You do not need to spend a cent to start doing keyword research. Some of the most useful tools available are completely free, and several of them pull data directly from Google itself, which means the insights they give you are as close to the source as it gets.
The catch is that free tools have limits. Some cap the number of searches you can run per day. Some give you directional data rather than precise numbers. And a few that were genuinely free a few years ago have since moved their best features behind a paywall. This article is honest about all of that, so you can set realistic expectations before you start.
If you have not read the earlier articles in this series, What Are Keywords and Why Do They Matter and How to Choose the Right Keywords for Your Business cover the foundations you will need before diving into tools.
Here are the free keyword research tools worth your time in 2026, and how to actually use each one.
1. Google Autocomplete (Google Suggest)
Cost: Free, no account needed
Google Autocomplete is one of the most underrated keyword research tools available, and it costs nothing. Every time you start typing a search query into Google and it suggests completions in the dropdown, those suggestions are real search queries that real people have typed into Google. They are not guesses. They are drawn from actual search behaviour.
To use it for keyword research, go to Google and start typing your seed keyword without pressing Enter. The dropdown will show you between five and ten common completions. These are all potential keyword ideas.
For example, if you type “bookkeeper Brisbane” into Google without pressing Enter, you might see suggestions like:
- bookkeeper Brisbane price
- bookkeeper Brisbane small business
- bookkeeper Brisbane near me
- bookkeeper Brisbane CBD
Each of those is a long-tail keyword variation that real people are searching for. Add them to your keyword list and evaluate them against the four criteria from the previous article.
Pro tip: Try adding letters after your seed keyword to trigger more suggestions. Typing “bookkeeper Brisbane a” will show different completions than “bookkeeper Brisbane b” and so on. This technique can uncover keyword variations that do not appear in the standard dropdown.
Here’s what the autocomplete dropdown actually looks like for ‘bookkeeper Brisbane’. Each suggestion is a real search query worth adding to your keyword list.
2. Google People Also Ask
Cost: Free, no account needed
After you press Enter on a Google search, scroll down slightly and you will find a section called People Also Ask. This is a box of questions related to your search query that other users have asked Google. Click on any question to expand it and reveal more related questions. The box keeps generating new questions the more you interact with it.
For keyword research, People Also Ask is particularly valuable for two reasons. First, the questions are phrased exactly the way real people talk, which makes them ideal for writing content that matches how your audience actually searches. Second, because these questions appear directly in the search results, writing content that answers them well gives you a chance to appear in the featured snippet position, which can drive significant traffic even without a traditional number one ranking.
If you searched “bookkeeper Brisbane” and the People Also Ask box showed questions like “How much does a bookkeeper cost in Australia?” and “Do I need a bookkeeper or an accountant?”, those are not just keyword ideas. They are the exact questions your potential clients are already asking Google before they decide who to hire.
Here’s what the People Also Ask box looks like for ‘bookkeeper Brisbane’. Expanding a question reveals the answer along with its source, showing exactly the kind of content that can earn a featured snippet placement.
3. Google Related Searches
Cost: Free, no account needed
Scroll to the very bottom of a Google search results page and you will find a section called Related Searches. These are eight additional search queries that Google considers closely related to what you searched for.
Related Searches are useful because they often surface keyword angles that your seed keyword and the autocomplete suggestions did not reveal. They tend to show you what people search for next, after or alongside your original query, which can help you understand the broader topic landscape around your keyword.
Using the bookkeeper example, if the related searches for “bookkeeper Brisbane” include “BAS agent Brisbane” and “MYOB bookkeeper Brisbane,” those are additional keyword opportunities that tell you something useful about how your audience thinks about the category.
Here’s what the Related Searches section looks like for ‘bookkeeper Brisbane’. These additional queries reveal how your audience thinks about the broader topic.
4. Google Keyword Planner
Cost: Free with a Google Ads account (free to create, no ad spend required to access)
Google Keyword Planner is the most widely referenced free keyword research tool, and for good reason. It pulls data directly from Google’s advertising platform, which means the keyword ideas and volume estimates come from the same source that powers Google search.
To access it, you need a Google Ads account. You do not need to run ads or enter a credit card to access the Keyword Planner itself, but you do need to complete the account setup process. Once inside, go to Tools, then Planning, then Keyword Planner. From there you can either discover new keywords by entering seed terms, or get search volume data for a list of keywords you already have.
However, there is an important limitation you need to know about before you use it.
