Whether you are writing headlines or copy for your website, keyword research can help. It is also useful for blog posts and news releases. Keyword research can help you write better.

You will know which words your audience cares about, how they search for things, and how they group keywords.

Some of the benefits of optimizing keywords:

• Increases website traffic
• Improves visibility in search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo
• Raises your odds that your audience finds it valuable to share via their social networks
• Generates ideas for future content creation and curation

Keyword research is the foundation

Keyword research is the foundation of a good search engine optimization (SEO) strategy. It is also a key part of your content marketing strategy.

Here are 10 helpful keyword research tools worth exploring:

1. CoSchedule Headline Analyzer

This headline analyzer scores your headline quality and helps you decide the optimal word count for your headlines.

It also helps you balance emotional and power words to make your headlines readable and compelling. Make sure you read: How To Write The Best Headlines That Will Increase Traffic.

2. SerpStat.com

This website is so to the point, it doesn’t have a name.

It is a free keyword suggestions tool. It provides search suggestions based on popular Google search keywords. These suggestions show the different ways people look for things.

It collects and aggregates search suggestions and gives you a free report.

3. WordTracker

This tool reveals the best keywords related to your search term.

It shows you how much traffic keywords get and what words you may want to focus on.

The one drawback is that it’s designed to prompt you to sign up for their paid version. This prompt appears after you get the quick analysis, along with the “continue your research” button.

4. SEMrush

This website provides analytics once you enter your website, tailored for digital marketers.

You get information about your competitors and the individual keywords they’re ranking for.

You even get insight into keyword difficulty and backlink information. RankActive is akin to SEMrush and worth checking out.

5. SpyFu

This website is great for an overview of keywords. It provides you with several monthly searches, ranking difficulty, and profitable related keywords.

You can enter the name of a competitor. It provides an overview of which keywords and links work well for them. You can also see what their pay-per-click ads look like and much more.

6. UberSuggest

This tool provides helpful keyword suggestions to help you learn about specific topics.

It gives you suggestions, like adding a word that starts with an “a” to your keyword set. It gives a word for every word of the alphabet to help you with long tail keywords.

Make sure you read The Beginners Guide to SEO: Keyword Research.

7. Google Keyword Planner

This website is the traditional one that most people use. Recently, Google has required you to sign up for a Google AdWords account before you can use it.

It is a tool that provides you with keyword ideas and traffic estimates.

8. Bing Keyword Research Tool

I mentioned Google, the #1 search engine. It would be wrong if I didn’t mention the second most popular search engine: Bing.

Here is a list of the most popular search engines.

9. KeywordTool.io

This website lets you search for keywords across Google, Bing, YouTube, and the App Store. It generates more than 750 suggestions for every keyword.

It is one of the few tools that let you search the App Store, according to InternetMarketingNinjas.com.

10. Google Trends

This tool can help you explore topics. You can see how the popularity of certain words has grown. An example of this growth is content marketing.

Bonus #1: RankActive

RankActive is similar to SEMRush.

It helps you track your online presence, spy on your competitors, and improve your search engine rankings.

Bonus #2: Scout Suggest

Google’s autocomplete system is used to get the most popular keywords suggested by Google. This tool helps you generate thousands of ideas. These ideas include questions and phrases people are searching for.

What tools would you add to this list?

Are there free keyword research tools you use to guarantee you write headlines that command your audience’s attention?

What free keyword research tools would you add to this list?

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