Struggling to figure out how to get your content seen online? The best way to attract organic traffic and really make your mark is by understanding what people are actually searching for, and that’s exactly where a tool like Semrush’s Keyword Planner suite comes in. It’s not just about guessing. it’s about smart, data-driven decisions that propel your website and content forward. Think of it as your secret weapon in the ever- world of digital visibility.

online world, just creating great content isn’t enough. You need to know what search terms your audience is typing into Google, Bing, and even YouTube to find answers, products, or services. That’s where keyword research becomes absolutely non-negotiable for anyone serious about their online presence. And when it comes to tools that help you do that effectively, Semrush truly stands out. It’s more than just a simple keyword checker. it’s a whole ecosystem of tools designed to help you pinpoint exactly what keywords you should target, analyze your competition, and build a winning content strategy. We’re going to break down how Semrush helps you identify those high-value keywords, understand search intent, and ultimately, get more eyes on your work. By the end of this, you’ll have a clear roadmap to leverage Semrush for your SEO and content planning, making sure your efforts translate into real, measurable growth.

Table of Contents

What is Semrush Keyword Planner and why you need it!

When people talk about “keyword planner tool Semrush,” they’re usually referring to a collection of powerful tools within Semrush that are specifically designed to help you with keyword research. It’s not just one single “planner” like you might find with Google. Instead, Semrush offers a comprehensive suite that works together to give you a full picture of the keyword .

Why is this so important, especially now in 2025? Well, the internet is more crowded than ever. Back in 2020 and stretching to 2025, digital marketing investments have jumped by over 30%, which means everyone is trying to get noticed online. If you want your website, blog, or YouTube channel to stand out, you can’t just throw content out there and hope for the best. You need a strategy, and that strategy starts with understanding what your potential audience is actually looking for.

Semrush’s keyword tools go way beyond just telling you how many people search for a term. They help you understand:

Search Volume: How popular a keyword is.
Keyword Difficulty KD%: How tough it’s going to be to rank in the top spots for that keyword.
Search Intent: Why someone is searching for that term are they looking for information, trying to buy something, or navigating to a specific site?.
Competitive : Who you’re up against and what they’re doing.

By giving you this kind of deep insight, Semrush takes the guesswork out of your content strategy. It helps you identify high-value opportunities, understand trends, and build a plan that actually works.

How to Do Keyword Research with Semrush for Free (And Actually Get Results!)

The Core Tools of Semrush’s Keyword Planning Arsenal

Alright, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of the specific tools Semrush offers for keyword planning. Each one has a slightly different superpower, and when you combine them, that’s when the real magic happens.

Keyword Overview: Your Quick Snapshot to Keyword Value

Think of the Keyword Overview tool as your go-to for a rapid keyword check. When I’m brainstorming or just quickly want to gauge a keyword’s potential, this is where I start. You just type in a word or phrase, and boom, Semrush gives you a ton of critical data points in seconds.

Here’s what you’ll instantly see:

Search Volume: This tells you the average number of times people search for that keyword each month, both nationally and globally. It’s a pretty good indicator of how much interest there is in a topic.
Keyword Difficulty KD%: This is super important. It’s a score from 0 to 100, showing how hard it might be to rank in Google’s top 10 organic search results for that keyword. The higher the number, the tougher the competition. If you’re just starting out, aiming for keywords with lower KD% scores can be a smart move to get some early wins.
Search Intent: Semrush helps you understand the purpose behind the search. Is the user looking for information informational, trying to buy something transactional, investigating a product commercial, or trying to find a specific website navigational? This insight is gold for creating content that actually matches what people want.
CPC Cost Per Click & Competitive Density: If you’re thinking about running Google Ads, these metrics are crucial. CPC shows the average cost an advertiser pays for a click, while competitive density tells you how many advertisers are bidding on that keyword. Higher numbers usually mean more commercial value.
Trend: You can see how search interest for the keyword has changed over the last 12 months. This helps you spot rising stars or declining topics.
Personal Keyword Difficulty PKD%: This AI-powered metric is pretty cool! It analyzes your specific domain’s relevance to a keyword and gives you an idea of how difficult it would be for your site to rank in the top 10. It even considers your domain’s content and authority.

Basically, the Keyword Overview is your initial filter, helping you decide if a keyword is worth pursuing for either organic SEO or paid ad campaigns.

