to generate keywords for different services and geographies served.

#3: Ana Hoffman (Traffic Generation Cafe)

1. SEMrush
2. Market Samurai
3. Google Adwords.

But really, only SEMrush.

#4: Paul Shapiro (Searchwilderness.com)

I think people's aresenal of keyword research tools are mostly the same: 1) You need a tool to examine search volume, most likely Google Keyword Planner 2) A tool to help you generate more keyword ideas. Tools that work with the search engines' autosuggestions are very popular such as KeywordTool.io and Ubersuggest 3) Then people might add a tool broaden the depth of their data, maybe including something like Google Trends or Moz's Keyword Difficulty tool.

Instead of focusing on the 3 tools that everyone needs to cover these important bases, I'll give you my top 3 keyword research tools that you need to go above-and-beyond what everyone else is doing:

1) KNIME - if you want a very open-ended tool that can be used to do all sorts of keyword analysis. It was the focus of my BrightonSEO 2015 talk on doing better semantic keyword research. 

2) MarketMuse - This is a tool that's just taking off, but it's AMAZING. It basiciall crawl your website and/or your competitors' website and find keyword gaps using pretty sophisiticated topic modeling algorithims. It works extremely well.

3) Seed Keywords - Sometimes your keyword research needs a human element and you should be asking your consumer audience how they would search for something. Seed Keywords helps you create a small survey and get that feedback.

#5: Matthew Barby (matthewbarby.com)

If I could only use three tools for keyword research then they would be:

1. Google Keyword Planner
2. KW Finder
3. Moz Keyword Difficulty Tool

These are the main tools that I use, with Google Keyword Planner and Moz Keyword Difficulty tool being the constant within the list. I sometimes change KW Finder with Long Tail Pro or Keyword Snatcher. Similarly I love SEMrush for competitive analysis but KW Finder is just so well-rounded and powerful that it can do many things on it's own.

#6. Adam Connell (bloggingwizard.com)

1) SEMrush – You get a lot of useful functionality with this tool including site auditing, keyword difficulty scores, estimated traffic data etc. What I really like about SEMrush is how you can search up your competitors and get an idea of the keywords they’re ranking for along with estimated search volumes.

2) Keywordtool.io – This tool uses Google’s autocomplete feature to generate keywords. Super useful and it’s free.

3) BuzzSumo – Not your usual keyword research tool and well, it’s not. Keyword research has been a foundation of content planning for a good while and it’s about more than specific keywords, it’s about topical reliance and intent. I use BuzzSumo to validate my keyword research and get an idea of how much certain topics get shared.

#7. Christine Churchill (keyrelevance.com)

​I like using a variety of keyword tools, but if I was on a desert island and could only use three tools, the three keyword tools I would want access to for keyword research are:

1.) Google Keyword Planner
2.) SEMRush
3.) Google Trends.

#8. Ian Cleary (Razor Social)

​1) Inboundwriter - Inboundwriter helps at the ideation phase. I enter in my proposed title for a post and Inboundwriter will indicate how likely it is that I will rank on Google for these keywords. It will also tell me the related keywords that I should consider in my content.

2) SEMRush - Find out what keywords your competitor is ranking on so you can create better content and take some of your competitors traffic.

3) Google Keyword Planner - Find out an estimate of searches for particular keywords. Not always accurate but useful to review alongside the other tools.

#9. Brian Dean (Backlinko)

1) SEMRush
2) SEOcockpit
3) Longtailpro

#10. Jacob King (jacobking.com)

1) Google Keyword Tool - still calling it tool, not buying into their Adwords keyword planner BS
2) SEMRush
3) Excel and then Scrapebox keyword scraper for some suggestions merging prefixes and suffixes too

#11. James Norquay (Prosperity Media)

Three tools for Keyword Research -

1. Google Keyword Tool - Even though it is old school and the data is not 100% accurate it does still provides some decent data.
2. SEMRush - Rush is great for keyword research on your own site and competitors sites, tho it does not track long tail traffic.
3. Ubersuggest - Ubersuggest is great for generating long tail variations of keywords and generating fresh ideas.

If I only could use three these would be the main ones.

#12. Kristi Hines, Freelance Writer

My favorite three keyword research tools are Google AdWords Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, and HitTail.

1) Google AdWords Keyword Tool allows you to export up to 800 suggestions for most seed keywords and phrases. You can then use them to optimize your main business pages as well as come up with great topic ideas.

2) Ubersuggest shows you what Google suggests when you start typing in keywords. These suggestions can point you to some great long-tail keyword phrases and content ideas.

