7 free keyword research tools for UK small business owners

What to take away

Google Keyword Planner is the only free tool here that returns Google's own volumes, and you can filter them to England, Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland.
Google Search Console is the most reliable free source for the queries your site already appears for on google.co.uk.
Free tools from Ahrefs, Bing Webmaster Tools and Keyword Surfer cover difficulty scores and competitor gaps.
Every free volume figure is an estimate, so check it against your own click data before you commit a page to it.

How we judged these free tools

We compared each tool on four tests. The first was whether it returns United Kingdom figures rather than United States ones. The second was whether it suggests British English phrasing. We also looked at what the free tier allows and whether a sole trader can use it without entering card details.

Four tests for free tools

Returns United Kingdom figures
Suggests British English phrasing
Free tier limits are workable
No card details required

Nothing in this list costs anything in pounds, though some tools cap how many queries you can run each day. Confirm the current terms before you build a routine around one of them.

The seven free tools compared

The table below sets out what each tool gives you at no cost and where its UK data comes from.

Seven free tools compared

Google tools

Cost: Free with account
UK data: Nation and region
Best for: Volume and own queries
Examples: Keyword Planner, Search Console

Third-party tools

Cost: Free with caps
UK data: Yes, estimates
Best for: Difficulty and questions
Examples: Ahrefs, Surfer, AnswerThePublic

Cost

Google Keyword Planner: Free with a Google Ads account
Google Search Console: Free
Google Trends: Free
Ahrefs free keyword tools: Free with daily caps
Bing Webmaster Tools: Free with an account
Keyword Surfer: Free Chrome extension
AnswerThePublic and AlsoAsked: Free tiers with daily limits

UK data

Google Keyword Planner: Volumes by nation and region
Google Search Console: Your own google.co.uk queries
Google Trends: Filter by nation or city
Ahrefs free keyword tools: Yes
Bing Webmaster Tools: Country filter includes the UK
Keyword Surfer: Estimated UK volumes
AnswerThePublic and AlsoAsked: Yes

Best for

Google Keyword Planner: Search demand and forecasts
Google Search Console: Finding terms you already rank for
Google Trends: Seasonality and regional interest
Ahrefs free keyword tools: Keyword difficulty
Bing Webmaster Tools: A second opinion on volume
Keyword Surfer: Volumes while you browse
AnswerThePublic and AlsoAsked: Question and comparison phrasing

Google's own tools suit volume work and your existing query data. The third-party tools suit difficulty scores and question phrasing. Most small businesses end up using one from each group.

Google Keyword Planner is still the free default

Google's guide to using Keyword Planner covers the account setup, and you do not need to launch a campaign to reach the data. Volumes appear as ranges rather than exact figures until you spend.

Set Keyword Planner to the UK

Open Keyword Planner without launching a campaign
Set location to United Kingdom
Narrow to nation or English region
Never leave the default on United States

Set the location to the United Kingdom. Narrow it to Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland or an English region if you serve a local patch. Leave the default on the United States and every export will mislead you.

Search Console shows real UK queries

Search Console reports the queries that brought visitors to your site, including impressions for terms sitting on page three or lower. The performance report documentation explains the filters that matter here.

That is demand you can already see rather than a modelled estimate. Filtering by country and comparing quarters gives a steadier read than a single month. Our walkthrough on using Search Console for UK keyword research covers the filters in a sensible order.

Free Ahrefs alternatives and other options

Ahrefs publishes a set of free tools with daily caps on how many queries you can run. The keyword difficulty checker scores one term at a time, which is enough when you are choosing between two headlines.

Bing Webmaster Tools is the other free account worth opening. It reports volume estimates for a chosen country, so you can pull United Kingdom figures and set them beside Google's.

Keyword Surfer and AnswerThePublic cover the remaining gaps while you browse. They show United Kingdom data, though the figures are third-party estimates rather than Google's own.

Turning free data into a UK content plan

Work through this sequence before you brief any writer.

Group the exported keywords by the page they would sit on rather than by volume, so each page owns a single topic.
Check each group in Search Console to see whether an existing page already competes for those terms.
Write the British English phrasing you would actually type, then confirm the volumes hold for that spelling.
Review the plan each quarter, because free tier limits and search volumes both move.

If you outgrow the free tiers, our breakdown of how Google Keyword Planner compares with Ahrefs explains what paid access adds.

Common questions

Is Google Keyword Planner free in the UK?

Yes, provided you hold a Google Ads account. You can research and export keywords without launching a campaign, and you pay only if you start advertising.

Are free keyword tools accurate enough to plan content?

They return estimates, so treat them as direction rather than precision. Cross-check a term in Search Console once a page has been live for a month or two.

Which free tool comes closest to Ahrefs for a UK business?

Bing Webmaster Tools and the free Ahrefs difficulty checker together cover volume, difficulty and a second opinion on ranking terms. Neither needs a paid plan.

Do I need to pay for UK keyword data?

Not for most small business needs. Free tiers cover most of what a small site needs, including your own query data in Search Console, though paid plans buy more daily queries and faster exports.