We Tried 5 AI Keyword Research Tools (Our Feedback)

Keyword research has come to a point where everything can be automated, but with even more precision too, than any traditional methods. There aren't many AI keyword research tools out there, but the ones that do exist, are spectacular.

In this article, we'll cover the best AI keyword research tools today, and our feedback about each.

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The Challenges of Doing Manual Keyword Research

Manual keyword research comes with its own set of limitations that may hinder your progress in creating great content.

If you still rely on manual methods and tools like Google Keyword Planner to find high-ranking keywords, you might want to change your approach due to these reasons:

Time-Intensive Process

Manual keyword research often takes a lot of time. Going through different sources and analyzing search volumes, competition, and relevance can slow you down.

While automated tools pull hundreds of keywords instantly, manual research means checking one source at a time which takes ages for you to find the keywords you need to use.

Limited Data Access

Doing keyword research manually restricts your access to detailed data. Without paid tools, you usually rely on free options that offer basic metrics. These gaps make it hard to get a full understanding of which keywords offer the best opportunities for you to rank high on Google's results pages.

Common data limitations include:

• Rough estimates of search volume
• No keyword difficulty scores
• Lack of competitor insights
• No access to historical trends

Difficulty Understanding Search Intent

We all know that search intent is important when searching for keywords because it sets you up for high-quality traffic. The problem is that distinguishing between keywords meant for research, navigation, or transactions can be tough without proper data for you to analyze.

Without tools that give you meaningful insights, you might focus on high-volume keywords that don’t match what your audience actually needs.

Higher Risk of Human Error

When researching keywords manually, the chances of making mistakes increase. Copying data from multiple sources or trying to track various metrics can lead to errors. An overlooked search volume or wrong keyword difficulty can throw off your entire strategy, wasting valuable time and resources.

Examples of common mistakes:

• Misjudging competitiveness
• Skipping valuable keywords
• Choosing low-volume phrases
• Confusing similar terms

Narrow Range of Keywords

Manual research usually results in a smaller pool of keywords. Without tools that suggest related terms or long-tail phrases, you risk missing out on valuable opportunities.

Focusing only on obvious keywords often leaves you blind to niche terms or trends that could boost your site’s visibility.

Challenges in Competitor Analysis

Understanding what keywords your competitors rank for is much harder without automated tools. Manual research forces you to check their websites and try to guess their strategies.

This lack of precise data leaves you playing catch-up, especially in competitive markets.

How AI Keyword Research Tools Address These Challenges

Using AI tools for keyword research is a smart move because it saves time and delivers better results than traditional keyword research techniques.

Here are other reasons why using AI for keyword research is a smart move:

Achieve Faster Results

AI tools speed up keyword research by analyzing large sets of data in seconds. Instead of sorting through search volumes manually, AI quickly pinpoints valuable keywords. Businesses save time and can put SEO strategies into action much faster.

This means you can stay ahead of your competitors and make adjustments without losing momentum. You get more done in less time, which helps you move faster toward your goals.

Accurate Insights from Data

AI tools provide more accurate keyword suggestions based on data from different sources, such as search trends and competitor analysis.

They reveal not only which keywords are worth targeting but also the reasons behind their importance. With AI, you gain deeper insights into patterns that may go unnoticed with manual research.

Better Competitor Analysis

AI tools make competitor analysis much easier. They quickly assess which keywords your competitors rank for and show how well those keywords perform.

You can identify opportunities they’ve missed or areas where you can improve. Knowing what your competition is doing lets you adapt your strategy and find better ways to reach your audience.

Predicts Trends

AI tools can predict trends in search behavior, which means they suggest keywords that will become more popular in the future. This gives you an advantage because you can get ahead of rising trends before others catch on.

AI helps you stay proactive and allow you to shape your SEO strategy around what’s coming rather than reacting to changes after they happen.

Works Across Platforms

AI tools adapt to different platforms like Google, YouTube, and social media, helping you target the right audience in the right place. Each platform has its own search patterns and user behaviors, and AI adjusts for these differences.

This flexibility means you can optimize your content for whichever platform you’re focusing on to maximize your reach.

What to Look For in an AI Keyword Research Tool

With so many different keyword research tools, you want to narrow down your choices based on their ability to serve your unique needs. Here's what to look for in an AI keyword research tool:

Accurate Data

Businesses need an AI keyword research tool that delivers reliable data. Keyword research forms the backbone of any SEO or content strategy, and poor data can misguide your efforts. Choose a tool that pulls from reputable sources.

