Free Keyword Analysis Tools for SEO

Keyword analysis is the cornerstone of SEO. Search engine optimisation or SEO is highly dependent on choosing the right keywords and using them strategically for on-page and off-page SEO. For on-page SEO, keywords play a pivotal role in tags like title, description and more. Read about SEO meta tags to learn about the role of keywords in more depth. For off-page SEO too, it’s best to use your primary keywords as anchor text and link titles.

Hence extensive keyword analysis and research is critical for both on-page and off-page SEO. While it’s tempting to directly use the terms associated with business as keywords on your website, it’s better to conduct a thorough analysis of keyword volume, SERPs, competition and keyword difficulty before finalising on your keywords. You should also perform a similar keyword analysis for related keywords which may be used instead of the keyword you initially shortlist.

To facilitate this process, several keyword analysis tools have cropped up in the SEO space in the last few years. SEMRush, AHrefs and Moz are some of the most popular and best keyword analysis tools available today. However, they are expensive and not everyone wants to commit to a $100 a month for keyword analysis. That’s why we’ve compiled a list of free keyword analysis tools that you can use without spending your precious budgets on keyword research alone.

5 Best Free Keyword Analysis Tools

With the need for SEO becoming universal and an essential part of marketing, free keyword analysis tools have advanced over time and offer several useful features. Some of the features you can expect from free keyword research tools are

• Keyword volume, ranking difficulty, competition and CPC

• Top search results for the keyword along with the domain authority and page authority of these SERPs

• Related keywords and their volume, difficulty and CPC

Keep in mind that free keyword analysis tools are good for basic research only. For a more detailed analysis or analysis on multiple keywords or domains, you may need to upgrade to paid versions of these tools.

Some of the features not commonly available in free tools are

• Keyword tracking, i.e. storing and tracking your position for a set of keywords

• Competitor Analysis

• Keyword Gap Analysis

• Content Analysis

That being said, let’s dive into these 5 great free keyword analysis tools and what do each of them provide. Read till the end to get a bonus tool suggestion!

1. Google Keyword Planner

Needless to say Google Keyword Planner is one of the best and most reliable free keyword analysis tools out there. The best thing about Google Keyword Planner is that the data is Google’s itself and thus can be considered the trustworthy without a shadow of doubt. The traffic estimates and the CPCs are derived from actual traffic volume and CPCs of paid campaigns on Google, and not on estimates like most other tools.

Wait, that’s not the best thing, it’s the second best. The best is that it’s completely free. No paid upgrades, no prompts, no daily limits.

You need to create a Google Ads account to access Google Keyword Planner, but that’s a one-time investment and doesn’t take more than 10 minutes.

Key Features

• Upto 10 keywords or a website as seed for keyword ideas

• Custom timeline selection

• Main Keyword statistics

  • Average Monthly Searches (Range only)

  • 3 Month Change

  • Year on year Change

  • Competition

  • Top of page Bid range

• Filter options by type of keywords, keyword text and more

• Keyword saving as keyword plans

Standout Feature

• Multiple keywords or website to extract related keywords

• Keyword filters by ML generated keyword types

Related Keywords - No limit

Cost - Free

Limit - No limit

2. Semscoop Keyword Tool

https://semscoop.com/keyword-tool

It’s really hard to find a keyword analysis tool that is truly free and provides rich data for your analysis too. SEMScoop is one of the great, and most importantly, free keyword analysis tools. It has loads of free keyword statistics that you can use for your SEO research.

It doesn’t require a login - you can simply key in your keyword and look at the important variables like keyword traffic, keyword difficulty and search results related to those keywords. In addition it provides related keywords that you can also analyse and use in your SEO analysis. They can help in determining which keyword would you like to drill down on.

Key Features

• Main Keyword statistics

  • Keyword Difficulty

  • Average domain authority for search engine top ranked domains

  • Average domain age for search engine top ranked domains

  • The average links count for top ranked pages

  • The estimated content length required to rank in first page

• Top 50 related keywords (up to 2000 in higher plans) including keyword volume, estimated CPC and PPC

• Top 10 Search Results with their domain authority, domain age, page authority, content size and backlinks.

