Choosing the right keywords for your pay-per-click (PPC) ads is crucial for enhancing ad relevance, boosting click-through rates (CTR), and maximizing your return on investment (ROI).
What’s the best way to find the most effective keywords?
Using a PPC keyword research tool. These tools help discover fresh keyword ideas while providing valuable data on keyword costs, search volume, and competition.
In this article, we’ll review the top seven PPC keyword research tools available in 2025, highlighting their features, benefits, and pricing.
Top 7 PPC Keyword Research Tools for 2025
1. Semrush Keyword Magic Tool
A robust tool for creating comprehensive keyword lists to power your PPC campaigns.
The Keyword Magic Tool generates extensive keyword suggestions from a single seed keyword. It draws data from Semrush’s database, which contains over 25.5 billion keywords. Just enter a primary keyword (e.g., “running shoes”) to get thousands of related ideas.
For example, searching “running shoes” can produce over 254,000 keyword suggestions, complete with metrics like search volume, competition level, CPC, and intent. You can filter results by match type (broad, exact, or related) for more precise targeting.
Explore keyword clusters, sort by search traffic, and even focus on question-based keywords to discover fresh ad opportunities.
Semrush Pricing Plans:
- Free Plan: 10 reports/day, 10 results/report, 10 seed keywords/hour.
- Pro Plan: $139.95/month – 3,000 reports/day, 10,000 results/report, 100 seed keywords/hour.
- Guru Plan: $249.95/month – 5,000 reports/day, 30,000 results/report, 100 seed keywords/hour.
- Business Plan: $499.95/month – 10,000 reports/day, 50,000 results/report, 100 seed keywords/hour.
2. Google Keyword Planner
A free tool for discovering keywords and planning PPC campaigns, integrated with Google Ads.
To access it, you need a Google Ads account. You can input keywords or a website URL to generate keyword ideas. Google Keyword Planner provides search volume estimates, CPC data, and competition levels. It’s a great starting point for both PPC and SEO strategies.
Pros:
- Free with a Google Ads account.
- Analyze competitors by entering their URLs to find targeted keywords.
Note: Detailed search volume data requires an active Google Ads campaign.
3. SpyFu
SpyFu helps analyze competitors’ PPC strategies, showing the keywords they’re bidding on and their ad spend.
Simply enter a competitor’s domain to see their top-performing paid keywords, monthly spend estimates, and PPC history. SpyFu also reveals keywords your competitors might be missing, offering opportunities for you to target.
SpyFu Pricing:
- Basic Plan: $39/month.
- Professional Plan: $79/month – Unlimited reports and access to 15 years of keyword data.
4. Microsoft Advertising Keyword Planner
Similar to Google’s tool, this helps you find keywords for the Microsoft Search Network (including Bing).
It offers keyword suggestions based on a phrase or website URL, showing metrics like search volume, competition, and recommended bids. This tool is ideal if you’re targeting audiences beyond Google.
5. Keywords Everywhere
A browser extension for Chrome, Firefox, and Edge, Keywords Everywhere shows keyword data directly in search engine results pages (SERPs).
It displays real-time metrics like search volume, CPC, and competition. Plus, it suggests related keywords, long-tail phrases, and trending search terms.
Pricing Plans:
- Bronze: $2.25/month (100,000 credits/year).
- Silver: $6/month (400,000 credits/year).
- Gold: $25/month (2 million credits/year).
- Platinum: $80/month (8 million credits/year).
6. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer
Ahrefs provides in-depth keyword analysis with data on search volume, keyword difficulty, clicks, CPC, and competition.
It’s especially effective for discovering long-tail keywords and analyzing search intent. Metrics like “clicks per search” and “CTR” help you prioritize keywords that drive actual traffic.
7. Ubersuggest
Developed by Neil Patel, Ubersuggest is a user-friendly tool that offers keyword suggestions, search volume data, CPC, and competition insights.
It’s great for both beginners and advanced marketers, offering a simple interface with powerful features to analyze competitors’ strategies.
Conclusion
The right PPC keyword research tool can transform your campaigns, driving targeted traffic and maximizing ROI. Whether you choose Semrush, Google Keyword Planner, or SpyFu, these tools offer powerful insights to optimize your advertising strategy.
Use them to uncover fresh keyword ideas, analyze competitors, and make data-driven decisions that boost your campaign performance.
