Is keyword research possible for free? You bet! Professional SEO tools score with extensive functions, but beauty startups and small beauty salons often need help to justify additional expenses for keyword analysis.
We present seven helpful tools with which you can take search engine optimization of your texts into your own hands without paying a cent.
Why Do I Need Keyword Research?
Even if keyword research is free, why make all the effort? Well, it primarily has to do with your online visibility.
As a beauty expert, you have plenty of knowledge and ingenious products to solve your customers’ problems. But what if no one finds out about your offer and you get lost on the Internet in the face of enormous competition? This is where your website’s search engine optimization (SEO) comes into play. The goal is to be found by potential customers for specific keywords.
Professional keyword research is the supreme discipline of search engine optimization and belongs in every SEO toolbox. It forms the basis of a promising content strategy and aims to place your beauty content higher in search engines.
To perform optimally in the Google index and thus benefit from better visibility, you need to identify your website’s most relevant keywords and keyword phrases. Keywords are considered valuable and practical when the expected traffic, search volume, and competition ratio are right.
New to SEO? Discover our SEO tutorial for beginners.
What Characterizes Good Keyword Research?
A good keyword research:
- improves the visibility of your website
- generates more traffic and thus increases the chance of conversions
- is oriented towards the search intentions of your target groups
- supports you in planning a user-friendly site structure
- contributes decisively to the success of your website
- provides content ideas for your editorial plan
Keyword research allows you to determine which content you want to be found online. And that’s worth its weight in gold because, with the correct copy, you’ll attract the customers that go together with you like a pot and a lid.
There are now hundreds of tools on the market for keyword research – ranging from free to triple-digit contributions per month. Before we introduce you to several free analysis tools, it’s worthwhile for you as an SEO beginner to better understand the basics of keyword analysis. If you’re learning about SEO for the first time, you may need clarification on which tools are best for this important project.
How Customers Search: On Categorizing Search Queries
Even keyword research that is created for free starts with understanding the search behavior of your target groups. Only some people search online with the same intent. Why someone enters a particular word, phrase, or entire sentence into the search box can have several reasons.
The type of search query gives you information about a customer’s intention and can be divided into three categories: does the user want to gain knowledge about a beauty trend? Is it about finding the website of a well-known beauty brand again? Or is he already explicitly looking for a cosmetic product to buy it?
- Information-driven search (Informational Queries). The user seeks information or knowledge to help them answer a question or solve a problem. Example: “How do you apply foundation?” or “What are the skin types?”.
- Navigation-driven search (Navigational Queries). Here, users search for a subpage already known from previous search queries. Users often enter the name of a beauty brand in the search field. Example: “Maybelline Website” or “DM Balea.”
- Transactional queries. Such search queries are based on an explicit purchase intention. The customer knows exactly what he wants and has yet to decide on a retailer. Example: “Buy red eye shadow” or “Benefit mascara waterproof.”
Regarding search engine optimization, think about what kind of search queries you want that subpage to rank for. A mix of transactional keywords and informational landing pages is recommended for most beauty companies with online stores.
How Customers Express Themselves: Different Keyword Research Types
Only some potential customers search with the exact words. That’s why you need detailed insights into the search habits of the users you want to reach for a successful keyword analysis. It would help if you kept the different keyword types in mind when optimizing your texts for search engines:
- Short Tail Keywords. General, often interchangeable search terms, usually comprising only a single word. The traffic generated in this way is distributed across many different websites listed in the corresponding search results (SERPs) of Google, Bing, and Co. Thanks to their general nature, these keywords have an exceptionally high search volume but a poor conversion rate. Example: “make-up,” “perfume,” or “serum.”
- Mid Tail Keywords. These usually consist of two to three words, are more narrowly defined, and have a medium search volume. Example: “aluminum-free deodorant,” “SPF 50 sunscreen,” or “smudge-proof eyeliner“.
- Long tail keywords. Particular keyword phrases, questions, or sentences with a comparatively low search volume. On the other hand, the conversion rate is the highest because such queries usually have a specific purchase intention. Examples: “shoes with red soles,” “waterproof kajal for sensitive eyes,” or “sustainable natural cosmetics drugstore.”
