Google has been making a lot of changes to the way Google Keyword Planner behaves. Only recently, they made a change where in users that have a budget lower than a set base limit (which Google conveniently forgot to specify…), will not see the accurate results, and will be presented with the data in a range of values, instead. That’s not very useful, especially when users are trying to find the best keywords for their ads. Some people have even claimed that this move from Google only further tilts the playing field in favour of large companies that can afford to pay more money for a tool, than, say, startups can. That’s why we have curated a list of 7 Google Keyword Planner alternatives that we think you will find useful:
1. Long Tail Pro
Long Tail Pro is a desktop application, available for both Mac and Windows. The application is extremely powerful, and can do everything that Google Keyword Planner can, and do it faster. Long Tail Pro is a paid application, that comes in both monthly, and yearly payment options. There’s also a 10 day trial available for $1, that you can try out, before deciding on whether or not you want to continue using the application. The trial is full-featured, and as such, it is definitely the best alternative to Google Keyword Planner.
Users can create projects in the application, and each project can have as many keywords as the user likes. The application shows the search volume, as well as the competition rating for every keyword. Users can also look at the top Google results for the keywords, directly inside the application itself. Overall, the application is definitely worth trying out, and will help you find keywords that you can use to target your ads.
Buy ($1 trial, $37/month monthly plan, $25/month annual plan)
2. SEMrush
SEMrush is another really great tool to analyse keywords, as well as find out the top keywords from your competition. SEMrush provides users with a plethora of information on the keywords they have searched for. Information includes values such as search volume, number of results, CPC distribution, as well as the search trends for the keyword. Along with that, SEMrush also provides related keywords along with their search volume data.
Users can access these tools for free, simply by signing up to the SEMrush website, with the limitation that SEMrush will not show all of the related keywords that it found. However, the number of results it shows can still prove to be quite helpful to users.
Use SEMrush (free, paid plans start from $69.95/month)
3. SpyFu
SpyFu is very similar to SEMrush in the way it works, except that SpyFu doesn’t even require users to sign up to the website in order to use its services. The data provided by SpyFu includes metrics such as search volume (both local and global), click through rate for the keyword, cost per click, and related keywords. The number of related keywords displayed by the website is limited to 5 in the free version, however users can register for SpyFu’s services and get as many related keywords as the website can find.
The website also displays results like the most successful advertisers for the keyword, and even the ranking of different websites over a period of time as a graph, that users can play around with, to figure out how different websites using the keywords have fared in Google rankings over time.
Use SpyFu (free, paid plans start from $49)
4. Moz Pro
Moz offers a lot of tools that users can use for free, albeit with limited functionality. However, the functionality provided by the limited version of the tools clearly show that Moz Pro is a really good tool for keyword research and a lot of other purposes. Notable among the host of features offered by Moz Pro are, weekly tracking of keyword ranking, for both the user’s own website, as well as the competitions. The website also provides users with ranking comparisons of their websites with their competition, in over 200 countries.
They also offer keyword research tools, and allow users to evaluate the most important domains on the web, along with offering site crawling services. There’s a lot more that Moz Pro lets users do, in order to improve their website’s SEO performance and to help their websites rank better.
Use Moz Pro (free, paid plans start $99)
5. Keyword Tool Pro
Keyword Tool Pro is a tool that can help users find keywords relevant to their website that will have high search volume and little competition. It does this by digging through more keywords than Google’s Keyword Planner does, and exposing more keyword options for users, allowing users to choose from a wider list of keywords, and pick out keywords that have a low level of competition, as compared to other keywords that would have proven harder to rank on. The tool uses Google Search’s “autocomplete” feature to find out hidden keywords that are usually omitted by Google Keyword Planner. It uses the autocomplete feature from a variety of sources, including YouTube, Bing, Amazon and even the App Store, letting users access the keyword data from a large number of sources.
The tool does offer a free version for people who want to try it out before paying for the Pro version, however the free trial only shows the relevant keywords for the keyword searched by the users, and hides all the other data such as the search volume, cpc and other important details. However, the tool does offer a 30 day money back guarantee, so if you pay for the tool and don’t like what it offers, you can ask for a refund within 30 days, and you will get your money back.
Use Keyword Tool (free, paid plans start from$48/month)
6. Term Explorer
Term Explorer is yet another suite that comes with a variety of tools allowing users to perform a number of operations; one of which is finding good, profitable keywords that they can use. The website offers free usage for up to 5 keyword searches, after which users will have to sign up to continue using the service. Term Explorer looks up the requested keywords and provides users with relevant metrics such as the search volume in the form of average monthly searches, the average cost per click, the difficulty index for the keywords in question, as well as the relevancy of the keyword.
Once the users have searched for the keywords they want, they can download the generated report in the form of a CSV (comma separated values) file, or in the form of a White Label PDF. Term Explorer also offers a bulk keyword tool, to look up a number of keywords at the same time. Users can also sort the results by search volume, cost per click or PPC competition.
Use Term Explorer (free, paid plans start from $34)
7. Market Samurai
Market Samurai is another application for keyword analysis, available for Windows and macOS. It offers a free trial version for download, so that users can use the app before deciding on whether they want to buy the full version or not. Market Samurai streamlines all critical search engine marketing tasks, and tries to put the complete market intelligence at the user’s disposal. The application allows users to create projects inside which they can search for keywords and check various relevant metrics, including the total searches for the keyword, the average daily searches for the keyword, along with the trends that the keyword is following.
There are a lot more options in the application, and it works well. However, at $97, it is definitely not cheap for what it does, and there are some better options available.
Use Market Samurai (free trial, pro version at $97)
SEE ALSO: What Is Domain Authority And Why It Is Important?
Try These Keyword Planner Alternatives for Your Next Campaign
While Google is continuously making radical (and sometimes undesirable) changes to their Keyword tool, users can switch to any of the 7 alternatives we have mentioned in this list. These alternative tools are as good (if not better) as the Google Keyword Planner, and can help users do all the things that the Keyword Planner can, and then some more. So, the next time you are cursing Google Keyword Planner for removing a metric or a feature that you wanted, you can simply refer to this article, and pick one of the tools we have picked out for you.
What tools do you use to find keywords for your campaigns? Are you happy with using Google Keyword Planner, or have you already shifted to another keyword tool for your everyday needs? If you know of a keyword planning tool that you think is awesome, and that we have not mentioned in this article, do let us know in the comments section below.
