Google Keyword Planner vs. Other Keyword Tools
If you’re searching for a free Keyword Tool, then Google Keyword Planner is great. I compared it with many other free and paid tools for keywords, so now I can say which ones of all interesting keyword tools that I tested worth trying.
What keyword tools we will be talking?
We will discuss all types of keyword tools you can think of — tools for keyword research, keyword analysis, keyword search, keyword ideas, keyword comparison, and keyword competition.
What tools are here?
We will talk about: SECockpit, WordStream, Keywords Everywhere, Ubersuggest, Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, KWfinder, Long Tail Pro, Keysearch,Keyword Tool Dominator,Soovle, Keyword Surfer,AnswerThePublic and few more.
If you know some of these tools, but you would like to learn how they perform against some others, then click any of the names and you can skip the other info which is not interesting for you.
Who should read this?
If you are interested in SEO, marketing, research, blogging or content ideas you probably will find something useful here.
Google Keyword Planner is still free tool number one for me, and I use it for different things, but mainly for keywords ideas and keyword research.
As we know, the keyword planner by Google is not ideal, and this is why there are many other free and paid alternatives.
If you are using either Semrush or Ahrefs as all-in-one SEO tools, then I don’t think you will need any other tools to help you with keyword research.
Still, you might be interested in having a look at some of the useful free tools which could be used additionally as weapons in your arsenal.
Best Keyword tools comparison
I was planning to write about the keyword tools a long time ago, but there were few tools I had to test because I wanted to include them also in this list.
Of course, later is always better than never, so here we are.
1.Google Keyword Planner
Price: Free
General Impression: Good free tool for keyword research
There is not so much to say about Google keyword planner, especially if you compare it with some other tools for keywords research.
As I said above this is one of the tools I am regularly using because even if some useful functionalities are missing (present in other free and paid keyword tools), the Keyword Planner can still provide you with a bunch of helpful information.
Benefits from using Google Keyword Planner:
The first thing you should use the Keyword planner is to select suitable keywords if you have planned to run an Adwords campaign.
If you don’t plan to put some ads on Google, you can still use the Keyword Planner for other things, like for instance to find an interesting topic for your blog or additional keywords to include in your article.
Like any other tool for keyword research, the Keyword planner by Google can be a good source of inspiration and new ideas and a useful keyword suggestion tool.
With this tool, you can find less competitive keywords, but because of the provided data essential as individual numbers, but in ranges instead(i.e., 0–10, 10–100, 100–1000, etc.)a precise analysis is impossible.
When you do research, then the average monthly volume of searched words in Google could be beneficial.
If you have found the interesting topic to write about checking the approximate quantities of the monthly searched keywords can help you to identify if this what you are planning to write for will be interesting for the crowd.
Also, Keyword Planner allows to include in such research even old data, so as a user you can see the average search phrase volume for the period from 2004 onwards. (Wow!)
Another benefit is the keywords forecasts, which suggest how given words might perform in the future, based on statistics and other historical data.
The Keyword Planner is a handy tool, which I think people often underestimate. Based on what I can find online about it, it seems not many people are using it.
Not many other keyword tools have such an option or metrics for future forecasts.
Finally, you can compare the pricing for particular advertising keywords. Higher pricing means high competition among advertisers for given search words or phrases.
Example: How I used Google Keyword Planner for researching this topic?
I entered keywords to research the topic we are talking about now, and I used as an input the following 9 keywords:
- keyword research
- keywords
- best keywords
- keyword finder
- find keyword tool
- keyword
- keywords research tool
- keyword search tool
- keyword idea
Google keyword Planner found 1391 “Broadly related ideas” and 1159 “Closely related ideas.”
Not bad at all, especially for a free keyword tool.
I was able to see the average figures for monthly search volume, so I could pick up easily part of the keywords that I was planning to include in my present post.
My verdict about Google Keyword Planner:
A Great tool if you can use it properly. You must try it and then you can compare it with any other keyword tool.
2.Google Trends
Price: Free
General Impression: Good free tool that can be used for keyword research.
