The 16 Best Alternatives to the Google AdWords Keyword Tool

The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is a powerful and essential tool for digital marketers and website owners looking to optimize their online presence. Developed by Google, this tool enables users to conduct keyword research and identify relevant keywords that can boost their website’s visibility in search engine results.

Keyword research is a critical aspect of search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising campaigns. By understanding the specific words and phrases users are searching for, marketers can create content that aligns with their target audience’s interests and intent. This ultimately improves the chances of ranking higher in search engine results pages (SERPs) and attracting more organic traffic.

The Google AdWords Keyword Tool provides valuable insights into keyword search volume, competition level, and potential bid estimates for PPC advertising. Users can enter specific keywords or phrases related to their industry or niche and receive a list of relevant suggestions. The tool also offers data on the popularity of each keyword and its potential to drive traffic to a website.

1) Mergewords

Pros:

• The extra options allow you to select how you want the words to be separated from one another, including nothing, a space, a dash, a plus sign, or any custom separator. You can also wrap the words in quotation marks or brackets.
• The tool is very user friendly
• Very useful in conjunction with setting up a PPC campaign so that you can specifically target all permutations instead of using a broad match that may be too broad

Cons:

• Mergewords doesn’t provide you with any data about the keywords; you will need to take the words to a different tool for that
• No keyword recommendations based on similar interests are provided other than permutations of the columns that you included

2) WordStream

Pros:

• WordStream’s database is regularly updated and analyzes thousands of searches every day
• Opportunity score highlights which keywords show the most potential for you to be successful with
• Links directly with your Google Ads account
• Provides you with competition and cost data with keywords that are targeted specifically for your industry of choice

Cons:

• The tool is not free after 30 searches
• Some features require signing up with your email address
• Some features are more intended for AdWords campaigns than SEO

3) SEMrush

Pros:

• SEMrush was developed by SEO professionals for SEO purposes and this comes through in the features and design of the tool
• Allows you to monitor your rankings for a collection of keywords
• Traffic estimates, competitive data, and CPC data are available
• See what keywords your competitors are ranking well for
• Provides keyword recommendations
• Keyword difficulty tool helps you determine which keywords are worth pursuing

Cons:

• Difficult learning curve
• Paid tool with prices that small freelancers and bloggers may not be able to afford

4) SEOBook

Pros:

• Free keyword tool includes traffic and CPC information compiled from Google’s defunct Search-Based Keyword Tool, the primary benefit being that the data is exclusively for the keywords in question and not blended with other similar keywords
• Provides data that isn’t available to AdWords users who are not spending a significant amount of campaigns
• Keyword density analyzer tells you if your keyword has been used too often in your text
• Keyword generator creates a list of permutations based on keywords that you enter

Cons:

• Keyword data is out of date due to being based on data from before switching to the Keyword Planner, and thus is only useful for evergreen queries
• Tool features are limited
• Account signup is free but requires email address

5) Bing Keyword Research

Pros:

• Replicates most features of the Google Keyword Planner
• Based on actual historical search data from the Bing search engine
• Only reliable source of information on Bing search traffic

Cons:

• Requires a verified website to use
• No competition score for keywords

6) Ubersuggest

Pros:

• Free
• Target market filtering
• Includes platforms other than Google search including images, YouTube, shopping, and news
• Suggestions categorized by starting letter
• See competitors and their ad copy
• User friendly interface
• Location and language filtering capabilities
• Includes search, competition, and CPC metrics
• Filters to focus on or remove specific words

Cons:

• Slightly long load time
• Distracting advertisements

7) Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

Pros:

• Very large keyword data set (5.1 billion keywords)
• Click and click-per-search metrics not found in other tools
• Includes one of the most extensive backlink databases, excellent competitive research tools, social sharing information, backlink loss and gain alerts, and a chrome extension
• Content explorer identifies popular content on any topic or keyword
• Track rankings for your keywords
• Ranking history
• Related keywords
• Keyword difficulty
• See what else sites that rank well for your keywords also rank for
• Options for autocomplete, phrases containing your keyword (as is or permutations of it), and new phrases containing your keyword

