The 7 Best Long-Tail Keyword Generator Tools

Long-tail keywords are keywords with low monthly search volumes. They can be two words or ten words—length doesn’t matter. What matters is that fewer people search for them, which usually means less competition and a realistic shot at ranking, even for newer websites.

But here’s the catch: not all long-tail keywords are created equal.

Some are just unpopular ways to search for popular topics. For example, “how to lose belly fat quickly at home” might only get 50 searches a month. But the top-ranking page for that query might get 50,000 monthly visits because it also ranks for “how to lose belly fat,” a much bigger keyword. Targeting that long-tail would put you up against the same fierce competition as the head term.

The long-tail keywords you actually want to target are ones where the top-ranking page gets only a small amount of traffic—say, a few hundred visits per month. These represent genuinely niche topics, not just uncommon phrasing for popular ones.

That distinction is important. Keep it in mind as you work through the tools below.

In this article, you’ll learn how to find long-tail keywords using seven tools and methods—most of them completely free. You’ll also learn how to evaluate whether a long-tail keyword is actually worth targeting, how to find long-tail opportunities in AI search, and how to create content that ranks for the keywords you choose.

1. Analyze AI’s Keyword Generator Tool

Analyze AI’s free Keyword Generator is a good starting point because it lets you generate hundreds of keyword ideas from a single seed without creating an account.

Here’s how to use it to find long-tail keywords:

1. Go to the Keyword Generator Tool.

2. Enter a broad seed keyword related to your industry—something like “email marketing” or “project management software.”

3. Choose your target country.

4. Review the results. Look for keywords with low monthly search volume (under 300) and low keyword difficulty (under 30).

The tool returns keyword ideas along with search volume estimates and difficulty scores. Sort by volume from low to high to surface long-tail opportunities faster.

Once you find a promising keyword, verify it’s a true long-tail and not just an uncommon phrasing for a popular topic. You can do this by searching the keyword in Google and checking how much traffic the top-ranking page gets. If it’s only getting a few hundred visits per month, you’ve found a good target.

You can use the Analyze AI Website Traffic Checker to check this, or the Keyword Difficulty Checker to validate difficulty before committing to the keyword.

Why this matters for different keyword types: Long-tail keywords span informational, navigational, commercial, and transactional intent. The Keyword Generator doesn’t filter by intent, so you’ll want to eyeball the results and group them by what the searcher is actually trying to do. A keyword like “how to set up drip campaigns in Mailchimp” is informational. “Best drip campaign tools for ecommerce” is commercial. Both can be long-tail. Both are worth targeting. But they need different content.

2. Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner was built for advertisers, but it works well for finding long-tail keywords. It’s free to use—you just need a Google Ads account (you don’t need to run any ads).

Here’s the process:

1. Log into Google Ads and open Keyword Planner.

2. Click “Discover new keywords.”

3. Enter a broad seed keyword related to your niche.

4. Hit “Get results.”

5. Sort the results by “Avg. monthly searches” from low to high.

Keywords showing a search volume range of “10–100” are your long-tail candidates. But remember: you still need to verify each one isn’t just a less popular way to search for a competitive topic.

To verify, search the keyword in Google and check the traffic to the top-ranking page. If that page gets thousands of monthly visits, it likely ranks for a bigger keyword too—meaning competition is higher than the low search volume would suggest.

Limitation to know about: Keyword Planner groups similar keywords into ranges (like “10–100”) rather than giving exact numbers. This makes it harder to compare keywords precisely. It’s also biased toward commercial and advertising-intent queries, so you may miss some informational long-tails.

Pro tip: Use the “Refine keywords” panel on the left side of the results to narrow by topic, brand vs. non-brand, and other dimensions. This helps you cut through hundreds of irrelevant suggestions faster.

3. Google Search Console

If your site already has some organic traffic, Google Search Console is one of the most underrated long-tail keyword tools available—and it’s completely free.

Unlike the other tools on this list, Search Console shows you keywords your site already appears for in Google’s results. Many of those will be long-tail queries you didn’t intentionally target but are ranking for on pages 2 or 3. These are quick wins: you already have a page that’s somewhat relevant, so optimizing it for the specific long-tail can push it to page 1.

