We recently analyzed 10 of the most popular keyword research tools in the SEO industry.
Our goal?
To compare the accuracy and breadth of the data found within each tool.
Specifically, we analyzed monthly search volume, keyword difficulty, CPC estimates and search suggestions across popular SEO tools, including:
- Google Keyword Planner
- Ahrefs
- SEMrush
- Moz Pro
- KeywordTool.io
- KWFinder
- LongTailPro
- SECockpit
- Sistrix
- Ubersuggest
To our knowledge this is the first large-scale comparison of the data provided by various keyword research tools.
And now it’s time to share what we discovered.
Summary of Our Key Findings:
1. Ahrefs and SEMrush generate the highest number of keyword suggestions, followed by Ubersuggest, Sistrix, and SECockpit.
2. The Google Keyword Planner provides 67.9% fewer keyword suggestions than the average output from other major paid SEO tools. However, KWFinder and KWTool both produce similar amounts of keyword suggestions compared to GKP.
3. KeywordTool.io and Sistrix tend to provide higher than average monthly search volume estimates. Sistrix’s search volume estimates are 233% higher than the median, while KeywordTool.io is 47% above the median. Moz and Ahrefs skew towards slightly lower search volume estimates. Ahrefs’s search volumes are 37% less than the median while Moz Pro’s search volume estimates are 33% below the tool-wide median.
4. When analyzing search volume data for popular search terms (>10k searches/month) Sistrix has significantly higher monthly search volume estimates vs. the Google Keyword Planner.
5. All the SEO tools in our analysis had a significant negative correlation between search volume and keyword length.
6. Certain tools tend to outperform others in terms of keyword suggestions in specific industries. For example, while they generally produce fewer suggestions than SEMrush and Ahrefs, Moz and Google Keyword Planner tend to generate a relatively high number of suggestions in the web hosting niche. And Ubersuggest is particularly good at finding keyword ideas in the marketing, travel, and diet niches.
7. We found large variations for keyword difficulty scores between tools. Our data discovered that SEMrush’s keyword difficulty scores are 110% above the median. SECockpit estimates keyword difficulty 82% below the median.
8. The median CPC across all of the terms that we analyzed was $1.68. SECockpit ($2.20) and Google Keyword Planner ($2.14) report higher overall CPC than the average. At $1.39, SEMrush has the lowest CPC estimates.
9. When comparing CPC estimates found in Google Keyword Planner vs. other tools, SECockpit has considerably higher cost per click estimates compared to those found in Google Keyword Planner. KWFinder, Long Tail Pro, KeywordTool.io, Sistrix, Ahrefs, and SEMrush have lower cost per clicks than Google Keyword Planner.
I’ve provided details on our findings below.
Ahrefs and SEMrush Generate The Most Keyword Suggestions. KWFinder and Google Keyword Planner Provide The Least
When it comes to sheer number of keyword suggestions, Ahrefs and SEMrush tend to outperform other major SEO tools.
Here is the “beeswarm” plot that compares keyword suggestion volume to the tool-wide average.
Generating a large list of keyword ideas is an important feature of any SEO tool. In fact, many tools prominently display how many keyword ideas they’re able to generate from a single seed keyword.
Why is coming up with thousands of keyword ideas so useful?
Well, in many cases, someone that enters a seed keyword into a tool isn’t actually looking up stats for that exact keyword.
Instead, their goal is to find long tail versions of that keyword. Sometimes they also want the tool to generate laterally-related keyword ideas that they’d have trouble coming up with on their own.
Obviously, you can’t judge the value of a keyword research tool based solely on how many keyword ideas that it spits out. However, it’s an important feature that factors into the decision of which tool to invest in.
Key Takeaway: Ahrefs, SEMrush, Ubersuggest, and Sistrix appear to perform best in terms of producing keyword suggestions. KeywordTool.io, Google Keyword Planner and KWFinder ranked near the bottom.
The Google Keyword Planner Provides 67.9% Fewer Keyword Suggestions Compared to Other Several Major Paid SEO Tools
Although designed for Google Ads, many marketing professionals use Google Keyword Planner (GKP) for SEO campaigns.
Even when used solely for SEO, the Google Keyword Planner has several things going for it.
First of all, unlike many keyword tools out there, it’s free.
But more important than pricing is the fact that the data comes straight from Google. Which means that the data in the GKP should be super reliable compared to 3rd party tools.
It should be noted that GKP search volumes are presented in a range unless you’re running an active Google Ads campaign.
The GKP also lacks key features (like Keyword Difficulty scores and SERP analysis) that many paid tools provide.
Despite those shortcomings, the GKP is a mainstay keyword tool for many SEO professionals.
According to our analysis, the GKP doesn’t come up with nearly as many keyword suggestions as other major paid tools.
In fact, the GKP provides around 68% fewer average keyword suggestions compared to the paid tools in our analysis.
And when we compared the GKP against the top tools, we found that the GKP generates 98.1% fewer suggestions than SEMrush, 97% fewer than those made by Ahrefs, and 83.8% fewer than by Ubersuggest.
Key Takeaway: Google Keyword Planner has its merit as a keyword research tool for SEO. However, most major SEO tools vastly outperform GKP in terms of producing keyword suggestions.
Sistrix and KeywordTool.io Have Relatively High Monthly Search Volume Estimates. Moz and Ahrefs Estimates Tend to Be On The Lower End
One of the most interesting findings from this analysis is that the tools in our analysis all have very different monthly search volume estimates.
KeywordTool.io and Sistrix tend to estimate keyword search volumes higher than most other tools. On the other hand, search volume estimates in Moz Pro and Ahrefs are generally lower.
In general, we found a wide range of keyword volumes for the same exact set of keywords.
For example, take a keyword like “insurance”. According to KeywordTool.io, that keyword gets 368,000 searches per month.
However, if you look up that same keyword in Ahrefs, you’ll get a completely different number.
Which tool is right?
While it’s impossible to say based on our research, it’s important to note that each tool uses different sources and methodologies for estimating search volume.
For example, both Moz and Ahrefs use “Clickstream” data
(In other words, data pulled from third party tools that are modeled on actual user behavior).
On the other hand, SEMrush uses a combination of data from GKP and AI forecasting.
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