If you are looking for the best keyword research tools for small brands, you have come to the right place.
The best keyword tools help brands improve their SEO services game by giving them knowledge and data. The aim of keyword tools is to help brands understand how they are performing on Google search.
It also helps them with steps that they should take in order to improve their performances.
Keywords are the foundation of any good SEO services strategy. Without the best keyword tools, there is no roadmap or course of action, which can be undertaken.
Small brands do not need ten keyword research tools to be successful. They just need to be aware of two to three keyword tools that can help them.
Why is Keyword Research Tools for Small Brands Important?
All SEO experts swear by the importance of keyword research tools. In terms of specific digital marketing strategies, they are important, if-
- A small brand wants to pursue a Content Marketing Strategy.
- If they want to do Pay-Per-Click (PPC) advertising or run campaigns on Google.
- Ranking for specific industry keywords cannot happen without keyword research.
In short, whether it is climbing Google’s search rankings organically, or through spending, keywords are crucial. The right keywords help you place the right content in front of the right audiences. The best keyword tools help you find the most appropriate keywords to target and succeed.
At the end of the day, that is what every brand aspires to do. Unless you are able to reach your target audience, your brand will not be discoverable and you will not get any traffic.
No rankings mean no traffic, and no traffic equals no business/sales/revenues.
Hence, optimum and best keyword research is at the foundation of generating sales and revenues for a small brand.
Keywords do not drop from the sky. Neither are they based on your personal intuition. Many times people make the mistake of thinking that specific keywords are there is for the taking.
However, once we analyze them through tools, we find, that there is no chance to rank for them in the near future.
Digital Marketing is hostage to data and analytics. Like it or hate it, no brand can ignore data. The best keyword research tools for small brands provide data and analytics in the best way possible.
What data and analytics do Keyword Research Tools give us?
In the last section, we have been able to establish why the best keyword research tools are necessary for small brands. In this section, we will briefly define the important data and analytics that we get from keyword research tools.
Let us now look at some of the major data that we can get from the tools-
- Keyword Tools can help tell you about the volume of searches per month for a specific keyword.
- They can tell you about the level of difficulty that is already there for a particular ranking keyword- High, Medium and Easy
- Many brands use them to find ‘Long Tail Keywords’. These have less competition, are easier to rank for, and appeal to new searches like ‘Voice’.
- Tools like Google Correlate can help in churning out related keywords for an industry. This means that alternative and synonym searches become visible and can be targeted.
- There are many keyword research tools that can help you understand what your competition is up to.
- You can also get information on the number of backlinks that they have, which keywords they are ranking for, and how you need to better that.
- Keyword research tools can help create a content marketing calendar for future blogs and articles. They can also suggest topics and ideas that are from your industry.
In short, keyword research tools are best used in the planning and execution stage. This is why most small brands should start using them as soon as they create their website.
All SEO services take help from some of the best keyword research tools on the market. Any digital marketing expert would emphasize the use of best keyword research tools in order to succeed at SEO.
7 Best Keyword Research Tools for Small Brands: The List
The list helps small brands identify the most basic, easiest and affordable keyword research tools. I have taken special care to include basics and foundational tools from Google.
1. Google Keyword Planner:
If you want to know about what Google likes best, why not ask Google itself. The Google Keyword Planner is free, efficient and a top choice for many SEO experts across the globe.
All you need to do is enter your industry keyword and let Google inform you about everything.
You will get help in terms of-
- How many monthly searches are happening for the keyword (volume)
- What is the level of competition for the keyword
- What are some of the keywords you can bid on (Google Campaigns)
For small brands who are looking to start their websites, the Google Keyword Planner is gold! It is free, reliable and pulls information directly from Google’s database.
The Google Keyword Planner will help you plan your Ad Campaigns once you are ready. This tool stays with brands right from their start. You can use it for basics, as well for complex things like PPC Bidding, and others.
2. Google Correlate:
Many people are not even aware that Google Correlate exists! Even people who work in SEO services agency do not even know that such a potent and powerful tool exists.
The best part about Google Correlate is that it pulls in diverse search results for one specific keyword. This is particularly helpful when you need to plan your content calendar.
Google Correlate is best when it comes to identifying keywords that are searched together. This will help you plan your content accordingly. For a very long time, Google Correlate stood at the number one position on the best keyword tools list.
You do not have to worry about researching alternative or related keywords. The dashboard gives you all the information at one go. This means that a specific category can have multiple strands or tangents.
By targeting the specifics, you will be able to reach a niche audience. This is always a great strategy to follow for B2B brands. They are always looking for targeted users and search for intent.
