Keyword research, the blueprint to any successful SEO strategy

If you’ve been doing keyword research for a while, you’ve probably fallen into a routine. And that routine has likely been recently disrupted... thanks, Google.

If you’re new to keyword research, getting comfortable with new keyword research tools will come more easily to you. Lucky pups. But us change-averse old dogs can still learn new tricks when we need to. Are you ready to see which tool is right for you? --Woof.

My hesitations about writing this article:

• I’m new to Moz and don’t want to be crucified for criticizing our own keyword research tool. This concern has only been met with acceptance and encouragement, so…*fingers crossed* they don’t change their minds. Love you guys!
• My methods of keyword research revolve around finding qualified traffic for increasing conversions, not just any large search volume numbers (to make traffic look good).
• I fear that this will come across as a Moz Keyword Explorer soft sell. It’s not. It’s a very honest comparison of Moz Keyword Explorer versus Google’s Keyword Planner. It's a post that I've been wanting to read for a while.

Here are some great guides if you need a Moz Keyword Explorer refresher, or a Google Keyword Planner refresher.

< << TL;DR Skip to the conclusion here >> >

Google Keyword Planner's recent change

Any habits we’ve held onto with Google Keyword Planner were disrupted early September when they decided to stop providing average monthly search volume data (unless you’re in that special group of higher-paying ad buyers who can still access the more precise search volume data). Instead, we now see huge swings of min-max search volume, which really starts to muddy the keyword research waters. Google recently came forward to explain that this change was done to deter scrapers from pulling their search volume data.

For a more comprehensive write-up on this change, read Google Keyword Unplanner by Russ Jones. He explains a little more about how this change affects various data sources and what Moz has been doing to mitigate the impact.

But, showing is better than telling. So let’s take a look for ourselves:

A 900,000 average monthly search volume swing is crazy! In fact, Google now only provides one of seven volume sizes: 0–10, 10–100, 100–1000, 1000–10000, 10000–100k, 100k–1MM and 1MM+.

Moz’s Keyword Explorer also gives ranges, but they’re not nearly as vast (or as arbitrary). The machine-learning model behind Keyword Explorer is designed to predict monthly fluctuations in search volume. It’s mathematically tied to the most accurate keyword data available, and you can see exactly how, and how accurate Moz gets in this Clickstream Data to the Rescue article.

Which is why I wanted to know:

What's most important to you when doing Keyword Research?
— Britney Muller (@BritneyMuller) September 1, 2016

What are quality keywords?

Quality keywords successfully target your demographic during their acquisition phase (education - purchase), have a specific searcher intent, low-medium organic competition, and medium-high search volume (this will vary based on what part of the acquisition funnel you're targeting).

However, it's important to keep in mind that some longer-tail queries (with little to no search volume) can be highly profitable as well.

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Tier 1 keyword research setup

Google Keyword Planner:

This is my familiar, kooky old friend that has been acting very strange lately (anyone else noticing all of the delays and glitches?). I’m a little worried.

Anywho, here’s how I begin keyword research within Keyword Planner:

1. Enter in your keyword under “Search for more keywords using a phrase, website or category.”
2. Make sure the region is set to United States (if wanting to research nationally).
3. Set keyword options to “broad.” --Settle down, we’ll go back and change this to “closely related” after our first swoop.
4. Sort keyword volume by highest to lowest and change the “show rows” to 100.
5. IMPORTANT: Always scroll top to bottom! Otherwise, new keywords will populate from the bottom that you'll miss.
6. Select keywords with unique intents as you scroll down the first 100 rows, click "next," and start again from the top until through all keyword results.

Moz Keyword Explorer:

My hip new friend that I’m not sure I can trust just yet. However, multiple trusted friends vouch for her integrity and... I really dig her style.

Here’s how I begin keyword research within Keyword Explorer:

1. Enter your keyword into the Keyword Explorer search bar.
2. Navigate to “Keyword Suggestions” on the left-hand menu.
3. Set “Display keyword suggestions that” to “include a mix of sources.”
4. Set “Group Keywords” to “no.”
5. Sort keyword list by highest search volume to lowest.
6. Scroll down and select keywords with unique searcher intent.

