The 10 best keyword research tools

Getting your business to rank isn’t a matter of luck, among other factors, it depends on optimizing your website with the right keywords (the same ones your potential customers and competitors are using). But the only way to find those keywords is by using specialized tools, and not all of them will work for you.

Choosing the right one can be quite the challenge, so we’ve put together a ranking of the best keyword research tools. Take a look and you’ll know exactly where to start when picking a tool that truly fits your needs.

1. Semrush

Semrush is the most comprehensive keyword research tool you can use today. It lets you search for keywords, find the ones that work for your competitors (both organic and paid), filter them by search intent or difficulty, and group them into lists.

Its database is massive and constantly growing, so you won’t have trouble finding the keywords your potential customers are using.

Pros

• It’s a complete and versatile option, you’re not just paying for keyword research. With Semrush, you get access to an all-in-one marketing suite.
• It has an enormous database, so you’ll almost always find relevant keywords with accurate data.

Cons

• It can have a steep learning curve at first, since it offers so many features and options.
• It’s quite expensive for most budgets.

Semrush

Type:

Tool

Language:

English, Spanish, French

Tags:

SEO, Link Building, SEM

139,00

€ / Month

Go to site

2. Ahrefs

Although Ahrefs is best known as one of the top link building tools, it actually offers features that cover every aspect of SEO. That’s why you can also use it to perform keyword research, identify the keywords your competitors are ranking for, and even discover new keyword ideas through topic and content analysis.

Pros

• It allows you to perform highly advanced, granular, and in-depth keyword searches, whether starting from scratch or analyzing the topics and content that are working for your competitors or within your industry.
• Its metrics and data are highly reliable, and its database easily rivals other giants like Semrush.

Cons

• It has a steep learning curve, especially since it’s designed for more technical users and SEO specialists.
• It’s quite expensive, so it may not fit every budget.

Ahrefs

Type:

Tool

Language:

English, Spanish

Tags:

SEO, Link Building, Local SEO

129,00

€ / Month

Go to site

3. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is a marketing suite that, much like Semrush, offers features for both organic positioning and paid advertising. Its keyword research section helps you find keywords with all the data you need. It also includes some very interesting functions, such as automatic filters to find only long-tail keywords and the ability to group them into content clusters.

Pros

• It offers the best price-to-quality ratio on the market, it’s hard to find an SEO and marketing suite like SE Ranking at such competitive prices.
• It’s more intuitive and user-friendly than other options, yet still extremely powerful and effective.

Cons

• Its database may be somewhat smaller than those of industry leaders like Semrush or Ahrefs.

SE Ranking

Type:

Tool

Language:

German, English, Spanish

Tags:

SEO, Link Building, Local SEO

65,00

€ / Month

Go to site

4. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is the go-to keyword research tool, in fact, it’s the source of much of the data used by many other SEO tools.

Developed by Google itself, it’s designed to help you identify the keywords you could use for your advertising campaigns. Still, it’s an invaluable resource for SEO as well. Its data is highly accurate, and its keyword suggestions come straight from Google’s massive databases, so you know they’re reliable.

Pros

• It’s 100% free, you just need a Google Ads account to access it.
• It gives you direct access to Google’s own data, so you’ll almost always get plenty of keyword suggestions.

Cons

• It’s more focused on advertising than SEO, so it can be somewhat limited depending on your needs
• Although it provides a lot of free data, it doesn’t show certain metrics such as search intent, SEO difficulty, or similar insights.

Google Keyword Planner

Type:

Tool

Language:

English, Spanish

Tags:

SEO, PPC, SEM

Free

Go to site

5. Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is an affordable all-in-one SEO tool with dedicated sections for keyword research. It allows you to search for keywords, find related terms, and even analyze them in bulk. It offers all the essentials for discovering strong keywords, at an unbeatable price.

Pros

• It’s one of the most affordable keyword research tools you’ll find.
• Despite being a low-cost option, its data is impressively accurate.

Cons

• It’s much more limited compared to more robust options like Semrush or SE Ranking.

Ubersuggest

Type:

Tool

Language:

English, Spanish, French

Tags:

SEO

20,00

€ / Month

Go to site

6. KeySearch

Sometimes, all you need is a simple tool that does one thing, and does it well. That’s exactly what KeySearch offers: an easy-to-use keyword research tool focused almost entirely on that single task. It provides essential data like search volume, CPC, and trends, and analyzes ranked websites to help you understand how to improve your positioning.

Pros

• It’s an affordable yet powerful option that uses AI features to find keywords and identify the best ones for your business.
• Based on keyword analysis, it can suggest what kind of content to create and how to structure it.

Cons

• Beyond English, its database isn’t as comprehensive.

KeySearch

Type:

Tool

Language:

English

Tags:

SEO

24,00

€ / Month

Go to site

7. Keyword Insights

There are plenty of keyword research tools out there, and then there’s Keyword Insights, one of the most robust, comprehensive, and versatile options for discovering keywords. Beyond covering the basics, Keyword Insights also offers advanced features like clustering your keywords so you know which groups to target within a single piece of content, or generating full content structures based on what’s already ranking.

