Are you a new or a newish blogger? Then you might be wondering what you can do to rank your blog posts on Google. Am I right?
But here’s the thing……
Ranking your blog posts on Google takes a lot of time and smart work. It’s a slow process, really slow.
New websites take a minimum of 6 months to start ranking on Google. Sometimes it takes more than 6 months.
There are a lot of factors that affect the ranking of your site on Google such as:
- Your blog’s niche
- Number of blog posts
- Amount of traffic
- Quality of blog posts
- Keywords used
, etc., etc., etc.
The truth is, it’s becoming more and more complex to figure out the Google algorithm and how exactly it shows the search results.
Ranking of your site heavily depends on SEO and SEO is becoming more and more complex. So, it’s kinda difficult to figure out everything, especially if you are a new blogger.
Now, I don’t mean to scare you.
I am just stating some important things here that you should know about Google as a blogger.
Yes, it’s hard BUT it’s NOT IMPOSSIBLE.
You can definitely rank your site on Google if you figure out some basic SEO and how to use keywords the right way.
And that’s why I am writing this post for you in a non-tech way so that you can understand it easily without any hassle.
In this post, I am going to discuss some of the best keyword research tools and more topics on keyword research for your blog.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
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> Related: 7 Important places to use keywords in your blog posts
WHAT IS KEYWORD RESEARCH?
To put it simply, keywords are the phrases that people use to search for something on the search engines.
There are two different types of keywords:
- Short tail keywords
- Long tail keywords
Short tail keywords consist of 1-2 words like ‘pasta recipe’ and long tail keywords consist of more than 2 words like ‘easy white sauce pasta recipe’.
It’s easier to rank your posts if you use long-tail keywords because they are low-competition keywords.
It’s very very important to find and use the correct keywords that resonate perfectly with your blog posts. After all, they are the backbone of the structure and writing format of your blog posts.
Finding the right keywords to use in your blog posts is called keyword research.
Here, by finding the right keywords, I mean those keywords which describe your blog posts perfectly. It is a simple process but you have to do it carefully and smartly.
You need tools to do keyword research which is the main topic of this post.
Let’s move on further….
HOW TO FIND KEYWORDS FOR SEO?
As I have said before, finding keywords for your blog posts is called keyword research.
But how exactly to find them? Don’t worry, it’s not rocket science!
So there are mainly two ways to find keywords for your blog posts:
- Google auto suggest
- Through keyword research tools
#1- Google Auto Suggest:
Suppose you want to write a blog post on the topic ‘different types of female dog breeds’. Here’s how you can use just Google to find keywords for this specific post:
- Head to Google and in the search bar enter the search term that a reader would search to find this specific post. That’s right! Think from the readers’ point of view. What phrases would they use to find your blog post? For example, I would enter something like: ‘female dog breed’. Google will automatically suggest some related search terms like this:
- After entering the suggested search terms you’ll get some more suggestions on the result page like this:
You can use these terms as keywords for your blog posts.
And just like that, we found some keywords. Pretty simple, right?
#2- Using Keyword research tools:
The above method doesn’t show any data such as the keywords’ competition, search volume, monthly searches, etc.
This is where keyword research tools jump in.
All you have to do is pop these keywords in the tool and it’ll show all the data about the keyword and will also suggest some related keywords.
Here are 8 best keyword research tools for you ↓
8 BEST KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOLS FOR BLOG POSTS
Below are some of the keyword research tools you can use to find keywords for your blog posts. Some of the tools I’ve mentioned below are free and some are paid.
1- GOOGLE KEYWORD PLANNER
Starting this list with this free tool by Google which is one of my favorite keyword research tools.
Google keyword planner is provided within the Google Ads platform so you first have to create a Google Ads account to get access to this tool.
You can read this post to find out how to create a Google ads account.
Once you have created a Google ads account just go to the ‘tools’ section on the side panel and choose ‘keyword planner’.
Now click the ‘discover new keywords’ option and enter some phrases related to your blog post to discover new keywords.
Some of the amazing features of this tool are:
- Allows users to discover new keywords related to their product, service, or content.
- Shows data for keywords, including search volume trends over time
- Provides an estimate of how often a keyword is searched on Google
- Allows users to filter keyword results based on location, language, search network, etc.
- Allows users to save and download keyword lists
Expert Tip:
Make sure to choose those keywords which have low competition and high search volume like this ↓
2- UBER SUGGESTS
UberSuggests is a freemium (free and paid) keyword research tool. It’s reliable, easy to understand, and beginner-friendly.
In the free version, you get some simple information about the keyword you want to use in your blog post.
