Does increasing traffic, leads, and sales seem hopeless? It isn’t. But what you need is a plan. And that plan starts with powerful keyword research.
Back when we started GrowMap, search engines including Google sent us many times more traffic than they do today. Sadly, those days are long gone for most blogs and sites.
RIP: Google Keyword Planner
And something else that is gone is accurate keyword data that Google used to give us for free in Google Analytics and Google Keyword Planner.
It has been many years since analytics revealed what keyword phrases visitors use to find our sites. At first, you could still do keyword research by having an AdWords account – even if you did not buy ads.
Later, SearchEngineLand reported that Google was officially throttling (reducing) keyword planner data even for advertisers who spent money with them if they were not heavy spenders.
Then starting March 26, 2018, Google started suspending AdWords accounts. If you aren’t actively running ads, Google has likely already shut down your AdWords account or may do so in the future.
Even if you are willing to spend periodically to keep access to the Google Keyword Planner within AdWords, how will you know how much you have to spend to actually see all the keyword data?
We obviously need keyword research alternatives. My readers regularly ask me what to use now.
Neil Patel’s Google Keyword Planner Alternative
There are multiple tools, both free and paid. Neil Patel acquired the popular free keyword research tool Ubersuggest, improved it, and made it available free for anyone to use.
Here is a very short video on how it works:
There are some important points to be made regarding using this (or possibly any) keyword tool:
- Trying to enter a phrase using quotes around it to get more relevant results does not work.
- Many unrelated phrases appear in the unfiltered results.
- You can only enter 5 negative keywords.
Unlike Google Keyword Planner, no one needs an account or to login, so using it is super fast and convenient.
How to Do Powerful Keyword Research
As you can see when you try Ubersuggest, there are a lot of results that are not relevant. So here is my strategy for using the tool. Do the steps in this order:
- First, input your search keyword(s).
- Then choose 5 negative keywords and save them.
- Filter results using a specific word.
- Sort by search volume.
This will let you hone in on the most relevant phrases that have the most traffic.
Obviously, there are other methods you can use. This is just one to get beginners started or offer a new way to those with experience.
Here is an example using the process above:
Notes about the above example:
- Even though the search was for “twitter best practices”, I had already confirmed that the results were exactly the same for twitter best practices without the quotes.
- First I removed a lot of irrelevant results using the maximum number of negative keywords allowed. I chose them by scanning the results and using the ones that were listed most often.
- Then I used “practices” as my filter to pull out all the results that included that word.
- Lastly, I sorted by search volume to see which phrases were the most popular with searchers.
At this point, the next step is to check the ones you want to save or export. The reason to do that is so you can re-use your research for more than one page.
I choose this example because my Twitter Best Practices page used to rank for that phrase. Because it was popular, other sites saw searches for that phrase and created content that now outranks mine.
The reason mine wasn’t strong enough to keep ranking was that is it primarily a page that summarizes and links to other posts about Twitter strategies.
So if I wanted to get that post to rank again (now that the competition is stiffer), I would expand the content to be more comprehensive.
And I would use the research I pulled from Ubersuggest to include all the relevant, related phrases that turned up in that new content.
Another way to use the research would be to create additional posts or pages targeting additional phrases and to ensure my existing Twitter strategy pages target the best keywords.
To do that, we need to understand that “best” is probably not what you may think.
Do Not Mistake Low Competition For Easy to Rank!
Even if you never open links in content you read, I strongly recommend you read Why You Can’t Bank on Google’s Keyword Planner Tool.
In it, Darren DeMatas provides excellent advice including this:
“Unfortunately, a lot of people don’t understand the important difference between keyword competition for advertising and keyword difficulty for SEO.”
He goes on to explain that low keyword competition only means that advertisers do not bid on those keywords because they are too general or do not convert.
It does NOT mean you can easily rank for them.
Here is another video that provides an excellent analogy that explains how to choose the best keyword phrases for your posts, pages, and videos.
While his video shows the old Ubersuggest at the end, I share it with you here because his strategy will work in the new version just as well.