A good tool won’t just suggest keywords; it will offer valuable insights like search volume and difficulty. These metrics will guide your decisions, helping you select the best keywords for your audience and industry.

Easy to Use

The tool you choose should make your work easier, not harder. A confusing or complicated interface can slow down your workflow. Look for a tool that lets you find the data you need quickly and presents it in a clear, digestible way.

An intuitive design helps you stay productive and focused on creating strong content without getting bogged down in unnecessary features.

Customization

A flexible AI keyword research tool will allow you to narrow your results based on your unique business needs. Whether your focus is local, national, or global, the tool should allow you to filter data for your specific goals.

This might include targeting particular languages or long-tail keywords specific to your industry. Customization helps you stay focused on the keywords that matter to your business instead of wasting time on irrelevant results.

Competitor Insights

Being aware of what your competitors are doing can give you an edge. Many AI keyword research tools offer features that let you analyze the keywords your competitors rank for, providing opportunities to identify gaps and improve your own strategy.

Choose a tool that offers detailed competitor insights, so you can adjust your approach and find areas where you can outperform others in your industry.

Cost and Future Growth

When selecting a tool, think beyond the initial cost. You want something that will grow with your business. A good tool will offer value that matches both your current needs and your future plans.

Whether you’re just starting or already established, it’s important to choose a tool that remains useful as your business expands.

Best 5 AI Keyword Research Tools In 2024

Within the expansive world of AI keyword research tools, five stand out as the frontrunners, providing unique features and remarkable results. These tools are:

• Rankify
• SEO AI
• Surfer
• Twinword Ideas
• ChatGPT

Each of these best keyword research tools, including keyword generator options and the keyword tool, is designed to generate keyword ideas from seed keywords and refine suggestions with filters like search volume and keyword difficulty.

1. Rankify

Rankify is built by and SEO agency founder and a developer. Together they built a product that hits the pain points of all SEO's, but has great functionality as a tool, stemming from the developer.

Rankify allows you to input the following about your business, and the AI does the rest.

• Describe your business.
• Input seed keywords.
• Semantically describe the keywords you want to find.

Unlike other keyword research tools, Rankify will automatically output 40-50 keywords that are short and long tail, with 99% volume based keywords.

It's the best keyword research tool for finding semantically related keywords, a feature no other keyword research tools currently possess.

Every output also comes with FAQs and general blog topics that may lead to more creativity during your research.

Rankify Pricing

Rankify offers simple pricing, and a free trial to get started, giving you 7 days, or 10 trial searches for free.

• The Freelancer plan is $25/mo and gives you 30 searches per month
• The Agency plan is $69/mo and gives you 100 searches per month
• The Enterprise plan is $149/mo and gives you 300 searches per month

Speed up SEO keyword research with Rankify.

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2. SEO AI

Source: seo.ai

SEO AI is an SEO tool that has a main focus on AI content generation, but has a section of their software that provides keyword research.

• AI content creation
• Keyword research
• AI content detection

These features are great for an all around tool, but they don't specialize in anything. Their free to use keyword research tool lacks web data, analytics, keyword data, and semantics search ability (ability to understand the nuances of the search queries).

SEO.ai Pricing

• Basic Plan: $49/month. Includes 10 AI-generated texts, 25 AI SEO editor documents, unlimited AI chat, 100 tracked keywords, 500 internal links, support for 1 website and 1 team member, AI keyword research, and self-guided setup.
• Plus Plan: $149/month. Offers 100 AI texts, unlimited SEO documents, 250 tracked keywords, 1,500 internal links, 3 websites, 1-1 onboarding, and email support.
• Enterprise Plan: $399/month. Includes 250 AI texts, 1,000

3. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is a search engine optimization tool that integrates artificial intelligence to facilitate keyword research, content generation, and content auditing functionalities. Surfer provides users with topic clusters around primary keywords, significantly expediting the keyword research and grouping process for more efficient SEO planning in search engines.

Surfer is a tool that mainly specializes in SEO content optimization, but they have a hand in keyword research.

Their unique aspect of keyword research is their topical mapping. Our feedback is as follows:

• Topical mapping flow is great.
• Organization of data is confusing.
• Little # of keywords for each search.
• Long search time.
• Keywords outputted are formatted as the same keyword, but with an extra word to end it.

Although Surfer is the best tool on the market for SEO content optimization, it's not our top pick for keyword research, and rather should be complemented by an AI keyword research tool that specializes in keywords.

