What Are You Guys Using for Keyword Research These Days?

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CasualSkeptic

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I'm looking to try a different keyword research tool.
I've used a few of the popular ones, but I'm not completely happy with the keyword difficulty and volume estimates.
What tools are you guys using these days, especially for finding lower competition keywords?
 
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CasualSkeptic said:
I'm looking to try a different keyword research tool.
I've used a few of the popular ones, but I'm not completely happy with the keyword difficulty and volume estimates.
What tools are you guys using these days, especially for finding lower competition keywords?
Click to expand...
I usually use Ahrefs or Semrush as a starting point, but I don’t depend too much on their difficulty scores. For low competition keywords, I prefer checking the actual SERP and looking for weaker pages that are ranking .
 
It seems that all tools have inaccurate estimates of volume and difficulty so i always check several sources when it comes to less competitive keywords i tend to value SERP results and the nature of the pages ranking higher in search rather than just using difficulty.
 
CasualSkeptic said:
I'm looking to try a different keyword research tool.
I've used a few of the popular ones, but I'm not completely happy with the keyword difficulty and volume estimates.
What tools are you guys using these days, especially for finding lower competition keywords?
Click to expand...
If I were to choose overall research, I’d pick Ahrefs. For finding truly low-competition, long-tail keywords, I’d go with LowFruits
 
CasualSkeptic said:
I'm looking to try a different keyword research tool.
I've used a few of the popular ones, but I'm not completely happy with the keyword difficulty and volume estimates.
What tools are you guys using these days, especially for finding lower competition keywords?
Click to expand...
Honestly, I do not trust the difficulty score too much. I like checking the actual results before picking a keyword.
 
I rely strictly on Ahrefs, it gives me all I need. Only when I want push boundaries do I sometimes use Semrush, but that's occasionally.
 
I normally do not place a lot of emphasis on the difficulty score itself i prefer looking at the SERPs themselves and checking those keywords where the current results are not very good in some cases a keyword with high difficulty score is easier to target
 
CasualSkeptic said:
I'm looking to try a different keyword research tool.
I've used a few of the popular ones, but I'm not completely happy with the keyword difficulty and volume estimates.
What tools are you guys using these days, especially for finding lower competition keywords?
Click to expand...
I mainly work with Semrush and Ahrefs, but I don’t only depend on their KD/volume scores.

I also analyze SERPs, my competitor’s websites, search intent, and traffic potential to find low competition keywords.
 
I would not use just one tool to estimate the competition level rather i would compare a couple of tools and the real SERP and try to find those keywords which have realistic competition.
 
CasualSkeptic said:
I'm looking to try a different keyword research tool.
I've used a few of the popular ones, but I'm not completely happy with the keyword difficulty and volume estimates.
What tools are you guys using these days, especially for finding lower competition keywords?
Click to expand...
instead of relying on one tool i have used a combination approach. google keyword planner is helpful for coming up with ideas nd i use the search results to see if the keyword is competitive. for those that are not competittive, i have found it easier to come up with exact long tail phrases.
 
I’ve been using Ahrefs and Semrush mostly, but I dont trust the volume or difficulty numbers on their own. I usually compare the SERP, check what sites are ranking and look for keywords where the search intent is easier to match.

Google Search Console is also really useful for finding low competition terms you’re already getting impressions for.
 
CasualSkeptic said:
I'm looking to try a different keyword research tool.
I've used a few of the popular ones, but I'm not completely happy with the keyword difficulty and volume estimates.
What tools are you guys using these days, especially for finding lower competition keywords?
Click to expand...
i rarely tries to chase KD anymore – i just lookss at GSC long tail queries, find out who is ranking and see if those pages suck
 
I look at Ahrefs/SemRush, and also KWFinder for KD info, using the latter to save its display of the metrics for the top 8-9 results (from page 1 Google) to a mhtml file. Then, by looking at the top competitor's pages figure out the most important queries visitors are making per search term.

From that one can create the top questions that correspond to those keywords by instinct, and to back those up, ask AI about each question to get a fuller summary on what the queries mean, which can fill out the intent behind each aspect the topic. This will give you the clues as to how to cover content that better creates topical authority for the site.
 
CasualSkeptic said:
I'm looking to try a different keyword research tool.
I've used a few of the popular ones, but I'm not completely happy with the keyword difficulty and volume estimates.
What tools are you guys using these days, especially for finding lower competition keywords?
Click to expand...
Most third-party tools give arbitrary difficulty scores based purely on backlinks.
If you want low-competition keywords, pair LowFruits or Keyword Chief (great for finding forums/weak sites in top 10) with manual SERP checking.
Look for SERPs where Reddit, Quora, or weak DR sites are ranking in the top 5—that’s a way better indicator of true low difficulty than any automated KD metric.
 
I use google keyword planner, people also ask queries, and google suggestion keywords that help me find real keywords that people are searching for.
 
Ahrefs is still king for finding low-competition keywords. It’s pretty expensive, but you get what you pay for.
 
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