Keyword Magic Tool: Unearthing Millions of Keyword Ideas

Now, if Keyword Overview is your quick look, the Keyword Magic Tool is your, your treasure map to an endless supply of keyword ideas. This is one of Semrush’s flagship features, and for good reason! It lets you explore an entire search market, discover niche subtopics, and build out massive keyword lists. Master Bulk Keyword Research with Semrush: Your Ultimate Guide

Here’s how I usually tackle it:

Start with a Seed Keyword: You begin by entering a broad keyword related to your business or content. Let’s say you sell handmade leather wallets – “leather wallets” would be your seed keyword.
Generate Ideas: The tool then springs into action, pulling from Semrush’s massive database over 26 billion keywords across 142 countries, by the way! to give you a comprehensive list of related terms. You’ll likely see thousands, if not millions, of suggestions.
Explore Keyword Groups: On the left side, you’ll see “groups” of related topics. These are super handy for identifying niche areas and subtopics you might not have thought of. They’re organized by shared words, making it easy to see clusters of ideas. You can even order these groups by the number of keywords or their combined search volume.
Advanced Filtering: This is where you really refine your search. You can filter by:
- Match Types: Broad match, phrase match, exact match, or even related keywords which Semrush bases on lower competition, giving you a better chance to rank.
- Questions: This is a fantastic filter! It shows you keywords phrased as questions who, what, where, when, why, how, is, can, etc.. These are perfect for creating content like blog posts, FAQs, or even video scripts that directly answer user queries.
- Search Volume, KD%, CPC: Just like in Keyword Overview, you can apply filters to narrow down results to high-volume, low-difficulty, or high-commercial-intent keywords.
- SERP Features: Want to target featured snippets or video carousels? You can filter for keywords that trigger specific Search Engine Results Page SERP features, helping you tailor your content for maximum visibility.
- Word Count: Looking for long-tail keywords? Filter by word count to find more specific, often less competitive, phrases.

By using these filters, you can cut through the noise and find those sweet-spot keywords that have decent search volume but aren’t impossible to rank for. This tool is a content ideation machine!

Keyword Gap Tool: Spotting Competitor Blind Spots

The Keyword Gap tool is your secret weapon for competitive analysis. It helps you find those valuable keywords your competitors are ranking for, but you’re not or at least, not as well. It’s all about finding “gaps” in your keyword strategy.

Here’s the drill:

Input Domains: You enter your own domain and up to four competitor domains.
Compare: Semrush then compares the keyword profiles of all these websites, showing you keywords where your competitors are performing well, but you’re either not ranking, or ranking poorly.
Identify Opportunities: The results are usually presented in a matrix or list, highlighting keywords where your competitors have strong positions, but you’re absent. This could mean they’ve found a valuable niche you’ve overlooked, or you have an opportunity to create better content and outrank them.

This tool is invaluable for uncovering untapped possibilities and refining your competitive strategy. If you’re trying to figure out how to gain an edge, this is a fantastic place to start. Building a Keyword Strategy with Semrush: Your Ultimate Roadmap

Position Tracking: Monitoring Your Ranking Journey

Once you’ve done all that hard work finding and targeting keywords, you absolutely need to track your performance. That’s where Position Tracking comes in. It’s like a daily report card for your SEO efforts.

With Position Tracking, you can:

Monitor Keyword Rankings: See how your website ranks for a specific set of keywords over time. You can track your overall visibility and individual keyword positions.
Track Competitors: Keep an eye on your competitors’ rankings for the same keywords. This helps you understand who’s gaining or losing ground.
See SERP Feature Performance: Find out if your content is appearing in special SERP features like featured snippets or local packs.
Local SEO Tracking: You can even track your rankings in specific geographic locations, which is vital for local businesses.

This ongoing monitoring helps you quickly identify issues, celebrate successes, and adjust your strategy to maintain or improve your search presence.

Keyword Strategy Builder: Organizing Your Content Plan

After gathering all those keywords, you might feel a bit overwhelmed with a massive list. The Keyword Strategy Builder also known as Keyword Manager helps you organize these keywords into coherent content plans.

