There’s a lot that goes into building a successful business website. But whether you’re launching a new site or revamping an old one, it’s important that you spend enough time doing keyword research, and then, create a content calendar to work the right keywords into your website’s content. By doing the keyword research upfront, before you begin any work on your site, you can ensure that your content is properly planned out in order to maximize its SEO value.

Of course, the best way to do that research is with the right keyword research tool. There are many paid keyword research tools out there, but not everybody has the budget (especially if you’re just getting started) to invest in these tools. So, here’s a list of 10 free keyword research tools that you can use to choose the best keywords for your industry, create a content calendar, boost your search engine rankings, and more. Keep in mind that these tools are often more limited than their paid counterparts, but by using a combination of them, these keyword research tools can still be highly effective.

Google Keyword Planner

If you know anything about online marketing, you know that Google is the godfather of SEO. When you focus on ranking for a high-level keyword, you check on Google to see how your site is performing. But Google does more than just tell you how you’re performing for certain search terms. They have a keywords tool of their own, which can help you to rank higher in their search engine results page.

The Google Keyword Planner is one of the best tools you can use when launching a new site, as well as throughout your website’s growth and development. Since this is a Google keyword research tool, it pulls live results directly from their search engine, providing you with invaluable data for selecting your keywords.

All you have to do is enter a targeted keyword in the search box, and the Google Keyword Planner provides the rest. It will show you alternative keywords you can use (which is invaluable when targeting a high-level keyword), as well as the average monthly searches for those terms, where your competition sits on those results pages, and a suggested bid if you’re using AdWords to target those keywords.

While the Google Keyword Planner might not go above and beyond the call of duty, it does provide all of the essentials in a clear, concise manner, making it the number-one free keyword tool for business owners.

AdWord & SEO Keyword Permutation Generator

While its name might be a mouthful, this keyword research tool is exceptional at helping you uncover new keywords. If you already have a website with a fair amount of content, you’ve likely realized the importance of finding new keywords to use as you create a content calendar for your site. While targeting top keywords for your industry might work for a while, you really need to have some variety if you want to create quality content, as well as showing up in more results pages.

The AdWord & SEO Keyword Permutation Generator simply provides a set of fresh ideas that you can use for your list of targeted keywords. This keywords tool provides you with three empty boxes that you can type in. Simply enter relevant phrases into each of the boxes, hit “Generate Permutations,” and the permutation generator will spit out a long list of different combinations of those words and phrases. It sounds like a fairly simple thing, but when you’re struggling with keyword creativity, this keyword research tool is invaluable.

Google Correlate

Once again, as the godfather of SEO, Google is a great resource to turn to when you need advice on keyword research. But with the popularity of the Google Keyword Planner, there’s another free keyword tool they provide that often gets overlooked. It’s called Google Correlate, and it can be extremely powerful in helping you generate a large list of keywords.

In fact, if you’re looking to target long-tail keywords especially, you won’t find many keyword research tools that are more useful than Google Correlate. All you have to do is type in a keyword, then hit “Search correlations”. This keywords tool will then show you a long list of related phrases that people use when searching for that high-level keyword, as well as the popularity of those search terms.

This is one of the best keyword research tools you can turn to as you create a content calendar, because many of those correlations will show you exact topics that people are searching for. This can inspire several blog posts that provide the information your audience is looking for, and that kind of high-quality content will help you to rank higher for related terms as well.

IMforSMB Bulk Keyword Generator

This keywords tool won’t actually work for every business out there. However, it’s one of the best keyword research tools you can use if you’re a local service company. This tool was designed with the intent of targeting local keywords, which is a wise choice when your services are limited to a certain geography. If you’re looking for focus on optimizing your local SEO efforts, this is the keyword research tool you’ll want to use.

Start by selecting a category for your business, then check the types of service you provide, and enter your service location. Click “Generate Keywords,” and in seconds, you have a long list of locally targeted keywords to use in launching a new site or in expanding your site’s content.

Keyword In

This free keyword research tool is similar in its purpose to the AdWord & SEO Keyword Permutation Generator. It follows the same concept—enter a list of keywords into each of the provided boxes, and it will generate different combinations of those keywords. While not every result will be a golden one, you’ll likely end up with many new keywords to use on your website.