3. Google Search Suggest/Autocomplete:
I have often seen that brands and agencies miss the basics or foundation of keyword research. Sometimes complicating things can lead to new business models and better paydays. This is the case with most people, who innovate on keyword research tools.
Google Suggest or Autocomplete gives you the list of the most updated and trending keywords on search. This holds true for both focus keywords as well as long-tail keywords.
Most keyword tools do not take into account search queries from Voice Assistants. This is a huge number. Google Autocomplete works overtime to integrate their search results in its search suggestions as well.
As a large volume of searches takes place on Voice Assistants, this needs to be taken into consideration. Google autocomplete is the most updated algorithm in the world.
No other tool or platform can even remotely compete with it. Heck, if you have to rank, Google tells you what people are searching for right now.
4. Ubersuggest:
When Digital Marketing Guru, Neil Patel bought Ubersuggest in 2017 for $120,000 USD, the world went berserk. They thought he was going to monetize a powerful free tool. However, he did the opposite. Not only did he add the beneficial Cost Per Click Data (CPC), better UI and UX, he made the thing free!
For small businesses who are looking for everything from CPC rates, keyword analysis, and topic suggestions, Ubersuggest is a treasure trove. If you are looking to carry out the best keyword research for your brand, Ubersuggest is a worthy alternative.
Ubersuggest is highly useful as it helps in breaking down keyword suggestions by alphabet. This helps plan for more content and article titles. There are a structure and organization in the way Ubersuggest works.
All this functionality at zero cost makes it an attractive proposition for small brands. As small brands have very limited budgets to start out with, they can take help from a powerful and free tool like Ubersuggest.
5. Wordtracker Scout:
Digital Marketing is not an easy game. In addition to worrying about your own, you need to keep a close eye on what your competitor is doing.
There is a very simple rule of ranking. You need to overthrow who is above you on search. You can only do this if you know what the competitor website is up to. Learning from your friends is good, learning from your enemies, even better!
Wordtracker Scout helps you with keywords about your competitors. You simply need to add as a Google Chrome Extension. Go to your competitor website and click on the extension It will give you a detailed list of keywords on their page.
This keyword research tool is great as it helps you know what others are doing and do it better than them. If you are the last one in the game, know what people who came first are doing. Neil Patel calls it the ‘Last Mover’s Advantage’!
6. Ahrefs:
All the above keyword research tools for small brands were free. Free things often come with certain limitations. If you are starting out, the above 5 tools will be more than enough to help you.
If you are planning to take your SEO services to the next level, Ahrefs is going to help you. Make no mistake; Ahrefs is not cheap. The monthly subscription stands at $100 USD. However, the data and information that you can get are worth it.
For example, you get access to-
- Site Explorer
- Content Explorer
- Keyword Explorer
- SEO Site Audit
- Fixing Errors
It also shows you detailed information about backlinks, organic traffic, keywords, referring domains, etc. If you are looking to take your brand to the next level, you will need data and analytics.
Free platforms do not collate information on one dashboard. You will need to keep jumping from one free tool to another to collate all SEO related information. Ahrefs gives you all that information in one place at one go!
7. Answer The Public:
Finding keywords is not the same as it was three or four years back. This is because tech keeps influencing human behavior. With the rise of Voice Assistants, search patterns are changing.
Along with long-tail keywords, question-based ones are finding volumes. This is because of the millions of home assistants that Amazon and Google have sold. Not to mention voice assistants on cell phones like Google Assistant and Siri.
Answer The Public is one of the most innovative and best keyword research tools for small brands. It helps categorize keywords into questions and gives you an unending list.
If you are looking to optimize your website for voice search, Answer The Public is one tool you should check out. In addition, you can create your content strategy and topic list directly from the suggestions that it gives. It is cool, it is new, and it boasts some of the best interactivity, you will ever find in a tool.
Conclusion:
No SEO services strategy can be started without keyword research. It is like the foundation of every building that is built. Without the best keyword research, you cannot master SEO. Without mastering SEO, you can never hope to do well on Google’s search results.
Small brands do not pay attention to keyword research as they think that it is a futile effort. However, they are mistaken. Either they have been ill-informed, or they do not know how to go about it.
By taking help from the best keyword research tools, small brands can do wonders on search. There are so many powerful and good free alternatives out there that you do not even have to allocate a separate budget.
You can take help from Ubersuggest or Answer The Public. However, if you are just starting out, I suggest you look up Google’s own keyword tools. They will help you get the most basic idea about the way forward.
If you need any information on Keyword Research Tools for small brands or SEO services, email me.
Until then, happy keyword hunting…
Read Also:
Leave a Reply