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Create Keyword Lists: Save and categorize your chosen keywords for different projects or content themes.
Cluster Keywords: Group related keywords together to form “topic clusters.” This is a modern SEO strategy where you create comprehensive content around a broad topic pillar page and then link to supporting articles cluster content that cover more specific subtopics. Semrush can even do this for you based on shared intent.
Plan Content Structure: It helps you visualize how these clusters can form the backbone of your website’s content, mapping out pillar pages and subpages.
Integrate and Export: You can integrate these lists with other Semrush tools or export them for team collaboration.

This tool is a must for moving from raw data to an actionable content strategy, ensuring you’re building authority around key topics.

Semrush vs. Google Keyword Planner: Which One’s Right for You?

This is a question I get asked a lot! Both Semrush and Google Keyword Planner are keyword research tools, but they really serve different purposes and cater to different needs.

Google Keyword Planner: Strengths and Weaknesses

Strengths:

It’s free mostly: The biggest draw is that Google Keyword Planner is free to use, as long as you have a Google Ads account. You don’t even need to run an active ad campaign to access it, though you might need to enter billing details during setup.
Direct from the source: The data comes straight from Google itself, making it incredibly accurate for Google search trends and patterns.
Great for PPC: Since it’s built primarily for advertisers, it’s excellent for finding keywords for Google Ads campaigns and estimating costs. You can get keyword ideas, bid estimates, and suggestions for ad group setup.
Good for basic ideas: If you just need to brainstorm initial keyword ideas or get a general sense of search volume for simple SEO, it works just fine.

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Limited data for free users: Unless you’re actively spending money on Google Ads, the search volume data is often presented in broad ranges e.g., “1K-10K” rather than specific numbers. This can be frustrating for detailed analysis.
Less comprehensive for SEO: It lacks many advanced SEO features like detailed competitive analysis, backlink research, or in-depth keyword difficulty metrics beyond a “low, medium, high” competition score.
PPC-focused: Its interface and features are heavily geared towards paid advertising, so if your primary goal is organic SEO, it might feel a bit clunky or insufficient.

Semrush: Strengths and Weaknesses

Comprehensive Digital Marketing Suite: Semrush is an all-in-one platform that goes far beyond just keywords. It includes tools for competitive analysis, backlink research, content optimization, site audits, and much more. It’s like having a full marketing agency in a box.
Deep Keyword Insights: You get incredibly detailed metrics like exact search volumes not ranges, granular Keyword Difficulty KD% scores, search intent, SERP feature analysis, and even personalized difficulty scores for your domain PKD%.
Powerful Keyword Generation: Tools like the Keyword Magic Tool can generate millions of keyword ideas and group them into logical clusters, making content planning much easier.
Competitive Intelligence: Its Keyword Gap and Organic Research tools allow you to really dig into what your competitors are doing, what keywords they rank for, and where your opportunities lie.
Great for SEO and PPC: While fantastic for SEO, Semrush is also a powerful tool for Google Ads keyword research, helping you identify high-performing keywords and analyze competitor ad strategies. The Legendary “J.T. Barrett First Down” – A Game-Changing Call
It’s a paid tool: Semrush isn’t free. Plans can start at around $139.95/month, which can be a significant investment, especially for individuals or small businesses on a tight budget. Though they often offer free trials to explore its features.
Steeper learning curve: Because it’s so comprehensive, Semrush can take some time to learn and master. There are a lot of features, and it can feel a bit overwhelming at first.
Estimated data: While generally accurate, Semrush aggregates data from multiple sources and uses proprietary algorithms for estimates. This can sometimes lead to discrepancies compared to Google’s direct data, especially for very niche keywords.

Which one should you choose?
Honestly, it depends on your goals and budget.

If you’re just starting out, have a tight budget, or primarily focus on Google Ads campaigns, Google Keyword Planner is a great free option for getting initial keyword ideas and volume ranges.
If you’re serious about SEO, content marketing, competitive analysis, and need a deep, all-in-one marketing suite, Semrush is the clear winner for long-term growth. It’s an investment that can definitely pay off.

Many experienced marketers actually use both. They might grab accurate volume data straight from Google Keyword Planner and then plug those keywords into Semrush to explore competition, difficulty, trends, and content ideas in much greater detail. It’s about leveraging the strengths of each tool to get the most complete picture. Unpacking Google’s Jupiter SIGCOMM: The Network That Powers the Internet

Specialized Keyword Research with Semrush

Semrush isn’t just for general website SEO. it has specific tools and workflows that make it incredibly powerful for other platforms and campaign types.

