Many startups start with an idea but don’t have the financial resources to finance it.
They are reluctant to spend money on things that aren’t necessary. They’ll look for a free way to do a task.
This is probably your approach. You won’t hesitate to spend even a dollar on a keyword search.
There are many tools out there that provide advanced functionality and features, but the basic keyword research process can be done easily. You don’t have to spend a dime if you are just interested in the basics.
Even though Google has now restricted access to their Keyword Planner for site owners with bootstrapped sites, this is still true.
This tool is restricted to AdWords campaign users. It’s technically still free, but it is not available to budget-conscious advertisers who don’t want to invest in an AdWords campaign.
There are many other tools that you can try.
This is why I am going to share eight 100% free options. This post contains no “freemiums”, no signups for a free trial, or restricted-use tools.
I have only included tools that can help your startup find the right keywords for your site.
These keyword tools can help you understand your audience, niche, goals, and focus so that you can improve your SEO strategy to get the visibility you desire.
Why is keyword research so important?
Before I get into the tools that you can use for choosing the best keywords for your site, it is important to understand the reasons why this process is so important.
It is often seen as a mandatory box to check, or a way for site owners to validate keywords that they believe are appropriate choices for their brand.
However, this is not true.
Keyword research can be a blueprint that will guide every decision and help you to create a digital marketing strategy.
It can help you shape your content, make better decisions about your advertising campaigns, and allow you to reach more qualified leads or customers.
It doesn’t have to be hard to choose the keywords that will best describe your website.
It is quite simple.
This involves brainstorming, expanding on those ideas into new keywords or phrases, and then deciding which ones are best for your marketing goals.
There are tools available for every step. Some tools will allow you to learn more about your target audience’s search patterns for information. Others will provide data on the keyword volume and competition levels.
[tweet_box style=”default”)] Instead of guessing which keywords will bring you the most traffic, you can make data-backed, informed decisions. [/tweet_box]
However, when researching your options, it is important to search for keywords that fit into four key categories.
Every ad campaign and every piece of content you create has a different goal. Miami digital marketing is not the same. You can’t use the same keywords for every campaign.
Before we dive into the tools that can be used to find the best keyword options for your company, let’s first look at what types of keywords you should be searching for.
Keywords primary and second
Primary keywords, as the name suggests, are the most important keywords that you want your website to rank for. These keywords are usually a description of your product or service.
If you offer cleaning services in Albuquerque for example, your primary keywords would likely be “cleaning services Albuquerque” and “home cleaning Albuquerque”.
These are the top phrases potential customers might use to search for a business similar to yours.
The secondary keywords are usually related to your primary keywords, but you can use different phrasing.
You might also consider secondary keywords such as “Weekly Cleaning Albuquerque” and “Cleaning Service Albuquerque”.
These keywords are often so closely related to your primary keywords, that they don’t warrant their pages.
Instead of creating new content with them, you can use them in content already optimized for a key keyword to increase search visibility and drive more traffic.
Keywords with long tail keywords
Technically, long-tail keywords can be defined as keywords that are made up of more than three words. In many cases, they will be much longer.
These keywords are often the most important for SEO strategies because they are highly specific and have clear search intentions.
You can see why this is so by looking at your search engine usage. You will likely use broad, short search terms when you are early in the research phase of any purchase.
As you become more familiar with your options, you will find more relevant products and information. You can also include more details in the search. These detailed, longer searches will ultimately lead to your purchasing.
This is why 70% of searches are made using long tail keywords. Also, traffic coming from long-tail keywords has a higher conversion rate than traffic from broader phrases.
These longer phrases are easier to rank for SEO purposes, as they’re more unique and specific than the shorter, broader keywords.
There may be thousands of websites trying to rank on the keyword “cleaning service”, but only a few are trying to rank for “eco-friendly house cleaning services in Albuquerque New Mexico”.
These keywords may not have as many monthly searches as their shorter counterparts but they are still highly effective in attracting and converting qualified traffic.
Semantic keywords
Latent semantic Indexing (or LSI) helps search engines understand context and content, and determines the intent behind a user’s search based on the keywords they use.
It’s the way search engines interpret synonyms and return accurate results.
Let’s take, for example, the hypothetical cleaning company. A user searches for “maid service Albuquerque” but they don’t use the primary keyword “cleaning services”. They could be potential customers.
It’s obvious to humans, at least, because these phrases are frequently used interchangeably.
Search engines are getting better at understanding these connections with latent semantic indexing.
You can also help them rank your pages for the appropriate searches by using semantic keywords on your website. These can be synonyms or alternative phrasings for your keywords.
These phrases can also be used to provide context that helps search engines understand each page’s topic better.
Search engines can index and categorize pages more accurately by using semantic keywords. They will also rank better if they are indexed and categorized with more precision.
