Finding the right keywords can be difficult, especially if you’re just starting out. But finding the right keywords doesn’t have to be painful or expensive! There are plenty of free tools that allow you to use Google’s Keyword Planner tool without spending money. You can even use multiple tools at once to get the most accurate picture of your targeted search terms so you know what topics to write about and which ones to avoid.
Why keyword Tools Are Important
While Google won’t tell you exactly how they rank pages, they do provide data that can help you make a better decision. Google’s official keyword tool is called AdWords Keyword Planner and gives you access to valuable data like search volume, top-of-page bid estimates, and estimated traffic potential.
In addition, there are plenty of third-party tools that offer more advanced functionality like tracking search volume trends over time (Google Trends), regional distribution (Google Trends), and historical pricing information (SEMRush). All these resources are great for helping you figure out what keywords might be worth ranking to drive traffic and conversions for your business.
How Does This Tool Differ From Google's Keyword Planner?
The Google keyword planner is a solid starting point for any SEO. However, to take advantage of its capabilities, you need to already have at least a working idea of what keywords you want to rank for.
Additionally, if you're someone who wants a tool that provides a more detailed analysis of search volumes and costs per click then Google's free tool is also likely not going to cut it. The main difference between Google's free keyword planner and WordStream's free keyword planner is that WordStream's free tool provides greater functionality and detail when compared to Google's free tool,
(e.g., In addition, WordStream includes suggestions based on actual user behavior and can pull search volume data from numerous sources).
What Kind of Data Will I Get From Using This Tool?
One of the great things about Google’s keyword planner is that it gives you free access to their AdWords Keyword Research tool. The data generated by these keywords will help you gauge both demand and competition, while also giving you a sense of how difficult it would be to rank for each keyword.
So, let’s say one of our hypothetical keywords was blue widget—this looks like a pretty popular search term and is relatively easy to rank for (as long as your site has decent link profiles). This might tell us we can spend more time on other difficult keywords with longer tail searches because our chances of ranking for the blue widgets are much higher.
How Much Does it Cost?
The free version of Google’s keyword planner tool. That’s not too shabby if you’re just trying to run a few searches to pick out some keywords for an existing piece of content, but it might prove frustrating if you have more complex SEO needs—such as an entire keyword research campaign.
On top of that, some experts say that Google’s keyword volume estimates are off. Others aren't so sure. Either way, there are better tools available both within and outside of AdWords that do a much better job estimating search volume—so why limit yourself to Google's free offering?
Why Should I Use This Over Google's Version?
Google's keyword planner is a very useful tool, but it doesn't have access to all of Google's search data. This means that it can't tell you what people actually search for in any given location at any given time. What it can do (and does well) is show you popular search terms across all locations and times. That said, if you're trying to get traffic in a specific area with a targeted audience,
Google won't be much help—but keyword tool IO will! Whether or not you use Google AdWords, using their keyword planner and volume estimates are good practice when optimizing your site for keywords and helping gauge how much competition there is for certain terms as well as give some ideas about which ones might be worth going after for more traffic.
What Can I Do With All This Data Once I Have it?
If you've started building an SEO strategy, a Google Keyword Planner is a great way to dive deeper into keywords and identify not only demand but specific volume as well. The tool is free, but it's also powerful in that it can help establish whether or not enough searches are being made for certain keywords in specific locations.
A good example would be locating water purification systems as a set of keywords, then checking location-specific search volume data within Google AdWords (also free). You could then see if there are enough searches from Boston (or wherever) necessary for that product before investing in paid ads.
Is There Any Fee To Use This Tool?
Yes and no. Google charges for additional data when you access their full suite of keyword tools, but we’re not talking about them here. The Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that gives you tons of information on search volume and potential CPC, so it’s totally legit and really useful if you know how to use it right.
Plus, if you’re just looking at local results or conducting research on a single project (as opposed to monthly or even quarterly), there won’t be an additional fee tacked onto using these keywords.
Other Important Points To Note
Now, let's go ahead and get started with it. Let's go ahead and open up our Google Keyword Planner tool. The first thing you'll see here is our list of tools that are available for us. This is really great and we have all kinds of different tools here for us.
First off, you'll notice right away that if you want a free way to do keyword research, which is what I'm talking about today, then we're going to click on Keyword Research right here at the top-left of our Google Search box, which will open up a tab titled Keyword Research in another window.