YouTube Keyword Research Tool Semrush

If you’re a content creator on YouTube, you know how crucial it is for your videos to show up in search results. YouTube is the second-most visited website globally, with billions of users every month, and it’s also a massive search engine in its own right! Just like Google, YouTube uses algorithms to match user searches with relevant videos.

Semrush has a dedicated app called “Keyword Analytics for YouTube” sometimes just referred to as a YouTube keyword research tool Semrush that helps you with this.

Here’s how you can use it: Jack Parkhouse CMU: Unpacking Carnegie Mellon’s Influence on Business Tools

Find Popular Keywords: You can enter a seed keyword related to your video topic and the tool will show you a list of related YouTube search terms, their estimated search volume, and competitive rate. This helps you understand what people are actually searching for on YouTube.
Spot Fast-Growing Trends: The tool has a “Fast-growing keywords” tab that helps you identify trending topics on YouTube. This is awesome for catching waves and creating timely content.
Analyze Competitors: While not as direct as website competitor analysis, you can get ideas by looking at what keywords top-ranking videos are using in their titles and descriptions.
Optimize Your Videos: The data from Semrush helps you choose the best keywords for your video titles, descriptions, and tags. This is key for YouTube SEO, helping your videos rank higher within YouTube itself and even appear in Google’s video results. In fact, video results appear in about 15% of all desktop SERPs in the US.

Using Semrush for YouTube keyword research helps you find topic ideas that resonate with your target audience, analyze competitors, and improve your video’s visibility, ultimately leading to more views and subscribers.

Semrush Keyword Research for Google Ads

While Google Keyword Planner is Google’s own tool for ads, Semrush offers significant advantages for optimizing your Google Ads PPC campaigns, especially when it comes to competitive intelligence.

Here’s how Semrush can supercharge your Google Ads keyword research:

Comprehensive Keyword Discovery: Using the Keyword Magic Tool, you can generate extensive lists of keywords, including long-tail variations, specifically looking for terms with high commercial intent. You can filter by CPC to find high-value keywords that advertisers are willing to pay more for, indicating buying intent.
Competitor Ad Strategy Analysis: This is where Semrush truly shines for Google Ads. You can plug in a competitor’s domain and see which keywords they are bidding on, their ad copy, and even an estimate of their ad spend. This gives you invaluable insights into their paid strategies, helping you find profitable keywords they’re targeting and identify gaps they might be missing.
Refine Ad Groups: By understanding search intent and keyword groupings, you can build more targeted and effective ad groups, ensuring your ads are highly relevant to the search query.
Export for Easy Integration: Semrush allows you to export your curated keyword lists with all relevant metrics, including match types, making it super easy to import them directly into your Google Ads campaigns.

Optimizing Google Ads campaigns with Semrush helps you identify relevant search terms, understand competitor strategies, and ultimately lead to higher click-through rates, improved conversion rates, and a better return on your investment.

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Making the Most of Your Semrush Keyword Data

Getting a list of keywords is just the first step. To really make them work for you, you need to know how to interpret the data and turn it into actionable plans.

Understanding Search Intent

This is critical! Search intent is the why behind a search. If you create content that doesn’t match a user’s intent, they’ll bounce right off your page, and Google will notice. Semrush helps categorize intent into four main types:

Informational: The user wants to learn something e.g., “how to bake bread,” “what is SEO”. Your content should be educational and comprehensive.
Navigational: The user is trying to find a specific website or page e.g., “Facebook login,” “Semrush pricing page”. You might target these for brand searches.
Commercial Investigation: The user is researching products or services before making a purchase e.g., “best wireless headphones,” “Semrush review”. Your content should offer comparisons, reviews, and detailed information.
Transactional: The user intends to make a purchase or complete an action e.g., “buy running shoes online,” “subscribe to Netflix”. Your content should lead them directly to a conversion.

By aligning your content with the correct search intent, you’ll provide a much better user experience, which is a huge ranking factor.

