(408) 384-8290 Erica@seoforleadgen.com

Ever wondered what tool you should use to help with your keyword research? We pulled together the top SEO keyword research tools so you can put into motion strategic keyword research. When you take advantage of these tools, you can blog or create content that pulls organic traffic to your business.

1- Best Keyword Research Tools: Answer the Public

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Answer-the-Public
Best Keyword Research tools: Answer the Public

About:
Answer the Public is a one-of-a-kind tool that brings a visual representation of potential search questions based on autocomplete data from Google and Bing, Answer the Public is a keyword tool that visualizes search questions and suggested autocomplete searches in an image called a search cloud. Categories consist of the 5 Ws, plus ‘how’, ‘can’, ‘are’, ‘which’, and ‘will’.

You can run a limited number of daily searches as a free user. The Pro plan costs $99/month for unlimited searches and advanced functionality.

2- Best Keyword Research Tools: Ubersuggest

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Ubersuggest
Best Keyword Research tools: Ubersuggest

About:
Ubersuggest is one of the greatest SEO tools designed to generate new keyword ideas. Ubersuggest was originally created as a tool for removing Google’s suggested terms, “Keyword Ideas” is the feature that put the original Ubersuggest on the map. And it still works amazing. Neil Patel keeps adding functionality including a version as a chrome extension. Even if you have a different keyword tool, this one is worth having alongside for comparison.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Ubersuggest
Best Keyword Research Tools: Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is totally free to use as well although they ask for an opt-in after a few searches.

3- Best Keyword Research Tools: Spyfu

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-spyfu
Best Keyword Research Tools: Spyfu

About:
SpyFu is a great tool for many reasons, such as it analyzes your competitors’ websites and advertising campaigns to show you how they’re performing, what keywords they rank for, and more. If you want to go beyond the information displayed in their online dashboard you can request a comprehensive PDF report.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Spyfu
Best Keyword Research Tools: Spyfu

The free version of the SpyFu tool allows unlimited searches but offers limited data.

4- Best Keyword Research Tools: Wordstream

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-wordstream
Best Keyword Research Tools: WordStream

About:
WordStream tool is a strong tool to do your keyword research, and one of the best alternatives for Wordtracker.
Using the WordStream Keyword Tool, you can target specific topics to provide you with more suggestions, and you can also group them according to general themes to facilitate ad group startup, WordStream’s free keyword tool allows you to quickly and easily find the keywords your business needs to attract traffic through natural and paid searches.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-WordStream
Best Keyword Research Tools: WordStream

This keyword research tool gives you 30 searches for free, after that you’ll have to sign up for their WordStream Advisor to use it additionally. You can also get a free 7-day trial on top of the 30 free searches you already did!

5- Best Keyword Research Tools: Soovle

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-soovle
Best Keyword Research Tools: Soovle


Soovle is on high on the list as one of the best tools. It is a customizable engine that gathers advice services from all major providers in one place: Google, Bing, Amazon, Answers.com, Yahoo, Wikipedia, Youtube.  This tool could be the main help for search and content creation inspiration.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-soovle
Best Keyword Research Tools: Soovle

Not only is it a great keyword research tool to use, but it’s also a great brainstormer as you can slowly start typing in your ideas and allow it to auto-generate its own ideas and it is totally free to use, also don’t forget to search ways you can play with it.

6- Best Keyword Research Tools: Google Keyword Planner

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Google-Keyword-Planner
Best Keyword Research Tools: Google Keyword Planner

About:
I still remember when this was free. Now, it’s still free, but you have to create a potential ad campaign to access. The Keyword Planner, an amazing tool designed by Google, can help you research keywords for search campaigns. You can use this free tool to discover new keywords related to your business and see the estimated search volume they get and the cost of targeting those keywords. Keyword Planner also provides another way to create search campaigns centered on in-depth keyword research.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Google-Keyword-Planner
Best Keyword Research Tools: Google Keyword Planner

It doesn’t give you exact keyword suggestions but it actually takes it a step further and suggests more synonyms and variations than many other tools available and it is 100% free to use, with many benefits to get.