Optimizing for semantic keywords becomes more important as voice search usage increases.
Today, 40% of adults use voice search at least once per day. 50% of voice search users use it to search for products.
Moreover, comScore predicts that voice searches will account for 50% of all queries by 2020.
You must optimize for keywords that users type. Also, it is important to think about how users phrase their searches when they speak them aloud.
Consider how you might search local pizza places.
You might type “pizza shop Philadelphia” if you were to search for something on your phone or laptop.
However, if you were to use voice search, it would likely be phrased like a question like “Where is the nearest pizza place?”
As it should not be surprising, voice search has seen a rise in searches that include question phrases.
When searching for keywords, think about the phrases that your target audience may use to find what products or services you offer.
What are their questions? What synonyms could they use to target your main keywords but not your other keywords?
These semantic keywords will help you show Google and other search engines your content matches the intent of your target audience’s search terms. You’ll also be able to attract more qualified traffic.
Keywords for competitors
It’s worth taking the time to research competitors as you search for keywords to target with your SEO strategy.
This is the process of finding keywords that work for similar businesses within your industry. You can then add these keywords to your strategy.
This will at the most, help you to ensure you don’t miss any keyword opportunities.
If your competitor is ranking highly for a valuable keyword, but you don’t have one page that targets it, your chances of getting leads or customers for your business are slim.
These keywords should be a top priority in your SEO strategy.
Keywords from your competitors can be used to generate great content.
[tweet_box style=”default”) If you notice that a keyword is helping a competitor to attract large amounts of traffic, it might be worth targeting on your website. [/tweet_box]
If you can create a more informative page and of higher quality than the competitor’s, you might be able to outrank them and get even better results.
You might now be asking yourself which one of these keywords is the most important to your SEO strategy.
The truth is that combining all of these elements is the best way to optimize your site. Search preferences and search habits are different, so optimizing your site to cater to them all will be the best way to succeed.
As you choose your keywords, make sure to include a mix between primary and secondary keywords as well as a long-tail, semantic, competitor, and long-tail keywords.
This is how I tried to simplify the process by organizing the list of free resources into four categories.
Each one can be used to identify different keywords and then combine your findings to create a comprehensive, well-rounded list that will guide your SEO strategy.
1. Keywords primary and second
Let’s first look at some of the tools that you can use for primary and secondary keywords for your site.
This step is about finding keywords with a high monthly search volume but low competition.
Because you want to make sure users are searching for your keywords, search volume is crucial. If no one is searching for the keywords you have chosen, even the most optimized pages won’t get the results you desire.
The competition indicates the difficulty of your site ranking for any keyword. It will be difficult for you to rank higher than the other sites that target a particular phrase if they are numerous.
While you may choose to pursue more competitive keywords in the future, it is a good idea, for now, to focus on keywords that you are confident can rank for.
This will allow you to quickly earn page-one rankings and attract traffic to your website.
Google’s Keyword Planner
You are probably familiar with Google’s Keyword Planner so I will briefly summarize it.
It used to be the preferred choice of marketers who did not want to spend on paid keyword research tools, as I have mentioned.
We optimize our websites to rank high in Google’s search results. We should use their tool as a guide to our strategies.
This is still a popular option for advertisers who want to run campaigns on the platform.
It was once free to anyone, but now it is only available to AdWords campaign managers.
However, this should be used if it is possible.
It’s intended to assist advertisers in locating keywords for pay-per-click campaigns or PPC campaigns. However, it can also be used for SEO purposes.
It can be used in a variety of ways.
First, type a phrase, word, or URL. It doesn’t need to be your homepage. The URL can be related to your business.
Next, you can add any customization or targeting preferences.
You’ll also see a list with keywords and the monthly search volume as well as the competition level for each.
You can then download your list in a CSV format. This file can be used as a starting point to record possible keywords.
You can then continue to add keywords and document how each keyword is used in a way that suits you.
This is the best place to start when you want to do keyword research. It will give you the most detailed and targeted list.
You can use your keyword research to find out what your competitors are doing by entering their URLs in the landing page field.
This will allow you to see which keywords are most effective for your site and which ones could be useful for yours.
This idea will be discussed in greater detail in the following post. Let’s first look at another tool that you can use for identifying primary and secondary keywords.
Google Trends
Next on our list: Google trends.
Because it was not designed with SEO in mind, this isn’t a keyword search tool.
It’s meant to show how search trends change over time.
You can search Trends for keywords to see the changes in monthly searches. This will give you an idea of the changes in interest in this topic.
To see which keyword is most popular, you can also enter multiple keywords.
Google Trends allows you to compare the popularity and usage of keywords.
It will also inform you what keywords are gaining popularity. This will allow you to identify the most important keywords in your niche.