Benefits of using Google Trends: You can use Google Trends to find out what is trending topic at the moment and compare how the searches for given keywords have changed for some time.
Google Trends can be useful for people who do keyword research, marketing specialists, advertisers, content creators, and SEO purposes.
Example:
How I used Google Trends for research about this topic?
I was able to compare the trends of the keywords I selected initially, and I discovered that the search phrases are ordered by interest (by online searches for a period from 2004 onwards) like this:
- keyword
- keywords
- keyword research
- keyword search tool
- best keywords
- keyword finder
- find keyword tool
- keywords research tool
- keyword idea
The above order represents the interest over time Worldwide, but if I wanted I can check it for a region or a country, as well. By the shape of the trends, I could find out which patterns are volatile, compared to others.
Additionally, Google Trends helps me to understand if certain search phrases are “exhausted” and if their trends are falling over time.
In other words, this keyword tool can be used together with Google Keyword Planner and help you to understand if in certain keywords there is a “potential” for the future.
One more function in Trends is “related searches” which is useful when I want to include more search terms in my research.
If you are a content creator and are looking to find what would be an interesting “evergreen topic,” for me Google Trends is the best free tool you should start with.
My verdict about Google Trends: A Great tool if you can use it.Must try it at least once.
3.SECockpit
Price: $39, $79 or $149 per month. You can test the tool for a week for free.
General Impression: Very comprehensive and high-quality paid tool for keyword research.
Benefits of using SECockpit: The tool is excellent and does exactly what is designed for research for keywords in every thinkable direction — keyword research, keyword analysis, keyword ideas, competition analysis, keywords organizing.
If you compare SECockpit with pretty much any other keyword tool, you will see the difference between the speeds for pulling and gathering the data.
SECockpit is not extremely fast.
Next thing is — you realize that the longer waiting worthed. With SECockpit you get Data and when I say “data” I mean details.
You can load your own keywords list which is super convenient. After the keyword analyses, you can download the data in .csv and .xls format.
When I downloaded the first batch of results I counted 45 different columns in the Excel table with info I have never dreamed of.
CPC and Monthly search volume (data pulled from Google Keyword planner)or the number of the words in a complex keyword certainly don’t seem to be very exciting for a keyword research tool, but Niche Value, Monthly search volume vs. Competition or info about the number of visitors and the backlinks of the first pages in SERP for certain keyword are a good start.
To continue further, I will mention also useful things about competitors research such as PA, DA (data from MoZ), Title KW, Domain KW, and URL KW, which show the Page Authority, Domain Authority, the number of the keywords in the title, domain name and the URL.
And about 30 more useful different pieces of data, which I am sure many of you will find very useful.
Example:
How I used SECockpit for keyword research about this topic?
I used the initially chosen nine keywords, as input data, and the tool came up with 1139 keywords suggestions in total.
Probably it wouldn’t be necessary to say that with all necessary competitive analyses and data for suggested key phrases was available in 45 different columns…
My verdict about SECockpit: An awesome paid keyword tool. Must try it at least once. SECcockpit, LongTailPro and KW FInder by Mangools, in my opinion, are strong competitors as excellent keyword tools with extended functionalities.
4.Ubersuggest
Price: Free
General Impression: Super useful free tool for keyword research.
Benefits of using Ubersuggest: The free Ubersuggest is another great keyword tool and even if it doesn’t have the capabilities of the paid SECockpit, does what you need from a reliable, straightforward tool for keyword research and competitive analysis — keyword volume, CPC and competition data.
The free Ubersuggest will give you keyword ideas, content ideas, long-tail phrases, and even seasonal trends for each given keyword.
Also, you can use the tool for competitive domain research and get for free the “top SEO pages report,” backlinks data and even traffic analyses.
I can see the new version of Ubersuggest lately has some more useful functions which were not present before.
Example:
How I used Ubersuggest for keyword research about this topic?
This useful tool can become even better if users can upload more than one keyword at a time. Another thingie which is missing here is the global data.