It tells you about the search volume, competition, and trend of a particular keyword. Along with that, you also get some info about your competitors.
Pretty amazing, right?
If you haven’t done keyword research before then I can say that you won’t have any difficulty while using it.
Yes, it’s that beginner-friendly and neat.
Try UberSuggests here for free
3- ANSWER THE PUBLIC
This tool is somewhat similar to the above tool but a little different too. This tool is also freemium and is easy to use for beginners.
In the free version, you can do 3 different keyword research and can upgrade to pro if you like the results.
The different feature of this tool is that you can do keyword research for different search engines like Google, Bing, YouTube, etc.
When I was a beginner, this was the first-ever tool I used to do keyword research and boy was I impressed.
Yes! This tool is amazing!
Try Answer the Public here for free
4- KEYSEARCH
This keyword research tool is very popular among bloggers and SEOs.
It is a paid tool but there is a free 1 month trial available to try out this tool. Some amazing features of this tool are:
- Finds less competitive keywords for you
- Suggests relevant keywords for you
- Finds long-tail keywords for you
- Finds trending keywords for you
The reason for this tool being popular among bloggers is that it’s so simple and easy to use. It’s not complex at all.
So, if you want to invest in a good keyword research tool then this tool is 100% worth it. I recommend it if you want good results.
5- KWFINDER
KWfinder is another freemium tool that has a lot, lots of features.
It’s like any other tool but the results are very reliable and it’s very simple to use too. You can also find out about your competitor’s keyword research.
So I can pretty much say that it’s an all-in-one tool.
6- AHREFS KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOL
Ahrefs is a very popular SEO tool that offers both free and paid tools.
Although this SEO tool is paid, they also offer many small free SEO tools. Here are some free keyword research tools by Ahrefs:
The reason why Ahrefs is so popular among SEO and bloggers is because it is reliable and trusted. So even if these keyword research tools are free, you can 100% trust them.
7- MOZ KEYWORD EXPLORER
Moz is a very popular SEO tool among bloggers and SEOs’ and it’s also a freemium tool.
In the free version, you can do up to 10 keyword searches daily and it will give you some details about the keyword.
This tool provides information about keyword difficulty, organic CTR, keyword suggestions, SERP analysis, etc.
Overall, this tool is a good choice for beginners and bloggers.
8- KEYWORDS EVERYWHERE
Keywords Everywhere is a free browser extension for keyword research.
The best thing about this tool is that you don’t have to go to a third-party tool to do keyword research. All the information about the keyword is available on the search engine result itself.
Pretty handy, right?
To set up the extension, you can follow this tutorial on how to use keywords everywhere extension.
This tool is a hidden gem for keyword research and I had to mention it in this list because not many bloggers know about it.
This is one of the best keyword research tools I have ever used and I am not even exaggerating!
Try Keyword Everywhere extension here
> Related: How to Write Blog Posts which people will actually read
WHAT NOT TO DO WITH KEYWORDS
- Don’t add the keywords too many times in a single blog post. This will result in keyword stuffing or spamming and you’ll end up getting penalized by Google.
- Don’t use keywords that are not relevant to your website or content. This will harm the credibility of your website.
- Use anchor texts naturally and don’t over-optimize them with keywords.
- Don’t focus only and only on keywords. Keep the problems of your audience in your mind. Create quality content. Your purpose is to solve their problems. Ignoring them can lead to poor user experience.
- Don’t focus only on high-competition keywords. Use long-tail keywords as they have less competition which can result in better ranking of your content.
- Don’t use the same Keyword for multiple pages. This can harm the SEO of your site.
Keywords are the backbone of your blog posts. It tells the viewers about your blog post and gives them the best solution to their problems.
And like I said before, doing keyword research is not rocket science. It just requires some strategy and smart work.
I have discussed almost everything about keywords in this post and which tools you can use to find them. So before you go, I have a little question:
Which of the above-mentioned tools are your favorite and have you heard about any of them before?
And one more thing! Make sure to bookmark this post on Pinterest for future reference ↓
Awesom post with so many practical suggestions, I’m glad to diversify the keyword sources, I only tried Ubbersuggest…
Yes, Ubersuggest is an awesome keyword research tool and one of the earliest tool I’ve used myself. Thanks for your kind words.
Thanks, Khushi for this helpful run-through! Are these keyword research tools in any special order? I mean is the one you think is best the first in the list or are they in a random order?
Your most welcome, Sonja! These keyword research tools are not in any specific order. They all are equally good. Hope that helps!
Thank you for this list. It is very helpful for a new blogger like me!
Your most welcome, Monika 🙂