Google Keyword Planner remains the gold standard for free keyword research because it pulls directly from Google Ads data. You need a Google Ads account to access it, but you don't need to run campaigns. It shows search volume ranges, competition levels, and suggested bid prices. The main drawback is that volume ranges get vague unless you're spending money on ads—you'll see "10K–100K" instead of exact numbers. For Canadian campaigns, it lets you filter by province or city, which matters when you're targeting Ottawa versus Vancouver. Google Search Console is mandatory if you already have a website. It shows exactly which queries are triggering your pages in search results, along with impressions, clicks, and average position. This is real user data, not estimates, so it tells you what you're already ranking for and where you're on page two with opportunity to push higher. We check GSC weekly for every domain in our portfolio because it catches keyword opportunities that tools miss. Ubersuggest offers 3–5 free searches per day with volume data, keyword difficulty scores, and content ideas. It's useful for quick competitive checks or brainstorming sessions, but the daily limit makes it impractical as your only tool. Answer The Public visualizes question-based queries, which helps for blog topics and FAQ schema. Google Trends shows relative interest over time and regional breakdowns—critical when you need to know if a keyword is growing or dying, or if it's seasonal. The real limitation with free tools is batch processing and historical tracking. If you need to analyze 500 keywords at once or track ranking changes weekly, you'll hit walls fast. At Ottawa SEO, we layer free tools for discovery and validation, then use paid platforms like Ahrefs for scale when a project justifies it. For small businesses or single-site operators, the free stack covers 80% of what you need if you're willing to manually compile data across tools.