7- Best Keyword Research Tools: Keyword Surfer

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Keyword-surfer
Best Keyword Research Tools: Keyword Surfer

About:
Keyword Surfer is one of the best. It is a 100% free extension that allows you to view search volume directly in Google search results. After typing the target phrase and pressing Enter, you will find search volume, keyword suggestions, related terms, visibility indicators, and page data.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Keyword-Surfer
Best Keyword Research Tools: Keyword Surfer

On this basis, you can find the best keywords, determine their difficulty and plan your content. Every new search you conduct in Google, you will get valuable content and SEO strategy data. And with Keyword surfer being 100% free it makes it a very useful tool to keep on your daily google searches. Unless you get annoyed by the “in your face” aspect of it being part of your browser. Otherwise, it rocks.

8- Best Keyword Tool: Keyword Tool

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Keyword-Tool
Best Keyword Research Tools: Keyword Tool

About:
The Keyword Tool is one of the most practical tools there is, and it comes with 2 versions, free and paid.
The free version of the Keyword Tool can generate more than 750 long-tail keyword suggestions for each search term. This Keyword Tool is very reliable because it can work 99.99% of the time, you can use the keyword tool completely free, even if you haven’t created an account.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Keyword-Tool
Best Keyword Research Tools: Keyword Tool

The Keyword Tool can help you discover thousands of new long-tail keywords related to any topic by automatically generating Google’s search suggestions. Keyword suggestions will be generated based on the Google domain and language you choose.

9- Best Keyword Research Tools: Wordtracker

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Wordtracker
Best Keyword Research Tools: Wordtracker

About:
Wordtracker Scout is an amazing free browser extension that allows every web page you visit to contain a large number of keyword ideas. You only need to click on the Wordtracker logo next to the search bar, and you can learn a lot about the SEO of the page and the keywords that can be used in marketing.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-wordtracker
Best Keyword Research Tools: Wordtracker

Wordtracker Scout is 100% free which makes it an amazing everyday extension, but you can still use it in conjunction with the premium Wordtracker tool for greater effect.

10- Best Keyword Research Tools: Google Trends

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Google-Trends
Best Keyword Research Tools: Google Trends

About:
Google Trends, which is one of the most well-known tools, allows you to view hot topics in various regions of the world. You can use this tool to outline the latest trending topics, explore search trends relevant to your industry, or find trends on specific topics.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Google-Trends
Best Keyword Research Tools: Google Trends

The trend chart has real-time data directly from Google, as well as a “search” option to view data from Google Images, Google Shopping, and YouTube. The “category” segment allows you to search for specific keywords on certain types of websites. And, and the fee is 100% free.

11- Best Keyword Research Tools: SEMrush

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-semrush
Best Keyword Research Tools: Semrush

About:
SEMrush is a very powerful tool suite that allows you to analyze the SEO of your website, research keywords, plan effective content and write appropriately optimized content. They provide multiple integrations with Google to provide you with the most comprehensive site diagnosis. It’s great for competition analysis.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-semrush
Best Keyword Research Tools: Semrush

SEMrush allows you to use all of their tools for free, but you can only make ten requests per day. You are also only allowed to create an SEO dashboard for one website, but that still puts it on the list as one of the best free keyword tools.

12- Best Keyword Research Tools: Serpstat

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Serpstat
Best Keyword Research Tools: SerpStat

About:
Serpstat is one of the best keyword tools that provide instant, detailed analysis of keywords. Their easy-to-read report shows search volume, keyword difficulty, ranking page for that keyword, and more. Graphics and other visual tools make this data easy to digest and understand. Serpstat comes with special tools for different types of research which will help you in any type of task.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Serpstat
Best Keyword Research Tools: SerpStat

Non-registered users can do up to ten free daily searches with Serpstat. Registered users can do up to 30 daily searches for free.

13- Best Keyword Research Tools: Infinite Suggest (Rank Tank)

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-infinite-suggest-rank-tank
Best Keyword Research Tools: Infinite Suggest

About:
InfiniteSuggest is one of the best 100% free tools there is, it will give you a list of keywords for free based on the keyword you enter. Unfortunately, it does not give you any search volume, but you can expand your keyword list for free. There is no limit to the number of searches you can do, and a single search can return you 300+ keywords. If you use it along with SearchVolume.io, it can be a great tool for you to use.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Infinite-suggest-rank-tank
Best Keyword Research Tools: Infinite Suggest

14. Best Keyword Research Tools: SearchVolume.io


SearchVolume.io allows you to enter up to 800 keywords and you can find the search volume for the keywords you enter. It is a completely free keyword search volume tool and you can export the keywords you enter along with the search volume.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Search-Volume
Best Keyword Research Tools: Search Volume

