Tools and providers
Part of How to choose keyword research tools and providers for your team
How to screen keyword research suppliers and build a shortlist you can defend
A guide to screening keyword research suppliers for content and procurement teams, covering data provenance, deliverables, exit terms and shortlist scoring.
What to take away
- Decide first whether you are buying capacity, a platform licence or both, because that choice removes most suppliers from your list.
- Screen every supplier on data provenance, deliverable format and exit terms before you look at price.
- Ask for a paid pilot on ten of your own queries so claims meet your actual market.
- Budget for the licence or retainer plus internal review time.
- Keep a written shortlist with scores so the decision survives a change of marketing lead.
Which suppliers belong on a shortlist?
Start with platforms you can price today. Semrush is paid, covering keyword, competitor and rank data. Ahrefs is paid, known for backlink and keyword data, with no free trial but some free tools.
Keyword Supplier Shortlist
Semrush
- Pricing
- Paid
- Core data
- Keyword, competitor, rank
- Free access
- No
- Best for
- Full platform
Ahrefs
- Pricing
- Paid
- Core data
- Backlink, keyword
- Free access
- Free tools
- Best for
- Backlinks
Moz
- Pricing
- Paid
- Core data
- Keyword, domain
- Free access
- Limited free
- Best for
- Domain metrics
SE Ranking
- Pricing
- Lower-cost
- Core data
- Agency, rank
- Free access
- No
- Best for
- Agencies
Moz offers Keyword Explorer and domain metrics on paid plans, plus limited free use. SE Ranking is lower-cost, with agency features and rank tracking. Mangools offers KWFinder and related tools for solo SEOs and small teams.
Google Keyword Planner is free with a Google Ads account, but shows ranges unless campaigns are active. Agencies and freelancers sit alongside those platforms. Use them for output or extra capacity, not a login.
Ask each to name the data source behind its volumes and difficulty scores. Semrush publishes pricing for its freelancer and consultant solutions, so you can model a licence cost before you speak to sales.
What should you ask every supplier?
Start with provenance. Ask where search volume, difficulty and click data come from, and how often it refreshes. A supplier that cannot name its sources is one you cannot audit later.
Supplier Screening Questions
- Name search volume, difficulty and click data sources
- State how often data refreshes
- Deliver a spreadsheet in your specified columns
- Confirm raw exports, not just summaries
- Clarify who owns the keyword set after exit
- Confirm you can export history
- Check data retention and subcontractors
Next, ask for the deliverable in your format. A spreadsheet with columns you specified beats a slide deck every time. Confirm whether you get raw exports or only summaries.
Finally, ask about exit. Who owns the keyword set when the contract ends? Can you export history? Our keyword research vendor due diligence in England checklist covers the checks that matter before signatures, including data retention and subcontractors.
How do you compare price fairly?
Convert every quote to a twelve-month total. Add onboarding, seat limits, overage charges and any fee for extra markets.
For example, a team paying £400 a month for a licence plus £150 a month for freelance support is committing £6,600 a year before internal time. That figure is only an example, not a market rate.
Set internal time against it. If reviewing supplier output takes a content lead four hours a month, that cost belongs in the comparison.
Agencies often bundle reporting. Decide whether you want that reporting or already produce it, then price the difference.
Which supplier should you pilot first?
Rank your shortlist on three weighted scores: data fit, deliverable fit and exit risk. Give data fit the heaviest weight if your market is niche.
Run one paid pilot with your top two suppliers. Give both the same ten queries and the same deadline.
Judge the pilot on usefulness, not volume. A list of 500 terms you cannot act on loses to 40 terms mapped to pages you plan to write.
Check performance data against your own Search Console export. Google's SEO Starter Guide explains how Search Console surfaces the queries your pages already appear for, which is the fairest benchmark you have. Read our keyword research tools and supplier guide for 2027 for the wider selection criteria behind this method.
How do you run the comparison in five steps?
Run the comparison in five steps
- Write the briefmarket, language, page types and the number of terms you need each month.
- List suppliers across all three models, then cut any that cannot meet the brief.
- Score each survivor on data fit, deliverable fit and exit risk, with weights agreed in advance.
- Run paid pilots with the top two and compare output against Search Console data.
- Award the contract, then diarise a review at month three and month twelve.
Agency buyers should also check how a supplier plans paid support, since LinkedIn's ad resources for marketing agencies show the workflow agencies typically coordinate. That tells you whether the supplier understands a multi-client environment.
Common questions
Should a small team buy a platform or a freelancer?
Buy a freelancer if nobody has time to run software, and a platform if someone does. A licence you never log into is the most expensive option on the list.
How long should a supplier pilot run?
One to two weeks is enough for a defined query set. Longer pilots rarely change the ranking and delay the decision.
What single question should end a supplier conversation?
Ask who owns the data when the contract ends. An unclear answer is a reason to stop.
Can we compare suppliers on price alone?
No. Price per term hides data quality, review time and exit cost, which usually decide whether the contract was worth signing.
