keyword research tools for someone just starting out in seo
Doing seo for my own small blog with zero budget for now. The free tools all show wildly different volumes for the same keyword, sometimes ten times apart. Which ones do beginners actually get value from before paying for anything?
one trick in Keyword Planner that beginners skip: under discover new keywords, there's a "start with a website" option. paste a competitor's URL and it pulls the terms Google associates with that page. good way to find stuff you'd never have thought of.
the other source I'd use before any tool is your own customers. questions in sales emails, reviews, support chats. those phrases are often exactly what people search.
you can go a long way free before paying for anything.
if you already have a site, Search Console first. it shows what you already show up for, and the queries where you're on page 2 are the easiest wins.
then Google Keyword Planner (free with an ads account, volumes come as ranges unless you spend), plus Google autocomplete and the People also ask boxes for question ideas. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for your own site and the big tools have limited free searches.
don't get hung up on exact volume numbers, every tool disagrees. look at who ranks right now and whether your page could honestly be better than theirs.