Here’s how to use it:

1. Open Google Search Console and go to the Performance report.

2. Click the “Average position” box to enable the position column.

3. Sort by “Impressions” from low to high, or filter for positions between 8 and 30.

4. Look for specific, multi-word queries where you’re ranking between positions 8 and 30.

These are your low-hanging fruit. A query where you’re already appearing on page 2 needs much less effort to move to page 1 than a query where you have no presence at all.

Once you’ve identified a promising long-tail from Search Console, check whether you have a page that closely matches the intent of that query. If you do, optimize it with relevant on-page changes. If you don’t, consider creating a new page specifically for that keyword.

Bonus: Search Console also shows you the click-through rate (CTR) for each query. Low CTR on a keyword where you rank in positions 1–5 signals that your title tag and meta description need work—not that the keyword isn’t valuable.

4. Google Autocomplete

Google Autocomplete suggests queries as you type in the search bar. Because it’s designed to predict what people are searching for, it tends to surface popular queries. But with a simple technique, you can use it to discover long-tail variations too.

Here’s the method:

1. Go to Google and start typing a broad keyword—like “email marketing.”

2. Add a space after your keyword and type each letter of the alphabet, one at a time.

3. For each letter, note the autocomplete suggestions that appear.

4. Look for the longer, more specific suggestions—these are your long-tail candidates.

For example, starting with “email marketing” and cycling through the alphabet might surface ideas like:

• “email marketing for dentists”

• “email marketing for real estate agents”

• “email marketing benchmarks by industry”

Each of those is a more specific topic with likely lower competition than the head term. But you still need to verify. Search each keyword, check the top-ranking page’s traffic. If it gets under a few hundred monthly visits, it’s a true long-tail worth targeting.

Make it faster with AnswerThePublic. AnswerThePublic automates this process by scraping Google Autocomplete for a given seed keyword and visualizing the results as questions, prepositions, and comparisons. It’s free for a limited number of searches per day.

AnswerThePublic is especially useful for blog content because it surfaces question-based keywords—“how,” “what,” “why,” “when” queries—that map cleanly to informational blog posts.

5. Google’s “People Also Ask” and Related Searches

Two features built directly into Google’s search results page are often overlooked as keyword research tools: the “People Also Ask” (PAA) box and the “Related searches” section at the bottom of the page.

Here’s how to use them:

1. Search for your broad seed keyword in Google.

2. Scroll to the “People Also Ask” box. Click on a few questions to expand them—this loads even more related questions.

3. Scroll to the very bottom of the results page and review the “Related searches.”

4. Note any specific, niche questions or queries.

These are real questions and queries that Google associates with your topic. Many of them will be long-tail, especially the PAA questions. “What is the best email marketing tool for Shopify stores?” is clearly more specific and likely less competitive than “best email marketing tools.”

For a deeper dive into optimizing around PAA, see our guide on People Also Ask: 5 Ways to Optimize and Track PAA in AI Search.

Pro tip: Don’t stop at one layer. Click on a PAA question, and Google loads 2–4 more questions beneath it. Each click reveals another layer of related queries. After a few minutes of clicking, you can build a substantial list of long-tail keyword ideas—all validated by Google as things people actually ask.

6. Reddit, Quora, and Niche Forums

Online communities are goldmines for long-tail keyword ideas because real people describe their problems in their own words—often using very specific language that matches how others search.

Here’s how to mine Reddit for long-tail keywords:

1. Go to Reddit and search for your broad topic.

2. Browse relevant subreddits and sort by “New” or “Rising” to find recent discussions.

3. Look for hyper-specific questions or topics that keep recurring.

4. Rephrase each one as a keyword and verify its search potential.

For example, browsing an SEO subreddit might surface threads like “How to do SEO for a local bakery website” or “Is schema markup worth it for a small blog?” Both are specific enough to potentially be long-tail keywords.

You can also use Google itself to search Reddit by entering: site:reddit.com [your topic]. This often surfaces older but highly specific threads that don’t appear in Reddit’s own search.