- Niche keywords. Definitionally, niche keywords are closely related to long-tail keywords and are sometimes used interchangeably. They refer to search terms with low search volume but less contested. Often, by optimizing for niche keywords, you can achieve significant traffic gains in a short time. Another advantage: niche keywords are exact – so you can be almost sure that the user will find exactly what he was looking for. Examples: “SEO for beginners,” “buy liquid highlighter,” or “eyeliner brush thin.”
Create Keyword Research For Free: The Best Tools
First things first: There are several excellent professional SEO tools like Ahrefs, Keywords Explorer, Sistrix, Xovi, Searchmetrics, or Screaming Frog that offer a ton of data, features, and filtering options. However, free alternatives are worth considering if you’re just getting started with search engine optimization or are a cosmetics startup on a tight marketing budget.
The Google Keyword Planner suggests some interesting keywords and divides them into practice groups. However, the search volume can only be queried if you put enough money into AdWords campaigns. Can’t it be done better? You bet!
With these seven intuitive SEO tools, you can do thorough keyword research – and it’s completely free.
#1 Google Suggest
Google Suggest is not an analysis tool in the classical sense. However, it is an excellent first port of call for keyword ideas and a quick overview. Enter a search term in the Google search: Your query will be automatically completed by the most searched terms in context. Also, note the related search queries that are displayed under the SERPs.
#2 Google Trends
Want to know how popular a particular keyword is? Google Trends tells you how search trends change over time. A graph represents the relative popularity of a search query over the last 12 months. Filter options are available to narrow the period even more precisely or to check the Google Trends data for the previous few years.
Also handy: widgets on related topics and similar search queries that can give you more keyword ideas. The tool is beneficial for Local SEO because it can determine the demand for specific topics/keywords in different regions.
#3 Keyword Sheeter
The Keyword Sheeter is the right choice for finding masses of potential keywords. Enter a keyword of your choice into the search field and press the “Sheet” button. The free keyword research tool will start working for you. You can stop the search process anytime by clicking on “Stop” because several thousand keyword suggestions come up quickly.
#4 Answer the Public
No ordinary keyword tool: Answer the Public filters search terms in different categories. Questions, prepositions, comparisons, alphabetical lists, and related searches are displayed. You can decide whether you prefer a visualization similar to a mind map or a list.
Especially useful: You don’t have to register to export the data to CSV. Overall, a powerful SEO tool to identify keyword phrases you may not have thought of yet!
#5 Karma Keyword Tool
Bring on the old data: The Karma Keyword Tool allows you to reaccess accurate Google Keyword Planner data. This simple keyword tool provides you with search volume, CPC (cost per click), competition, and the number of search results. If you want to check the search volume of individual keywords quickly, the uncomplicated Karma tool is the right choice.
You can also enter keywords for different countries. The disadvantage: No topic-related search terms are displayed, and there is no option to export the data.
#6 Rank Tracker
If you want to do your keyword research for free, you can’t miss Rank Tracker! This analysis tool offers a more comprehensive paid version but is entirely sufficient in the 100% free version. You can combine the various research tools to generate a detailed list of keyword ideas.
In addition, each keyword can be analyzed for its traffic potential and checked against the competition. This way, you can find keywords that bring in the most traffic with little effort.
#7 Soovle
Want to follow the interests of users of different platforms in your keyword research? Enter a keyword, and the words appear above the platform’s logo. Soovle generates short lists of the most important search terms for Wikipedia, Google, Amazon, Bing, Yahoo, and YouTube.
This Is Why You Should Never Deliberately Misspell Keywords
Start your keyword research for free! Thanks to their intuitive usability, the above tools are perfect for beauty experts just entering the world of search engine optimization. You’ll soon realize that careful keyword research requires a lot of intuition and a good understanding of the needs of your target groups. And above all, it eats up a lot of time. You also need to gradually familiarize yourself with the various functions of the free keyword research tools.
Our expert tip: The finished result should sound natural – if keywords hinder the flow of reading or appear too often in the text, this will spoil the reading mood for many a reader, and rightly so.
Also, resist the temptation to deliberately misspell a keyword because this variant may have a higher search volume. To build up a severe expert image among your target groups, flawless language is a must.
Do you only have time for hours of keyword analysis besides your daily work? We’ll take care of that for you. With search engine-optimized cosmetic texts, we support you in increasing the visibility of your website. If you wish, we can also optimize existing content for the search engines – but above all, for the reader behind the screen!