You can still get data for different countries though, which in most cases should be enough.
I used the initially chosen nine keywords, as input and got enough suggestions for my topic. Not as many as I expected, or as detailed as I wished, but I think data will be enough for almost any case.
This is what I got from Ubersuggest for my words:
1. For my search term “keyword” Ubersuggest provided me with 140 ideas, plus metrics for all words;
2. Against the entered query “keywords” I received 126 new suggestions and data about all words;
3. I received fresh SERP data and “0” zero suggestions for the search phrase “keyword research”;
4. My input “keyword search tool” ended up with 87 new keyword ideas and the respective analytics;
5. For my query “best keywords,” Ubersuggest sent me back 67 brand new suggestions;
6. The search phrase “keyword finder” ended up with 54 fresh suggestions from Ubersuggest;
7. When I used “find keyword tool” as a search word the keyword tool came back with 5 new words;
8. With search query “keywords research tool” I got 11 free keyword phrases;
9. For “keyword idea”, Ubersugest delivered ten new words;
In total for my nine search words, I had 500 new suggestions. I didn’t bother to remove duplicate words, but even if there are 50 fewer words, still this is one of the best free keyword tools you can find yet.
If you need more or global data, then you can start with the Keyword tool by Google.
First, gather the most interesting keywords and the related details by Keyword tool.
Afterward collect the remaining data such as actual volume, etc. with the help of Ubersuggest.
My verdict about Ubersuggest:
A lovely and very comprehensive free keyword tool, even if it is a bit slow for the time being.
My humble opinion is that you most probably will include it in your list of favorite keyword tools once you try it (because you’ll surely love it).
5.Keywords Everywhere
Price: Free
General Impression: Useful free browser extension for keyword research that provides flexibility.
Benefits of using KeyWords Everywhere: Keywords Everywhere work together with Ubersuggest and is a useful addon to my your browser.
The advantages of using are few — I can see the search volume of the keywords directly in Google Keywords Ads console, in the search field of my browser and at the same time to see keywords suggestions and their monthly volume.
This addon is an excellent addition to Ubersuggest tool and makes it quite flexible.
Example:
How I used Ubersuggest for keyword research about this topic?
It was effortless. Just typed the words in my browser recorded the words in the integrated into KeyWords Everywhere list(need to register, but it’s free) and then downloaded the data.
My verdict about KeyWords Everywhere: probably you will not buy a subscription for SECcockpit if you try Keywords Everywhere, because for most people the provided info will be more than enough for simple keyword research.
6.KW Finder
Price: $49, $69 or $129 per month, depending on your needs. You can test the tool for free.
General Impression: User-friendly keyword tool that provides all you might need for keyword research.
Benefits of using KW Finder: KW Finder is one of the five tools for digital research inside the toolset pack by Mangools.
The whole package includes Keyword research (KWFinder is inside), SERP analysis, Website analysis, Rank tracking, Backlink analysis.
KW Finder is on this list because it is one of the best keyword tools you can find. Easy to use, with a user-friendly interface KWFinder is one of my favorites for a couple of reasons — it is fast, it provides you quickly with keyword ideas and keyword metrics and as I said it’s simple to work with.
If you have never used other tool for keyword research, you can try the free Ubersuggest and then compare it with the KWFInder by Mangools. Ubersuggest is a brilliant keyword tool and also quite simple to use it, but I prefer KWFinder.
Among the options, you have in KWFinder are Keyword research, SERP metrics, Search volumes and trends and Keyword metrics. As with other tools you can manipulate the extracted data by Filtering, creating Keyword lists and Export results.
One of the important functionalities which I find quite useful and doesn’t exist in free tools such as Google Trends, Ubbersuggest, and Google Keyword finder is the option to import a list of keywords.
This convenient option exists in SECockpit (limit 100 words) and KWFInder (limit 200 keywords or search phrases).
Other useful options of KW Finder are the Autocomplete and Question keyword searches, which also exist in other keyword tools.
Example:
How I used KWFinder for keyword research about this topic?