Google Keyword Planner only shows precise monthly search volume figures to accounts that are actively spending on Google Ads. If your account has no active ad spend, you will see broad ranges instead of exact numbers. A keyword might show “1K to 10K” monthly searches, which is almost useless for comparing two closely related keywords. That range could mean 1,200 searches or 9,800 searches per month and the tool will not tell you which. Google itself acknowledges in its documentation that search volume statistics are rounded and fluctuate due to seasonality and other factors.
For business owners not running Google Ads, treat Keyword Planner as a directional tool for identifying which keywords exist and roughly how popular they are, rather than a precise measurement tool.
Despite this limitation, Keyword Planner remains valuable for several reasons:
- It surfaces keyword ideas you might not have thought of on your own
- The “Competition” column tells you how many advertisers are bidding on a keyword, which is a useful signal of commercial intent
- The “Top of page bid” data gives you a sense of how much businesses are willing to pay per click, which correlates with commercial value
- You can filter by location, which is useful for Australian businesses wanting to see local search demand
Here’s what Google Keyword Planner looks like when researching a service keyword in Australia. Notice the search demand, advertiser competition, and bid data that help you evaluate keyword opportunities.
5. YouTube
Cost: Free, no account needed
YouTube has 2.85 billion monthly active users worldwide as of 2026, making it the second largest search engine in the world after Google. Like Google, it has an autocomplete feature that surfaces real search queries from real users. But because YouTube is a video platform, the queries it suggests often reveal different angles on the same topic.
To use YouTube for keyword research, go to YouTube and start typing your seed keyword into the search bar without pressing Enter. The autocomplete suggestions that appear are drawn from actual YouTube searches. Write them down and add them to your keyword list.
Beyond autocomplete, look at the titles of the top-ranking videos for your keyword. The words and phrases that video creators use in their titles tend to be keywords they have already researched and validated. If multiple top videos use the same phrase in their title, that phrase is worth paying attention to.
For an Australian trade business, searching “how to choose a plumber” on YouTube might reveal that people are searching specifically for “how to choose a licensed plumber Australia” or “questions to ask a plumber before hiring.” Those variations are real content ideas with validated demand behind them.
Here’s what YouTube autocomplete looks like for a local SEO query. These suggestions come from real searches performed on YouTube and can reveal valuable keyword and content opportunities.
6. Answer The Public
Cost: Free plan available with 3 searches per day (sign in with Google to access); paid plans from $11 per month
Answer The Public is a search listening tool that visualises the questions, prepositions, and comparisons people type into Google and Bing around a specific keyword. Enter a seed keyword, select your country, and it generates a visual map of related queries grouped by type, such as who, what, where, when, why, and how questions, along with comparison queries.
For a business owner trying to understand what their potential customers are actually asking, Answer The Public is genuinely useful. If you run a digital marketing agency and you search “SEO” on Answer The Public, it might reveal questions like “is SEO worth it for small businesses,” “how long does SEO take to work,” and “can I do SEO myself.” Those are real concerns your potential clients have before they decide to hire an agency, and they are also keyword opportunities for blog content.
What you need to know in 2026: Answer The Public was acquired by Neil Patel’s company NP Digital and is no longer as freely accessible as it once was. The free version now limits you to 3 searches per day, which is enough for occasional research but not for sustained keyword work. If you need more searches, paid plans start at $11 per month for 100 searches per day.
The tool still does what it always did well. It just requires more planning around those daily search limits if you are using the free version.
7. AlsoAsked
Cost: 3 free searches per day without an account; paid plans from $12 per month for 100 credits
AlsoAsked is one of the most useful additions to the free keyword research toolkit in recent years, and one that was not available when most older keyword research guides were written.
It works by extracting and visualising Google’s People Also Ask data in a hierarchical tree structure. When you enter a keyword, AlsoAsked shows you not just the first layer of related questions but also the follow-up questions that appear when users click to expand each one. This gives you a much richer picture of how questions branch and connect around a topic than simply reading the People Also Ask box in a single Google search.
For example, if you enter “keyword research” into AlsoAsked, the tree might start with questions like “what is keyword research” and “how do you do keyword research,” then branch into follow-ups like “what tools do you use for keyword research” and “how do I find keywords for free.” Each branch represents a real search path that real users are following.
This is particularly useful for planning content structure. The primary questions in the tree naturally become your main headings, and the follow-up questions become your subheadings. You end up with an article outline that mirrors the exact way your audience thinks about the topic, which is exactly what Google rewards.
AlsoAsked does not show search volume. You would need to export the questions into a tool like Google Keyword Planner or Ahrefs to get volume data. But for understanding the question landscape around a topic and building content that matches real user intent, it is one of the best free tools available in 2026.
Here’s what AlsoAsked looks like for a keyword research query. The branching question tree reveals how users explore a topic and helps you structure content around real search intent.
