Free Keyword Generator (+ Guide)

What is a keyword generator?

A keyword generator is a tool that finds search phrases related to a keyword. You give it one word or phrase, and it gives you the other ways people search for the same thing.

A good one answers three questions:

• What do people search? – every related search, not just the ones you'd think of.
• How often, and how hard? – monthly searches, difficulty and cost per click for each.
• What do they want? – the intent behind each search, so you know what page to write.

This one takes them in that order, then lets you filter, sort, save and download the lot.

Where the keywords come from

The list mixes two sources, so you get both what people type today and what's been measured over the past year.

Google's own page on how autocomplete works says its suggestions reflect real searches, shaped by the language, the location and what's trending. That's why the country you pick changes the list.

What each number means

Every keyword gets up to six numbers. This is what each one tells you.

Monthly searches

How often the keyword is searched on Google in that country, averaged over the last 12 months. It's an estimate from Google Ads data, so use it to compare keywords, not to predict your visits.

Keyword difficulty

How hard it is to reach Google's top 10, from 0 to 100. It's worked out from the links the top 10 pages have, so a low number means the pages ranking now don't have many.

Cost per click and competition

What advertisers pay for a click on Google Ads, and how many of them compete for it. A high cost per click means the people searching are worth money, which usually means they're close to buying.

Search intent

What the searcher wants to do. It decides what kind of page can rank, so it gets its own section below.

AI searches

How often your main keyword is asked on AI assistants each month, with its own 12-month chart. It shows whether people ask AI about your topic, and whether that's growing.

Last 12 months

The searches month by month, as a small line on every keyword and a chart for the main one. It shows seasons, like gift searches in December, and topics that are growing or fading.

How to find keywords

It takes about a second for Google's suggestions, and a few more for the numbers.

A real example: podcast microphone

I ran "podcast microphone" for the United States on September 30, 2026, with the database's figures from mid-September. These are the numbers, and what I'd do with them.

Three things stand out:

• It's a buying search – transactional intent, product listings on the results page and a paid click that advertisers compete for. The page to write is a buying guide or a product comparison, not an explainer.
• It's easier than it looks – difficulty 0 means the pages ranking now have few links, and the top 10 average 28 linking sites. A thorough guide can compete.
• The long tail is where the plan is – "best podcast microphone" (4,400 searches), "podcast dynamic microphone" (3,600) and "usb microphone for podcast recording" (720, at $7.69 a click) each deserve a section, or a page of their own.

Searches for it fell from 22,200 a month to 14,800 over the year, and AI searches fell too. Worth knowing before you build a site around it, and worth checking against the trend of a nearby keyword.

How to pick the keywords worth a page

A long list is only useful if you can choose from it. This is the order I work in.

Start with intent

Match the page to what the searcher wants. A buying keyword needs a comparison or a product page, and a question needs a clear answer, whatever the numbers say.

Look for easy or possible difficulty

Filter to easy and possible, then sort by most searched. That's your shortlist: keywords people search that you can realistically rank for.

Match the searches to your size

A new site does better with 50 searches a month it can win than 50,000 it can't. As your site earns links, move up to harder keywords.

Check the results page

Search the keyword on Google and look at what ranks. If the top pages answer a different question than yours, pick another keyword, however good its numbers look.

Group what belongs together

Keywords that mean the same thing belong on one page. "podcast microphone" and "podcast mic" are one page; "podcast microphone for iphone" may be a section; "podcast microphone vs condenser" may be its own comparison.

Search intent, explained

Intent is the single most useful column in the list. It sorts every keyword into one of four kinds:

The groups at the top of the list, like questions, comparisons and ready to buy, come from the words in each search. Intent comes from the keyword database, so use the two together.

Long-tail keywords

A long-tail keyword is a longer, more specific search, like "usb microphone for podcast recording" instead of "microphone". Each one gets fewer searches, but together they add up, and they're usually much easier to rank for.

People who type a long search know what they want. That's why long-tail keywords often have a higher cost per click than the short one they come from.

The easiest way to find them is to sort by easiest first, then filter to 10 or more searches a month.

Questions: your sections and your FAQ

The questions group holds every search that starts with how, what, why, which or can. Each one is a heading waiting to happen.

• Big questions become sections, like "How do you connect a podcast microphone to an iPhone?"
• Short questions become FAQ answers at the end of your page.
• Questions with People also ask on their results page are worth answering in one or two clear sentences, right under the heading.

Filter to the questions group and save the ones you'll answer. The CSV keeps them in one place while you write.

Topics: turn keywords into a content plan

The topics under the groups are the words your keywords share most, like mic, usb, stand, xlr and shure for podcast microphone. Each topic is a cluster: a set of keywords that could share a page, or a section.

Dennis Yu described the idea behind it:

A topic with many keywords and good searches deserves its own page. Link the pages in a cluster to each other and to your main page, so readers and Google can move between them.

Using your keywords on the page

A keyword tells you what to write about, not how many times to repeat it. Put your main keyword where it helps a reader:

• In your title and your H1, near the start
• In the first paragraph, where you say what the page covers
• In a heading or two, where it fits naturally
• In your meta description, which shows on Google

Then write for the reader. Ann Handley's Everybody Writes is still the best book I know on making every sentence earn its place.

Everybody Writes

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Everybody Writes by Ann Handley teaches how to write compelling content for the internet, covering everything from blog posts and emails to social media and landing pages.

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Google's spam policies call repeating words so often they sound unnatural keyword stuffing. These are the mistakes that come from it:

• Repeating the keyword in every sentence
• Lists of cities, regions or phrases you want to rank for
• Adding keywords to text people can't see
• Writing a separate page for every small variation of the same search
• Choosing a keyword whose intent doesn't match your page

After you write, the keyword density checker shows how often each word appears and where, and the SERP simulator shows how your title and description look on Google.

See where you already rank

Add your site in step 2, and every keyword your site already ranks for shows your position next to it. The ones where you're on page two are your quickest wins: a better section or a few links can move them up.

Keywords in other countries

Pick any of 21 countries before you search. Google suggests different searches in each, and the numbers are for that country, so "podcast microphone" in the United Kingdom is a different list from the one in the United States.

If your audience lives in several countries, run the same keyword in each and compare. The one where it's easiest is often the place to start.

When a paid keyword tool is worth it

This generator gives you hundreds of keywords with their numbers, free. A paid tool is worth it when you need more:

• Thousands of keywords from one seed, not hundreds.
• Every keyword a competitor ranks for, with their position.
• Rank tracking for your keywords over time.
• Many searches a day for an agency.

The paid tools I'd look at are at the end of this page.

Who is the keyword generator for?

It's for anyone who writes something they want people to find:

• How to start a blog – bloggers choosing their first posts
• How to make money blogging – bloggers looking for buying keywords that earn
• How to make money podcasting – podcasters naming episodes people search for
• How to create an online course – course creators checking that people search for their topic
• YouTube keyword tool – creators who want YouTube's own suggestions instead of Google's
• Backlink checker – site owners who want to know how many links a keyword will take

Whatever you make, the list shows you what your audience is already asking. Pair it with the SEO checker once your page is live.

After you find your keywords

These free tools pick up where the list leaves off: