6 Best Keyword Mapping Tools for SEO/ Top SEO Keyword Mapping Tools

Well, SEO stands for ‘Search Engine Optimization, which is the process of getting traffic from free, organic, editorial, or natural search results in search engines. It aims to improve your website’s position on search results pages. Remember, the higher the website is listed, the more people will see it.

6 Best Keyword Mapping

Companies look to search engine optimization, or SEO, to help gain more awareness and to make their company higher in the rank of a search engine. SEO is utilized through search engines such as Google, Yahoo, MSN, Bing, etc. Search engine optimization uses keywords that attract a user to the company.

SEO may generate an adequate return on investment. However, search engines are not paid for organic search traffic, their algorithms change, and there are no guarantees of continued referrals. Due to this lack of guarantee and uncertainty, a business that relies heavily on search engine traffic can suffer major losses if the search engines stop sending visitors.

6 Best Keyword Mapping Tools for SEO

Are you interested in building a keyword map for your website? You’ll need to select at least one of the many available SEO keyword mapping tools to get the job done. Not sure what a keyword map is? That’s a structured set of SEO keywords and phrases you put together for your website, based on market research and your own brand. (We’ve written an overview about keyword maps that you can check out here.) Ultimately, the goal of an effective keyword map is to help boost your site’s overall SEO quality, as well as your online reach. Ready to learn more about SEO keyword mapping tools, as well as which tools you should consider using? Keep reading–we’ve got you covered.

What Are SEO Keyword Mapping Tools?

A keyword mapping tool is a piece of software that assists in SEO keyword research. This is the deep research you’ll need to conduct if you’re auditing your site’s SEO or setting up a keyword map. A solid keyword map can help your site rank higher in the SERPs, and researching keywords is crucial to your success here.

These tools often have a wide range of functionality. You can use SEO keyword mapping tools to:

Check a keyword’s search volume
Find variations on a particular keyword or phrase
Analyze your competition
Research users’ search intent

While that’s not an exhaustive list of capabilities, it should give you a basic idea of what you can do with a keyword mapping tool.

Who Should Be Using Keyword Mapping Tools?

Anyone who owns or runs a website that could benefit from SEO optimization should be using keyword mapping tools. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an individual website owner, an SEO expert, a large company, or an agency. These tools will help you identify and analyze the SEO keywords you should be using to boost your site’s ranking in the SERPs.

How to Use Keyword Mapping Tools

There are a number of ways to use keyword mapping tools to your website’s advantage. You might choose to use a tool to simply identify important SEO keywords and phrases that you should be using in your copy and metadata. On the other hand, you may want to dig deeper and look at the keywords your competitors are using.

You can expand on and visualize this process in a number of ways. If you’re interested in taking a look at how to use a keyword mapping tool after you see the various options in this post, we have a great tutorial on getting started.

Top SEO Keyword Mapping Tools

Ready to learn about some of the SEO keyword mapping tools available to you? Let’s jump in.

1. Ahrefs

Ahrefs is an all-in-one SEO keyword research tool designed for anyone to be able to use, whether beginner or expert level. This tool offers an array of easy-to-understand dashboards to help you complete your keyword and competitor research quickly and easily. There’s even a free option, Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, available to website owners.

What you’ll get:

SEO auditing tools
Competitor analysis so you can stay on top of how your competition ranks
A powerful Keywords Explorer to aid in your research
Content Explorer, which helps you analyze what competitors are publishing
Rank Tracker to help you keep an eye on how your website is doing
Free training materials, including articles, videos, and even SEO courses
Strong community support

Ahrefs is for you if…

You have any level of SEO knowledge and want a wide variety of tools all in one place. It’s particularly helpful to beginning and intermediate users who are just learning the ropes. However, individuals and companies of all sizes use Ahrefs.

Price: Starting at $99.00/month (Ahrefs Webmaster Tools available to website owners for free) | More Information

2. AudienceKey

AudienceKey is cloud-based keyword mapping software that’s self-described as “iterative mapping.” It generates a content brief for the user, in addition to a spreadsheet-style keyword list that allows you to sort, label, and assign specific keywords to parts of your sitemap. Additionally, AudienceKey makes it easy for users to group and cluster keywords. That means it’s not only useful for creating a keyword map that aligns with your sitemap. It’s also excellent for refining your SEO content marketing strategy.

What you’ll get:

Collaboration tools that make it easy to share your keyword mapping with team members
Filters that were created specifically to be used for keyword mapping
The ability to bulk-update aspects of your keyword map
Bulk-import and quick-add keyword tools that make the process of integrating existing keyword lists easy
Automatic data integration and ongoing keyword tracking to help you stay on top of your rankings

AudienceKey is for you if…

You have a set of SEO tools you’re already using but want to add dedicated keyword mapping software to the mix. AudienceKey isn’t so much a keyword research tool as it is a tool made especially for creating keyword maps and clusters, plus tracking those keywords. With that in mind, you’ll want to use it in addition to your other SEO tools. It’s also cost-prohibitive for individuals and small teams, so it fits best if you have a large budget to work with.

Price: Starting at $495.00/month | More Information

3. Moz

Moz features a family of SEO products that can help you round out your keyword research and mapping needs nicely. It works well for users at all stages in their SEO journey, including beginners. But, like other tools such as Ahrefs and SEMRush, it’s also highly scalable for large organizations.

What you’ll get:

The ability to research keywords that you’ll then assign to your sitemap
Tools to help you conduct an SEO audit of your website
Keyword analysis tools that include competitor analysis, difficulty, and more
Tools to help you track your rankings
Keyword metrics and lists to help you effectively determine which words and phrases will work best for your keyword mapping strategy
On-page optimization tools to help you make tweaks to your web pages that could ultimately help give you a boost in the SERPs

Moz is for you if…

You’re looking for a full-service SEO solution that includes useful keyword mapping tools. Moz is highly scalable so it’s great for businesses of any size, from sole proprietorships to large corporations.

Price: Starting at $99.00/month | More Information

4. SEMRush

SEMRush is a robust SEO keyword research tool that can be utilized in keyword mapping, as well as in all aspects of website SEO optimization. It’s a full-service, multi-dashboard powerhouse with a suite of features that will help you get the most out of your keyword mapping efforts. Like Moz and Ahrefs, it’s great for users from all backgrounds.

What you’ll get:

Keyword research and site audit tools
On-page SEO tools to help you tweak your site’s keyword optimization
Local and global SEO results so you can keep your finger on the pulse of a variety of key phrases
Rank tracking so you can keep an eye on what’s happening with your website
A Keyword Gap tool that allows users to compare their site with competitor sites to find the “gaps” in their SEO keyword strategy

SEMRush is for you if…

You’re a website owner, solopreneur, agency, or large company looking for a robust SEO tool that aids in keyword mapping. SEMRush offers in-depth services that help you dig deep into your website’s optimization, such as backlink-building and keyword gap analysis. Its pricing is competitive with similar tools, with a limited, free option to get started.

Price: Starting at $119.95/month ($99.95/month if paying annually) | More Information

5. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an all-in-one tool for both SEO and social media. It offers competitive research for both SEO and PPC, in addition to site audits, on-page SEO, marketing goals, and more. It’s a solid option for B2B marketers who offer SEO services., as well as website owners who want to get their sites in order for the search engines. For users who don’t yet have social media scheduling tools in place, SE Ranking also offers post scheduling and analytics.

What you’ll get:

Keyword research tools, including a keyword grouping tool to keep you organized
Tools for SEO reporting and site auditing
Search volume and competitive keyword analysis
Page monitoring in real-time
A white label option for SEO experts who want to use SE Ranking as a platform for their own branded SEO service

SE Ranking is for you if…

You’re an SEO expert, a business owner, or even a digital agency. The platform works well for a wide variety of website owners and content marketers who are looking for support with their keyword mapping strategy. Users with a tight budget can get started on SE Ranking for significantly less cost than some of the other available platforms, with limited use.

Price: Starting at $39.17/month | More Information

6. SpyFu

SpyFu is an interesting twist on SEO keyword mapping tools. This tool actually dives deep into competitor analysis, allowing users to uncover 15 years’ worth of keyword ranking data from their competitors. Users can search any domain name and get information on where those sites appear on Google. Additionally, users can get connected with these domains and uncover a wide range of lead methods. On top of SpyFu’s SEO tools, the app also offers in-depth PPC analysis for competitors’ websites.