3) HitTail connects with your Google Webmaster Tools to help you find the (not provided) keywords that people are searching to find your site - keywords you may not be using as much as you should.

#13. Nick Eubanks (seonick.net)

1. Term Explorer
2. SEMrush
3. SerpWoo

#14. Mike Ramsey (Nifty Marketing & Nifty Law)

1) Google Keyword Planner - There is no better tool for giving somewhat accurate data and ideas. Especially when it comes to local keyword research. Being able to look at a broad keyword like "lawyer" and then narrow the search field to a specific city or market is one of the best uses that only this tool can provide.

2) Semrush - This tool offers fantastic competitive research around domains to find what keywords could be driving traffic for your competitors. Looking at paid keywords ad spend can also help you know which keywords might have monetary value worth pursuing organically. If a competitor is willing to spend a high ad budget on terms and you think they do a good job running their ad campaign, then its a good indication it is worth organic ranking effort.

3) BuzzSumo - This tool can allow you to take a keyword or concept you are interested in and see what type of content has performed the best around social and link building on the subject. I find this tool to be incredibly useful for finding what type content people seem to care about for specific keywords.

#15. Bill Sebald (Green Lane SEO)

We use Keyword Planner of course (#1). But we're also very fond of Grepwords (#2) and a few Google Suggest tools (choosing the one that best fits the client needs at the moment (#3); our list is here. I'm very fond of Grepwords' extensions for giving search metrics on tools like Ubersuggest.

#16. Takeshi Young (keshkesh.com)

1) Linkdex
2) AdWords keyword tool
3) Internal search logs

#17. Aleyda Solis (aleydasolis.com)

1) SEMrush
2) SimilarWeb
3) KWFinder

#18. Larry Kim (WordStream)

Like countless others, I still use Google Keyword Planner for keyword research in SEO. Google is the one with the vast majority of the search data, so even after all these years, they're still the best place to go to find high-level keyword data.

Once you have all of these great keyword ideas though, how do you prioritize them? I use the secret formula you can find under #3 here (well, it was secret until I shared it with my readers) to assign an actual value to each keyword phrase, factoring in search volume, competition and suggested bids.

Once I have all of this insight in hand, I head over to BuzzSumo to see what angles and headlines are working really well on any given keyword topic. It helps you to see what's already been done, so you can make sure your take on it is unique and interesting.

#19. Cyrus Shepard (cyrusshepard.com)

Top 3 keyword research tools:

1. Keyword Planner
2. Ubersuggest w/ Grepwords Chrome Add-on
3. MozBar (for competitive analysis)

#20. Josh Laughtlan (jtree.net)

If I could only use 3 tools for organic keyphrase research (what a glorious world it would be) my 3 punch keyphrase research combo would be Google Autocomplete, Keyword Planner and AuthorityLabs Now Provided reports.

Given you have a good idea of where to start and are fairly confident you are speaking the same language as your client, jump start research by generating related keyphrases and long tail variants with the ever so easy to use Google Autocomplete. This tool makes predictions based on what you are typing that are a reflection of Google search activity.

Google's Keyword Planner can then be used to pull historical search volume for any newly discovered Autocomplete phrases in addition to conducting further keyphrase research.

AuthorityLabs Now Provided reports deliver the final blow of the combo by identifying keyphrases classified as "not provided" by Google (AKA hidden) that already send traffic to the site. This process also helps identify new keyphrases to send back to Autocomplete and Keyword Planner for further research.

#21. Annie Cushing (annielytics.com)

1) SEMrush
2) Soovle
3) Ubersuggest

#22. Harris Schachter (Optimize Prime)

It's hard to boil it down to just 3 keyword tools, so instead I'll describe 3 categories of resources.

1. The first is the literal keyword tools, my favorites include BrightEdge's Data Cube, Wordstream, Ubersuggest and others. These tools give you the actual search phrases, either with or without search volume.

2. The second category are keyword tools based on the competition. One of the first things to determine is not only who the business competitors are, but who the SEO competitors are. Keyword research can be done by simply doing research on high-performing competitors. Some of my favorite domain-based keyword tools are SEMrush, SpyFu, and BrightEdge's Data Cube.

3. Finally, there's just good old research through trends and news. Google Trends, keeping up on industry news of the business, and even newsjacking (if there are relevant topics). These all require different resources depending on the business, but once you find the leaders in their news you can not only leverage them for keyword research but also glean insights into how you can become an industry leader yourself (and dominate SEO).

