30 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.

To assist both beginning and experienced domainers, and for my own benefit as well, I’ve put together this list of 30 web-based keyword research tools. All of these tools are free and functioning as of this writing. Some 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...yword_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. 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.
  7. Global Promotor’s Keyword Generator Tool
    http://www.globalpromoter.com/seo-to...stion-tool.cfm
    Adds to the Overture Search Term Suggestion Tool by drawing keywords from 6 major search engines.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. MS AdLabs Search Funnels
    http://adlab.microsoft.com/searchfunnel/
    A 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).
  16. NicheBot Classic
    http://www.nichebotclassic.com/
    Claims to extract info from WordTracker, Thesaurus, Overture, Keyword Discovery, Keyword Analysis and Google Keyword Ranking.
  17. 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.
  18. Online Thesaurus
    http://thesaurus.reference.com/
    Provides multiple synonyms for a word.
  19. Overture Suggestion Tool
    http://inventory.overture.com/d/sear...ry/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.
  20. OVT Keywords
    http://www.ovtkeywords.com/
    This free version of OVT’s tool shows only the top few results.
  21. 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 websites.
  22. 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.
  23. SEOChat.com’s Google Tool search
    http://www.seochat.com/seo-tools/key...stions-google/
    Queries information from several Google searches and sorts by relevancy.
  24. 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.
  25. SubmitExpress.com Tool
    http://www.submitexpress.com/keytracker.php
    Displays WordTracker and Keyword Discovery results in side-by-side columns.
  26. 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.
  27. Webmaster Toolkit’s Keyword Research Tool
    http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/key...rch-tool.shtml
    Select from among 9 different search engines for your keyword suggestions.
  28. Webconfs.com Keyword Tool
    http://www.webconfs.com/website-keyword-suggestions.php
    Pretty basic. Uses Overture’s database. See also their Keyword Playground tool.
  29. WordTracker’s free tool
    http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
    First 100 related keyword only, with an estimate of their search volume.
  30. Yahoo Buzz
    http://buzz.yahoo.com/
    Find out what people are searching for right now and get ideas for domains to register.