(the following is a post by Elisa Gabbert)
Sometimes a basic, free keyword suggestion tool just isn’t enough. If you’re ready to move beyond the limited functionality of most online tools to do more in-depth keyword research for SEO and pay-per-click campaigns, here are five advanced keyword research tools well worth checking out.
SEMRush: SEMRush is a competitive research tool that’s useful for both SEO and PPC keyword research and analysis. It has several pricing levels; most of the keyword information is available in the free version, but paid versions return more results. SEMRush offers several features that can help you determine the value and competitiveness of keywords:
- Keyword Trends, Cost and Volume – SEM Rush scrapes data from Google to tell you the average and current monthly search volume of a keyword, whether the keyword is trending up or down in use, and how competitive it is.
- Top Competitors for Your Keywords – You can view a list of the domains that rank for the same keywords as you, and you can also see how much overlap in keywords you have with a given domain.
This data is helpful for determining how you measure up to competitors for your top keywords. If you’re falling behind, you may need to drill down into your keywords and determine where you can increase relevance – potentially by expanding mid- and long-tail keywords. The downside is, all competitive tools have limited use, since what your competitors are doing isn’t necessarily going to work for you.Independent keyword research is crucial for gaining a competitive edge.
Compete: As the name suggests, Compete is another competitive intelligence tool. A Compete account allows you to compare traffic and engagement metrics for competitive sites as well as analyze competitors’ keyword strategies.
Analytics tools include:
- Search Analytics: Find search referrals for a given site or category or enter a keyword to see which sites get traffic from it.
- Referral Analytics: Enter a site or category to see which websites send traffic to it and get traffic from it.