The same approach works on Quora, niche forums, and even Facebook Groups. Look for the specific questions that come up repeatedly. If people keep asking about it in communities, there’s a good chance others are searching for it on Google too.

Important: Not every community question will have search volume. Some topics are so niche that nobody searches for them. Always verify by checking the SERP and the traffic to the top-ranking result before investing time in content.

7. Wikipedia

Wikipedia is an underrated long-tail keyword source that works because of the way Wikipedia articles are structured—with detailed tables of contents, internal links, and highly organized subtopics.

Here’s the method:

1. Go to Wikipedia and search for a broad topic in your niche.

2. Review the article’s table of contents. Each subheading represents a subtopic that could be a long-tail keyword.

3. Click through to linked Wikipedia articles for even more subtopic ideas.

4. Rephrase each subtopic as a keyword and verify search potential.

For example, the Wikipedia article on “Content marketing” has sections on history, types, metrics, and strategy. Each section links to more specific pages. Following those links might lead you to topics like “content marketing ROI measurement” or “content marketing for B2B SaaS”—both potentially strong long-tail targets.

This technique works particularly well for educational and informational content. Wikipedia’s editorial standards mean that the subtopics it covers tend to represent genuinely important aspects of a broader subject, not random tangents.

How to Evaluate Whether a Long-Tail Keyword Is Worth Targeting

Finding long-tail keywords is the easy part. The hard part is deciding which ones are actually worth creating content for. Here’s how to evaluate them.

Check the traffic potential, not just the search volume

A keyword might show 40 monthly searches, but the page ranking #1 for it could also rank for 200 related keywords, pulling in 800 total monthly visits. That’s the real traffic potential.

To check this, search the keyword in Google and run the top-ranking URL through a traffic checker. If the page gets under a few hundred monthly visits, the keyword is a genuine long-tail. If it gets thousands, the keyword is likely a less common phrasing for a bigger topic—and competition will be higher than the search volume suggests.

Assess keyword difficulty

Low search volume doesn’t guarantee low competition. Some long-tail keywords sit in lucrative niches where affiliates and well-funded companies compete hard.

Use the Keyword Difficulty Checker to get a difficulty score before committing. A keyword with a difficulty score under 30 is typically approachable for newer sites. Above 50, you’ll likely need significant backlinks and domain authority to compete.

Match search intent

Before you create content for any keyword, search it in Google and study what’s ranking. Ask yourself:

• Are the top results blog posts, product pages, or landing pages?

• Are they listicles, how-to guides, or definitions?

• What subtopics do they all cover?

Your content needs to match the intent and format that Google is already rewarding. If the top results are all comparison posts, don’t publish a how-to guide for that keyword. You can learn more about this in our guide to SEO content strategy.

Consider the business value

Not all keywords that are easy to rank for are worth ranking for. A keyword like “what is the difference between serif and sans-serif fonts” might be an easy long-tail, but if you sell CRM software, ranking for it won’t bring you customers.

Prioritize long-tail keywords where the searcher’s problem aligns with your product or service. The best long-tail keywords are the ones where the person searching is a potential customer, even if the volume is low.

How to Find Long-Tail Keyword Opportunities in AI Search

Traditional keyword research focuses on what people type into Google. But search is evolving. Millions of people now ask questions to AI platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Mode—and the way they phrase those questions is different.

In traditional search, someone might type “best project management tools.” In an AI search, they’re more likely to ask: “What are the best project management tools for a remote team of 15 people with a tight budget?” That second query is a long-tail by nature. And the competition dynamics in AI search are entirely different from Google’s SERPs.

This doesn’t mean you should abandon keyword research for SEO. It means you now have a second organic channel where long-tail queries are the default behavior—and most of your competitors aren’t optimizing for it yet.

Here’s how to find and capitalize on these opportunities using Analyze AI.

Use Suggested Prompts to discover what AI users ask about your industry

Analyze AI’s Prompts feature works like keyword research, but for AI search. After you set up your brand and competitors, Analyze AI suggests prompts—the actual questions people ask AI platforms that are relevant to your space.

Click “Track” on any suggested prompt to start monitoring it daily. Over time, you’ll build a library of AI-specific long-tail queries where you can see your visibility, position, sentiment, and which competitors appear alongside you.