Most importantly, I share it because his explanation will make keyword research more understandable to many.
Keyword research is what separates the sites that are successfully growing with those that are falling by the wayside.
Choosing the best keywords and knowing what to do with them is essential to your success. Every site owner must invest time in learning to do keyword research or hire someone to do it for them.
Have you tried Ubersuggest? If you would like to share your tips on keyword research, let us know in the comments.
Gail Gardner
Thanks for sharing valuable information. Really helpful, It will help me get on track and be competitive
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This is an exactly nice post and the research for the powerful keyword. I could understand, it’s a nice post to learn about keywords thanks to you sir for giving opportunity.
I think the SEO would be raised with powerful and meaningful work that is your post and it’s a great post to me I have learned the technique. And apply this technique getting good feedback. Thank you, Manish for your great post.
Welcome Manish, for your great blog post. Sometimes I feel some problem. When I read your post then I automatically solved my problem and I could understand how to optimize SEO. And it’s powerful keyword research, thanks to you, and I desire you please visit my website.
Google keyword planner and uber suggest both are the good keyword research tool but after getting an update of keyword planner. I don’t like to use it much.
Now, I prefer to use ubersuggest for find out profitable keywords for my blog.
Thank you for sharing this post.
I am a new blogger trying to find articles on ‘keyword research ‘. Found this article which is interesting
Very useful article for me – Thank you
Thank you for sharing all the tips and making realize the importance of keyword Research in order to gain traffic to the website.
This is really interesting! These tips and tricks can really help people whenever they are needing a boost in the SEO realm also. the biggest keyword ranking factor would be the keyword search. This is not only a big factor that can have a huge impact on your company.
Useful information on keyword research tools.But I think the manual searching for keyword is genuine .Thanks for sharing.
Hi Gail Gardner, thanks for sharing this article. Keyword research is a main part of SEO. As google has already blocked my adword account I use Neil Patel’s Ubersuggest. It is great, it shows exact search volume and competition.
Very important article it is, as today everyone wants their product rank on the first page, but its only possible with the good SEO and Keywords they want to target, So to choose best keyword is a really big task, And the author has described everything which is needed for good keyword research.
Thanks much for the beautiful article.
Regards
Thanks for sharing this incredibly eye opening information,
because it’s definitely time, I started closely studying this
constantly evolving subject again. as i am completely dependent on digital marketing
Hello Gail, Ubbersuggest keyword tool is good and there are other free tools as well. Many time I use google keyword planner, as you mentioned Google is canceling the account in that case ubersuggest will come handy. Thank for this article.
Adarsh Kumar
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Thanks to sharing this useful post it really helps me to understand how to choose right keywords and how to deal with them.
I have been facing problems planning my keywords for my posts. This article with the step-by-step guidance is really helping me a lot. Thats why I returned to your post and made it my point to thank you for this wonderful post. Thanks a lot.
Awesome awesome post very helpful.
I learn something new every day.
Keyword research is vital for gaining more free traffic to your blog or website from the major search engines.
Go after the wrong keywords and you could be buried on the 2nd 3rd or 4th pages for the more competitive keyword terms depending on the keywords that you are targeting.
Anyhow,
Very helpful thank you for the info.
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Keyword research is important to start any blog and we should do it manually by testing our top 10 competitors. We should not trust on paid tools.manual work can give much more benefits.
Hello, Gail Gardner nice article. I have tried ubersuggest many times but semrush is top of all. well, semrush is a paid tool and if someone wants free keyword planner tool I would suggest going with ubersuggest. Nice article. Keep up the good work. Thanks for sharing this amazing post
– John Roberts
Thanks for featuring ubersuggest. I’ve been reading a lot of how to get more traffic and stuff lately. I’ll definitely try this method. Again, thanks for sharing!
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hi, thanks for sharing your valuable information with us im an seo freelancer and here now Everyone is talking about long-tail keywords. How do I find long-tail keywords? and how to find long tail keyword with good search volume
I have been using Ubersuggest for a while and i must say it is better than google keyword planner.
