Alternatives to Google Keyword Planner – Recommended by a Top SEO Agency

If you want to rank high on the SERP, there’s no other choice than engaging professional SEO or PPC services. Of course, if you have adequate tech efficiency, you can always perform the optimization practices by yourself. No matter whichever model you choose, the first step is to execute an exhaustive keyword research. 

Google Keyword Planner is one of the most used tools. However, there are plenty of tools to find new keywords, learn keyword difficulty, and get an insight into search volume. Here’s a quick guide to some of these.

Keyword Tools used by Top SEO Agency Professionals

1. Ahrefs
You may be familiar with Ahref’s organic traffic dashboard and backlink reporting, but it also got a really powerful keyword research tool. The paid tool offers a deep insight into keyword ideas along with the search volumes for different match types. It is also equipped with a keyword difficulty score metric and many top SEO agency professionals admit that the results are more accurate than other similar tools. 

2. Moz
Moz has a dedicated keyword explorer integrated into its exhaustive SEO research suite. Its filtering options enable you to pinpoint your specific requirements.  It also has an estimated search volume and keyword difficulty score checker alongside related query ideas. These ideas are very helpful to expand your reach.

3. SEMrush
SEMrush has an inbuilt keyword tool driven by a huge database of search data from 26 countries. With this extensive tool, you can get a better insight into current ranking domains, estimated CPC, keyword difficulty score, estimated search volume, and new keyword ideas.

4. WordStream
The tool became popular to help search marketers easily manage their PPC campaigns. It also has a free keyword tool though with a limited number of searches. You can check related keywords on the free results but you have to become a paid subscriber to learn the search volume. 

5. Keywordtool.io
One of the most interesting parts about this tool is that it scrapes keyword suggestions from an extensive database of Google, Amazon, Bing, and even YouTube. Therefore, you can select suggested keywords from every Google language, TLD (Top-Level Domain) and location. You can also find similar options for other search engines that it supports. Here, you can get an access to the hundreds of suggested keywords without paying any bucks but you need to purchase a plan to get an insight into search volume estimations.  

6. AlsoAsked
This is a less-known free tool by Credo. It pulls data from People Also Asked section on Google to give you an insight into what people are asking. This can help you in keyword planning. 

7. KWFinder
With this tool, you can focus your keyword research efforts in five countries and also in most of the popular languages around the globe. Its results also include relevant keyword ideas and keyword difficulty score. However, this is a paid tool so you can conduct only a limited number of searches for free. 

Conclusion
We hope you have got an exhaustive idea about keyword research tools. Try these and maximize your SEO efforts.