15- Best Keyword Research Tools: AdWord & SEO Keyword Permutation Generator

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-AdWord-SEO-Keyword-Permutation-Generator
Best Keyword Research Tools: AdWord SEO Keyword Permutation Generator

About:
AdWord and SEO Keyword Permutation Generator is a great tool designed to help you find keyword variations. You can insert up to three keyword lists, and the generator will combine your listed keywords in a variety of different ways to provide you with a series of alternative arrangements.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-AdWord-SEO-Keyword-Permutation-Generator
Best Keyword Research Tools: AdWord SEO Keyword Permutation Generator

This is the simplest tool on this list, but it’s also one of the most powerful, being 100% free and allowing you to create permutations for hundreds of keywords at a time, makes it a great brainstorming tool for different keyword arrangements.

16- Best Keyword Reserach Tools: Hypersuggest

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-HyperSuggest
Best Keyword Research Tools: Hyper Suggest

About:
HyperSuggest is a free keyword tool that allows you to search Google, questions, pictures, Amazon, eBay, shopping, YouTube, Instagram, and news. With the free version, you can find various keywords, which will bring you potential search volume.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-HyperSuggest
Best Keyword Research Tools: Hyper Suggest

The free plan is somewhat limited and it will only show you 10 keywords, but it can be useful when you want to search keywords for YouTube and other sources besides Google.

17- Best Keyword Research Tools: Moz

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-moz
Best Keyword Research Tools: Moz

About:
Moz is one of the most popular websites in the SEO industry, and that is because it has a wide variety of SEO tools from free tools to paid tools, the Moz Keyword explorer will analyze keywords by search volume, and Generate and save keyword lists, you will be able to export your data as well, Find keywords in a question format and much more. You can depend on Moz to give you fantastic reporting and in-depth analysis of your competitors.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Moz
Best Keyword Research Tools: Moz

The Moz Keyword Explorer is free to use at any time, but you can also get the chance to use the pro version of Moz for a free 30-day trial, which includes all the amazing tools and features for your SEO.

18- Best Keyword Research Tools: Keyword Hero

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Keyword-Hero
Best Keyword Research Tools: Keyword Hero

About:
Keyword Hero is the only solution in the world to add organic keywords back to Google Analytics. It is the most comprehensive SEO tool and is fully integrated into Google Analytics. You will not only see keywords, but also the semantic clusters they belong to, brand and non-brand, click-through rate, etc.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-Keyword-Hero
Best Keyword Research Tools: Keyword Hero

You can try Keyword Hero for free, they also have a wide range of plans to suit your need, including the free plan which gives you the ability to analyze up to 2000 sessions.

19- Best Keyword Research Tools: ahrefs

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-ahrefs
Best Keyword Research Tools: ahrefs

About:
ahrefs is an SEO software suite that contains tools for link building, keyword research, competitor analysis, rank tracking, and site audits. Most of the features inside of Ahrefs are designed for marketing professionals.

If you had to choose one tool, and it was alright to pay monthly, ahrefs is by far the best for keyword research. You can select different numbers of searches; measure commercial intent; and they keep adding new functionality around “words like this one,” that expand to new keywords. You can also check out the keywords your competition uses and define the gap — that is, identify competitor keywords that you don’t rank for. It’s a precious tool in your SEO toolkit.

best-keyword-tools-seo-for-lead-gen-ahrefs
Best Keyword Research Tools: ahrefs

Ahrefs’ pricing depends on the plan that you choose. And whether you go with monthly or annual billing, While Ahrefs doesn’t currently offer a free trial, they do have a 7-day trial for $7.

In Conclusion

Keyword research can be intimidating. Don’t let it get you down! Start somewhere. Start looking at difficulty, popularity (numbers of searches) and cost per click. Ideal beginning phrases or keywords are not too difficult, have plenty of searches, and are valuable or have commercial intent. Once you’ve chosen your keyword strategy, you can begin to create blog posts and page content that responds to the needs of your audience.

If you get stuck with all of these tools, start typing in a keyword phrase and see what Google tries to auto-complete. They will auto-complete the most popular phrases. Just a little easy work-around in the event you start to glaze over with all of the keyword strategies contained here.

Plus don’t forget SEOforLeadGen is here to help you if you’d like some assistance. It’s free to schedule a demo, then pricing runs $2K to $10K per month for full fledged SEO programs.