SMB SEO

Keyword research for small businesses

Keyword tools for the web and for marketplaces, kept apart because the data differs. We list 34, and 23 have a free plan.

Order: tools we’ve tested come first, by score, then the rest alphabetically. Payment never changes the order.

Prices checked between Oct 6, 2026 and Oct 13, 2026. How prices compare across categories

How to choose a keyword research tool

Updated Oct 12, 2026.

Start with the searches that already find you

Google Search Console shows which searches show your site in Google, how often, and how often searchers click through (Google Search Console Help). Those are your real keywords, from Google. A keyword tool helps when you need ideas beyond them, or figures for searches that don’t show your site yet.

Know where a search volume comes from

Google’s own Keyword Planner, in Google Ads, suggests keywords related to your business and shows “estimates of the searches they receive and the cost to target them”. Google asks you to complete your Ads account setup, billing information included, before you can get keyword ideas from it, and says keywords with very low search volumes “aren’t discoverable or forecastable” (Google Ads Help). When a paid tool shows a search volume, ask whether it comes from Google’s data or the tool’s own estimate, and how it makes the estimate.

Group keywords by what the searcher wants

Google says it first works out “the intent behind your query”, and that its synonym system finds relevant pages “even if they don’t contain the exact words you used”: a search for “change laptop brightness” can find a page that says “adjust laptop brightness” (Google). A page can be found for wordings it doesn’t use, so a tool that groups keywords by meaning can save you writing near-identical pages.

Use keywords the way a reader would

Google’s spam policies define keyword stuffing as “the practice of filling a web page with keywords or numbers in an attempt to manipulate rankings in Google Search results”, often “in a list or group, unnaturally, or out of context” (Google Search Central). Among Google’s examples is repeating the same words or phrases so often that it sounds unnatural. If a tool scores a page by how often a keyword appears, write for the reader first.

For Amazon and Etsy, use their data

Marketplace searches aren’t Google searches. Our marketplace seller tools page covers what Amazon and Etsy show sellers themselves and the keyword tools built for them.

Sources for this guide