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More traffic is what we need in our site to be known and to get potential customers, we just need to find the right keywords to make an impact in the world of online marketing…
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Its Very Good Post for Keyword Research. I personally feel Keyword research is the best thing and most significant step for picking a niche As if you select a low difficulty keyword Your 50% SEO is Done,
But I think You miss the best Keyword tool which is Kwfinder, and It’s too close to Google Manual that one can love it after Saw results.
Its Very Good Post for Keyword Research. I personally feel Keyword research is the best thing and most significant step for picking a niche As if you select a low difficulty keyword Your 50% SEO is Done,
But I think You miss a best Keyword tool which is Kwfinder,
Key Word research is most important and is the base of the other digital marketing campaign. For the Google adword is the base for this.
If a tool we can find for Google Adword really it will be helpful.
I am so grateful to read this, because I have been struggling with Keyword Planner! Off to check out Ubersuggest now.
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Finally, the explanation! So many articles extol the virtue of Google’s keyword tool, yet the signup insists on cc info which I refused to give. Found this article while seeking a work-around. You not only provide an explanation and alternative, but a how-to trail as well. Über thx! Just bookmarked Neil’s tool to check out this weekend.
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Hi Pam,
Glad I could be of assistance. Ubersuggest is an excellent free resource. If you get more serious about keyword research, then you can read something like How to do Keyword Research Like a Pro.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Content Marketing Is So Much More Than Blogging!
And What About Kwfinder? Have You use it, I suggest its the beast for Keyword research and When You saw its Result You will Love it, once try and then wait for it
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Yes…it is very important do keyword research….it is very hard to rank on the competitive keywords. So have moved the focus to long tail keywords….now i am getting better results.
Keyword research is the biggest challenge I think when you are doing SEO , Both On Page and Off Page.
Thanks for this post.
And yes Google Keyword Planner has lost its charm specially when considering low competition keywords.
All these methods are beneficial for me as a newbie blogger. The video tutorial was helping me a lot to understand the concept this tutorial. One of the excellent article to learn something keyword research. Anyway thanks a lot to help me get understanding of keyword research.
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Gail Gardner Your blog is very informative it will help to find the Powerful Keyword. I like the way you described everything step-by-step of keyword research. Please suggest me some tools which help me to find the unique keywords. Vert good. I give your 10 points.
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Hello, Gail Gardner nice article. I have tried ubersuggest many times but semrush is top of all. well, semrush is a paid tool and if someone wants free keyword planner tool I would suggest going with ubersuggest. Nice article. Keep up the good work.
– Jatin.
Hi Jatin,
Yes, serious SEOs use multiple paid tools. But if someone only needs to do basic keyword research to develop a content marketing strategy, for example, then Ubersuggest may be all they need.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Content Marketing Is So Much More Than Blogging!
Hi Gail,
Thank you for sharing this tool. I just test this keyword research tool, very impressive, easy to use and free. Yes, I think this tool become a subtitute for adword keyword planner. Great tool from Neil Patel. He is a proffesional blogger and write a lot about SEO.
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but i’m still really like Adword keyword research, beside it was free,it also powerfull
sad to knew this, like i’m heard the news of avicii’s death
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Thanks Gail, this was an awesome post. Very informative! It’s crazy because I’m starting to hear more and more about UberSuggest and I might give it a try. I’m not to fond of the new Keyword Planner updates which is another reason I’m thinking about making the switch.
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Hi Fritz,
I suspect the changes Google made are why you’re hearing more about UberSuggest – that and because Neil Patel bought it. He has a huge following and high visibility.
With Keyword Planner only showing partial data and probably not revealing what percentage, it really isn’t very useful except to high spenders now.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Content Marketing Is So Much More Than Blogging!
Hi, thanks a lot for sharing such an informative post which is very helpful especially for the beginners like me, I was using google keyword planner but now will also use ubersuggest as well for the long tail keyword research which is an important part for the website ranking. Keep it up!