This is essentially keyword tracking for AI search. And because most companies aren’t doing it yet, the competitive landscape here is far less crowded than traditional SEO.

Identify where competitors win and you don’t

Analyze AI’s Competitors view shows you which brands appear most often across AI answers in your industry—and how many times they’re mentioned.

If a competitor shows up in 70 prompts and you show up in 20, that gap represents an opportunity. You can click into specific prompts to see exactly which ones they’re winning and study the content that’s getting them cited.

Combine this with the Suggested Competitors feature, which automatically identifies entities that appear frequently in AI answers within your industry—even ones you weren’t tracking.

Double down on landing pages that already attract AI traffic

Analyze AI’s Landing Pages report (inside AI Traffic Analytics) shows exactly which pages on your site receive traffic from AI platforms—and from which AI engines.

This is where long-tail keyword strategy meets AI search data. If a specific blog post is already getting sessions from ChatGPT and Claude, that tells you the topic and format are working in AI search. Study those pages, understand what makes them citable, and create more content following the same patterns.

For example, if your guide on “how to set up a drip email campaign” is pulling AI traffic but your page on “email marketing automation” isn’t, that’s a signal. The more specific, tutorial-style content may be what AI models prefer to cite. Double down on that format for other long-tail topics.

Track AI traffic trends to prove what’s working

The AI Traffic Analytics dashboard gives you the full picture: total AI-referred visitors, which engines send them, engagement rates, bounce rates, and conversions.

This is the measurement layer that ties your long-tail content strategy—whether for traditional SEO or AI search—back to actual business results. You can learn more about monitoring AI search performance in our guide to AI search monitoring tools.

Tips for Creating Content That Ranks for Long-Tail Keywords

Finding the right keyword is only half the job. You still need to create content that ranks. Here are the principles that matter most for long-tail content.

Match the format that’s already ranking

Search the keyword and study the top 3–5 results. If they’re all step-by-step guides, write a step-by-step guide. If they’re all comparison posts, write a comparison. Going against the dominant format is fighting Google’s understanding of what searchers want.

Go deeper than anyone else

The best long-tail content doesn’t just answer the question—it anticipates the follow-up questions. If the keyword is “how to set up Google Tag Manager for Shopify,” don’t just list the steps. Explain what can go wrong at each step. Show what the correct configuration looks like. Include troubleshooting for common errors. This depth is what earns backlinks, keeps readers on your page, and increasingly, gets your content cited by AI models.

Use internal links to connect your long-tail pages

Long-tail pages shouldn’t exist in isolation. Link them to your broader topic pages and to each other. This helps search engines understand the topical relationship between your pages and passes authority from your stronger pages to your newer ones.

For a deeper look at how to do this well, see our guide on internal linking for SEO.

Structure your content for both search engines and AI models

Clear headings, logical structure, and concise answers to specific questions make your content more likely to be featured in Google’s featured snippets—and more likely to be cited by AI models when users ask related questions. Use headers that match the way people phrase their questions. Front-load key information at the top of each section. And make sure your page’s overall structure follows a logical progression that a reader (or a model) can follow from top to bottom.

For more on structuring content effectively, check out our guide to answer engine optimization.

Final Thoughts

Long-tail keywords remain one of the most reliable strategies for newer websites to gain traction in search. The tools in this guide—from Analyze AI’s Keyword Generator to Google Keyword Planner, Search Console, Autocomplete, community forums, and Wikipedia—give you more than enough ways to build a list of viable targets.

But the game has expanded. AI search platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini are now a second organic channel where long-tail queries are the norm, not the exception. People ask AI models detailed, specific questions—the kind of queries that are, by definition, long-tail. If you’re only doing keyword research for Google, you’re only seeing half the picture.

The process, though, stays the same:

1. Generate ideas using the tools above.

2. Evaluate each keyword for traffic potential, difficulty, intent, and business value.

3. Create content that’s deeper and more useful than what currently ranks.

4. Track your results—in both traditional search and AI search.

Start with the keywords where competition is low and your expertise is high. Build from there.