A lot of people try to run their businesses in the dark. And by “in the dark,” I mean without crucial information that would help them target the exact prospects they want to attract and know exactly what to offer them.
So, how do you do get that crucial information? One of the best ways is to use one or more of the powerful tools available to you to give you that information.
I’m talking about keyword research tools.
Why are keyword research tools so helpful for business owners? Well, just imagine that you could (1) get inside your prospect’s head and know what he’s searching for when he browses the Internet and (2) know exactly what language he uses when he does so.
Don’t you think that would be useful information? You bet!
And that’s the kind of information a good keyword research tool gives you.
But not all keyword research tools are created equal. Today I want to give you quick reviews of three tools I’ve used for research and my recommendation for which one you should use.
Let’s get started.
Option #1: Wordtracker
The first keyword tool I used when I started doing keyword research a decade or so ago was Wordtracker (www.wordtracker.com). I used this tool for years and was more or less satisfied with it.
Here’s a quick peek at some advantages and disadvantages of Wordtracker:
Advantages
Powerful Results—Wordtracker gives you a lot of information. You enter a keyword or keyword phrase, hit “Search,” and you get:
- How many searches people have conducted in the past month not only for the keyword you entered, but anything related to that keyword. For example, I just typed in “consulting” and I got back results not only for that keyword, but for “consulting firms,” “consulting jobs,” “environmental consulting,” and “how to start a consulting business,” in addition to hundreds of other results.
- A “Competition” score that tells you how much competition there is for the keyword in organic search. If more pages on the Internet are using that keyword, the competition to rank for that word or phrase would be stiffer.
- Something called “IAAT” (In Anchor and Title), which tells you the number pages of on the Internet in which the keyword shows up both in the page title and in the text of a backlink. In other words, how many pages have made a real attempt to optimize for that keyword (again, the more that do so, the more your competition will be for that keyword).
- A “Keyword Effectiveness Index” (KEI) that combines how popular a keyword is with how much competition is out there for that keyword. This is a very powerful number because a high KEI score basically means that the term is popular but there’s not a lot of competition for it—just what you want.
- Cost Per Click—how much it would cost you to run a Google ad using that keyword. Obviously, when you’re paying money to drive traffic to your website, you want to get a good value, so this is useful information to know before you write up your ad. I believe this information is only available on the paid version of Wordtracker.
Create Custom Keyword Databases—As you do your research, you can check certain terms from your results and then save them to a list, then export that list for use later as you work on your blog or website. This is extremely useful, as you don’t want to be wading through tons of data when you’re working on optimizing your site. If you’ve carefully pre-selected all the best-performing terms you’d like to use on your site and saved them all in one place, it makes things much easier.
Disadvantages
Fairly Expensive—There is a free version of Wordtracker available, but it doesn’t have all the functionality. For example, you get a limited number of free searches, and you can’t access all the data (like the cost per click information).
When I was paying for Wordtracker, my cost was $69 a month. Not super-expensive, but a lot to pay if you don’t do keyword research very often.
Information Available, But Not “Pushed” to You—Wordtracker has created a lot of articles about SEO that you can access over the Internet, but you have to go searching for it. If you Google “Wordtracker,” you’ll find articles about how to do SEO and all the ins and outs of the process, so I give them credit for that. But like I said, you have to take the initiative and look it up.
Option #2: Answer the Public
Another keyword research tool that I used for a while this past year is Answer the Public (www.answerthepublic.com). This one is a little different from Wordtracker and most other keyword research tools in a couple of ways.
The big difference is that, instead of mining the actual numbers of searches for keyword terms, it “scrapes” the data off the search field drop-down menu. You know how, when you start typing into the search box in Google, you immediately get a drop-down list of related terms that people have searched for? This is the data that Answer the Public uses to give you information about search terms.
Another big difference is how the search data is presented. Instead of providing you with a table of data, the information is presented in mind map form. More on this below.
Advantages
Information Understandable at a Glance—As I mentioned above, with Answer the Public, instead of tables of numbers like you get in most keyword research tools, the information is presented in mind map form, circular “wheels” of terms coming out from central terms like spokes. For example, when I searched for “consulting,” the “Questions” mind map shows question words such as “who,” “when,” “where,” “which,” “why,” “how,” and “will” as the main branches in the center of the map, and search questions starting with those words can be found in the spokes branching off of these main branches. For example, in the “Will” branch, you find questions like, “Will consulting be automated?” and “Will consulting firms survive COVID?”
The other aspect of this formatting that is helpful is that the results are “weighted” visually. In each branch of the mind map, the terms are arranged from most popular to least popular. There is a green dot next to each term, and the larger and darker the dot is, the more popular the term is in search. The smaller and lighter the dot is, the less popular it is. This arrangement allows you to see at a glance which terms are worth looking into further and which ones aren’t worth your trouble.