Surfer SEO Pricing

• Essential Plan ($89/month): Includes 30 articles per month, 20 auto-optimize credits, and available for 2 team members.
• Scale Plan ($129/month): Provides 100 articles per month, 40 auto-optimize credits, and available for 5 team members.
• Scale AI Plan ($219/month): Offers 100 articles a month, 80 auto-optimize credits, and available for 5 team members.
• Enterprise Plan (Custom pricing): Tailored for large-scale operations needing advanced features, custom API access, and dedicated support​.

4. Twinword Ideas

Twinword Ideas offers a simple way to improve your keyword research by using AI-driven suggestions make it easier to find relevant terms and topic. It's a good option for anyone looking to find the right keywords without getting lost in complicated data.

It's got a couple of noteworthy features that make it an interesting tool for keyword research.

• Ranks keywords based on relevance, competition, and popularity, allowing you to pick terms with the best potential.
• Shows monthly search volumes, giving you a clear picture of how often people search for specific terms.
• Offers a list of related terms to help you cover a wider range of relevant topics.

Twinword Ideas Pricing

• Basic (Free): 2 keyword searches/day, 6,000 suggestions/month, 1 import search/day, CSV export.
• Plus ($12/month): 60 searches/day, 30,000 suggestions/month, unlimited import lines, CSV export.
• Pro ($24/month): 300 searches/day, 150,000 suggestions/month, 1 concurrent user, CSV export.
• Agency ($59/month): 1,500 searches/day, 750,000 suggestions/month, 5 concurrent users, CSV export.

5. ChatGPT

ChatGPT, as everybody knows is simply AI, it's great for thinking of SEO blog topics in mass, using your semantic inputs. You can use it for keyword research, content brief planning, and even conduct competitor keyword analysis.

The downside is that ChatGPT can't give you keyword data, or even view it. This makes it so that they don't know which keywords are really being searched, rather the outputs are whatever the AI thinks is relevant.

ChatGPT can be best used for thinking of creative blog topics and ideas.

ChatGPT Pricing

• Free Plan: Free - Access to GPT-3.5, limited availability during peak times, and basic performance.
• ChatGPT Plus: $20/month - Access to GPT-4, priority access during peak times, and faster response speeds.

How To Use AI Keyword Research Tools To Get the Best Results

To make sure you get the best results out of your AI keyword research tool, it's worth keeping these tips in mind:

Set Clear Objectives for Your Keywords

Before diving into any tool, it's important to know exactly what you're trying to achieve. Are you targeting long-tail keywords, looking for local traffic, or aiming to compete for high-volume terms?

List down your goals and set clear objectives to dictate how you will use AI keyword research tools. For instance, if you're after local traffic, you want to use the tool to show relevant keywords that target nearby users within your area.

Analyze Competitors More Accurately

AI tools come equipped with competitor analysis features that let you see what keywords others in your space are ranking for. Instead of spending hours sifting through data manually, these tools instantly reveal where your competitors are winning and where they’re leaving gaps.

To make the most of this, plug in competitor domains and study their keyword performance. You'll quickly spot opportunities to outperform them.

Focus on User Intent and Related Keywords

AI tools shine when it comes to understanding why people search for something. They don't just give you keywords—they tell you what searchers are looking for. This allows you to find keywords tied to specific needs or questions.

As you gather suggestions, pick keywords that relate not just to direct searches but also to problems or solutions your audience cares about. This approach makes it easier to connect with the right users.

Target Voice Search Keywords

As more people use voice search, it’s important to target conversational keywords. AI tools excel at identifying question-based phrases people say aloud, like “What’s the best pizza place near me?”

Adding these keywords to your content gives you a better shot at ranking in voice search results, especially for local queries.

Stay Active with Real-Time Data

AI-powered tools provide live updates on keyword trends, helping you react to changes quickly. If certain keywords start losing traction, the tool will show alternatives you can jump on right away

Being flexible with your keyword strategy and updating it based on fresh data keeps your content in sync with what users are searching for right now.

FAQs About AI Keyword Research Tools

What are the advantages of AI in keyword research?

AI in keyword research offers advantages such as eliminating human errors, providing precise keyword selection, enabling data-driven decision-making, and facilitating more efficient keyword identification by instantly providing related keywords and recommendations.

How can AI keyword research tools be integrated into a content strategy?

Integrating AI keyword research tools into a content strategy involves identifying content opportunities, optimizing existing content, and tracking performance. It's essential to start by defining your goals and understanding your target audience before selecting a tool.

How can AI help in optimizing existing content?

AI can optimize existing content by providing keyword data for improved SEO performance and assisting in creating engaging content aligned with user intent. This can enhance discoverability and prioritize user experience.

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