Keyword In is incredibly simple to use, and offers more boxes to ad keywords to than the Permutation Generator. This allows you to get more combinations of the entered words. It also allows you to select the “optional keyword” option on any of the boxes, so the generator can provide you with long-tail phrases that may or may not include a word from that box. So, you can get more customized results with this keywords tool.

Soovle

One common trick among marketers is to enter a keyword into Google, and see what autocomplete suggestions the search engine offers. If this is something you rely on for keyword or content topic ideas, then Soovle is going to be one of your favorite keyword research tools. This tool simply provides autocomplete suggestions from Google, as well as a number of other valuable sources like Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and even Amazon.

Just type a high-level keyword into the search box, and see what autocomplete suggestions the site provides. Use the icons below the search box to change what source you’re looking at. With just a little time, you’ll find a lot of suggestions that can inspire blog topics to create a content calendar, or new keywords to focus on when launching a new site. It’s a simple and efficient keyword research tool that you shouldn’t overlook.

Ubersuggest

It’s okay to rely heavily on the Google Keyword Planner to provide you with keywords and related data. But you should know that that tool alone doesn’t provide you with as much information as you might think. This is why it’s a good idea to pair that keywords tool with Ubersuggest.

So, the next time you check your keywords in the Google Keyword Planner, follow it up with a search for the same high-level keyword in Ubersuggest. You’ll receive a very long list of keywords—many of which wouldn’t show up on Google Keyword Planner. As an added bonus, the results on Ubersuggest are organized alphabetically, making it easier to review the list of results than it is in other keyword research tools.

Wordtracker Scout

As with any other aspect of your business, it’s important to know what your competition is doing for their SEO and keywords. Wordtracker Scout helps you to keep an eye on the competition with a very simple Chrome extension. After downloading the extension, just visit a competitor’s site and mouse over their content. Click the “W” button that appears, and it will generate a list of keywords for the webpage. The list is shown in a word cloud, making it easy to determine the volume and relevance of each word.

By adding Wordtracker Scout to your arsenal of keyword research tools, you’ll be able to better analyze what your competition is doing right, so that you can hope to emulate and, ultimately, outrank them.

WordStream Free Keyword Tool

WordStream offers a number of free tools, but their free keyword tool is probably one of the most valuable in their list. This tool is quite similar to the Google Keyword Planner, but offers a bit more in terms of user-friendliness. Not only will it provide a list of keyword suggestions based on the high-level keyword you enter, but it is specifically targeted at helping you to find a profitable niche in your industry—a feature you won’t find with other keyword research tools. Plus, as an added bonus, you can have all your keyword results sent directly to your inbox, if you’re willing to enter your email.

Unfortunately, WordStream’s free keyword tool only provides free keyword research for the first 30 searches. After that, you’ll have to pay for it. However, it’s a good way to get started if you’re launching a new site, need help to create a content calendar, or are still looking for a niche to occupy in your industry.

SEO Chat Suggestion Keyword Finder

The last of our keyword research tools is the SEO Chat Suggestion Keyword Finder. Again, this is a keywords tool that is focused on providing you with keyword suggestions that you might have overlooked. But what really makes this tool stand out is its three-level approach.

If you want very basic keyword suggestions (perfect if you’re just launching a new site), then you can perform a Level 1 search. If you want deeper insight and more varied suggestions, you’ll want to try a Level 2 search. And finally, if you really want to drill down into keyword results, you can give the Level 3 search a try—a good idea for getting varied keywords to help you create a content calendar with unique topics.

While the first two levels of search may provide you with very similar results to other keyword research tools, the Level 3 search can really provide you with a few hidden gems. So, even if you don’t use this free keyword research tool on a regular basis, be sure to perform a search every now and then, to see if there are any great keywords you might have overlooked.

Conclusion

When it comes to keywords, you should never make blind guesses about what will work best for your website. This is always something that you should put careful time and research into, as it provides you with the basis for a site with an exceptional Google ranking.

So, experiment with the keyword research tools mentioned in this article, and see what kind of results you get. They can help to guide you in your content strategy, and ultimately, lead you to greater success in your SEO efforts.

However, you should always keep in mind that keyword research is not a one-time deal. It requires ongoing work and continuous effort to yield results. If you have enough on your plate as it is, then let us do the keyword research for you. We offer this service as part of a comprehensive SEO package, and as a standalone service. Contact Platinum Passports Marketing to learn more.