#23. Reginald Chan (BloggingXL)

1) Long Tail Pro
2) Google Keyword Planner
3) BuzzSumo

#24. Bill Gassett (Max Real Estate Exposure)

1) Ubersuggest
2) Buzzsumo
3) WordStream 

#25. Brian Jackson (brianjackson.io)

If I could only use 3 tools for keyword research they would be the following:

1) Web CEO
Web CEO has two awesome features that I use on a daily basis, “Get Suggestions” and also “Spy on Competitors.”
With the Get Suggestions feature I can input a keyword and get similar keywords, sorting them by Global searches, Bid competition, Search Trends and also KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index).
Another very important part of this for me is that Web CEO also allows you to add a “local searches” column and set your search engine down to the city level. When working with local clients this is crucial to know this data! As things can very a lot nationally or globally.
I use this a lot for coming up with new long-tail keywords I might not have thought of. And if you use Web CEO for keyword tracking you can simply add the keyword to your basket and you are instantly tracking it in SERPs.
The Spy on Competitors feature is also great as I can input any URL and see which keywords they are ranking for. This allows me to try and steal some of my competitors keywords and start monitoring my progress in SERPs.

2) SEMRush
I love SEMRush to quickly see “the big picture” when it comes to any keyword I am researching. I can instantly see the top holders in SERPs. I then immediately take the top holders list and go check out their sites. I need to make sure I can beat them content wise otherwise I will search for another keyword to try and rank for. I also use this as a 2nd source to compare against the data I get from Web CEO. Especially because SEMRush can’t go down to the local level. So I will usually will throw the keyword data (such as volume, difficulty percentage, etc.) in Excel from both before I start working.

3) KWFinder
http://kwfinder.com
I would consider KWFinder one of the newer kids on the block, but is probably just about the easiest way I have found to quickly find new long-tail keywords. A couple things I like about this tool is that it allows me to create lists of keywords. So I can group up my different sites by lists and revisit them at a later date. I can export the data to CSV and start building out campaigns. It also keeps a nice scrolling list of the last 20+ keywords you have looked up. The SEO difficulty indicator comes in very handy as well! As far as ease of use goes, KWFinder wins hands down!

#26. Aaron Agius (Louder Online)

1) Google Keyword Planner
2) Long Tail Pro
3) Market Samurai

Bonus points - this post is awesome.

#27. Loz James (Content Champion)

It’s easy to get sidetracked with all the great keyword research tools available, but I always find myself coming back to the same three:

1) Google Keyword Planner
2) Market Samurai
3) Wordtracker

The last two on this shortlist are paid tools - so going the Google route is a good idea if you’re just starting out.

There’s a load you can achieve with the keyword planner, but I just like to cross check across a few tools to achieve the best results.

#28. Andrew Shotland (Local SEO Guide)

1) SEMrush
2) Google Analytics
3) Google Webmaster Tools

#29. Sujan Patel (wheniwork.com)

1) SEMrush
2) Buzzsumo
3) Google Keyword Planner

#30. Will Blunt (Blogger Sidekick)

1) KWFinder
2) Buzzsumo
3) Google search

#31. Niall Devitt (Tweak Your Biz)

1) Google Keyword Tool
2) Google Trends
3) WordTracker

#32. Sue Anne Dunlevie (successfulblogging.com)

I only use InboundWriter.

#33. Kurt Frankenberg (shoestring101.com)

Because I run several local businesses and help others to promote theirs, my first, second and third SEO tool is a little off the beaten track:

It's actual human interaction, plus a yellow pad to jot down responses. Let's take for example the little screen repair company I founded as a 30 Day Challenge over on Shoestring101. At first I just wanted to make a business with my 14 year old to show him no one needs to give you a job...you can MAKE a job.

So we started with physical signs and free listings in local directories.

But once we got some actual paying customers we started asking them how THEY might go about finding us if they had used the internet.

So far, "repair screen door" and "repair window screens" is the top response.

These can be further refined by asking customers that already found us, HOW they found us.

In the phone script that I use to close local leads, one of the questions is, "How did you find out about us?" If the answer is "internet", which it almost always is...the followup questions are "what search engine did you use?" and "what keywords did you enter?"

It's these, actual-paying-customer-generated keywords that have been most useful. Better than Market Samurai, better than any Google tool, whatever they're calling it now ;-)

Thanks for asking, Robbie! I wouldn't want to tell you that my SEO first, second and third tool was effective without offering compelling proof, so here it is:

If you type in "hack local seo" into Google, you'll find my landmark post, 7 Ways to Hack Local Search SEO for a Free Front Page Listing. In that post I show how I get unlimited leads for my screen repair company and my martial arts studio. See, after getting the right keywords, ya gotta know what to do with 'em.

