Best SEO Keyword Research Tools to Try in 2018

An outstanding SEO tool can help you achieve an active online presence with a large amount of meaningful organic traffic. Whether you are an online business, a freelancer, or a blogger, SEO tools can help you successfully target your expertise in the online world. Working on visibility for the right keywords is incredibly important for the success of your website.

Google alone receives over 65,000 searches per second on any given day. Targeting the right keyword to cut through all that traffic is incredibly important for your strategy.

Do you have a go-to keyword research tool to help you optimize your website and target your content at the right keywords?

Many tools are existing on the market that not only offer keyword discovery services but a full suite of SEO tools. We took a look at a list of tools and have shortened it down to what we thought were the three best keyword research tools of 2018.

UberSuggest

If you’re looking for something easy and quick, UberSuggest is the tool for you. This free SEO tool can perform the keyword discovery task with efficiency and ease. Developed by an Italian developer, Alessandro Martin, this tool has gained quite a remarkable popularity in a very short time span.

The free tool can be used for as long as you want to collect keyword-related data, ideas, and suggestions. It’s a single tool that can keep you updated with critical information like search numbers, PPC competition, and the growing trends on the most searched keywords.

The tool doesn’t require complex expertise to run, and it’s quite user-friendly and interesting to learn. Do not be put off by its simplicity! UberSuggest is quite powerful when it comes to generating keywords and helping you come up with strategies for optimizing your website.

Pros:

• Free tool: This powerful tool is absolutely free. You do not have to spend a single dime to get your hands on all the keyword data you can find in this tool. Unlike other free tools, the functions of UberSuggest are not limited. It doesn’t even lock the best features behind a paywall. This access is available right from the beginning, which makes it a very desirable SEO tool.
• Reliable data: Since UberSuggest uses Google to pull its research data, the results – even the estimated ones – are quite reliable. Additionally, UberSuggest scrapes out the results for the keyword search to show you the actual keywords and phrases used. This gives you access to real data to help you figure out exactly what people are searching for on the internet and the type of keywords they prefer.
• Comprehensive results: Underestimating UberSuggest, just because it’s simple to use, would be a mistake. The tool is highly useful when it comes to extensive research. As compared to other available services, UberSuggest is one of the most powerful tools out there. The results it shows are usually in hundreds of quantities.
• Incredible user-friendliness: With UberSuggest, unlike other services, you are not bombarded with a never-ending list of on-screen information or menus. The navigation is simple, and it’s quite user-friendly. Ease of use is a major plus!

Cons:

• Lacks advanced functions: The paid alternatives may offer a variety of more advanced keyword research options than UberSuggest. This could be disadvantageous for people specifically looking for those advanced functions.

Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

The Ahrefs Keywords Explorer is another answer to your needs if you want to command your online presence. Introduced by Tim Soulo of Ahrefs, the invention is quite an incredible addition to the list of the best SEO tools of 2018.

Unless you try it out by yourself right now, you might misinterpret it by the name to offer you exactly the same services as its competitors. However, this tool is much more than that. It’s web-based software that gives you upgraded data and access for monitoring for your search engine optimization benefits. You can use it directly without any installations on your device. Here are the pros and cons to give you a better insight on using Ahrefs.

Pros:

• A great number of keyword suggestions: The tool is programmed to deliver high quality as well as a high quantity of results. It can provide you with hundreds of keyword suggestions in seconds. This single factor makes it quite a usable and reliable tool for accessing extensive keyword details.
• Utilizes Clickstream: This SEO tool uses Clickstream to pull the search results and gives you exact information on the clicks you can expect to receive from a particular search engine. In short, you can get more organic traffic and conversion data with fewer clicks.
• Sufficient data: The tool offers a great user interface (UI) and is loaded with information. You can use the tool to categorize the keywords based on your interest, which you can easily access from the Ahrefs dashboard.
• Ease of use: This efficient tool can help you save a lot of time and trouble with its user-friendly interface. It also features an ‘auto-recommend’ feature that you can hardly find with other SEO tools.

Cons:

• No connection with Google Analytics: The data results are not integrated with Search Console or Google Analytics and therefore may not be as reliable.
• Mostly visualization: Also considered as one of the advantages, the great search volume graph sometimes can be just visualization without the proper backup of the search results. It may or may not incorporate results from the past months.
• Paid: It’s a paid tool and even imposes restrictions and limitations on a $99 plan. To use its full features, you’ll need to pay more. There are absolutely no free versions of the tool.

Long Tail Pro

Unlike the other two tools mentioned above, Long Tail Pro is a cloud-based keyword research tool. It’s a great option for keyword discovery based on micro-niche websites or specific niches. The tool offers a few functions in its free plan, but to access the full-fledged amazing features, you must sign up for its platinum version.

The ‘competitor checker’ feature is its most popular one as it allows the user to make the choice of picking the most suitable keyword easier. Using this tool is ideal if you want keywords that are less competitive, but still profitable. Here are all the pros and cons related to Long Tail Pro.

Pros:

• Niche-specific: The tool offers great flexibility to the user to test the viability of a particular niche. In fact, it’s best suited for business operating in a particular niche they are very clear about.
• Easy keyword identification: The internet is full of data and information, and this amazing tool ensures it grabs the most relevant and interesting information for you to put to use. The tool offers numerous keyword opportunities to the user.
• Helps boost traffic: The tool also helps with crafting effective marketing campaigns to boost organic traffic to your website.
• Numerous search results: The tool guarantees it’ll provide you with at least 800 search results for every seed keyword you input. It also helps you in discovering profitable domain names.

Cons:

• Limitations: As the name suggests, the tool is only suitable for finding long-tail keywords.
• Based on estimations alone: The search results it carries out for any website traffic are solely based on estimates. There’s no real data to entirely rely on.
• Paid tool: This is a paid tool and offers only a handful of features in its free version. You must sign up for $37 fee per month to get access to Long Tail Pro keyword search. There are multiple other packages based on the features you wish to use.

Bonus: 18 Free Keyword Research Tools

While all the tools listed here are really awesome, sometimes you’re just looking for a free tool to get the job done. If that’s the case for you, check out our other blog post: 18 Free Keyword Research Tools

Wrapping Up

These comparisons above should give you a fairly clear idea of which keyword tool you should pick in 2018 as a game-changer for your business. Use this information to help you gain all the benefits of keyword research! Spend some time and carry out detailed research, especially keeping your own target market in mind.

Don’t forget, targeting the right keywords is the key to SEO success!