32 Free Keyword Tools for Domain Research and SEO

Keyword tools are vital for SEO, but they can also be used as domain name analysis tools. Popular keywords form the basis for good generic domain names. And if the specific domain you want is taken, a keyword tool may help you come up with an acceptable alternative. Keyword tools can also help you optimize your domain’s parking page, analyze a domain or website you’re thinking about buying, and see what your competitors are doing.

I hope to build DomainerPro.com into an important domaining resource that will help both beginning and experienced domainers. Toward that end, I’ve put together this list of 30 free web-based keyword research tools. All of these tools are free and functioning as of this writing. Some of these tools are repetitive, but many present data in different ways, so you may find that you like one more than another. I rejected several other tools because they are ineffective or non-functioning, including the goRank ontology lookup tool, KeywordLizard.com, and the GoLexa search tool.

Here are the tools, in alphabetical order. Feedback is appreciated:

1. 123 Promotion.co.uk Overture Keyword Tool – http://www.123promotion.co.uk/ppc/index.php
   Combines Overture and Wordtracker results from the previous month.
2. 7Search Keyword Suggestion Tool – http://7search.com/KST
   I find the double word verification entry annoying, but results are interesting.
3. Apogee Web Consulting’s Meta Keywords Research Tool – http://www.apogee-web-consulting.com/tools/keyword_tool.php
   This tool may be more useful for SEO than domaining. Put in a URL and it gives you that site’s primary keywords.
4. Ask.com – http://www.ask.com/
   Do any search then see the “Narrow Your Search” link on the left for alternative keywords.
5. CheckRankings.com Keyword Suggestion Tool – http://www.checkrankings.com/keywordsuggestion/
   Focuses on Google Adwords, showing the number of searches and competitors in Adwords.
6. Compete.com – http://www.compete.com/
   Enter up to three domains and this tool gives you a graph showing traffic levels over the last year.
7. Digital Point’s Keyword Suggestion Tool – http://www.digitalpoint.com/tools/suggestion/
   Like a few other tools here, this one combines Overture and Wordtracker results. Most of them present the data in different ways, so worth a look.
8. Global Promotor’s Keyword Generator Tool – http://www.globalpromoter.com/seo-tools/keyword-suggestion-tool.cfm
   Adds to the Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool by drawing keywords from 6 major search engines.
9. Good Keywords – http://www.goodkeywords.com/
   This is a download, not an online tool, but it’s free and many SEO experts use it. Makes use of various tools provided by search engines like the Overture Search Suggestion Tool, Search Engines Like Yahoo, Google, MSN, Ask and other services like Alexa.
10. Google Adwords Keyword Tool – https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
    Suggests up to 200 keywords related to yours, with tiny bar graphs showing search volume and advertiser competition.
11. Google Suggest Labs – http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1
    As you type a word, GSL tries to complete it for you, showing you multiple keywords with search volume. Choose one of GSL’s suggestions to navigate the results.
12. Google Trends Labs – http://www.google.com/trends
    Very useful for analyzing domains you’re thinking of buying. Enter a keyword and this tool gives you a search volume chart, a news reference frequency chart, and a list of regions where search volume is heaviest.
13. Google Hot Trends – http://www.google.com/trends/hottrends
    Not the same as the one above. Trying to figure out what domains to register? Hot Trends give you today’s most popular Google searches. Fertile ground for ideas.
14. KWMap’s Keyword Map Tool – http://www.kwmap.net/
    Displays its results in a very interesting way, in a keyword chart with two axes dotted with keywords. According to KWMap.net, one of the axes shows keywords that are different but related to your search word, while the other is for keywords that contain your search keyword. The most relevant keywords appear in the middle. It’s fun to play with, anyway.
15. Lycos Top 50 Searches – http://50.lycos.com/
    Like Yahoo Buzz or Hot Trends, shows you what keywords people are searching right now. Less useful than the other two, perhaps.
16. MS AdLabs Search Funnels – http://adlab.microsoft.com/searchfunnel/
    Unique tool. Use Microsoft adCenter’s “search funnel” tool to help you visualize how people search. Slightly more functionality with Explorer than with Firefox (the mouseover info balloons only appear on Explorer).
17. NicheBot Classic – http://www.nichebotclassic.com/
    Claims to extract info from WordTracker, Thesaurus, Overture, Keyword Discovery, Keyword Analysis and Google Keyword Ranking.
18. Niche Watch – http://www.nichewatch.com/
    This tool, which requires a free registration, lets you type a keyword or phrase and get an analysis of the websites of your top 20 competitors.
19. Online Thesaurus – http://thesaurus.reference.com/
    Provides multiple synonyms for a word.
20. Overture Suggestion Tool – http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/
    Unfortunately this tool’s data is no longer updated and does not go beyond January 2007. Nevertheless, the historical data may still be useful. You type in a keyword and it tells you how many people are searching on that term and related terms.
21. OVT Keywords – http://www.ovtkeywords.com/
    This free version of OVT’s tool shows only the top few results.
22. Quantcast Open Internet Ratings Service – http://www.quantcast.com/
    Enter a domain and Quantcast gives you a wealth of good information, such as number of monthly uniques, visitor demographics, and similar sites. Only works for higher-traffic sites.
23. SEOBook.com Keyword Research Tool – http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
    Excellent tool. I use it all the time to help optimize my parking pages, and to choose article topics for my mini-sites and blogs.
24. SEOBook.com’s Google Keyword Suggestion Scraper Tool – http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword-information/
    What a mouthful! Grabs the top queries from Google Suggest and also links through to SEO Book’s own keyword suggestion tool.
25. SEOChat.com’s Google Tool search – http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/keyword-suggestions-google/
    Queries information from several Google searches and sorts by relevancy.
26. SEOmoz Popular Searches – http://www.seomoz.org/popular-searches
    This is an aggregation of popular search queries gathered from various sources across the web. This list is updated once per day.
27. SubmitExpress.com Tool – http://www.submitexpress.com/keytracker.php
    Displays WordTracker and Keyword Discovery results in side-by-side columns.
28. URLTrends.com – http://www.urltrends.com/
    Enter any URL and urltends.com gives you a “trend report”, consisting of page rank, Alexa rank, incoming and outgoing links. Also features an interesting URL comparison tool.
29. Webmaster Toolkit’s Keyword Research Tool – http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/keyword-research-tool.shtml
    Select from among 9 different search engines for your keyword suggestions.
30. Webconfs.com Keyword Tool – http://www.webconfs.com/website-keyword-suggestions.php
    Pretty basic. Uses Overture’s database. See also their Keyword Playground tool.
31. WordTracker’s free tool – http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
    First 100 related keyword only, with an estimate of their search volume.
32. Yahoo Buzz – http://buzz.yahoo.com/
    Find out what people are searching for right now and get ideas for domains to register.

Did I miss any good keyword tools? Do you use any of these tools as a domainer? In what ways? Let me know.

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