Cons:

• Free version is very limited and for one time tasks only
• Not straightforward for newer users

8) KeywordTool.io

Pros:

• Free version doesn’t even require an account to use
• Get a large number of keyword recommendations from a wide variety of suggestion tools
• Language and location filters
• Arguably the best free tool for identifying long tail keywords
• Use negative keywords to exclude unnecessary keyword recommendations

Cons:

• Long tail keywords may not generate any recommendations
• CPC and competition data is only available for the paid version
• Paid version required for more than 5 negative keywords

9) KWFinder

Pros:

• Identifies low competition, easy to rank for long tail keywords
• Comprehensive metrics for each keyword
• Simple user interface despite relatively large feature set
• See keyword popularity over time
• Runs fast
• Simple side by side comparison of competing site’s keyword metrics
• Rank tracker and link miner access
• See SERPs without going to Google
• See top sites ranking for a keyword, with social metrics
• Filtering by language and country

Cons:

• Only 3 free searches per day
• Lower tier paid packages still have relatively limited number of searches
• Keyword recommendations insufficient for professional use without using the paid version

10) Moz Keyword Explorer and Rank Tracker

Pros:

• Volume and difficulty metrics for each keyword
• Relative click-through rates, keyword importance, and keyword potential to help you prioritize keywords
• Uses recommendations from Google Suggest, KeywordPlanner.io, and Related Searches.
• Asses competition based on page and domain authority
• Rank tracking and competitive analysis reports

Cons:

• Database relatively small compared to some tools
• Not suitable outside of US

11) Term Explorer

Pros:

• “Tiny jobs” allow you to get 1,000 keyword recommendations from a single seed keyword
• Options to sort or filter keywords by CPC, volume, keywords that have an exact match domain, and negative keywords that you don’t want included
• Keyword analysis tool useful for determining how high competition is for your keywords

Cons:

• Limited to 5 “tiny jobs” and 5 keyword analysis credits on the free version

12) AccuRanker

Pros:

• Tracks rankings for keywords that you set
• See how you are ranking at specific locations
• No need to track rankings for individual URLs, entering the homepage URL allows you to track all pages on your site for keywords

Cons:

• Only free for 14 day trial

13) SpyFu

Pros:

• View what keywords your competitor is ranking for by entering their homepage URL
• See an estimate of how many clicks the site is getting from search engines based on their rankings
• Estimate what percentage of the traffic to your competitor’s sites is coming from organic vs paid search
• See who their top competitors are
• Regular competitor tracking available on paid version
• See your competitor’s historical advertising copy
• 12 year history on keywords

Cons:

• No local data
• Not easy for beginners

14) Keywords Everywhere

Pros:

• See keyword metrics like CPC, competition, and search volume on any page, including Google search results
• Loads results quickly
• Export feature
• Save your favorite keywords
• Choose to automatically highlight high value keywords based on metrics of your choice
• Extremely easy to use
• Makes other keyword tools that don’t provide these metrics more useful
• Customizable country, currency, and metrics
• Bulk upload keywords to see metrics

Cons:

• Requires email address

15) LSI Graph/LSI Keyword Generator

Pros:

• Find synonyms for your keywords
• Fast loading time and easy to use
• Free
• Allows you to discover keyword ideas that would not have occurred to you and won’t be found with other tools
• Paid resources and an ebook help incorporate semantic SEO knowledge into your strategy
• Up to 20 searches per day if you provide your email address (3 without)

Cons:

• No export feature
• No metrics
• No filters

16) Keyword Discovery

Pros:

• Analyze your competitors
• Keyword seasonality
• Combines keywords from Google, Bing, and Yahoo for a large list
• Keyword density analysis
• Spelling mistake research
• Domain research
• Keyword Effectiveness Index estimates value of keyword

Cons:

• Dated interface
• Keyword density and spelling mistake research may have some usefulness but are dated SEO tactics that should be used with caution and may mislead non-advanced users