6 Keyword Research Tools For Maximizing The Impact of Search Ads
Tap into the power of these advanced research tools to get high-level results from your paid search campaigns.
There’s a science (and an art) to getting your ads in front of your target audience—and that’s through keyword research.
Keyword research can inform your decisions when mapping out paid search campaigns, especially when it comes to your bidding strategies. It offers insights into the queries that your users enter into their search engines, helping you choose high-quality keywords that bring the highest impressions, click-throughs, and conversions to your campaigns.
Apart from being an invaluable part of paid search ads, this technique can also be used in search engine optimization (SEO) to boost organic content. But while keyword research is a tedious process, there are tools that can simplify the process of selecting high-converting keywords for your campaigns. Here are 6 leading platforms you can use to develop high-ranking paid search ads:
SpyFu
Stay one step ahead of the competition by tapping into Spyfu’s massive ad database. SpyFu is a widely used keyword research software that provides an extensive amount of competitive data. This all-in-one solution has an intuitive dashboard that presents the most critical campaign information—ad timeline, cost-per-click (CPC), monthly cost, monthly searches, and ad position or ranking. You can also see how certain keywords perform at a granular level. Furthermore, with its Ad History feature, you can view past paid search campaigns, including top-ranking ads, that are associated with specified keywords.
Much like other research tools, this software has a rank-tracing feature that refreshes every week. You can get weekly updates about your keyword performance and evaluate your campaigns right on time. Aside from this, one of the biggest advantages of SpyFu is that it boasts a database of more than 13 years of Google data, offering a glimpse of past keyword rankings and campaigns dated years ago. This solution has three price plans: $39 (Basic), $78 (Professional), and $299 (Team) per month.
ISpionage
ISpionage is perhaps one of the most dependable tools you can use for keyword research and analysis. It has an extensive database that is derived from more than 45 million domains across three leading search engines—Google, Yahoo!, and Bing. You can access important information about past paid search ads, including important information like search volume per keyword, average ranking, CPC, and days seen. Looking for related keywords is also not a problem when using iSpionage. You can easily look for related keywords and keyword variations that you can incorporate into your ads to boost impressions.
In addition, using iSpionage gives you leverage over your competitors. This platform can show your top competitors in specific keyword groups. It can go as far as generating advertisers’ names, keyword count, and overlap keywords in their campaigns. You can also access competitors’ ad copies, their landing pages, and average rankings, which you can draw inspiration from when refining your ad strategies. Not only that, its data summaries are accompanied by simple visualizations, which can help you better understand its tabulated reports. ISpionage has at least three plans: $59 (Starter), $99 (Professional), and $299 (Advanced) per month.
SEMRush
SEMRush is a robust keyword research tool that can help you conveniently optimize your search ads. A popular choice among most advertisers, SEMRush is a premium platform that has one of the largest ad databases. This comprehensive solution can offer you insights into high-ranking keywords as well as top-performing campaigns across industries.
Similar to iSpionage, SEMRush shows actual ads, including copies, that could give you an idea of how to build high-converting campaigns. This platform can also generate summaries and trends of keyword performances that you can use when restrategizing existing campaigns or developing succeeding ads. SEMRush also has an Ad History feature but unlike Spyfu, its historical data can only go back 12 months.
Aside from this, you won’t have a hard time evaluating the performance of keywords when using SEMRush. Through this platform, you can assess search terms on both local and global scales. This software also gives you a precise assessment of keyword difficulty or how hard it would be to outdo competitors for a specific keyword.
Furthermore, SEMRush can propose related keywords and keyword variations that you can expand upon. Apart from keywords, it can also propose questions related to particular keywords that can help you improve your paid ad strategies. Consisting of other tools besides keyword research, SEMRush is priced at $119.95 (Pro), $229.95 (Guru), and $449.95 (Business) per month.
Adbeat
If you’re looking for lesser-known but equally potent tools in the market, then Adbeat is the one for you. Adbeat offers at least 7 years of competitive data across 7 million campaigns, which you can use to optimize your ad performance. While most of its features are designed for other areas of advertising (e.g. traffic monitoring, audience analysis, etc.), Adbeat is still capable of assisting you in keyword research and analysis.
Adbeat has basic capabilities in consolidating search ads—including their ad copies and landing pages—associated with certain keywords. It also shows top-performing keywords and related search terms at a global level both for organic and paid search campaigns. However, it should be noted that Adbeat is not as comprehensive as tools like SEMRush and Spyfu but it’s still worth a try. Adbeat ranges from $249 (Standard) to $399 (Advanced) per month.
WordStream
If you’re looking for a free alternative, WordStream is a solution worth exploring. WordStream’s Free Keyword Tool is a simple platform that assists in keyword suggestion and analysis. It can also help you determine the most lucrative keywords in your chosen niche market as well as negative keyword discovery (the process of identifying search terms that are irrelevant to your business). This feature helps you stop bidding on keywords that are unprofitable and select the ones that bring more revenue.
In addition, you won’t have a hard time navigating this platform. WordStream streamlines keyword research through its simple interface. However, unlike more premium alternatives, it only has basic filtering options—keyword, industry, and location. But it offers fundamental information per keyword like search volume, CPC, and competition level, which are critical when analyzing keywords. Aside from this, you can view lists of high-volume search terms per industry and see the most used terms in certain markets. This platform can be used for free and data can be directly downloaded.
AdGooroo
AdGooroo can help you spy on your competitors’ ad performance with ease. This subscription-based software gives you a peek at your rivals’ high-converting campaigns, including the short and long-tail keywords they integrated into their campaigns. Just like other platforms, it can give you access to top-ranking campaigns related to specific keywords. But the advantage of AdGooroo is that its performance analytics refreshes daily, unlike Spyfu, which only refreshes weekly. You can view ad results quickly, such as rankings, click-through rates, and total costs. AdGooroo is a reliable ally as it's also quick to inform you of your rankings as well as your competitors’, complete with visualizations.