“Start With Keywords” – Free Keyword Research Workbook
We’ve created a free Google Sheets workbook to use alongside this book as you conduct your own keyword research. Click and you’ll be prompted to make a copy that you can rename and customize as you need.
Articles
User Intent
Moz: “Search Intent and the Organic Funnel”
Search Engine Land: “An SEO guide to understanding user intent”
Market Muse: “What is User Intent?”
Keyword Research
Semrush: “Keyword Research for SEO: What It Is & How to Do It”
WordStream: “Easy Keyword Research Guide”
WordStream: “PPC Keyword Research Guide”
AI & Keyword Research
HubSpot: “17 Best AI SEO Tools & How to Use AI in 2025”
War Room: “The Guide To Using AI For Keyword Research”
Surfside PPC: “6 Awesome ChatGPT Prompts For Keyword Research”
AI Monks: “25+ ChatGPT Prompts for Keyword Research that Save Hours”
Narrato: “30+ ChatGPT Prompts for SEO and Keyword Research”
Morningscore: “The BEST ChatGPT prompts for keyword research”
SEO AI: “Top 40 ChatGPT Prompts for SEO Professionals”
Video SEO
Google Search Central: “Video SEO best practices”
Backlinko: “Video SEO: The Definitive Guide”
Semrush: “Video SEO: How to Get Your Videos Ranked on Google”
Social Media
Semrush: “Social Signals & SEO: Do Shares + Likes Help You Rank Higher?”
SEO Tools
Keyword Research Tools (free)
Google’s free tool is a great place to start for seeing the big picture on trends, search volume, geographic data, and more.
This popular tool tells you what people are asking on Google, Bing, YouTube, Amazon, and TikTok. A free account gets you three searches a day, paid accounts more.
This free tool generates keyword ideas from Google, Bing, YouTube, Amazon, and half a dozen more sites.
SEO Plugins
Plugins connect your website to Google Analytics 4 and Google Search Console so you can view their data inside your website dashboard. And it’s no longer just WordPress; Squarespace and Wix have grown extensive SEO capabilities and plugin marketplaces too.
This is the original free SEO plugin and probably the most popular too. There’s a separate paid plugin add-on for local SEO.
This plugin has everything you could want, but it’s probably best suited for website developers who know what all those settings mean. Upgrade to paid for local SEO features.
Like Yoast and RankMath, AIOSEO offers a full set of optimization tools. Upgrade to paid for local SEO. MonsterInsights (monsterinsights.com) is a Google Analytics plugin by the same company, and together you can get a complete view of your SEO and analytics inside your WordPress site.
A general SEO plugin just for Squarespace users! Start for free and upgrade inexpensively.
SEO Pro Tools
These are all comprehensive platforms with an extensive set of search optimization and marketing tools that do a lot more than keyword research. When you hire an agency, they’re using these or an in-house platform that does the same or similar things.
Competitor Research
The pro tools can do a lot of this, but SpyFu is designed specifically for in-depth competitor keyword research in both organic and paid (PPC) search.
Powerful and not inexpensive tools for comprehensive competitor research, including company research, shopper analysis, and more.
Local SEO
Browser Extensions: Keywords & SEO
These extensions for the Chrome web browser (they work in Microsoft Edge too) let you conduct a lot of keyword and competitor research for free, and a few have inexpensive paid plans that add a lot of features. They’re a good way to get started with SEO tools without the expense or learning curve of the pro tools.
Lots of free SEO features, and more with a paid Ahrefs account.
Built by SEO pros for daily analysis and insights on any website.
Be somewhere else; get search results for different locations.
Generate keyword ideas and see search volumes directly in Google search results.
Get keyword search volume, CPC, and competitor data for more than a dozen major search sites. Free and paid plans.
Lots of free SEO features, and more with a paid Moz account.
Quick access to web rank and SEO stats, link stats, structured data info, and more.
Helps with daily SEO tasks such as on-page analysis and broken link checking.
Free browser plugin with key metrics, SERP analysis, audits, and other tools.
Get keyword search volume, CPC, and other insights for Google, YouTube, and Amazon.
Browser Extensions: Local SEO
These powerful local SEO browser plugins provide a wealth of insight and yet are inexpensive and easy to use. Both are great for competitor research as well as insight into your own business.
Operates exclusively as a browser extension that adds a wealth of Google Business Profile data to Maps and SERPs while you’re logged in. Free and paid plans.
Browser extension and website with a range of tools for analyzing your business and your competitors in local search. Paid plans only.
Headline Analyzers
These tools help you craft perfectly optimized headlines using the best word choices for both search (keywords) and engagement (action/power words).
Headline Analyzer by CoSchedule
CoSchedule’s Headline Studio is one of the best paid tools available for optimizing headlines, but its free tool also analyzes your headline ideas for blog posts, social media, videos, ads, TikTok, and more. Requires a free account to get your results and a limited-use version of the full Studio. Includes a browser extension and website integration.
All In One SEO (AIOSEO) Headline Analyzer
Good, simple, free headline analyzer from the maker of one of the leading SEO plugins. Includes word banks to help you improve your headline and try again.
MonsterInsights Headline Analyzer
Same as the AIOSEO tool. MonsterInsights and AIOSEO are owned by the same company.
HubSpot Free AI Headline Generator
Tell HubSpot what you want and it will AI-generate an optimized headline for your blog or social post, ad, or whatever. You’ll be prompted to create a free HubSpot account.