The thing that’s taken the most getting used to is not seeing a competition/difficulty metric adjacent to the search volume. The whole goal of keyword research is to discover opportunity gaps that offer mid-to-high search volume with low competition. If you’re anything like me, you’ve ran hundreds if not thousands of strange SEO tests and are very aware of what you can achieve “competition”-wise (domain-dependent) and what you can’t. (Or when a higher-competition keyword should take the form of a longer SEO plan.)

*It’s important to note that the KWP “Competition” metric is an advertising metric.

Despite this metric occasionally leading to an SEO correlation, it’s often misleading and not an accurate representation of how competitive the organic results are.

The KWE “Difficulty” metric, on the other hand, is an organic search metric. It also leverages a smarter CTR curve model to show when weaker pages are ranking higher (in addition to other ranking signals).

That being said, having to wait to find out the competition metric of a keyword until after I add it to a list is frustrating. I can’t help but feel that I’m not selecting keywords as strategically as I could be. Hopefully, Moz will add a historical competition metric up front (adjacent to search volume) sometime in the near future to help us better select ripe keyword opportunities.

The relevancy metric doesn’t do much to help my research because I’m already relying on the keywords themselves to tell me whether or not they're relevant/have a unique user intent.

(I told you guys I would be honest!)

Label by keyword type:

Navigational: Searchers seeking a destination on the web.

Example: "University of Minnesota tuition"

Informational: Searchers researching, getting quick answers, often times using what, who, where, how, etc. modifiers.

Example: "what is a conker"

Commercial Investigation: Searchers investigating beyond an informational query. Comparing brands, searching for "best," researching potential clients, etc.

Example: "ppc experts in london"

Transactional: Searchers looking to purchase something, comparing rates, seeking prices for things, etc.

Example: "affordable yoda action figure"

Transactional and Commercial Investigation types tend to be most profitable (depending on business model). For example, a blog could do very well from Informational-type keywords.

If you want a more in-depth understanding of keyword types; read Rand's Segmenting Search Intent. <-- An oldie, but a goodie!!

Compare results & answer:

• Which tool provided better long-tail results?
• Which tool provided better top-of-funnel queries?
• What percentage of "keyword types" did each tool provide?
• What are the advantages and disadvantages of each tool?

For whatever reason, “student loans” painted an accurate picture (of what I’ve found to be true across other competitive keywords) for each prospective tools’ wheelhouse. So, “student loans” will serve as our point of reference throughout this comparative analysis.

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Tier 1 keyword research overview:

	Moz Keyword Explorer	Google Keyword Planner
Term:	"student loans"	"student loans"
Region:	United States	United States
Spectrum:	Include a mix of sources	Broad
Group Keywords:	No	-
Total Results:	1000	700
#Keywords With Intents:	43	40

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+ Moz Keyword Explorer results:

Keyword	Modifier	Type	Min Volume	Max Volume	Difficulty	Organic CTR	Importance	Priority
student loan consolidation	consolidation	Commercial Investigation	11501	30300	60	83	3	79
student loan calculator	calculator	Informational	11501	30300	75	100	3	76
student loan	-	Informational	118001	300000	82	84	3	82
federal student loan	federal	Navigational	30301	70800	63	48	3	76
student loan refinance	refinance	Commercial Investigation	11501	30300	55	83	3	77
student loan repayment calculator	repayment calculator	Informational	11501	30300	67	100	3	74
student loan interest rates	interest rates	Commercial Investigation	6501	9300	53	54	3	69
student loan hero	hero	Navigational	1701	2900	49	19	3	53
student loan forgiveness	forgiveness	Commercial Investigation	70801	118000	62	86	3	86
student loans information	information	Informational	501	850	90	55	3	39
applying for student loans	applying for	Informational	4301	6500	72	55	3	60
fafsa student loans	fafsa	Navigational	2901	4300	98	56	3	28
bad credit student loan	bad credit	Commercial Investigation	1701	2900	44	83	3	70
student loan websites	websites	Commercial Investigation	851	1700	79	53	3	48
where to get student loan	where to get	Informational	501	850	76	55	3	47
citibank student loans pay	citibank pay	Navigational	201	500	29	94	3	64
how to get a school loan	how to get a	Informational	201	500	68	55	3	45
how to find my student loans	how to find my	Navigational	101	200	54	58	3	48
how to check student loans	how to check	Navigational	101	200	63	55	3	45
discover private student loan	discover private	Navigational	101	200	53	21	3	36
check my student loan balance	check my balance	Navigational	101	200	55	100	3	52
apply for student loan online	apply for online	Transactional	101	200	68	53	3	41
look up student loans	look up	Commercial Investigation	101	200	53	90	3	51
student loan now	now	Transactional	51	100	72	86	3	42
stafford student loans login	stafford login	Navigational	51	100	76	60	3	36
federal student loan lookup	federal lookup	Navigational	11	50	55	100	3	46
how to view my student loans	how to view my	Informational	11	50	57	64	3	39
how do i find out who has my student loan	how do i find out who has my	Informational	11	50	59	86	3	42
apply for additional student loans	apply for additional	Commercial Investigation	11	50	73	64	3	34
what student loans do i owe	what do i owe	Informational	11	50	50	41	3	34
student loan application status	application status	Navigational	0	10	72	100	3	33
what is federal student loans	what is federal	Informational	0	10	78	58	3	25
who services federal student loans	who services federal	Informational	0	10	68	100	3	22
apply for student loan by phone	apply for by phone	Transactional	0	10	86	86	3	11
national student loan locator phone number	national locator phone number	Informational	0	0	58	29	3	11
i owe student loans who do i call	i owe who do i call	Informational	0	0	50	94	3	26
where do i find my student loan interest	where do i find my interest	Informational	0	0	78	58	3	11
how to find my student loan account number	how to find my account number	Informational	0	0	55	100	3	25
how much federal student loans do i have	how much federal do i have	Navigational	0	0	80	46	3	8
where do i pay my government student loans	where do i pay my government	Navigational	0	0	77	55	3	11
student loans lookup	lookup	Navigational	0	0	55	100	3	26
student loans payment history	payment history	Navigational	0	0	66	46	3	14
how many school loans do i have	how many do i have	Navigational	0	0	68	90	3	21

Additional tool features:

The Importance metric: ...is powerful! However, I’ve left all my results at a neutral Importance (3) so you can see downloaded results without any customization (and to keep things fair, because I’m not prioritizing GKP keywords).

If you choose to use this metric, you set a priority level for each keyword (1=not important, 10=most important) that will then influence the keyword's Priority score. This allows you to more easily prioritize a keyword plan, which is very helpful.

Group keywords with low lexical similarity: While this can save you time, it can also lead to missing keyword opportunities. In my example below, if I select "student loans" (and not "Select 821 keywords in group"), I would miss all of the nested keywords.

Use this feature carefully:

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+ Google Keyword Planner results:

Keyword	Modifier	Type	Avg. Monthly Searches (exact match only)	Competition	Suggested Bid
student loan forgiveness	forgiveness	Commercial Investigation	100K – 1M	0.58	3.38
student loan refinance	refinance	Commercial Investigation	10K – 100K	0.96	34.57
student loan consolidation	consolidation	Commercial Investigation	10K – 100K	0.98	22.52
private student loans	private	Commercial Investigation	10K – 100K	0.99	28.51
student loans without a cosigner	without a cosigner	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.98	23.85
parent student loans	parent	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.96	10.27
best private student loans	best private	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.93	21.33
bad credit student loans	bad credit	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.97	4.02
best student loans	best	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.93	18.61
compare student loans	compare	Commercial Investigation	100 – 1K	0.98	23.8
medical student loans	medical	Commercial Investigation	100 – 1K	0.91	10.16
student loans from banks	from banks	Commercial Investigation	100 – 1K	0.97	13.09
student loans for international students	for international students	Commercial Investigation	100 – 1K	0.88	14.01
no credit check student loans	no credit check	Commercial Investigation	100 – 1K	0.98	5.74
nursing student loans	nursing	Commercial Investigation	100 – 1K	0.94	15.53
alternative student loan options	alternative options	Commercial Investigation	10 – 100	1	30.32
best student loan consolidation program	best consolidation program	Commercial Investigation	10 – 100	0.91	36.91
student loan bankruptcy	bankruptcy	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.42	9.48
student loan deferment	deferment	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.35	10.31
student loans		Informational	100K – 1M	0.98	25.97
student loan calculator	calculator	Informational	10K – 100K	0.42	5.41
types of student loans	types of	Informational	1K – 10K	0.82	13.61
student loan options	options	Informational	1K – 10K	0.99	23.63
how to consolidate student loans	how to consolidate	Informational	1K – 10K	0.84	13.79
student loan default	default	Informational	1K – 10K	0.28	8.18
student loan help	help	Informational	1K – 10K	0.96	15.48
where to get student loans	where to get	Informational	100 – 1K	0.97	17.19
average student loan	average	Informational	100 – 1K	0.33	18.59
private education loans	private	Informational	100 – 1K	0.98	16.76
what is a student loan	what is	Informational	100 – 1K	0.6	8.75
how do you get a student loan	how do you get	Informational	100 – 1K	0.94	5.22
no credit student loans	no credit	Informational	100 – 1K	0.98	7.85
about student loans	about	Informational	10 – 100	0.92	14.9
information on student loans	information	Informational	10 – 100	0.94	14.08
iowa student loan	iowa	Navigational	10K – 100K	0.23	9.08
great lakes student loans	great lakes	Navigational	10K – 100K	0.18	7.05
fafsa student loans	fafsa	Navigational	1K – 10K	0.61	7.41
student loan interest rates	interest rates	Transactional	1K – 10K	0.7	10.11
low interest student loans	low interest	Transactional	100 – 1K	0.98	21.07
need student loan today	need today	Transactional	10 – 100	1	9.8
i need a student loan now	i need now	Transactional	10 – 100	0.99	13.7

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Tier 1 conclusion:

Google Keyword Planner largely uncovered Commercial Investigation and Informational queries. GKP also better identified a broader set of top-of-funnel keyword opportunities: student loan help, parent student loans, types of student loans, etc.

Moz Keyword Explorer largely uncovered Informational and Navigational queries. MKE better identified longer-tail keyword opportunities: how to get a school loan, apply for student loan online, apply for student loan by phone, etc.

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Tier 2 keyword research setup

"closely related search terms" vs. "only include keywords with all of the query terms"

Google Keyword Planner: Perform same setup, but select "Only show ideas closely related to my search terms."

Moz Keyword Explorer: Perform same setup, but select "only include keywords with all of the query terms."

Note: Your .csv download will still say “Broad” for Google Keyword Planner, even though you’ve selected “Closely related”... Told you she was acting funny.

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Tier 2 keyword research overview:

	Moz Keyword Explorer	Google Keyword Planner
Term:	"student loans"	"student loans"
Region:	United States	United States
Spectrum:	Only include keywords with all of the query terms	Closely related
Group Keywords:	No	-
Total Results:	1000	700
#Keywords With Intents:	66	30

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+ Moz Keyword Explorer results:

Keyword	Modifier	Type	Min Volume	Max Volume	Difficulty	Organic CTR	Importance	Priority
student loan	-	Informational	118001	300000	82	84	3	82
student loan forgiveness	forgiveness	Commercial Investigation	70801	118000	62	86	3	86
student loan calculator	calculator	Commercial Investigation	11501	30300	75	100	3	76
citi student loan	citi	Navigational	11501	30300	34	94	3	86
student loan consolidation	consolidation	Commercial Investigation	11501	30300	60	83	3	79
private student loan	loan	Commercial Investigation	11501	30300	62	80	3	77
student loan refinance	refinance	Commercial Investigation	11501	30300	55	83	3	77
student loan repayment calculator	repayment calculator	Commercial Investigation	11501	30300	67	100	3	74
student loan interest rates	interest rates	Transactional	6501	9300	53	54	3	69
application for student loan	application for	Commercial Investigation	4301	6500	64	54	3	63
apply for student loan	apply for	Commercial Investigation	4301	6500	60	53	3	64
student loan forgiveness for teachers	forgiveness for teachers	Commercial Investigation	4301	6500	58	100	3	71
bad credit student loan	bad credit	Commercial Investigation	1701	2900	44	83	3	70
student loan hero	hero	Navigational	1701	2900	49	19	3	53
student loan servicing	servicing	Commercial Investigation	1701	2900	70	90	3	62
discovery student loan	discovery	Navigational	851	1700	47	28	3	51
fsa student loan	fsa	Navigational	851	1700	90	58	3	41
student loan providers	providers	Commercial Investigation	501	850	66	53	3	51
where to get student loan	where to get	Informational	501	850	76	55	3	47
check student loan balance	check balance	Navigational	201	500	54	46	3	49
department of education student loan servicing center	department of education servicing center	Navigational	201	500	78	58	3	42
student loan status	status	Navigational	201	500	61	86	3	54
us student loan debt	us debt	Informational	201	500	66	56	3	49
all student loan	all	Informational	101	200	58	56	3	45
discover private student loan	discover private	Navigational	101	200	53	21	3	36
how do i find my student loan	how do i find my interest	Informational	101	200	59	86	3	51
student loan management	management	Commercial Investigation	101	200	57	53	3	45
student loan resources	resources	Commercial Investigation	101	200	49	83	3	52
where is my student loan	where is	Informational	51	100	61	55	3	42
student loan corporation citibank	corporation citibank	Navigational	11	50	36	94	3	45
student loan enquiries	enquiries	Commercial Investigation	11	50	61	100	3	43
fafsa student loan consolidation	fafsa consolidation	Navigational	11	50	99	53	3	1
federal student loan options	federal options	Commercial Investigation	11	50	75	54	3	34
federal student loan terms	federal terms	Commercial Investigation	11	50	81	90	3	31
get a student loan today	get a today	Transactional	11	50	66	83	3	41
need student loan now	need now	Transactional	11	50	71	83	3	37
student loan overview	overview	Informational	11	50	79	94	3	35
student loan payment history	payment history	Navigational	11	50	55	100	3	46
student loan website down	website down	Informational	11	50	42	90	3	44
apply for student loan by phone	apply for by phone	Commercial Investigation	0	10	86	86	3	11
apply online for student loan	apply online for	Commercial Investigation	0	10	68	53	3	28
citibank student loan promotional code	citibank promotional code	Navigational	0	10	38	94	3	28
student loan corporation sallie mae	corporation sallie mae	Commercial Investigation	0	10	63	100	3	23
dsl student loan	dsl	Navigational	0	10	51	90	3	38
how do i take out a federal student loan	how do i take out a federal	Informational	0	10	80	55	3	22
how to pay student loan online	how to pay online	Informational	0	10	52	55	3	32
student loan management app	management app	Commercial Investigation	0	10	43	83	3	26
my student loan account number	my account number	Informational	0	10	65	64	3	18
student loan servicing center pennsylvania	servicing center pennsylvania	Navigational	0	10	52	88	3	38
where to pay my student loan	where to pay my	Informational	0	10	68	100	3	22
student loan counseling center	counseling center	Commercial Investigation	0	0	58	83	3	23
deadline for student loan application	deadline for application	Informational	0	0	68	60	3	16
educated borrower student loan	educated borrower	Commercial Investigation	0	0	54	83	3	24
get subsidized student loan	get subsidized	Commercial Investigation	0	0	64	90	3	22
how do i find my student loan account number	how do i find my account number	Informational	0	0	55	100	3	26
how much student loan can i have	how much can i have	Informational	0	0	71	55	3	14
how to check the status of a student loan from direct loans	how to check the status of a	Informational	0	0	86	90	3	11
how to find out who is my student loan lender	how to find out who is my lender	Informational	0	0	60	60	3	19
how to get your student loan money	how to get your money	Informational	0	0	39	56	3	22
student loan information eligibility	information eligibility	Commercial Investigation	0	0	85	86	3	11
is financial aid a student loan	is financial aid a	Informational	0	0	72	60	3	15
national student loan data system for parents	national data system for parents	Commercial Investigation	0	0	53	22	3	10
national student loan database contact number	national database contact number	Navigational	0	0	57	64	3	20
nslds student loan login	nslds login	Navigational	0	0	73	46	3	11
subsidized loan and unsubsidized student loan	subsidized and unsubsidized	Commercial Investigation	0	0	57	94	3	24
what is a national direct student loan	what is a national direct	Informational	0	0	66	64	3	17