This graph shows that nearly no users search for “sewing machine USA”. Does this mean that the United States doesn’t have a market for sewing machines?
Not necessarily.
This report shows users where they search for each keyword.
Most searches for sewing machines originate from the United States.
Even though they don’t use location-based keywords I know that my audience is using this phrase.
This detail is not available in any other keyword research.
Scrolling down further in this report will also show you the most popular and rising keywords.
Many of these related searches are for specific brands of sewing machines.
They are still very useful! This information will prove to be very helpful in competitor research.
You might also be interested in the keyword “machine embroidery”, which can be used to do further research. Finding it was as simple as scanning this report.
Google Trends is a great, yet often overlooked keyword research tool.
2. Keywords with long tail keywords
Let’s now take a look at some tools that can be used to identify long-tail keywords on your website.
These keywords should also be considered in terms of search volume and competition.
It’s fine if they are lower than what you see for your primary keyword and secondary keywords.
Although shorter and broader keywords are often searched in search volumes of the tens of thousands, long-tail keywords might only be searched a few times each month.
That’s okay!
This low volume is often associated with low competition. It will be easier to get a spot on page one of the search results.
When it comes down to it, you will still attract more traffic if you rank on the first page for a keyword with low search volumes than you would if you rank on the fifth page for a keyword that receives thousands of searches each month.
Long-tail keywords are more likely to have a clearer search intent than simple one- or two-word phrases. Therefore, the traffic that you get from them is much better qualified.
Let’s now take a look at some of the tools that you can use for high-value keywords.
Google Search
Google Suggest, to be clear, is not a standalone keyword search tool.
It’s one of the basic functions of search engines.
When you type a phrase in Google’s search box, suggestions will be displayed as you type.
These suggestions can be used to assist users in finding what they are looking for faster. These suggestions are based on user searches and can be extremely useful for keyword research.
These suggestions are often searched by Google users. This list is algorithmically generated by other productive and popular searches.
These suggestions are worth considering in your keyword planning phase.
This feature was not designed for SEOs, so it doesn’t provide the same export options as other keyword planning tools.
You can still incorporate it into your research process.
You can add them to a spreadsheet and continue this process for as many keywords as you want. You may also search for related searches to find more options using those keywords.
This is a great way for you to find longer phrases that you can use in your SEO strategy. It’s based on real user data.
Google Search
The next “tool” is not a standalone product.
Instead, you can use advanced search engines to find out more about your customers’ search habits online.
These symbols and commands are intended to narrow down results so users can find exactly what they want. If you want to search for a PDF file, you can use the “filetype” operator.
You’d only see PDF files.
To learn more about the search terms that are most relevant to your product or service, you can use specific operators.
Start by making a list with words you could add to your keywords.
Many people phrase their search queries as questions. For example, a user might search “Where can I buy sewing machines?”
How can you tell which questions they are asking?
Advanced search operators can be used to identify long-tail questions that begin with query words such as “when,” “what,” “which,” or “how”
Google will first prompt you to type in one of the “question” keywords. Next, add an (*), after one of your target keywords.
The asterisk acts as a Google wildcard operator. Google will fill that blank space based on the most searched word in your sequence when you use this operator.
In such a case, we may search for:
- What are the best sewing machines?
- Sewing machines:
- What sewing machine?
- If * sewing machine
Although these screenshots are only a small fraction of what is possible, they offer valuable keywords.
You can, for example, be certain that someone searching for the keyword “best sewing machine for home use” is trying to find a machine for home.
This insight could be used by a sewing machine retailer to create a page that highlights a particular product or multiple products that meet the need.
Once a user has searched for this keyword, it will return the content they are looking for and allow them to make a purchase.
These keywords offer great content marketing opportunities.
For example, “When was the first sewing machine invented” might make for an interesting infographic. “When to oil a sewing machine” would be an excellent topic for an informative article.
This is just the beginning.
The way you use this feature will depend on your product or service.
There are many niches, each with its uniqueness and pain points.
This feature allows you to identify the search patterns of users searching for information in your industry. It allows you to determine what users are searching for and how they phrase those searches.
This insight can be used to create an SEO strategy that is entirely based on your audience’s search habits.
Keyword Tool
Our next tool is the Keyword Tool.
This tool uses the Google Suggest API to compile a list of long-tail keywords.
You can find the same information by searching your keywords in Google and then looking at the related searches at the bottom of the page. It simplifies the whole process by combining all of these results into a single comprehensive list.
This long list contains many combinations and permutations that can be used to create a very useful list of long-term keywords.
Type your target keyword first, then select your language preference and location. This will display a complete list with related searches for the phrase.
You can filter your results here by adding “negative” keywords or words that you wish to eliminate from your results.
These competitors can be added to your list of negative keywords. Searches including them will not appear in your report.
To save all your keyword opportunities, you can easily export the list to a CSV.
