June 9, 2026·7 min read·Nikola Teofilović

Free Keyword Research Tools: A Practical Guide for Small Businesses

Discover 6 free keyword research tools and a 1-hour workflow to find winning keywords, assess competition, and build a solid keyword list without paid subscriptions.

Ahrefs costs $99 per month, SEMrush $129. If you run a small business, you probably do not want to pay that for a tool you will use a few times a year. The good news: there are 6 free tools that will help you find solid keywords, assess competition, and build a reliable keyword list for your website or Google Ads campaigns. This guide covers how to combine them.

The goal of keyword research is not to find keywords with the highest search volume. The goal is to find keywords where you can actually rank — which means striking the right balance between volume, competition, and search intent.

Before the tools: 3 questions you must understand

What does my customer actually type? (not what I think they should type)
What stage of the buying journey are they in? (awareness, comparison, decision)
What do they expect to find when they click? (information, product, local service)

If your business is "AC repair" — your customer will not type "air conditioning cooling system maintenance". They will type "AC not working what to do" or "AC repair near me price". Your job is to get inside that mindset, not inside a thesaurus. For local businesses, city names are critical — see the local SEO guide for the full approach.

6 free tools — and how to combine them

1. Google Search autocomplete

The most underrated "tool" in existence. Open Google, start typing your primary keyword slowly — Google suggests what people are actually searching for. "AC repair n..." → Google: "AC repair near me", "AC repair near me cheap", "AC repair emergency near me". Those are real keywords, from real searches.

Pro tip: add letters of the alphabet after your keyword. "AC repair a", "AC repair b", ... → you uncover variations you never would have thought of.

2. Google "People Also Ask" and "Related searches"

Search your primary keyword. Scroll down. You will see the "People Also Ask" box and the "Related searches" section at the bottom. A goldmine of related keywords to cover on your page. You often discover questions you already have answers to but never thought to address.

3. Google Trends (trends.google.com)

Free, and it shows you search volume trends over time. You can compare 2–5 keywords and see which is growing and which is declining. Filter by region and time frame (last 12 months). Useful for:

Seasonal keywords (AC → summer, boiler → winter)
Trends around new technologies (ChatGPT, AI tools, etc.)
Local name variations (New York vs New York City)

4. AnswerThePublic (free version)

Enter your primary keyword and get hundreds of questions that people actually search around that topic. Organized into "What, How, Why, When, Where", plus "vs", "with", and "without" combinations. Free for 2–3 searches per day. Ideal for blog content planning.

5. Keyword Surfer (Chrome extension)

A free Chrome extension. When you search on Google, it displays search volume next to each autocomplete suggestion and shows related keywords with volume directly in the sidebar. A fast overview without switching to a separate site. Keywords Everywhere is a similar alternative — free tier available, similar concept.

6. Google Search Console (if you have a website)

The most underrated source of keyword ideas. Performance → Search Results → Queries. You see every keyword your site already appears for — with positions. There are golden opportunities here (for on-page fundamentals, see the on-page SEO checklist):

Keywords where you rank at positions 8–15 — you can push them into the top 5 with optimization
Keywords with high impressions but low CTR — people see you but do not click (fix your title and meta description)
Keywords you never targeted but are already ranking for — build a focused page around them

Workflow: how to combine the tools in 1 hour of research

Step 1 (10 min) — Google autocomplete brainstorm

Type 5–10 variations of your primary keyword. Write down everything Google suggests. In just a few minutes you will have collected 30–50 real keyword variations.

Step 2 (15 min) — People Also Ask + Related searches

Search your primary keyword, collect all questions from the "People Also Ask" box (click one — more appear, keep going). Add the "Related searches" from the bottom of the page. You now have 50–80 keywords.

Step 3 (15 min) — AnswerThePublic deep dive

Enter your primary keyword and extract the "What / How / Why" questions that are relevant to you. Filter for what your business can actually answer.

Step 4 (15 min) — Validation with Keyword Surfer

Search your top 10–15 keywords and check volume with Keyword Surfer. Flag those with volume worth the effort (50+ per month for niche businesses, 500+ for broader topics), and set aside the ones that are too weak.

Step 5 (5 min) — Search Console cross-check

For each high-value keyword, check in GSC whether you are already ranking. If you are at position 8–15 for the same topic, do not create a new page — strengthen the existing one.

After this 1-hour session you will have a list of 30–50 validated keywords with estimated volume, organized by topic. That is worth more than a $1,000 tool you do not know how to use.

What you cannot do for free (where paid tools earn their keep)

Paid tools give you the one thing that does not exist for free — competitor backlink data. Understanding what backlink profiles the sites ranking above you have built is worth paying for if you are serious about SEO. (Before you buy backlinks, read about which link-building tactics still work in 2026 and which are a waste of money.) For everything else — free tools cover 90% of what you need.

See how we do keyword research →