Paid keyword tools are excellent, but you can build a comprehensive keyword strategy using entirely free tools. This lesson walks you through three powerful free tools and shows you how to combine their data into a master keyword list.
Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is free inside Google Ads. You do not need to run ads to use it. It provides search volume ranges, competition data, and keyword suggestions directly from Google's own search data, making it the most authoritative free keyword source available.
How to use Google Keyword Planner for SEO
- 1Go to ads.google.com and create a free account (you do not need to add billing)
- 2Go to Tools > Keyword Planner
- 3Click "Discover new keywords" and enter your seed keyword (e.g. "wix seo")
- 4Set your location to the country you are targeting
- 5Download the results as a CSV file to build your keyword list
- 6Focus on keywords with "Low" to "Medium" competition if you are a new or small site
Ubersuggest
Ubersuggest by Neil Patel offers 3 free searches per day without an account. It provides keyword suggestions, search volume, SEO difficulty scores, and content ideas. It is particularly good for finding long-tail variations of your core keywords.
AnswerThePublic
AnswerThePublic visualises the questions, prepositions, and comparisons people use around a keyword. Enter your topic (e.g. "wix seo") and it generates a visual map of hundreds of related queries, many of which make excellent blog post titles.
Free Combination Strategy
Use Google's autocomplete (type your keyword and see what Google suggests), the People Also Ask boxes in search results, and the Related Searches at the bottom of the SERP alongside these tools. Together, they give you 200+ keyword ideas without spending a penny.
Free Keyword Research Tools
Google Keyword Planner
Free inside Google Ads, official search volume and competition data straight from Google
Ubersuggest
3 free searches/day, keyword volume, SEO difficulty, and long-tail suggestions
AnswerThePublic
Visual keyword map of questions, prepositions and comparisons around any topic
Google Trends
See whether keyword interest is growing, declining, or seasonal
Keyword Surfer (Chrome Extension)
Free Chrome extension showing search volumes directly in Google search results
Complete How-To Guide: Building a Complete Keyword List Using Free Tools
This guide takes you through the step-by-step process of using Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest and AnswerThePublic together to build a comprehensive keyword list for your Wix site without spending a penny.
Follow these steps to build a comprehensive free keyword list
- 1Start with Google Keyword Planner at ads.google.com/keyword-planner (you need a free Google Ads account but do not need to run ads) and click Discover New Keywords
- 2Enter 3-5 seed keywords related to your main service or product and set your target country and language then click Get Results
- 3Sort results by Average Monthly Searches and export the full list to a spreadsheet, keeping keywords with 10+ monthly searches
- 4Open Ubersuggest at neilpatel.com/ubersuggest and enter your same seed keywords one by one, exporting the keyword suggestions and related keywords
- 5In Ubersuggest click on Content Ideas to find keywords that existing top-ranking content is targeting, add relevant ones to your master spreadsheet
- 6Go to AnswerThePublic at answerthepublic.com and enter your core topic to generate question-based keywords (who, what, where, when, why, how)
- 7Export the AnswerThePublic results and add all relevant questions to your spreadsheet as these are excellent blog post topics
- 8Open Google itself and search your seed keywords, scroll to the bottom for Related Searches and check the People Also Ask boxes, adding any new keywords you find
- 9Use Google Autocomplete by typing your seed keyword followed by each letter of the alphabet (a, b, c...) and noting the suggestions
- 10Combine all keyword data into a single master spreadsheet, remove exact duplicates and sort by search volume
- 11Add columns for Search Intent, Difficulty (low/medium/high based on what ranks), and Assigned Page
- 12Categorise every keyword into a topic cluster to identify natural content groupings
- 13Highlight the top 20 highest-opportunity keywords (good search volume plus low difficulty) as your immediate priority targets
Final Checkpoint
Your master keyword spreadsheet should contain at least 100 unique keywords organised by topic cluster with search volume, intent, and difficulty data. If you have fewer than 50 keywords, repeat the process with additional seed variations until you have a comprehensive list.
Essential Resources
Google Keyword Planner
Free keyword research tool inside Google Ads with official search volume data
Ubersuggest
Free keyword research tool with search volume, SEO difficulty, and content ideas
AnswerThePublic
Visual keyword map of questions and phrases people search around any topic
Google Trends
See whether keyword interest is growing, declining, or seasonal over time