#34. Joe Williams (zenoptimize.com)

​1) Google Keyword Planner it has to be the number one tool for its keyword suggestions and search volume data. I particularly like the fact that you can get keyword search volume data all the way back to Aril 2013.

2) SEMrush the best keyword research tool for competitor keyword research. It's worth checking out the Guru subscription plan which has historical keyword data and Google positions as far back as January 2012 and this comes in handy when trying to work out when a search engine penalty happened for potential client.

3) Mindmap whether it's by pencil and paper or digital, I like visually brainstorming keywords starting with a website's key product and expanding outwards. Here's a simple example: http://www.screencast.com/t/MmuMI7bQPp1

#35. David Schneider (Ninja Outreach)

1) Long Tail Pro: This is the case primarily if I am looking to build a niche site. I don't build niche sites anymore and am no longer a user of LTP, but I do think it is a great software and have no problem recommending it.

2) Google's Adword Keyword Planner: Again this isn't something I would go to often BUT it is free and if I am just looking to get an idea of the volume, since in many cases that is the key metric for me, I would probably go here.

3. Ninja Outreach: Full disclosure this is my own tool, and it is actually an outreach tool, so you may be wondering how it plays into Keyword Research. The fact is there are quite a few data points that NinjaOutreach gets for me that I find useful in keyword research, such as the articles that are ranking for the keyword in Google, their domain authority, their page authority, the number of backlinks they have, and other social and contact data. It's pretty valuable stuff, especially if there is going to be an outreach campaign tied into the keyword research. I wrote a great article with Jake from LTP showing the combination of the two tools.

#36. Umar Khan (Social Cubix)

1) SEMrush
2) Keyword Snatcher
3) Keyword Toolio

#37. Jason Acunzo (sorryformarketing.com)

I actually don't use any keyword tools aside from Google Trends, but only rarely do I even use that. I try to talk to many of our target audience members (entrepreneurs) as I can. I attend events, I have phone calls, I sit next to them while working. Generally speaking, I think it's a waste of time to START with keyword tools instead of actual customers. Yes, you can target people in broad swaths and get a high level sense for what's interesting and trending, but at least in the case of our business at NextView Ventures, it's way more powerful to talk to actual "customers" you serve.

#38. Lisa Barone (overit.com)

Can't go wrong with the Google Keyword tool, SEMRush and Google Trends. The Keyword tool for volume estimates, SEM Rush to see what keywords competitors are ranking for/targeting, and Google Trends to make sure the traffic is actually coming from countries I'm trying to target. Gives a relatively accurate picture of when to expect traffic spikes and seasonality insight.

#39. David Arrington (Profit Pursuits)

1) If you don't have a budget you can still learn some useful information with the Google Keyword Planner. In addition to the search traffic for your list of keywords, take a look at the trends to see what's likely to remain popular in the future. Next, take note of the Adwords competition and bid price. If people are bidding on the keyword there's a better chance of converting people to your list or products. The related keywords tool is also great to get alternative ideas. Finally, plug your top keywords into Google to spy on the competition and see the total number of results.

2) If you have some budget it's hard to beat SEMRush. You get a full keyword research suite and competitive intelligence tool in one convenient package. Check out Robbie's in-depth guide to learn how to get every ounce of functionality out of this tool.

3) For a simple interface that still packs in all the important data, go with Long Tail Pro. I especially like the keyword competitiveness feature, and the ability to check for keyword title competition. This goes deeper than just listing the total search results, allowing you to see how many people have specifically targeted your keyword.

#40. Venchito Tampon (Digital Philipines)

1) SEMrush
2) Keywordtool.io
3) Google AdWords Keyword Planner

#41. Joseph Morales (The Marketing Joe)

If I had to use only 3 keyword research tools, I'd use the following.

1) Keywordtool.io (fantastic tool for auto suggest on Google)

2) Soovle. It's a little unconventional and kinda archaic looking, but a fantastic tool that pulls keywords from various search engines.

3) SEMRush. Another fantastic tool with so much available at your fingertips, you won't want to leave. Ha!

#42. Kevin Gamache (Boise Search Strategist)

1) Moz Keyword Difficulty Tool
2) SpyFu Competitive analysis
3) Brightedge Data Cube 

Those 3 get me what I need for keyword research.

#43. Patrick Coombe (Elite Search Strategies)

I use 1 and only 1 tool for keyword research: Google Keyword Planner. I've never seen the use for any other tool. They all seem to confuse things and most of them get the data from GKP anyway. There are a few good ones on the market, but I really just don't have the need for more than one keyword research tool.

