Free Google AdWords Keyword Suggestion Tool Alternative

Google recently made it much harder to receive accurate keyword data from the AdWords keyword tool.

They have not only grouped similar terms, but then they broadened out the data ranges to absurdly wide ranges like 10,000 to 100,000 searches a month. Only active AdWords advertisers receive (somewhat?) decent keyword data. And even with that, there are limitations. Try to view too many terms and you get:

"You’ve reached the maximum number of page views for this day. This page now shows ranges for search volumes. For a more detailed view, check back in 24 hours."

Jennifer Slegg shared a quote from an AdWords advertiser who spoke with a representative:

"I have just spoken to a customer service manger from the Australia support help desk. They have advised me that there must be continuous activity in your google ad-words campaign (clicks and campaigns running) for a minimum of 3-4 months continuous in order to gain focused keyword results. If you are seeing a range 10-100 or 100-1k or 1k -10k its likely your adwords account does not have an active campaign or has not had continuous campaigns or clicks."

So you not only need to be an advertiser, but you need to stay active for a quarter-year to a third of a year to get decent data.

Part of the sales pitch of AdWords/PPC was that you can see performance data right away, whereas SEO investments can take months or years to back out.

But with Google outright hiding keyword data even from active advertisers, it is probably easier and more productive for those advertisers to start elsewhere.

There are many other keyword data providers (Wordtracker, SEMrush, Wordze, Spyfu, KeywordSpy, Keyword Discovery, Moz, Compete.com, SimilarWeb, Xedant, Ubersuggest, KeywordTool.io, etc.) And there are newer entrants like the Keyword Keg Firefox extension & the brilliantly named KeywordShitter).

In light of Google's push to help make the web more closed-off & further tilt the web away from the interests of searchers toward the interest of big advertisers*, we decided to do the opposite & recently upgraded our keyword tool to add the following features...

  • expanded the results per search to 500
  • we added negative match and modified broad match to the keyword export spreadsheet (along with already having phrase, broad & exact match)

Our keyword tool lists estimated search volumes, bid prices, cross links to SERPs, etc. Using it does require free account registration to use, but it is a one-time registration and the tool is free. And we don't collect phone numbers, hard sell over the phone, etc. We even shut down our paid members area, so you are not likely to receive any marketing messages from us anytime soon.

Export is lightning quick AND, more importantly, we have a panda in our logo!

Here is what the web interface looks like

And here is an screenshot of data in Excel with the various keyword match types

If the tool looks like it is getting decent usage, we may upgrade it further to refresh the data more frequently, consider adding more languages, add a few more reference links to related niche sites in the footer cross-reference section, and maybe add a few other features.

"Every market has some rules and boundaries that restrict freedom of choice. A market looks free only because we so unconditionally accept its underlying restrictions that we fail to see them."Ha-Joon Chang

Published: September 15, 2016 by Aaron Wall in seo tools

Comments

Alacarte5616
January 12, 2017 - 11:24pm

You have so much on here and I just want to see the keyword tool you claim to have and can't find it. I just want to know how many searches are being done on Google for particular keywords in certain areas. If your keyword tool doesn't provide that, please don't call it a keyword tool. If it does, send me the link to it without all this other stuff to go through. I just don't have time to read through it all when I am looking for something specific that claims to be available on this page. Keyword tool?

January 14, 2017 - 6:16pm

...a bit ruder, a bit more entitled, and a bit more of an asshole I might give you prompt customer service even though you are not a customer and have paid me nothing.

on second thought, if you are too stupid to read the instructions, I don't even want you on my website. your account has been banned.

Graham in UK
February 14, 2017 - 3:41pm

Hi Aaron
We are often given the impression that we should be so grateful when a visitor comes to our website. Give them the information that they are looking for FREE, and give it to them FAST.
The fact that we have spent considerable amounts of time putting it all together, and the costs of web hosting etc just don't seem to matter?
So I find your answer to this selfish post very refreshing and admire you for telling it as it is!

Graham from across the pond

February 15, 2017 - 11:40am

...the reason we put our keyword tool behind a registration wall was many years ago someone effectively DDoS attacked our server scraping data from it. That in turn corrupted the hard drive the site was on & literally almost destroyed the site. Our programmer had to remotely repair the hard drive. Forcing log ins makes it easier to deal with some of the more overt forms of abuse & makes it easier to maintain the server without spending many thousands per month on hosting.

Given that most tools have a paywall to access click volumes & bid prices, that we make the data freely available is a compelling offer. But you can never do enough to make some people happy.

Long ago I tried to be nice to everyone, but then I had an employee manage customer support & he had a heart attack from the stress in only a few days of that work. Ever since then I have felt it as a duty to reciprocate when people treat me like scum. Let them know "get off my lawn" and be done with it. There's no value in keeping rude pikers around unless one is exceptionally masochistic.

Anyhow, welcome to the site Graham :)

PromoteSolution
July 17, 2017 - 11:54am

"if you are too stupid to read the instructions, I don't even want you on my website. your account has been banned."

Tooooo funny.

January 7, 2018 - 11:54pm

I took my hat off to you Aaron Wall and applauded loudly.

In a virtual world that has gone mad, forgotten the decency of manners, thrown patience and respect out the window, you approached his a la carte arrogance with such a courteous approach, that the surprising ending made me laugh out loud. Well done.

March 25, 2018 - 6:08am

Well I've only just got here today - lucky I managed to find the Keyword Tool OK and did not have to ask then! I totally agree with all your comments above. I have actually found a tool I was looking for and appreciate it being free, very useful and as a newbie starting out I am surprised by someone peoples rude comments. Thanksagain.

Karen Louis
April 6, 2018 - 7:09am

Thanks for the sharing, we'll definitely check this tool.

April 18, 2018 - 1:32pm

This has to be the prettiest and the cutest keyword tool I have ever seen. A hundred thousand thanks for making this available to this struggling would-be freelance writer. I promise to use it carefully and discreetly and will not betray your trust. xxxxx

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