Prioritizing Keywords Based on Volume, Difficulty, and Intent

With thousands of keywords, how do you pick the best ones? You need a strategic approach:

Start with Low-Hanging Fruit: Especially if you’re a newer site, look for keywords with a decent search volume but relatively low Keyword Difficulty KD%. These are your “easy wins” that can bring in traffic faster. Semrush’s Personal Keyword Difficulty PKD% can further refine this for your specific domain.
Consider Your Authority: For more established sites, you can aim for higher KD% keywords if they have high search volume and are highly relevant to your business.
Match Intent to Your Goals:
- If you want to build brand awareness and educate your audience, target informational keywords.
- If you’re selling products, focus on commercial investigation and transactional keywords.
- If you’re using Google Ads, prioritize transactional keywords with high CPC.
Look for Long-Tail Keywords: These are longer, more specific phrases often questions. They usually have lower search volume and difficulty, but they often have higher conversion rates because the user’s intent is very clear. The Keyword Magic Tool is excellent for finding these.

Exporting and Managing Keyword Lists

Once you’ve identified your target keywords, you’ll want to save and organize them. Semrush lets you export your keyword data in various formats like CSV or Excel. You can also save them directly into Keyword Manager within Semrush, allowing you to get fresh metrics in real-time and track their performance over time. This keeps your research organized and accessible for future content planning and campaign adjustments. Is Semrush a Good Stock to Invest In? A Deep Dive for 2025

By systematically using these tools and insights, you’re not just doing “keyword research.” you’re crafting a data-driven strategy that truly understands your audience and helps you achieve your online goals.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Google Keyword Planner tool free?

Yes, Google Keyword Planner is generally free to use. However, there’s a small catch: you need to have an active Google Ads account to access it. You don’t necessarily have to run paid ad campaigns, but you’ll need to set up the account, which might involve adding billing details. For accounts not actively running ads, the search volume data is often shown in broad ranges e.g., 1K-10K searches per month rather than exact numbers.

What is the difference between Semrush and Google Keyword Planner?

The main difference is their scope and purpose. Google Keyword Planner is primarily designed for advertisers using Google Ads, offering accurate search data directly from Google, basic keyword ideas, and cost estimates for PPC campaigns. It’s free but provides less granular data for non-paying users. Semrush, on the other hand, is a comprehensive, paid digital marketing suite. It offers much deeper, more detailed keyword insights exact search volumes, advanced keyword difficulty, search intent analysis, SERP features, extensive competitive analysis, and tools for overall SEO, content marketing, and even social media. It’s built for a full, data-driven marketing strategy.

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How accurate is Semrush’s keyword data?

Semrush aggregates data from multiple sources and uses proprietary algorithms to estimate metrics like search volume and traffic. While generally considered highly reliable and accurate, especially for broader terms, its data can sometimes have minor discrepancies compared to Google’s direct data, particularly for very niche or low-volume keywords. Many users treat Semrush’s traffic and volume data as a good ballpark estimate and excellent for comparative analysis.

Can I use Semrush for free keyword research?

Semrush does offer some limited free features and trials. You can often get a free trial sometimes extended, like 7 or 14 days to explore its full capabilities. Additionally, Semrush has a basic “Free Keyword Tool” on its website, powered by the Keyword Magic Tool, which allows a limited number of searches per day without signing up, providing search volume, intent, keyword difficulty, and CPC for basic queries.

What are the best SEO tools for keyword research?

While Semrush is widely regarded as one of the best comprehensive SEO tools for keyword research, other popular and effective tools include:

Google Keyword Planner: Free, direct Google data, great for PPC.
Ahrefs: Strong competitor to Semrush, excellent for backlink analysis and keyword research.
Moz Keyword Explorer: Offers good keyword difficulty scores and suggestions.
Ubersuggest: A freemium tool that provides keyword ideas and content suggestions.
KWFinder Mangools: Known for its easy-to-use interface and focus on finding long-tail keywords.

The “best” tool often depends on your specific needs, budget, and desired depth of analysis.

How do I use Semrush for YouTube keyword research?

Semrush offers a specific app called “Keyword Analytics for YouTube” available in its App Center to help with YouTube keyword research. You enter a seed keyword, and the tool provides YouTube-specific search volume, competitive rates, and ideas for related keywords. It can also show you fast-growing keywords and help you analyze the top videos for a given query. This data helps you optimize your video titles, descriptions, and tags to rank higher on YouTube and potentially even in Google’s video results. Is Working for Semrush Legit? Your Honest Look Inside

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