What you’ll get:

The ability to download lists of your competitors’ keywords
A Keyword tool that searches multiple competitors
Website SEO tracking for your competitors
Keyword ranking history data that reveals the ebb and flow of a site’s traffic and rankings
Branded SEO reports for your clients (if you’re a B2B marketer)
Backlink analysis for competitor sites
Keyword ranking tracker for your site
Influencer marketing tools

SpyFu is for you if…

You’re ready to take your competitive analysis up a notch and add an edge to your SEO keyword mapping. It’s great for businesses of any size, plus B2B marketers providing SEO services.

Price: Starts at $39.00/month ($33.00/month billed annually) | More Information

About SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is the process of improving the quality and quantity of website traffic to a website or a web page from search engines. SEO targets unpaid traffic (known as “natural” or “organic” results) rather than direct traffic or paid traffic. Unpaid traffic may originate from different kinds of searches, including image search, video search, academic search, news search, and industry-specific vertical search engines.

As an Internet marketing strategy, SEO considers how search engines work, the computer-programmed algorithms that dictate search engine behavior, what people search for, the actual search terms or keywords typed into search engines, and which search engines are preferred by their targeted audience. SEO is performed because a website will receive more visitors from a search engine when websites rank higher on the search engine results page (SERP). These visitors can then potentially be converted into customers.

White hat versus black hat techniques

SEO techniques can be classified into two broad categories: techniques that search engine companies recommend as part of good design (“white hat”), and those techniques of which search engines do not approve (“black hat”). The search engines attempt to minimize the effect of the latter, among them spamdexing. Industry commentators have classified these methods, and the practitioners who employ them, as either white hat SEO, or black hat SEO.

White hats tend to produce results that last a long time, whereas black hats anticipate that their sites may eventually be banned either temporarily or permanently once the search engines discover what they are doing.

An SEO technique is considered a white hat if it conforms to the search engines’ guidelines and involves no deception. As the search engine guidelines are not written as a series of rules or commandments, this is an important distinction to note.

White hat SEO

White hat SEO is not just about following guidelines but is about ensuring that the content a search engine indexes and subsequently ranks is the same content a user will see. White hat advice is generally summed up as creating content for users, not for search engines, and then making that content easily accessible to the online “spider” algorithms, rather than attempting to trick the algorithm from its intended purpose. White hat SEO is in many ways similar to web development that promotes accessibility, although the two are not identical.

Black hat SEO attempts

Black hat SEO attempts to improve rankings in ways that are disapproved of by the search engines, or involve deception. One black hat technique uses hidden text, either as text colored similar to the background, in an invisible div, or positioned off-screen. Another method gives a different page depending on whether the page is being requested by a human visitor or a search engine, a technique known as cloaking. Another category sometimes used is grey hat SEO. This is in between black hat and white hat approaches, where the methods employed avoid the site being penalized but do not act in producing the best content for users. Grey hat SEO is entirely focused on improving search engine rankings.

Search engines may penalize sites they discover using black or grey hat methods, either by reducing their rankings or eliminating their listings from their databases altogether. Such penalties can be applied either automatically by the search engines’ algorithms, or by a manual site review. One example was the February 2006 Google removal of both BMW Germany and Ricoh Germany for use of deceptive practices. Both companies, however, quickly apologized, fixed the offending pages, and were restored to Google’s search engine results page.

As marketing strategy

SEO is not an appropriate strategy for every website, and other Internet marketing strategies can be more effective, such as paid advertising through pay per click (PPC) campaigns, depending on the site operator’s goals. Search engine marketing (SEM) is the practice of designing, running, and optimizing search engine ad campaigns.

Its difference from SEO is most simply depicted as the difference between paid and unpaid priority ranking in search results. SEM focuses on prominence more so than relevance; website developers should regard SEM with the utmost importance with consideration to visibility as most navigate to the primary listings of their search.

A successful Internet marketing campaign may also depend upon building high-quality web pages to engage and persuade internet users, setting up analytics programs to enable site owners to measure results, and improving a site’s conversion rate.

During November 2015

In November 2015, Google released a full 160-page version of its Search Quality Rating Guidelines to the public, which revealed a shift in their focus towards “usefulness” and mobile local search. In recent years the mobile market has exploded, overtaking the use of desktops, as shown in StatCounter in October 2016 where they analyzed 2.5 million websites and found that 51.3% of the pages were loaded by a mobile device.

Google has been one of the companies that are utilizing the popularity of mobile usage by encouraging websites to use their Google Search Console, the Mobile-Friendly Test, which allows companies to measure up their website to the search engine results and determine how user-friendly their websites are. The closer the keywords are together, their ranking will improve based on key terms.