If you are willing to generate traffic on your web pages but can’t be able to do so, then it’s not your fault. Living in the digital era, we have keyword research tools that help you reach your numbers.
Unfortunately, everything comes at a cost. So here we are gonna discuss 10 pros and cons on SaaS keyword research and their softwares just so you know what things you should keep in mind while boosting your business.
Types of Keywords that are Generally Used
Before we get started with this, you should know the types of keywords that are generally used that are General and Long Tail keywords.
General Keywords
General keywords involve only a few terms but the scope of those terms is more broad. For example: invoicing software and a men’s leather jacket.
Long Tail Keywords
On the other hand, Long tail keywords contain more terms that are targeted more towards what the user is searching and have a higher conversion rate. For Example: healthcare crm tool and meditation is a head.
Keyword Software that You Should Consider Using
1- Ahrefs
Originally a link analysis tool but now a complete SEO toolkit. It’s fully functional and does everything from keyword research to checking on competitors’ organic profiles. The tool has a 7 day trail for $7 and the subscription rate starts at $99 per month.
The tool has an API which is a free version with standard subscription and with a more powerful paid version as well.
Pros:
● Fast
● Produces comprehensive results
● Most accurate results outside Google
Cons:
● No Integrated help guides
● PPC features are less robust
● Competitive Backlinks hunting
2- SEranking
This is relatively a new software but has gained popularity in no time. It has a feature to monitor the PPC of competitors and is a great full stack SEO tool.
The best part about this software is that it offers a full white label and has an API with their enterprise package. All for the price tag of $69 per month and also offers a free trial for 14 days with no credit card required.
Pros:
● Data offered is up to date
● Easy to find Organic Competition
● Easy to find paid traffic
● Gives Detailed reports with white labels
Cons:
● Better Local SEO data
● Slow when it comes to updating big lists
3- Moz
One of the oldest software on this list that has made a name for itself is Moz. It boasts the largest link index in the industry and is the most user friendly of all in one tools that are on this list.
The subscription starts at $99 a month and a 30 day free trial is also available. Moz offers white label reporting option and there is API that is available in the paid version that is Mozscape
Pros:
● Has improved SEO ranking
● Identifies website issues pretty well
● Understands site visitor behavior and link building opportunities
Cons:
● Overloaded with features
● Features are hard to manage
● Offers a robust software for training
● Expensive
4- Semrush
Next up on this list is the most common SEO platforms currently in the industry. It monitors your ranking for keywords, audits your entire site and even analyzes your competitors PPC activity.
There is a free version available with limited features and the subscription starts at $99 per month. It offers API in business plan and with agency account you can also get white label PDF reports
Pros:
● Content is properly optimized
● Has a wide range of analytical instruments
● Offers unique content explorer feature
Cons:
● Offers less features related to SEO
● Expensive for SMBs
● Interpret Site Audit results
5- Google Analytics
Next up on this list is Google Analytics. This tool lets you measure traffic, conversions and even downloads. It further tracks traffic generating pages and pages that produce most conversions.
There are both versions available, the free and the paid one but the free is used by most of the companies and an upgrade is not needed.
Pros:
● Finds exact location of traffic
● Gives real time data
● Generates custom reports
Cons:
● Real time dashboard may show unknown traffic.
● Provides a very high level of details in reports.
● Offers a complex and large system
6- Hunter.io
This is the most accurate tool that made it to the list. It supports your outreach efforts by making sure that level of deliverability is high and the email bounces are low.
It supports finding and simultaneously verifying email addresses from the email list provided. It automates the whole cold outreach sequence.
The starter plan starts at $49 per month and there is a free version that comes with 25 searches and 50 verification requests per month.
Pros:
● Can find new leads
● Can save new leads
● Fetches email information fast
Cons:
● Doesn’t offer Social media research tool
● Less quota offered in free version
● There are cheaper options available
7- Keywords Everywhere
This is one of the most efficient and convenient browser extensions when conducting Google searches. It shows data about the volume, cost of click and even AdWords competition of a keyword
The extension used to be free but now has a price tag of $5 dollars a month and doesn’t have a free version but has an alternative called keyword surfer.
Pros:
● Directly displays the search volume of a specific keyword
● Lists additional keywords
● Interface is super smooth
Cons:
● Not a proper software
● If not turned off can lead to losing credits
● Doesn’t give as much data as some of its competitor
8- Ubersuggest
Now if we talk about keyword generating tools then having Ubersuggest is a must. The tool gives suggested content, search volume and even top pages for that rank for that keyword.
It further helps to search volume of a keyword overtime and gives helpful content suggestions. All under packages that start with $29 and there is a free version that is also available but there are search limitations on that.
Pros:
● Gives ranking to keywords
● Updates projects quickly
● Multiple Keywords can be searched
Cons:
● Has a limit for maximum number of results
● Does not export reports
● Actualization DR and backlinks
9- SurferSEO
Next up on the list is famous for their free keyword browser extension that is keyword surfer. SurferSEO has a more in-depth search result analyzing feature and can also select the results you want it to analyze according to your content writing.
It can also analyze the results page for your keyword to find the optimal word count and their basic plan starts at $43 and offers a 7 day trial for $1 as well.
Pros:
● Gives competition analytics
● Scores content SEO
● Provides plugin that helps with search data on google
Cons:
● Integrating better keyword data
● Full Site SEO Auditor
● Technical Factor analysis
10- Screaming Frog
The last one on this list is a SEO spider that is best known in this space. It is used to deep crawl websites and can integrate Google analytics, Google Search console and even page search APIs.
It makes your site google friendly while checking things like pages titles and meta description. All that for the price tag of $190 per year which is pretty decent compared to others that are in the market.
There is a free version of it that is limited to features and can crawl upto 500 URLs only.
Pros:
● Can find broken links
● Can redirect chains
● Diagnose technical errors
● Perform sitemap cleanup
Cons:
● UI needs improvements
● Crawl map feature needs improvement
● Loading time.
Final Words
In this article, we have covered some of the best keyword research tools and their pros and cons. Though every tool is unique and helpful in its own way there are three tools that still stand out for us.
The three research tools include Hunter.io that is number one for its amazing and countless features and reliability. Whereas screaming frog makes it to number two for its price tag that is $190 per annum which is offered by no other tool in the market.
Lastly, the third tool is Ahrefs for its overall features and performance and the price tag that it comes with is pretty reasonable compared to what others are currently offering in the market.