Suitable keyword for every site is different , but we could manage every key with integrated strategy , especially for marketing purposed in some period
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Hi Gail,
You are right about the fact that Google now require users to create an ad campaign and set a spending budget before using the tool. I tried to use it for my guest post on SEMrush but could not due to the recent update, so I used Ubersuggest.
However, keyword research is important for your content marketing strategy, as it helps you position your brand on SERP.
For me doing keyword research, I first of all try to find keywords my competitors are ranking for, as well as related keywords – LSI. I also brainstorm keywords by filtering based on location.
Thank you for sharing this insightful post.
Hi Moss,
Thanks for taking the time to comment. Keyword research is so important for all sites. But many bloggers don’t do any. I often assist small businesses with theirs to make sure they are creating content that will benefit them instead of just writing to be writing.
It is likely that is why Neil Patel decided to buy Ubersuggest.
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is amazing post and your blog is best for me and i am daily visit your blog because i am learn new in every day. thank you.
Hi Gail,
Liked the way of your explanation and coming to this post, it’s very informative and helpful for me. I am a vivid fan of google keyword planner, but in recent times its showing very limited data as of result I am searching for best keyword tools then I came across your post it helps me a lot.
Thanks
Great article! Indeed its true keyword research is very Important for any brand. There are lot of sites available for keyword research like google Adwords keyword planner, SEM RUSH etc..
Good Post .Fully read out this articles, Nice tips and learn some new things
Thanks For Sharing with us , Keep it up
Hi Gail,
Looks Like Google Keyword Planner update is not that And I was thinking of using an alternate. But Now I think that I must try another Google research keyword.
Thanks for sharing.
Have a good week ahead.
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Thank you for sharing, ubersuggest is really useful, it has saved me some money. Google has really make things more and more difficult for small businesses like mine.
Hi Gail,
Great content. I haven’t had the chance to use the new UberSuggest yet. It seems promising though. For a free service, it is worth checking to get an idea on which keywords might be out there. I don’t know much about its database or how reliable it is yet, but the future will tell.
I like that pointed out the difference between competition for advertisers and competition for search engine rankings. Unfortunately, not many articles out there explaining this problem in detail. Young SEOs and bloggers always confuse the two. And especially now that the data you get from GKP is almost worthless.
What I like to do when using Google tools is use check my Search Console and Google Analytics for keywords I already rank for. I put them in GKP and filter the result based on search volume, and then use those in Google Trends. That way the data I get is much more filtered and reliable than simply using what a single tool tells me.
Thanks again for sharing this content!
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Hi Youness,
Ubersuggest pulls from Google so they have the full database. I’m not really sure why Google would block data in their own tools, but permit third party tools to pull from it. But that is what I understand.
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Wow, I always thought the Keyword planner wasn’t too accurate. I started noticing that some popular keywords were getting less hits than I thought. Thanks for the new update. I will start looking at Ubersuggest.
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Amazing article Gail Grander. The tricks and ideas in this article are very interesting for having some good idea for some powerful keyword research.
Thanks for the great share.
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It was very informative post about Keyword Researching and i learned lot of things from it. The Video mentioned in this post is also very good. Thanks for the post …..
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Hai,
This is a good post for powerful keyword research.Keywords are the most critical thing one must know,very informative.An article worth reading.Thank you for such a good post
Aside from Google Keyword Planner, I have tried using Screaming Frog which is a really great tool for keywords as well. Its the 2nd time i have read about ubersuggest today and it is really interesting. Thanks for the shown example. Will definitely try it out!
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Hey Gael,
Good to be back
Been using this tool for a couple of weeks now but you just add some tips to make it more practical.
Thanks for the steps. I’ll back to it now to test out your suggestions.
Have a wonderful week
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Hi..
Thanks for sharing this useful article..
It helped me a lot in finding keyword and increasing traffic of the website.
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Indeed a detailed writeup. Thanks for sharing. These ideas would help us revise and update the keywords research strategies implemented on our business wesbite.
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Hi Gail,
Keyword research is the best task of ranking a blog post. Your technique is really different from others I have shown before. I hope it will work. Thanks for sharing this. Actually, I am fighting to find keywords.