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+ Google Keyword Planner results:

Keyword	Modifier	Type	Avg. Monthly Searches (exact match only)	Competition	Suggested bid
student loan application	application	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.98	22.37
student loan bankruptcy	bankruptcy	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.42	9.48
how to get a student loan	how to get	Informational	1K – 10K	0.92	10.59
student loan help	help	Informational	1K – 10K	0.96	15.48
student loan deferment	deferment	Commercial Investigation	1K – 10K	0.35	10.31
alaska student loan	alsaska	Navigational	1K – 10K	0.54	2.21
south carolina student loan	south carolina	Navigational	1K – 10K	0.45	23.59
texas guaranteed student loan	texas guranteed	Navigational	1K – 10K	0.5	17.34
student loan interest rates	interest rates	Transactional	1K – 10K	0.7	10.11
student loan consolidation rates	consolidation rates	Transactional	1K – 10K	0.94	17.44
student loan refinance	refinance	Commercial Investigation	10K – 100K	0.96	34.57
student loan consolidation	consolidation	Commercial Investigation	10K – 100K	0.98	22.52
student loan calculator	calculator	Informational	10K – 100K	0.42	5.41
student loan gov	gov	Navigational	10K – 100K	0.28	16.42
iowa student loan	iowa	Navigational	10K – 100K	0.23	9.08
student loan forgiveness	forgiveness	Commercial Investigation	100K – 1M	0.58	3.38
what is a student loan	what is	Informational	100 – 1K	0.6	8.75
how can i get a student loan	how can I get	Informational	100 – 1K	0.97	7.71
how to get a private student loan	how to get a private	Informational	100 – 1K	0.96	14.82
student loan app	application	Navigational	100 – 1K	0.83	11.89
student loan cancellation	cancellation	Transactional	100 – 1K	0.41	4.5
student loan tax	tax	Transactional	100 – 1K	0.25	47.05
medical student loan consolidation	medical consolidation	Commercial Investigation	10 – 100	0.93	0
federal student loan options	federal options	Commercial Investigation	10 – 100	0.75	7.45
student loan consolidation faq	consolidation faq	Commercial Investigation	10 – 100	0.76	15.94
how to figure out student loan interest	how to figure out interest	Informational	10 – 100	0.38	10.52
how to apply for a student loan online	how to apply	Informational	10 – 100	1	20.61
how much is my student loan payment	how much is my	Informational	10 – 100	0.22	20.96
need a student loan now	need now	Transactional	10 – 100	0.99	12.02
need student loan today	need today	Transactional	10 – 100	1	9.8

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Tier 2 conclusion:

Google Keyword Planner largely uncovered a pretty even percentage of all 4 keyword types (30% Informational, 20% Navigational, 30% Commercial Investigation, and 20% Transactional). GKP also continued to provide a broader set of top-of-funnel keyword opportunities: student loan bankruptcy, student loan gov, student loan help, how to get a student loan, etc.

Moz Keyword Explorer largely uncovered Commercial Investigation and Informational queries. MKE also continued to provide a broader set of long-tail keyword opportunities: student loan forgiveness for teachers, student loan providers, student loan status, how do i find my student loan, etc.

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Where this is the end of the road for Google results, Moz has some other filters up its sleeve:

Let's explore the other available Moz keyword filters and examine the discovered keyword results (keywords with unique intent).

Exclude your query terms to get broader ideas: 25 keywords

Most results are longer-tail queries around college tuition, educational expenses, private school tuition, etc. This evenly resulted in Informational, Navigational, and Transactional keyword results:

Based on closely related topics: 35 keywords

One of the more evenly distributed (search volume) results in this example. Most keyword results are around other types of loans or grants: payday loan, pell grants, auto loan, private loans, etc.