Imported my list with nine words and received a report with suggestions and metrics immediately. You can group and save results, which is possible in all other paid keyword tools mentioned here.
My verdict about KWFInder:
Great paid tool for keywords research with many other functionalities under the same roof.
Mangools’ toolset is not as powerful as multifunctional tools such as SemRush, AhRefs or MoZ.
However, unless you are working in an SEO agency, you most probably will not need other tools for keywords research or SEO.
7.Long Tail Pro
Price: $37, $67 or $147 per month, depending on your needs. You can test the tool for ten days for $1.
General Impression: Quite useful keyword toolset that provides all you might need to rank your website and pages high in SERPs.
Benefits of using Long Tail Pro: When I used Longtail Pro for keyword research I managed to find in a few minutes the most competitive keywords and phrases.
As the name of the SEO keyword tool suggests here priority are the long tail keywords, but of course, you can use it to find also metrics for short keywords too.
One of the great benefits of Longtail Pro is apart from generating long tail keyword ideas; users can conduct a competitive analysis of the top sites that appear in the Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs)for particular search phrases and put them against their website.
Useful tools included in the toolbox of Long TailPro are the Rank Tracker and Backlink Analysis.
Metrics such as keyword difficulty exist in all other paid tools for keywords research, but here instead of PA and DA (MoZ data), you will see Trust Flow, Citation Flow.
Additional figures from LongTail Pro include data for competitive analyses such as Site Age and Referring Domains.
This means Long Tail Pro can help you to take advantage of the weaknesses of your competitors’ and dominate them.
With the help of this useful keyword tool, you can plan your SEO strategy and improve your webpages ranking.
Example:
How I used Long Tail Pro for keyword research about this topic?
You can input up to 5 keywords in the search query for keyword analysis, and when you press the Search button, the tool comes back shortly with up to 400 suggestions per word.
For testing purposes, without much spend time, I received from Long TailPro a massive list of 4993 Keywords.
The ultimate winner for collecting keyword suggestions and competitive analyses for them just in one run.
Compared with other tools for keywords research with Long TailPro, you can build up a massive list of suitable and low-competitive keywords.
The returned results contain Keyword Competitiveness value, the number of the words in every keyword, Competition value and Rank value (which you can adjust as per your needs).
My verdict about Long Tail Pro: Long Tail Pro is one of most useful SEO keyword tools that can help you to find quickly less competitive keywords, new ideas for your blog or to discover ways to beat your online competition as you can get a glimpse of their keyword strategy.
Besides, regardless of your business or niche, you can use Long Tail Pro to improve your SEO strategy and receive high-converting online traffic.
8. WordStream Keyword Tool
Price: Free and Paid. Free to give it a try. There is also paid membership on WordStream’s platform;
General Impression: WordStream Keyword Tool is a handy tool that will provide you with basic keyword insights and will give you hundreds of keywords in no time.
In fact, WordStream software has many other functionalities apart from keyword research and is more oriented to larger clients such as SEO and marketing agencies.
However, there is a bunch of free tools that are good to try, even if they have some limitations.
Most paid tools have them as well.
These tools include Free Keyword Tool, Negative Keyword Tool, Keyword Generator, Free Keyword Research Tool, Keyword Grouper, and Keyword Niche Finder.
Benefits of using WordStream Keyword Tool
This tool will be excellent in case you want to take advantage of online marketing. If you plan to use Google Ads this comprehensive keyword tool can save you money.
Example:
How I used the Word Stream Keyword Tool for keyword research about this topic?
For the search phrase “keyword”, WordStream returned 551 results, which is a massive amount of keywords in one spin. One of the ads for this tool promises that can get more keywords than Ubersuggest.
Well, it really does.
My verdict about WordStream Free Keyword Tool: I have only used the free version of this tool yet, but the free version is great for quick and comprehensive keyword research.
9. Keysearch
Price: Free (limited), Paid Plans Available
General Impression: A comprehensive yet user-friendly tool that caters to a wide range of keyword research needs.