#44. Jignesh Gohel (olbuz.com)

1) SEMrush
2) Keyword Toolio
3) Google AdWords Keyword Planner

#45. Chris Dyson (Triple SEO)

1) SEMrush
2) Keyword Shitter
3) Serpwoo

#46. Stuart Walker (Niche Hacks)

I write for my readers and not for search engines but still rank really well for many terms. The only ones I ever use are Google Keyword Tool & LongTailPro.

When I did more keyword based stuff most of the best keywords I found were NOT from tools but from manual research by looking at places like Amazon, Google, competitors websites, forums, reddit, Wikipedia etc. If you really go hunting you can find golden KWs the tools will never show you. Some with real commercial intent too.

#47. Carrie Hill (Ignitor Digital)

My 3 keyword research tools are the Google Keyword Planner, Keywordtool.io and & KeywordSpy.com or SpyFu.com.

I try to build my lists using competitive research/search suggestions through KeywordSpy/SpyFu and Keywordtool.io and then get volumes and related terms with the Planner tool.

There are, of course, paid tools out there like WordTracker and pro versions of the other tools - but I've found I can build lists just as reliable as theirs, without spending the money on the tool - and I feel I get to know a client better by really digging into their competitors.

#48. Nefer Lopez (Growth Hacker Kitchen)

Here are my top 3 keyword research tools:

1) Google Keyword planning tool.
2) Keywordtool.io
3) Buzzsumo - it's not a keyword tool, per se, but I like the social validation of certain keyword themes I have in mind.

#49. Joe Putnam (iSpionage)

The three tools I would use for keyword research are:

1) iSpionage
2) KWFinder
3) Google Keyword Planner

#50. Shane Melaugh (IM Impact)

I'd use SEOcockpit and I really don't know if there's anything else I'd need in addition.

#51. Zac Johnson (zacjohnson.com)

1) SEMrush
2) Longtail PRO
3) SEO Powersuite

#52. Jason Acidre (Xight Interactive)

1) SEMRush - their pro version can certainly provide a lot of useful data (which can help you lead to practical insights) in terms of keyword research and competitive intelligence.

2) Google Keyword Planner - I'd also suggest Keyword.io, they have tons of other relevant suggestions (based on Google and Youtube's autocomplete search/suggest feature.

3) Google Analytics - really useful especially when you've already built enough traffic to better understand user behavior for certain key terms you're aiming to get more value from (particularly long-tail keywords).

#53. Ann Smarty (Viral Content Buzz)

1) WordTracker
2) SpyFu
3) SEOtools

#54. Ryan Stewart (Webris)

1) SEMrush
2) Google Keyword Tool
3) Google Analytics (Queries and Search Terms report)

#55. AJ Ghergich (ghergich.com)

1) SEMrush
2) Google Keyword Tool
3) Keyword Tool.io

#56. Wade McMaster (Design Web Identity) 

1) SEMrush
2) Google Keyword Tool
3) Google Search

#57. Jan-Willem Bobbink (notprovided.eu)

1) SEMrush
2) SearchMetrics
3. Keyword Tool.io

#58. Freddie Chatt (freddie.pro)

1) SEMRush
A great piece of kit for competitive analysis. Find out exactly what your competitors are ranking for and optimise your site to beat them. The tool is also great for finding keywords you didn't realise you rank for.

2) Google Keyword Planner
The original tool will always have its place. Providing the most recent and accurate (you hope) data that Google has. Also great for finding additional keywords by putting in competitors landing pages.

3) Keyword Eye Their question finder is simply awesome. Put in any keyword you want and it will find commonly searched keywords with that keyword in. A great way to find the searches potential customers are making, as well as what answers you need to provide for your products.

#59. Evgeniy Garkaviy (Online Strategist at Hopespring)

1) Google Keyword Planner: This tools is fantastic because it can help me to identify long tail keywords for my niche. It is official Google’s tool and it has the recent trends and keyword variations. For example you may think that this keyword is great “buy ipad air in liverpool” but Google may suggest “iPad air sale Liverpool”. Yes, not often it is accurate but when I’m using it alongside the other tools – I can get clear idea.

2) SpyFu: I suggest to have paid account on SpyFu. I just need to find my competitors who using Adwords and review them using this tool. It will show me what ads and keywords they are using. Note that my competitor who paid for that particular keyword knows exactly that it is important for his business including recent trends. Also using SEO feature you can input any URL and find our which keywords they are ranking for.

3) Yandex Wordstat. It is very similar to Google Keyword planner. Yandex is Russian search engine but it does not mean that you can use it only for Russian keywords. In Russia many people use this search engine for US searches too. And Wordstat can show me what keywords they were using to find my niche.