• Links Profile of the top search results including follow/ no-follow links, domain authority and page authority

• Content Analysis of the top search results including content length and basic SEO analysis for your desired keyword

Standout Feature

SEMScoop’s features that are rarely freely available on free keyword analysis tools -

• The estimated content length required to rank in first page

• Content Analysis of the top search results

Related Keywords - 50

Cost - Free

Limit - No limit

3. SEObility Keyword Research Tool

https://www.seobility.net/en/keyword-research-tool/

SEObility is a popular and now omnipresent website when it comes to free SEO tools. It provides a bunch of really great free tools - but with a daily limit. Check out their SEO Ranking Checker as well. Their free keyword analysis tool is no different. It provides reasonable keyword analysis that you can use for individual keywords on a day-by-day basis. However, for more in-depth research or keyword research in bulk, you will find the daily limit restrictive.

Key Features

• Top related keywords including keyword volume, competition, estimated CPC and SERPS

• Top 10 Search Results for each keyword with traffic, domain rating, referring domains, backlinks

• Keyword Ideas in different forms

  • People Also Ask including keyword volume, competition, estimated CPC and SERPS

  • Related Searches including keyword volume, competition, estimated CPC and SERPS

  • Autocompleteincluding keyword volume, competition, estimated CPC and SERPS

  • Related Terms including keyword volume, competition, estimated CPC and SERPS

Standout Feature

• Traffic Estimate for Top 10 Search Result

• Keyword Ideas in different forms

Related Keywords - No limit

Cost - Free version with paid upgrade

Limit - 3 keyword checks a day

4. Mangools KWfinder

https://mangools.com/kwfinder/

Mangools KWFinder or keyword finder is again one of the popular keyword analysis tools that also provides rich data for your analysis. You do have to create an account to use Mangool’s KWFinder. But it’s worth the additional effort.

Key Features

• Main Keyword statistics

  • Keyword Difficulty

  • Keyword Total Search volume and Monthly Search Volume trend

• Top 10 Search Results with domain authority, page authority, backlinks, estimated traffic and a few other useful statistics

• Keyword Ideas in different forms

  • Related Keywords including keyword volume, search trend, estimated CPC, PPC and keyword difficulty

  • Autocomplete including keyword volume, search trend, estimated CPC, PPC and keyword difficulty

  • Questions including keyword volume, search trend, estimated CPC, PPC and keyword difficulty

Standout Feature

• Traffic Estimate for Top 10 Search Result

• Keyword Ideas in different forms

Related Keywords - 25

Cost - Free version with paid upgrade

Limit - No limit

5. SEOMator Free Keyword Research Tool

https://seomator.com/free-keyword-research-tool

SEOMator’s free keyword analysis tool is a bare-bones no-frills keyword tool with basic statistics. It can primarily be used to brainstorm or shortlist keyword ideas. It cannot be used for in-depth keyword analysis. A good feature is that you can directly copy or download the keyword ideas. Another additional data point it provides is CPC in the local currency, which is helpful for quick decision making.

Key Features

• Top related keywords including keyword volume, CPC (USD), CPC (Local Currency), PPC, difficulty and trend

• Copy or Download Keywords

Standout Feature

• Download Keywords

• CPC (Local Currency)

Related Keywords - No limit

Cost - Free version with paid upgrade

Limit - No limit

UPDATE NOVEMBER 2024

Bonus Tool: Keyword Surfer (Chrome Extension)

https://chromewebstore.google.com/detail/keyword-surfer/bafijghppfhdpldihckdcadbcobikaca?hl=en

While Keyword Surfer is not strictly similar to the other tools on the list, it is a very handy free keyword research tool. It’s a free Chrome Extension that you can install and it shows keyword search volume directly on your Google Searches. It’s very helpful if you’re performing deep SEO research and need to quickly check data for multiple keywords or categories. It’s helpful to also view the search data alongside the results.

Standout Feature

• Keyword Volume directly on Google

Related Keywords - No limit

Cost - Free

Limit - No limit

We hope you use these free keyword analysis tools to conduct keyword research for your business and soar to the top of search rankings. You can also skim through a few quick tips on How to get to get to the top of Google Search to get started.