“Why would you even look for an alternative to Google Keyword Planner?” may be your first question after reading the title of this article.
It’s really a good question, don’t get me wrong!
However, the answer is plain and simple: if you’re working on improving your website’s SEO, Google’s tool just won’t do.
Many don’t realize the Keyword Planner is meant for advertising purposes.
But before we get started on Squirrly’s SEO alternative to Google Keyword Planner and why you should use it, let’s do a quick round-up of why you should use the latter.
The Keyword Planner for Advertisers Was Created by Google
That above is probably the most comprehensive and straight to the point piece of information you need to know.
It clearly states so on the tool’s landing page: “Plan your Search Network campaigns, get performance insights and see keyword ideas”.
Granted, it can be used for SEO purposes as well, but the results won’t hold as much value as you’d want them to.
By using the Google Keyword Planner you can research:
Keyword ideas based on a phrase, landing page or product category
Average monthly search volume for a specific timeline
Volume trends for a single keyword or group of keywords over time.
So if you’re just starting your PPC campaign using AdWords, using this free research tool is a must. Especially since it gives you great ad group suggestions.
But that’s about it.
Additionally, you have to agree on the fact that the Keyword Planner isn’t so intuitive for new users. It is complex and you may find yourself wasting a lot of time before you get the results you wanted.
So for SEO purposes, you should avoid it.
The Benefits of Using an Alternative to Google Keyword Planner
So far we have one thing straight: Google’s free tool is meant to be used by advertisers. It’s the place where it excels and offers the best results.
There’s also another vital aspect you should know. You need to launch at least one active campaign to be able to use Google’s Keyword Planner. It means you need to go through all the setup for your AdWords account, campaign creation, and billing before you get access.
More wasted time.
Search engine optimization involves a different approach. It also requires time to create great content and make sure it ranks as high as possible in search results.
So, an alternative to Google Keyword Planner should be:
Intuitive and easy to use
Fast and relevant from an SEO point of view
Comprehensive and insightful
Resourceful – so you can use it for local SEO by choosing the country you want to target
Ideally, integrated with your CMS (WordPress).
Introducing Squirrly’s SEO Keyword Research Tool
Obviously, we’re biased. Even if we believe it’s the best keyword tool for SEO, we won’t state that. In the following lines, we’ll focus on presenting its capabilities, interface, features and the SEO needs it takes care of.
But before we get started, there’s an important aspect which needs mentioning.
In case you’ve used Squirrly’s SEO keyword research tool in the past, you should know it’s been through a massive rework. It now holds a lot more power and is capable of giving you far more relevant results
In fact, the entire Squirrly SEO plugin for WordPress has been revamped. You can check out the launch in the video below if you want to learn more about the other cool features it now offers:
Let’s get back to our topic and see the benefits of Squirrly’s SEO alternative to Google Keyword Planner.
1. It Helps You Save Time and Work More Efficiently
I kept mentioning the fact that Google’s free keyword research tool is complex and eats a lot of time, especially if you’re not an AdWords specialist.
Using Squirrly’s keyword research tool gets that out of the way. The interface is super clean and intuitive and even WordPress newbies will be able to understand and take advantage of the tool.
There’s no setup involved – apart from Squirrly’s SEO plugin initial setup.
The tool is on your WordPress website, so you don’t need to open another tab. You can do the research when creating a new post or from Squirrly > Keyword Research.
You just input the topic you’re interested in and the keyword tool gives you all the results relevant for yourself… and more. A lot more.
You can use the tool either to create your overall keyword strategy or right when you start working on a new article.
2. It Gets You SEO Relevant Data
Squirrly’s keyword research tool is meant to be used just for SEO purposes. It is designed and optimized with this in mind.
Not only the results will include a plethora of useful keywords you may have never thought about, but each of them has personalized data attached.
Let’s take a quick example. Using Squirrly’s keyword research tool for “keyword research tool” generates the following results (click to enlarge):
That’s 71 keywords you can actually rank for. But we haven’t got to the best part yet.
3. Personalized Ranking Data and Insights
Wouldn’t you like to know how much work you need to put in to be able to actually rank for a certain keyword?
Squirrly’s keyword research tool gets you just that.
Each keyword from the results generated contains useful information.
Yes, the competition field is personalized. Squirrly has developed a unique algorithm which takes into account a few important aspects related to your domain, in order to calculate the ranking opportunity.
Recent discussions is a metric which measures how much buzz there is, at the moment of interrogation, around that specific keyword. Squirrly calculates that ‘value’ by analyzing social media posts, Google SERP interrogations and so forth.
The exact search is another valuable metric related to the search volume of that specific keyword on a monthly basis. The value may variate from time to time.
Competition is maybe the most important metric you need to take into account before deciding to tackle a specific keyword. ‘Difficult to rank’ means you will need to invest a lot of work and content, but without any guarantee, you will be able to outrank your competition.
Other values include ‘Easy to rank’ and ‘Very easy to rank’ – these are the ones you should focus on if your website doesn’t have the authority it needs to surpass the competition.
Trend is the final metric which helps you rank higher. A ‘going up’ trend means there’s a lot of online buzz, while a ‘going down’ trend means there’s no longer so much interest around the topic.
4.It’s Part of a Complete SEO Suite
Another great aspect about Squirrly’s keyword research tool is that you’ll use it as part of a complete SEO suite which enables you to rank your content higher and get more organic traffic in a smart and good looking way.
In fact, the keyword research tool is just a small part of Squirrly’s SEO plugin for WordPress which also contains:
Site Analysis tool
Google SERP Checker tool
Facebook Pixel integration
Open Graph tool
Research & Inspiration section for writers
XML Sitemap Generator
It Is Time to Take Your SEO Strategy to the Next Level with Long-Tail Keywords
Just take a second and try to imagine how much content has been already published about a certain topic. Naturally, that content is optimized for certain keywords and those pages get a lot of traffic.
Can a low authority website actually compete with that? Maybe it can. But it will take months, perhaps even years to outrank the thought leaders in their niche.
So instead of targeting extremely broad keywords such as “social media”, you should follow a smarter approach: long-tail keywords.
They’re basically groups of three to five words which don’t bring in as much traffic or interrogations as generic keywords.
However, long-tail keywords allow for better targeting. You can use them for specific searches with high user buying intent.
They also have less competition, which is really awesome, especially for low authority websites.
Here’s why using long-tail keywords along with Squirrly’s alternative to Google Keyword Planner is the best SEO strategy.
1. More Precise Targeting
Long-tail keywords give you access to a specific intent. By targeting these limited searches, your content is likely to be a lot more relevant to what people actually need versus searches with a more generic term.
It will also let you get more qualified leads, which may result in a better conversion rate.
2. Low Competition Lets You Rank Easier
You can easily imagine a long-tail keyword doesn’t generate a high volume of searches. But that’s not always a negative aspect.
Less popularity also means fewer businesses will compete over those interrogations. So you can step in and rank #1 with ease.
It is far better to have a 60% CTR from 100 impressions than to get a 0.2% CTR from 1.000 impressions.
3. Higher Ranks Boost Your Website’s Authority
Once you get the #1 spot in Google SERPs for certain long-tail keywords, your domain’s authority will increase.
This will or should let you tackle broader keywords and rank higher with ease.
What Are You Waiting for?
Never forget SEO is a long-term strategy which gets you results, but only if you work for them.
You should go ahead and get Squirrly SEO plugin and start taking advantage of the alternative to Google Keyword Planner.
If you need any help or have any questions, feel free to post them in the comment section.