Looking for a fast way to get keyword ideas without paid tools? Isaac shares a simple free method here that any business can use straight away.
8. Reddit and Quora
Cost: Free, no account needed to browse
Reddit and Quora are community forums where real people ask and answer questions about every topic imaginable. For keyword research, they are valuable because they let you see the exact language your target audience uses when they are not trying to sound professional, which is often closer to how they actually search on Google.
To use Reddit for keyword research, go to reddit.com and type your seed keyword into the search bar. Look at the thread titles and read through the comments in the most popular threads. Pay attention to the specific phrases and questions that keep coming up. Those recurring phrases are often keywords worth targeting.
Quora works similarly. Search your keyword and look at the questions that have the most engagement. A financial adviser in Brisbane might search “financial advice” on Quora and find that one of the most engaged questions is “how do I know if my financial adviser is actually worth paying for.” That is a genuine content idea with a validated audience behind it.
Neither platform gives you search volume data, so you will still need another tool to validate whether a keyword gets enough searches to be worth targeting. But for raw insight into what your audience is thinking and saying, Reddit and Quora are hard to beat.
9. eBay and Amazon
Cost: Free, no account needed
This one surprises people, but eCommerce platforms like eBay and Amazon function as search engines in their own right, and their autocomplete suggestions reveal highly transactional, purchase-intent keywords.
The key insight is that people who search on Amazon or eBay are almost always in buying mode. The keywords these platforms surface tend to be high commercial intent almost by definition.
For an eCommerce business or a product-based business, typing your product category into the Amazon or eBay search bar and reviewing the autocomplete suggestions can reveal keyword variations with strong buying intent that you might not find in Google-focused tools.
For service businesses, this tool is less directly applicable, but it can still be useful for understanding how people describe products related to your service. A home security installer, for example, might search “home security cameras” on Amazon to understand which product features and specifications people are actively searching for, giving them insight into what customers care about most.
10. Wikipedia
Cost: Free, no account needed
Wikipedia is one of the most comprehensive repositories of structured information on the internet, and it is useful for keyword research in a specific way. The Table of Contents and internal links on any Wikipedia article reveal the sub-topics and related concepts that define a subject area.
If you are new to a topic or trying to make sure you have covered all angles in your keyword research, searching your seed keyword on Wikipedia and studying the article’s structure can reveal sub-topics you had not considered. The headings and linked articles are essentially a map of the topic landscape, built from one of the most comprehensively curated knowledge bases in existence.
For an NDIS service provider doing keyword research, the Wikipedia article on the National Disability Insurance Scheme would reveal sub-topics like “support categories,” “plan management,” and “service provider registration” that could each represent separate keyword opportunities.
11. Soovle
Cost: Free, no account needed
Soovle is a tool that aggregates autocomplete suggestions from multiple search engines and platforms simultaneously, including Google, YouTube, Bing, Amazon, and Wikipedia. Enter a seed keyword and it populates a dashboard with suggestions from each source at once.
It is a genuinely novel idea and can be a useful starting point for seeing how keyword suggestions differ across platforms in a single view. However, in 2026 it is best described as a brainstorming starting point rather than a primary research tool. The individual sources it pulls from, particularly Google Autocomplete and YouTube, are more useful when accessed directly because you get more suggestions and a cleaner experience.
That said, if you want a quick cross-platform overview in one place, Soovle delivers that at no cost.
How to Get the Most Out of Free Tools
Free tools work best when used together rather than in isolation. Here is a simple workflow that combines several of these tools into a practical research process:
- Start with Google Autocomplete to generate initial keyword ideas around your seed keyword
- Check People Also Ask and Related Searches to expand into question-based and adjacent keywords
- Run your top keyword ideas through AlsoAsked to map the question hierarchy and plan content structure
- Use Answer The Public within your 3 free daily searches for a broader view of question and comparison keywords
- Validate in Google Keyword Planner to get a directional sense of search volume and commercial intent signals like CPC
- Cross-check on YouTube to see if the keyword has a video audience and what angles are resonating
This workflow costs nothing and can generate a solid working keyword list for most Australian small businesses in under two hours.
When you are ready to go deeper, particularly if you want precise volume data, keyword difficulty scores, and competitor keyword analysis, that is when paid tools become worth considering. We cover those in detail in the next article in this series.
For more on how to use the keywords you find to improve your website’s search visibility, our guide to strategic keyword placement covers exactly where and how to use them on your pages. And our article on top SEO ranking factors gives useful context on how keywords fit into the broader picture of what Google looks for.
Want Expert Eyes on Your Keyword Strategy?
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