Keyword research is an important part of your SEO strategy. Otherwise, how would you know which search terms visitors should use to find you? The Google Keyword Planner is a popular tool. It shows the popularity of a search term and how often that term is searched each month.
But in addition to the Google Keyword Planner, there are several other tools that can help you conduct effective keyword research. In this blog post, we’ll share 7 (free) useful alternatives to Google’s Keyword Planner.
You might be familiar with Neil Patel. He’s a well-known SEO specialist who also offers a variety of services. He’s developed a free keyword tool called Übersuggest. Whether you’re looking for content ideas or want to know which pages rank highly for specific search queries, this tool will help you find out everything you need to know!
Simply by entering a search query, you’ll get suggestions for popular search terms. You’ll also see how competitive these keywords are. If you click further into “keyword ideas,” you’ll also see which other websites rank well for that search term. This way, you’ll get ideas, but you’ll also get a peek at what the competition is doing.
Übersuggest doesn’t always work flawlessly, but it’s an interesting tool to use.
Curious about the current trends for your search query? Give Google Trends a try. It’s a free tool that’s definitely worth checking out. Enter a search term and see the current trends. You can do this for Google Search, Google Images, Google News, and even YouTube. You can even see in which region the search term is most popular. This tool lets you compare which search terms generate a lot of traffic.
In addition, you can get ideas from Google Trends. You’ll also see which related topics and search terms are popular right now. This gives you great ideas for content. You’ll know exactly what people are searching for and can write about those topics.
We personally find the Answer The Public tool incredibly useful. When you enter a simple search query here, you’ll get more than enough ideas for keywords, blog posts, and landing pages. Do you own a clothing store and want to know what people are searching for when looking for a dress? Enter your search query, and Answer The Public will show you combinations and questions. You’ll see combinations like “dress with a deep V-neck” or “dress from brand X” next to your search query.
This tool gives you lots of content ideas. For example, the tool generates combinations like “dress” and “job interview.” This way, you’ll immediately see a set of topics for blog posts. Answer The Public is therefore an ideal tool for insights and content ideas!
The Bing Keyword Tool is, not entirely surprisingly, from Bing. This tool is often overlooked, but that’s a shame. You can only access the tool once you’re signed in and have verified your website. But it’s worth the effort.
You’ll see 100 suggestions for a search query. That’s fewer than Google, but what really matters is relevance.
You’ve probably typed something into Google at some point to see what suggestions it gives you. But are you also curious about the suggestions from YouTube, Bing, Yahoo, and Wikipedia? Then give Soolve a try. To be honest, it’s not the best-designed tool. Soolve provides suggestions for every search query and shows what people are searching for on YouTube, Bing, Yahoo, or Wikipedia.
Since the Chrome extension Keywords Everywhere became a paid extension, a number of new extensions have been created. The best replacement for Keywords Everywhere is the more user-friendly extension What’s My Serp Everywhere. By installing this plugin, you can easily analyze the SERPs.
You can see the search volume, CPC, competition for the keywords, and related keywords. This makes it a handy tool for supplementing your keyword research or quickly checking a few relevant keywords. The only thing to keep in mind is that WMS Everywhere shows global search volumes. This means the figures may also include search volumes from other countries.
To complete your keyword research, it is often necessary to combine keywords. You can then check the search volume for these combinations.
With the Mergewords tool, you can enter unique keyword phrases in up to 3 fields, after which the tool generates a list of combinations. This tool is therefore ideal for generating long-tail keywords.
There are plenty of alternatives to the Google Keyword Planner. In our opinion, Übersuggest is the best replacement for the Google Keyword Planner. In addition to Übersuggest, the following tools are also must-haves for every marketer:
Jarik Oosting is one of the Netherlands’ best-known SEO and GEO specialists and is the founder of SmartRanking. With more than 15 years of experience, he has worked on over 150 SEO and GEO projects for Dutch and international companies. His expertise ranges from technical SEO and complex migrations to strategies and visibility in AI models.
In January 2025, Jarik introduced GEO (also called AEO) to the Netherlands. He wrote the Dutch book “GEO – Zichtbaar zijn in de antwoorden van AI” about AEO, is an author and editor at Frankwatching, and a contributor to Marketingfacts. As a speaker at events, he shares his knowledge about SEO, GEO, and the search landscape.