Pros

• Its clustering feature is one of the most advanced in the industry. It directly analyzes Google’s results to tell you which keywords should be grouped on the same page.
• It pulls much of its data from real-time sources (like Google Autocomplete and Reddit), so its keyword suggestions tend to be more accurate and effective.

Cons

• Many of its features work best when searching for keywords in English.
• It’s a bit more expensive and focuses almost entirely on keyword research, so you may still need other tools for different SEO tasks.

8. LowFruits

There are keywords that are nearly impossible for most websites to rank for, and others that even small sites can target successfully. LowFruits is a keyword research tool specialized in identifying those easier-to-rank keywords, helping your site find real opportunities to rank. It doesn’t just help you find keywords; it also analyzes Google’s results to determine how easy (or hard) they are to rank for.

Pros

• Its ability to detect easy-to-rank keywords is highly accurate and goes beyond the simple difficulty scores that even tools like Semrush can sometimes misjudge.
• It’s affordably priced considering everything it offers.

Cons

• It’s not as versatile as all-in-one options like SE Ranking, Semrush, or Ahrefs.

LowFruits

Type:

Tool

Language:

English

Tags:

SEO

29,90

€ / Month

Go to site

Consejo de experto

One of the biggest mistakes in many SEO strategies is trying to rank for a keyword without first checking its difficulty.

In most cases, when developing their strategies, specialists rely too heavily on the difficulty metrics provided by their SEO tools, which are almost never accurate.

LowFruits solves this with a refined feature that takes into account more factors than usual, allowing it to measure a keyword’s true difficulty more reliably.

However, it’s not the only option out there, at Linkatomic (one of the best link building platforms), you’ll find a keyword difficulty checker that lets you know just how rankable a keyword really is.

Laura García

Gestora de campañas de SEO y Link Building

9. Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is an SEO browser extension that lets you perform keyword research directly from your browser. Once installed, it displays keyword suggestions and metrics right within search engines like Google or YouTube. It can even enhance the data you get from tools like Google Search Console.

Pros

• It’s one of the most affordable options for keyword research.
• It can save you a lot of time by showing keyword suggestions as you browse Google or YouTube.

Cons

• It’s a fairly modest solution, if you need deeper, more detailed keyword research, Keywords Everywhere won’t be enough.

Keywords Everywhere

Type:

Extension for Chrome

Language:

English

Tags:

SEO, PPC

60,00

€ / Year

Go to site

10. SEMSCoop

SEMSCoop is an SEO and SEM tool that lets you perform keyword research, but with an important extra: it analyzes the SERPs to see what’s ranking for each suggested keyword, helping you assess the strength of the ranked pages and the quality of their content.

As a result, it gives you plenty of data to understand what kind of competition you’re up against and how strong your website will need to be to outrank it.

Pros

• The combination of competitor analysis and keyword data provides tons of insights to help you choose your keywords wisely.
• It’s a relatively affordable tool.

Cons

• It’s entirely focused on keyword research, and its plans are somewhat limited, even for occasional use.

SEMSCoop

Type:

Tool

Language:

English

Tags:

SEO, SEM

15,00

€ / Month

Go to site

What are the best FREE keyword research tools?

1. Google Keyword Planner: Google Ads’ own keyword research tool. Its free version has some data limitations, but what it provides is usually more than enough.
2. Keyword Sheeter: A tool that can generate hundreds or even thousands of keyword ideas pulled directly from Google’s autocomplete suggestions.
3. Google Search Console: Few tools are more reliable when it comes to understanding which keywords your site is already ranking for and how they impact your organic performance.
4. Google Trends: While not strictly a keyword research tool, it lets you explore topics, queries, and phrases your potential customers are searching for, helping you uncover high-potential keywords.
5. Keyword Tool: The free version of this tool lets you find plenty of keywords extracted directly from Google’s search suggestions.

Which keyword research tools are the most comprehensive?

Without a doubt, the most comprehensive keyword research tools are Semrush and Ahrefs, closely followed by more affordable options like SE Ranking. As all-in-one platforms, they offer far more features than most keyword research tools, while also working with much larger databases, something essential when it comes to keyword searches.

How can you know which keyword research tool is right for you?

To choose the keyword research tool that suits you best, consider both your budget and what you expect to accomplish with the tool. Options like Semrush offer more features and cover a wider range of SEO tasks, but if you only need something basic, alternatives like Ubersuggest might be a better fit.

Also, don’t overlook the accuracy of the tool, you’ll want the data it provides to be trustworthy.

On top of that, make sure the tool has good keyword coverage in your target language. There’s no point paying for a tool that can’t give you reliable suggestions for the language or country you’re targeting.

Conclusions

Keywords are one of the pillars of organic positioning on Google, so knowing how to research them, and having the right keyword research tool, is critical to achieving real results with your SEO strategy.

Now that you know the main keyword research tools, you have a clear starting point and a better idea of which options to consider when looking for the perfect keywords.