Free Keyword Research Tool

What every column in the results means

The table packs a lot of signal into one row. Here's how to read each column and what to do with it. Hover any column header to see a short tooltip — the full definition is below.

Keyword

The search term itself. Click opens the live Google SERP. The 🔍 icon next to it opens the SERP Preview tool with this keyword pre-filled.

Trend

12-month sparkline of monthly search volume. Green line = volume is growing, red = declining. Hover for the six most recent monthly values.

Volume

Average monthly Google searches from Google Ads data, rounded. Treat it as a relative indicator — a 5,400 keyword is roughly 5× the reach of a 1,000 keyword, but don't anchor on the exact number.

Intent

What users are trying to do when they search: Info (learning something), Comm (comparing options before a decision), Trans (ready to buy/convert), Nav (looking for a specific site). Optimize for the dominant intent on your page.

AI-Overview (0–100)

Citability score for Google's AI Overview, ChatGPT, Perplexity and similar AI answer engines. Higher = better chance an AI search engine will cite your page when answering this query. Formula: informational intent +25, question pattern +20, long-tail +10, plus bonuses for Featured Snippet (+20), People Also Ask (+15), Knowledge Panel (+10), Answer Box (+10), Related Searches (+5). Capped at 100.

Opportunity (0–100)

Single-number prioritization score combining volume × (100 − KD) × intent fit × GSC-position bonus. Higher = faster-to-rank. Sort by this first if you need to decide which keywords to target this quarter.

KD (Keyword Difficulty, 0–100)

How hard it is to rank in the top 10 for this keyword. 0–30 easy, 30–60 moderate, 60–100 competitive. Based on the strength of current top-10 ranking sites (domain authority, content depth).

SERP

Google SERP features present for this keyword, as badges: FS (Featured Snippet), PAA (People Also Ask), AIO (AI Overview / Answer Box), Shop (Shopping results), Video, Img, News, Local, KP (Knowledge Panel). More features present = more opportunities to appear in one of them instead of a traditional blue link.

CPC (Cost-Per-Click)

The average price advertisers pay Google for a click on this keyword. Shown in the currency of your selected country (€ for EU, $ for US, £ for UK, etc.). High CPC usually means the keyword has strong commercial intent and profitable conversions.

Comp (Competition)

Google Ads auction density 0–100%. Not the same as SEO difficulty — this only tells you how crowded the ad auction is, which roughly correlates with commercial value.

Clicks / Impr. / Position (GSC only)

Real data from your connected Google Search Console property over the last 28 days by default. Clicks = how many times people actually clicked your result. Impressions = how many times it was shown. Position = your average Google rank.

Inline badges next to the keyword name

❓ Question

The keyword starts with a question word (how / what / why / when / where / wie / was / warum / …) or contains a question mark. Question keywords are prime candidates for Featured Snippets and AI Overview citations.

🌞 / ❄️ / 📅 Seasonal

Monthly search volume varies by more than 60% across the year. 🌞 = summer peak (May–Aug), ❄️ = winter peak (Nov–Feb), 📅 = other seasonal pattern. Plan content 2–3 months before the peak.

↑% / ↓% Year-over-year

How much volume changed from the first half of the year to the second half. Green ↑ = growing interest, red ↓ = fading. Only shown when the change is ≥10%.

related / syn

Tag showing where the keyword came from. "suggestions" (no tag) = from Google Keyword Suggestions. "related" = from related_keywords (broader semantic match). "syn" = AI-generated synonym of your seed.

How this keyword research tool works

Search volume alone doesn't tell you which keywords are worth targeting. A 10,000-volume term with $0.10 CPC is usually informational. The same volume at $12 CPC? That's money keywords. This free keyword research tool pulls related terms from Google Ads with monthly volume and CPC data plus competition scores, so you can spot buying intent beyond raw traffic potential.

Connect your Google Search Console account and the tool overlays your actual clicks, impressions, CTR, and average position on each keyword. That way you see which terms you already rank for and where the real growth opportunities are, all in one view.

How to use a free keyword research tool

Start with one seed keyword: your tool's main topic or the product you're selling. Run it through the tool and look at the full list of suggestions, sorted by search volume first. Pick the 10-15 keywords that match your page's actual intent, not just the highest-volume ones. A medium-volume keyword you can actually rank for beats a head term where you'll never crack the top 20.

Free keyword research tool vs. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is the official source, and it's technically free. The catch: without an active ad campaign spending money, Google gives you volume ranges instead of exact numbers (like "1K-10K" instead of "3,400"). For anyone doing SEO rather than running ads, that's useless. This tool uses DataForSEO, which pulls the same Google Ads data but returns exact volumes regardless of whether you're running a campaign. Five free queries per day, and after that you can plug in your own DataForSEO API key for unlimited access.

Free vs. paid keyword research tools

Paid tools like Ahrefs and Semrush win on historical data and their own click-stream datasets. For one-off keyword research, free tools match the paid ones because both pull from Google Ads. The paid subscriptions are for ongoing monitoring, not research.

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