Formatted Based on the Ways People Actually Search—You get several categories of results for each search you do in Answer the Public: Questions, Prepositions, Comparisons, and Alphabeticals. I already mentioned the Questions mind map, above. You also see a mind map of results that have prepositions in the search query, with prepositions such as “is,” “without,” “near,” “can,” “with,” and “to” as the main branches. You get a mind map of results from when people have searched using comparison words such as “like,” “or,” “and” or “is.” The results of such results are phrased the way people actually search.
Disadvantages
Lack of Accuracy—While the results in the mind maps are weighted so you can see which ones are searched more often at a glance, you don’t actually get any numbers. So, while you can see that one term is searched more often than another term in the same branch by looking at how big and dark the dot is next to each term, you don’t know if the more often-searched term is searched for twice as often, three times as often, etc. It’s a pretty blunt tool.
Very Expensive—If you use the free version of Answer the Public, you only get two searches a day and you don’t get access to a lot of the more advanced features (like being able to save the results of a search and then compare it to a search of the same term later to see what way the term is trending). To get unlimited searches and unlock the extra features, you have to go with the paid plan, and that’s going to run you $99 a month for the Pro Plan. That’s a lot of money for an independent consultant who needs to watch her money.
Option #3: Ubersuggest
The most recent keyword research tool I’ve found is one created by internet marketer Neil Patel. It’s called Ubersuggest (www.neilpatel.com/ubersuggest/), and I’ve been using it for about three months now. Let’s take a look at how it stacks up to the other two above.
Advantages
Amazing Functionality—Ubersuggest has more features right at your fingertips in the app’s dashboard than any other keyword tool I’ve seen. Of course, you can look up keywords and get the kind of data in table form that you get from Wordtracker, like how many people have searched for the term recently, competition for the term, and how much the term would cost you for pay per click advertising. But in addition, you can see how many people have searched for the term on mobile vs. desktop, how many people clicked on something with the term in it on organic searches vs. through paid search, and the age ranges of people searching for the term.
In addition to this wealth of data, you can use Ubersuggest to run an audit on your website and tell you things like how many backlinks you have to your pages, how many pages don’t have H1 headlines, and many other important SEO considerations. Ubersuggest will also give you a list of the top-ranking websites for any keyword you type in, so you can immediately the main competitors for the term, and it will also give you ideas for popular topics if you wanted to write a blog post using the keyword. And this description just scratches the surface of the features available.
High Quality of Information on How to Use the Tool—Not only does Ubersuggest offer an amazing amount of functionality, but there’s a wealth of information readily available on how to make use of the features. There’s a huge database of articles right there on the dashboard, accessible with a single click. You don’t have to open a new tab and Google what you’re looking for.
Information “Pushed” to You—In addition to the articles found within the site itself, Neil Patel sends you regular e-mails (for paid members) with ideas about how to get the most out of Ubersuggest to help your site be more competitive in SEO. The articles are well-written and detailed. If you want to learn the best pro strategies for improving your website’s ranking and if you really dedicate yourself to the task, you can follow the advice in Neil’s e-mails and see measurable results over a short period of time—sometimes within a few weeks.
Fairly Inexpensive—As crazy at it seems, with all the advantages I’ve listed above, Ubersuggest is the least expensive of the three tools reviewed here. I use the Pro plan, and it only costs me $49 a month. That’s a price I can live with in return for all the things I can do with the tool.
Disadvantages
Haven’t Found One Yet—Honestly, I’ve been using Ubersuggest for a few months now, and I’ve yet to find a single thing to complain about. I’m sure I’ll find something eventually (nothing’s perfect), but with all the advantages I listed above, I’m sure any drawback I find will be minor in comparison.
Recommendations
I guess it’s pretty obvious, but just to be sure, let me lay it out for you:
1. Ubersuggest: This keyword research tool has the most useful features, the best knowledge base for support, and is the least expensive of the three. If you’re going to pay for one keyword research tool, this is the one I’d suggest.
2. Wordtracker: This tool gives you lots of data, and if you’re knowledgeable enough to wade through the data yourself, you can get a lot of useful information from it. It doesn’t have quite as many features as Ubersuggest, and you don’t get regular e-mails with ideas for improving your SEO (like you do with Ubersuggest), but it’s still a solid choice. And since it’s the medium-price option, it won’t break the bank. Still, I can’t see paying for both Wordtracker and Ubersuggest when Ubersuggest has everything you need.
3. Answer the Public: This one is quite different than the other two, and the different approach makes it kind of fun to play around with to get SEO ideas from. But, in all good conscience, I simply can’t recommend that you pay for this tool unless you simply have money to burn.
OK, there you have it, my evaluation of three of the most popular keyword research tools out there. I hope you’ve found it informative. And, by all means, if you have questions or comments, give me a holler in the comments field below.
