3 free tools to research keywords and boost your SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, is a key factor in website discoverability. In simple terms, this technique allows you to improve your site’s visibility specifically with search engines like Google in mind: the better your SEO, the higher you’ll rank, and the more likely new audiences will see your content.
Seems simple right? Well, it’s actually not!
Optimizing for SEO is an extremely complicated process (especially because search algorithms are always constantly changing), but one thing that can make it easier is being smart with your keyword research.
Keyword research for SEO allows you to strategically target the audiences who might find the content you produce and services you sell to be most relevant.
This research provides you with specific data that can help you answer questions about what your audience is searching for, the volume of people searching those keywords, and the format that they want the information in. This provides valuable information so that you can best produce content that will align with what that audience is looking for which increases views on your page and leads to higher conversions down the line.
So, to make the process a whole lot easier, here are the top 3 free tools to help you with your SEO keyword research!
1. Google Keyword Planner
Google is the most popular search engine on the market so if you’re looking to optimize your SEO, chances are you want to do it specifically for this tool. Luckily, the tech company has its own keyword planner!
Google Keyword Planner is a free and useful resource for building strong keyword lists and helping you to estimate the popularity of specific keywords that you’re looking to target.
Here are some highlights of the tool:
Gives you insight into search volume and forecasts for specific terms so that you can better understand the potential reach when this keyword is targeted
Allows you to generate related keywords for larger reach and to give google a more contextual understanding of your article or webpage
Allows you to steal keywords from competitors by searching their entire site and checking the terms that they’re optimizing for
Makes it easy to search questions related to the terms that you’re targeting. By selecting long-tail keywords that contain The Five Ws (who, what, where, when, why), you can better frame your article or webpage to address that question.
The one downside to Google Keyword Planner is that it requires you to have an adwords account to set up. Additionally, it’s an extremely complicated and powerful tool so the learning curve might be a little steep, but the more you use it, the easier it gets, so why not give it a try?
If you want to start with something a bit easier, check out the next tools.
2. Answer The Public
With Google Keyword Planner, we briefly touched upon the importance of targeting keywords that contain The Five Ws. Luckily, there’s an entirely separate keyword tool that allows you to visualize terms specifically in this way!
Answer The Public is a keyword tool that frames your keywords in terms of search questions and suggested autocomplete searches.
Here are some highlights of the tool:
Aesthetically pleasing and easy to use
Optimizes for search questions so that you can easily write articles that provide definitive solutions
Allows you to optimize for long-tail keywords which provides you access to a more targeted audience
Gives you an overview of how popular or trending a search term is so that you can anticipate performance in the future
We love Answer The Public because of how beautifully it presents data. While Google Keywords Planner is arguably more powerful, for the beginner who is looking to optimize for SEO, Answer The Public is a great place to start.
3. Keywords Everywhere
This browser extension makes it so that you can literally see potential keywords everywhere. Whether it’s with a traditional search engine like Google or something a little more alternative like Pinterest, Keywords Everywhere takes the search term that you look for in your everyday life and displays the search volume, cpc, and competition for those specific keywords.
Here are some highlights of the tool:
Keep keywords top-of-mind. While the majority of these other keyword tools are their own one-off pages, Keywords Everywhere follows you everywhere you go. When you download this browser extension, you eliminate the extra step of migrating specifically to an exclusive keyword research tool which makes you more likely to actually do keyword research.
Breaks search terms down into “related keywords,” “people also search for,” and “long-tail keywords” categories.
Especially useful if you’re looking to optimize for specific platforms like Youtube or Pinterest.
Doing keyword research is extremely important in helping your website gain organic traffic but what’s more important is ensuring that the content you create aligns with your business and consistency in your content marketing strategy.
For more tips and tricks on Squarespace SEO and content marketing, here’s How To Optimize Your Squarespace Blog Posts for SEO and How to Blog Frequently & Consistently.
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