Based on broadly related topics and synonyms: 74 keywords

Results are mostly three words or longer and revolve around more specific types of loans; great lakes student loans, wells fargo student loans, student loan chase, etc.

Related to keywords with similar results pages: 187 keywords

Results are mostly long-tail Commercial Investigation queries around loan payments, student loan consolidation, student loan forgiveness for teachers, student loan payment help, etc.

Are questions: 111 keywords

Last, but certainly not least. The crème de la crème of an FAQ page.

Results reveal long-tail student loan questions (mostly Informational), like: can you file bankruptcy on student loans, do student loans affect credit score, are student loans tax deductible, where can i get a student loan, etc.

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TL;DR

Conclusion:

Google Keyword Planner has limited search volume data, but continues to provide a broader set of top-of-funnel keywords (high volume, low competition <-- ad metric). Despite the "closely related" filter resulting in a more even percentage of all 4 keyword types, it provided fairly similar results (35.4% duplicate) to "broad." Commercial and Informational keyword types were most commonly found.

Moz Keyword Explorer provides more accurate search volume data, while providing a broader set of long-tail keywords (mid-to-low volume, low competition). The many keyword filters provide a wide range of keyword results (17% duplicate in first two filters) and keyword types depending on which keyword filter you use. However, Informational, Commercial Investigation, and Navigational keyword types were most commonly found.

Pros:

Moz Keyword Explorer:	Google Keyword Planner:
The keyword search volume accuracy (IMO) is the most impressive part of this tool.	The ability to view mobile versus desktop monthly trends is wonderful.
Better UX.	Can add negative keywords/keywords to not include in results.
Keyword suggestion filters reveal far more keyword results.	Google Sheet download integration.
The “are questions” filter is incredibly useful for things like FAQ pages and content marketing ideas.	Average keyword bid (for further competition insight).
Saved keyword lists (that can be refreshed later!? Say whaa!?)	International (multilingual) keyword research capabilities.
Detailed SERP data for SERP feature opportunities.	Monthly keyword trend data (on hover).
Organic competition metric.	Ability to target specific hyper-local areas.
Ability to prioritize keywords which influences the Priority metric (for smarter keyword prioritization).	Free.

Cons:

Moz Keyword Explorer:	Google Keyword Planner:
The Min Volume | Max Volume | Difficulty | Organic CTR | Importance | Priority can be overwhelming.	Search volume ranges are widely skewed and bucketed.
No Google Sheet download integration.	Individuals who start adding keywords from the bottom up of a list (scrolling up) will miss newly populated results.
No “select all” option.	Broad & Closely Related filters tend to provide very similar (if not the same) results.
Inability to target specific local regions.	No SERP feature data.
English-only International keyword results.	Can’t save lists.
No monthly keyword trend data available.	Clunky, slow UX.

Which is right for you?

I’d consider where you want to target people in your sales funnel, and where you need to improve your current website traffic. If you have wide top-of-funnel traffic for your product/service and need to better provide long-tail transactions, check out Moz Keyword Explorer. If you need a brief overview of top-level searches, take a look at Google Keyword Planner results.

Which do I use?

I'm a little ashamed to say that I still use both. Checking Google Keyword Planner gives me the peace of mind that I’m not missing anything. But, Moz Keyword Explorer continues to impress me with its search volume accuracy and ease of list creation. As it gets better with top-of-funnel keywords (and hopefully integrates competition up front on the list of keyword suggestions) I would love to transition completely over to Moz.

Other keyword research tips:

I’ve also been a big fan of www.keyword.io to give your initial keyword list a boost. You can add your selected keywords directly to Google Keyword Planner or Moz Keyword Explorer for instant keyword data. This can help identify where you should take your keyword research in terms of intent, sub-topic intents, geographic, etc.

Answer the Public is also a great resource for FAQ pages. Just make sure to change the location if you are not based in the UK.

Would love your feedback!

• Please let me know if you can think of other ways to determine the quality of keywords from each tool.
• Any other pros/cons that you would add?
• What other tools have you been using for keyword research?