SEO Tools for Keyword Research: 8 Popular Keyword Tools Reviewed

Keyword research is the first and most important stage of every marketing plan. It's one of those activities where the choice of tools determines the success. So here are 8 most powerful and effective SEO tools for keyword research you should certainly be using:

1. AdWords Keyword Tool

You enter some of your keywords and the tool gives you a list of keyword suggestions accompanied by traffic and competition stats for each search phrase. The tool is originally designed for Pay-Per-Click advertisers but it works just as well for organic SEO research.

2. Google Search-Based Keyword Tool

An SEO tool from Google that suggests keywords on the basis of what users are actually searching for on Google. There are two ways you can use this tool: you can feed in seed keywords just like with AdWords Keyword tool and get keyword ideas derived from them, or you can specify your website URL and the tool will locate the keywords in your texts and make keyword suggestions that it thinks are relevant to your niche.

3. Keyword Discovery

Aggregates search traffic statistics for all major search engines and generates new keywords based on this data. The tool offers advanced keyword research features such as keyword effectiveness calculator, competition research and Pay-Per-Click bids evaluation.

4. Wordtracker

Another popular SEO keyword tool that works similar to Keyword Discovery and AdWords Keyword tool, the difference being that Wordtracker uses metasearch engines, such as Dogpile, to evaluate the number of searches for the keywords and keyword suggestions. Metasearch engines are special search portals where each user query is rendered in several search engines e.g. Google, Yahoo!, Bing, Ask and others, and the search results from all these search engines are compiled into one list.

5. Google Suggest

This is not strictly a keyword research tool but it's still a great way to discover new search terms you are probably missing out on. When you go to Google and search for something you'll see a toolbar with keyword suggestions that appears as soon as you start typing in your search query into the search box. That's Google Suggest tool. The keyword suggestions you get there are based on search queries made by real users which makes this information a gold mine for any online marketer.

Bear in mind that when you're signed into your Gmail or another Google service account the general keyword suggestions will be mixing with the search queries that you made before which hold little value for you.

Overall using Google search is a bit tricky and even unhandy because you can't copy the suggestions and need to put them down on paper first, but you can make use of it in a much more effective way with the help of other SEO tools, like Rank Tracker (described below).

6. Yahoo! Search Assist

A keyword tool from Yahoo! that functions just the way Google suggest does. If you target Yahoo! search traffic this tool should certainly be in your arsenal, because the search trends differ on the two search engines.

7. Ask TypeAhead Search Suggestions

Same as Yahoo! Search Assist and Google Suggest only by Ask.

8. Rank Tracker

This powerful SEO tool gives you access to all of the above listed keyword research tools. You can generate keyword suggestions using any of the tools on the list, plus make use of additional keyword research mechanisms such as word mixer, popular misspellings, etc. The tool calculates KEI (Keyword efficiency index) that tells you how popular each keyword is and how tough it is to get a high ranking for it. You can choose different sources to get search traffic data from: Google AdWords Keyword Tool, Wordtracker, etc. By comparing the stats aggregated from multiple sources you can get the best idea of how many people actually search for each keyword.

Besides being a powerful keyword research tool Rank Tracker is also an advanced rankings checker which allows you to research new keywords and monitor your website's positions for them without having to switch back and forth between various applications.

These are some of the most popular and most effective SEO tools out there for keyword research. The data you can get from each of them gives you unlimited marketing potential. When used right this insight will bring you massive exposure for your website and roof-breaking sales. And when combined together the effect from these keyword research SEO tools magnifies ten-fold. So go get them, make them working towards your bottomline and I wish you good luck with your business!