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Hi Sadhan,
All keyword research is about the same, but the paid tools can go more in-depth. All I did was point out how to filter to better focus on the best phrases more quickly.
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Hello Gail Gardner,
I Read your blog, I Found your blog is Interesting and Very Informative, I learned A lot About Keyword Research but I have a doubt About Negative keywords.Is Negative Keyword is helpful for Website?
Hello Mohit,
Negative keywords are most important for pay-per-click (ppc) like AdWords to prevent your ads from being shown for irrelevant searches.
In this context, they are used to remove irrelevant search results so you can more easily find the keyword phrases that are the most important.
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Thank you for sharing such a great article…Gail Gardner
Keywords are the most important thing, I am Lil bit confused about which keyword is the best for the website long tail keyword or Short Keyword
Hi Atul,
The shorter the phrase, typically the tougher the competition and the longer it will take to rank for it – if that is even possible.
So what most people do is target long-tail phrases and work toward ranking for them to get traffic started coming to their sites. And then over time, all the incoming links to long-tail phrases will make your site more competitive and you can eventually possibly rank for some short keyword phrases as well.
So, for your site, “ceramic tile” would be a short phrase that would be much more competitive than a long-tail phrase such as “handmade ceramic tile manufacturer” or “handpainted ceramic tiles india”.
You should create a separate page or post for each phrase you want to target and write exceptional long (at least 700 words, but ideally 1500+) words about that phrase.
Note that the type of content that attracts links and helps your site rank in search engines will possibly be much longer than the kind of content that your typical buyer wants to read.
So what you do is have the short buyer pages link to the long, indepth pages. That way, those who want lots more information can get it, but you aren’t forcing your buyers to read through it to find the buy button.
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Thank you, author, for sharing such a valuable Post it is really helpful. Your informative post helped me to find the best keyword for my websites thanks a lot, Keep sharing such an informative blog with us…
Thank you for sharing such awesome inside info Gail!
And while I’m obviously far from a qualified SEO specialist
by any stretch of the word.
I clearly had no idea, Google has really changed things around so
much, with regards to it’s free keyword planning tools.
And you are so right, with your advice, about taking the time
and making the effort, to learn the current SEO basic fundamentals.
Even though I have definitely used the Ubersuggest tool a few times
in the past.
I clearly have not done so in quite a while.
Thanks for sharing this incredibly eye opening information,
because it’s definitely time, I started closely studying this
constantly evolving subject again.
Hi Mark,
As writers and strategists, we would love to just ignore SEO. But unfortunately, doing so can cause us painful issues. So as a site owner, we almost half to learn at least some of it.
If Google chooses to limit the data they show, that is their prerogative. But they really should put a warning label on the results they provide to ensure users are aware of what they have done.
Gail Gardner would love you to read ..Thought Leaders Say Why HTTPS and Voice Search Will Rule the Roost in 2018
keywords and knowing what to do with them is essential to your success. Keywords are the most important thing one must know. Informative. An article worth reading. i like this type artical
thanks
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Uber suggest is an good alternative for google keyword planner. Keywords are the main and powerful factor for ranking your website on search engines. When compared to google keyword planner i guess uber suggest lets you to decide keywords based on lot of factors and comparisons. Completely a good information about keywords, thanks for the article.
There is very less difference between competition for keyword in advertisement and competition in SEO ranking. If you have high competition for SEO then it is difficult to rank. These keywords definitely have high click rates in Google Adword advertisement. Both are more or less same keywords. We should optimise keywords both for SEO ranking as well as advertisement.
Truly said, Keywords and knowing what to do with them is essential to your success. Keywords are the most important thing one must know. Informative. An article worth reading.
Gail Gardner Your blog is very informative it will help to find the Powerful Keyword. I like the way you described everything step-by-step of keyword research. Please suggest me some tools which help me to find the unique keywords.
Hello Manish,
Any of the keyword tools could uncover unique keywords. Other methods are explained in the post I linked to by Darren DeMatas. You may also be able to mine the searches done on a particular site to find out specifically what your visitors want to find.
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