This is a list of the 17 best keyword research tools in 2024.
These amazing tools have helped my organic traffic grow by 28.55% over the last year:
And in this guide, I’ll reveal the world’s best keyword research tools…
…and help you choose the best one for you.
The best SEO keyword research tools for SEO have one thing in common: helping users boost organic traffic and search engine visibility.
However, each tool approaches this goal differently. Some are all-in-one SEO platforms that specialize in technical SEO, backlink opportunities, and guest post outreach.
Others focus on niche SEO opportunities, such as finding underserved and easy-to-rank keywords or topic cluster research.
We’ve updated this post to account for SEO opportunities in 2024 and guide your choice of the best keyword research tools suitable to your needs.
Let’s jump in.
What Are The Top 5 Tools?
1. Semrush
Semrush works a little differently than the other tools I will show you.
Instead of entering a seed keyword and getting a long list of keyword ideas, Semrush shows you keywords that your competition already ranks for.
(These are usually outside-the-box keywords that would be impossible to find using any other tool.)
Here’s how it works:
First, enter a competitor’s domain name in the field at the top of the page.
If you’re doing SEO in a country outside of the US (for example, in Google.co.uk), you can choose to see information about that specific market. Just choose that country from this menu:
Next, take a look at the “Organic Research” section:
Here’s what the different terms in that section mean:
- Keywords are the estimated number of monthly organic visitors that come from Google.
- Traffic is the estimated number of monthly visitors.
- Traffic Cost indicates how valuable this traffic is (based on Google Ads CPC).
So if you see a domain with a lot of Organic Search Traffic but a low Traffic Cost, you know that they’re ranking for keywords that don’t convert into buyers.
But the real value of Semrush comes from the “Organic Keywords” data:
This box will show you 5 of the top keywords that your competitors are ranking for. To see more, click on “View all [number] organic keywords”.
And you’ll get a list of all of the keywords that the site or URL ranks for:
This page alone will usually give you a handful of solid keywords for digital marketing.
But if you want more ideas, go back to the “Organic Research” overview and check out the “Competitors” in the menu bar.
And you’ll see that site’s first-page competition:
When you click on one of THOSE results, you can see the exact search queries they’re ranking for.
There will be some overlap from what you just saw, but you’ll also (usually) dig up some real gems.
You can also start your Semrush search with a keyword instead of a competitor’s site:
Semrush will show you a “Phrase match report”, which is a list of long-tail keywords that include the keyword you entered:
This is really helpful for finding long-tail variations of Head and Body Keywords.
For example, if you wanted to rank for the keyword “weight loss”, you’ll quickly find that it’s simply too competitive.
But Semrush will show you long-tail variations, like the “weight loss calculator”, that is MUCH easier to rank for:
My Favorite Feature: Keyword Magic
This tool pulls keyword suggestions from Semrush’s massive database of over 25 billion terms.