You’ll notice that this tool also offers a “Pro” version. You will need to pay a monthly fee to have access to search volume data and competition data.
While this can be useful, it’s not necessary to use the tool for long-tail keywords.
The free version is useful if you are in a cash-strapped startup mode.
3. semantic Keywords
Google’s 2013 Hummingbird algorithm update was introduced. This update primarily aimed to increase the importance of the context surrounding a search query.
It is important to provide results that are more relevant to the user’s intent than just pages that contain the keyword.
Google began to consider synonyms, correlations, and contextual words when ranking content.
Optimizing your website is a matter of making sure that your content includes strategically placed synonyms and contextual keywords.
These are some tools that you can use to find those keywords.
Wikipedia
Wikipedia itself needs no introduction. Almost everyone who has an Internet connection knows about this site.
Wikipedia provides a wealth of information on almost every topic, but it is also a great source for contextual keywords.
You can search for your target keyword to use the page. There are many LSI keywords to choose from.
Let’s look at, for example, the Wikipedia page about “sewing machines.”
The following screenshot shows me each of the contextual keywords I could use to aid search engines in understanding the topic of pages containing this main keyword.
This is more than ten keywords in context — and the screenshot shows only the content above the fold!
This page also contains a diagram showing specific parts of a sewing machine that can be used as context keywords.
Spend some time on Wikipedia and you’ll find a lot of useful information about your niche.
Don’t forget industry terms and “jargon”!
While technical terms may not be as effective as primary keywords, they can help search engine spiders better understand your website and the audience it serves.
Google Correlate
Google Correlate is our next semantic keyword research tool.
This tool was created to assist users in finding search patterns that correspond with real-world trends. It can be used to determine which keywords are more searched in winter and which are more searched in specific regions.
However, for our purposes, the tool can be used to identify other keywords that users are searching for the same keyword.
Google Correlate is not able to work when you type a key phrase.
However, if you just enter one keyword, you can find a lot of related keywords.
This means that people who search for general sewing information also seek sewing patterns, sewing machine manuals, and tables, as well as sewing machine needles.
While not all keywords will be warranted pages, including them on pages that already have a primary keyword helps search engines understand your content better and rank it higher.
WordNet
WordNet might seem oddly chosen for this list since it was not originally intended to be keyword research.
It’s a lexical database for the English language that Princeton University has created. It groups nouns and verbs into adjectives and adverbs are then grouped into sets called “cognitive synonyms.”
It doesn’t group words from the same part of speech as a thesaurus. It links the “senses” of words and labels the semantic relationships between them.
This may sound confusing.
It’s completely free and will provide a list of semantically related words for any keyword.
Although the results are not extensive, they can be added to pages that already have them.
Additionally, alternative nouns or verbs can be used as starting points to create additional keywords.
4. Keywords for competitors
You don’t have to search for keywords from scratch every time you search.
This is because many of your competitors have already optimized their websites for search. While this means you will need to work hard to get the ranking you desire, it also means you can leverage their strategies to guide you.
If a keyword works well for another company in your industry, it will likely work for you.
While many tools that can help you find this data require a monthly subscription, there are still ways to look into the strategies of your competitors without paying a penny.
Xenu Link Sleuth
Xenu Link Sleuth, like many other tools on this list, was not designed to be a keyword research tool.
It’s a basic broken link checker. This tool can be used by site owners to locate broken links on their websites, and fix them or eliminate 404 errors.
However, the tool’s functionality can be very useful in competitor research.
Download, install, and then open the program.
Instead of checking your site for errors, you can enter the URL of a competitor in the “Check URL” field.
Xenu will show data for each site’s pages.
To see how your top competitors use keywords, read the descriptions and titles. These could be great opportunities for your site if you see page titles that target keywords you don’t use yet.
This is a great way for you to identify keywords that are relevant to your business.
Conclusion
Keyword research is an integral part of SEO. It doesn’t have to be difficult or costly.
You can use nine tools and resources here to find keywords for your website.
Before you start, however, it is important to be cautious.
You’ll have a long list of keywords (primary and secondary), long-tail keywords, keywords, as well as competitor keywords if you use all these tools.
That’s great!
How many keywords can you fit on your website’s pages?
Your goal when using keywords is to include them naturally in a way that Google delivers relevant results to users.
You’re most likely to hurt your rankings if you stuff your pages with keywords just for the sake of using them all.
Here’s what to do:
- Use your keywords where it makes sense and write naturally. This happens naturally when you create useful content.
- Keep in mind that long-tail keywords often include your primary and secondary keywords. These keywords can be used together, so you don’t have to use them all at once.
- Use synonyms and contextual keywords sparingly.
That’s it!
It’s now time to use the tools to locate the keywords that will enable you to achieve the digital advertising results that you desire.