Benefits of Using Keysearch: Keysearch offers detailed competitor analysis, keyword monitoring, and tools for specific platforms like YouTube and Amazon, which are not as detailed in Google Keyword Planner. It’s particularly useful for users requiring depth in their research and ongoing keyword performance tracking, surpassing Google’s planner in functionality and user experience.
Example: When conducting keyword research for a new marketing campaign, Keysearch provided extensive data on keyword efficiency and competitor keyword strategy, which are less accessible through Google Keyword Planner.
10. Keyword Tool Dominator
Price: Free (limited features), Paid
General Impression: Ideal for e-commerce marketers, this tool specializes in finding long-tail keywords across various shopping platforms.
Benefits of Using Keyword Tool Dominator: This tool shines in niche market analysis, particularly for platforms like Amazon, eBay, and Etsy. Google Keyword Planner focuses more broadly and doesn’t cater as specifically to e-commerce needs. Keyword Tool Dominator helps uncover hidden opportunities in specific market segments.
Example: Exploring keywords for an online store, the tool provided unique insights into niche product keywords that Google Keyword Planner did not identify.
11. Soovle
Price: Free
General Impression: Provides quick keyword suggestions from multiple sources in one easy-to-use interface.
Benefits of Using Soovle: Soovle is excellent for gathering instant keyword ideas from various sources like Google, YouTube, Amazon, and more, all displayed in one view. This offers a broader perspective than Google Keyword Planner, making it ideal for brainstorming and initial keyword discovery phases.
Example: Looking for broad keyword ideas for a blog, Soovle offered real-time suggestions from multiple platforms, quickly expanding the scope of potential content topics.
12. Keyword Surfer
Price: Free
General Impression: A convenient Chrome extension that integrates directly with Google Search, showing keyword data in real-time.
Benefits of Using Keyword Surfer: Unlike Google Keyword Planner, which requires you to access a separate tool, Keyword Surfer delivers search volume, CPC, and related keywords right in your browser as you perform searches. This immediacy and convenience make it a fantastic tool for quick searches and comparative analysis.
Example: While searching for trending topics, Keyword Surfer provided immediate data on search trends and volume without leaving the search page.
13. AnswerThePublic
Price: Free (basic), Paid (Pro features)
General Impression: Visually engaging tool that maps out search queries and questions related to your keywords.
Benefits of Using AnswerThePublic: This tool provides visualizations of questions and prepositions associated with keywords, which is a feature not available in Google Keyword Planner. It’s particularly useful for content creators looking to address specific user queries and improve SEO based on search intent.
Example: For content planning around “sustainable gardening,” AnswerThePublic presented a range of questions and topics that people are actively searching for, which helped in crafting targeted content that addresses real-world concerns.
Final verdict for all tools in this list
All tools presented here are great keyword tools.
What and how you plan to use them is up to you and your needs. I can’t recommend one more over another, because I like them all.
Each one of these tools has benefits and some details to be improved even more, but compared with hundreds of other available keywords tools, I am sure you won’t be able to find something which is much better than these keyword tools mentioned in this niche.
SemRush, Ahrefs, and MoZ
SemRush and AhRefs are among my favorite all-in-one tools for SEO.
I prefer them in comparison for MoZ, but anyway-all these three advanced tools have own sections for keyword analytics.
I said above that if you are using one of these complex SEO tools you won’t need to look for a separate keyword tool.
As you can see pricing of all tools for keywords analysis have lower and more affordable pricing compared to MoZ, SemRush or Ahrefs.
I don’t know if you agree, but at the end of the day, I think this is fair enough.
On another hand, if a tool such as KW Finder, SECockpit or LongTail Pro that provide several functionalities apart from the keyword analytics, sometimes could be a better choice.
The Best Tool for Keywords Research
The sophisticated tools for SEO usually have more capabilities and integrated functions. For me, a good tool is a tool which meets my needs and has a decent/affordable price.
It all depends on what you need.
These are the best keywords tools in my opinion.
Do you have your favorite keyword research tools already and what are their names?