If you're writing blog posts to attract students to your course, you need to know what those potential students are actually searching for. Ubersuggest is one of the simplest tools for doing this research, and its free tier gives you enough data to make informed decisions about your content strategy without paying for enterprise SEO software.
What you’ll walk away with:
- A prioritized list of keywords your audience is actually searching for
- Volume and difficulty scores that tell you which topics are worth targeting
- Competitive intelligence showing what existing articles rank and where they fall short
- A content plan connecting every blog post to a real search opportunity
Why Ubersuggest for keyword research
Most course creators know they should be writing blog content to drive organic traffic, but they struggle with the same question: what should I write about? Picking topics based on intuition leads to articles that feel useful to you but that nobody is searching for. Keyword research flips the process — you start with what your audience is already looking for and build content to meet that demand.
Ubersuggest makes this accessible for people who aren't professional SEOs. The interface is straightforward: type in a keyword, and you see search volume, difficulty, and a list of related terms. The free tier limits you to three searches per day — that's enough to research one topic thoroughly if you plan your queries in advance.
Step-by-step: Keyword research with Ubersuggest
Search your course topic
Go to neilpatel.com/ubersuggest and type your core course topic into the search bar. Start broad — "watercolor painting" or "life coaching." The overview page shows you monthly search volume, SEO difficulty (0 to 100), paid difficulty, and cost per click. For blog content, focus on the first two numbers. Search volume tells you whether anyone is looking for this term. SEO difficulty tells you how hard it'll be to rank.
Analyze search volume and difficulty
The sweet spot for course blog content is keywords with enough volume to be worth writing about but low enough difficulty that you can realistically rank. For most course creators, that means targeting keywords in the 100 to 5,000 monthly search range with difficulty scores under 40. Don't ignore low-volume keywords entirely — a keyword with 200 monthly searches and a difficulty of 15 might seem small, but those 200 people are searching for something very specific. Ten articles targeting such keywords add up to meaningful traffic over time.
Find related keywords
Click the "Keyword Ideas" tab to see related terms, questions, and prepositions. If you searched "life coaching," you might see related terms like "life coaching techniques," "life coaching for career change," or "life coaching vs therapy." Each of these is a potential blog post. The questions tab is especially useful — it shows you the exact questions people type into Google, which translate directly into article headlines.
Check competitor content
Click the "Content Ideas" tab to see which articles currently rank for your keyword. Ubersuggest shows the title, URL, estimated traffic, backlinks, and social shares for each result. If the top-ranking articles are thin listicles with minimal depth, you have an opportunity to outrank them with a more thorough treatment. If the top results are comprehensive guides from established sites, you'll need to bring a specific angle or deeper expertise to compete.
Identify content gaps
If you have a specific competitor — another course creator, a blog in your niche — use one of your three daily searches to look up their domain. Enter their URL in Ubersuggest and switch to "Top Pages" to see which keywords drive their traffic. Those gaps are opportunities. You're not looking to copy their content — you're looking for topics where your expertise and angle can provide a better answer.
Plan your blog and SEO strategy
Once you have a list of target keywords, organize them by priority. Start with keywords directly relevant to your course topic, with realistic difficulty scores, that align with content you can write from real experience. Group related keywords into clusters — each cluster becomes a set of articles that link to each other and reinforce your authority on that subject.
Tips for better keyword research
Plan your three searches before you start
The free tier limits are real. Before you open Ubersuggest, decide what you want to research. A good pattern: first search is your primary keyword to check volume and difficulty, second search is a promising related keyword from your first results, third search is a competitor domain to find content gaps. That sequence gives you a complete picture of one topic in a single day.
Export your keyword lists
Ubersuggest lets you export keyword ideas to CSV even on the free plan. Do this every time. Copy the exported data into a spreadsheet where you track target keywords, their volume, difficulty, and whether you've written content for them. Over time this becomes your editorial calendar — a living document that connects every blog post to a specific search opportunity.
Focus on intent, not just volume
A keyword like "what is life coaching" has high volume but informational intent — the searcher is curious, not buying. A keyword like "life coaching certification programs" has lower volume but stronger commercial intent. For course creators, the highest-value keywords are the ones where search intent matches what your course delivers.
Limitations
Three free searches per day
The free plan is limited. Three searches per day means you can't do extensive research in a single session. The keyword data on the free tier is also truncated — related keyword lists are shorter than what paid users see, and some features like historical keyword data and site audit tools are locked entirely.
Less accurate than enterprise tools
Ubersuggest's search volume estimates come from a smaller data sample than enterprise tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush. A keyword that Ubersuggest reports at 1,000 monthly searches might actually get 800 or 1,200. For choosing between blog topics, that level of precision is fine. For making significant investment decisions, cross-reference with a second source.
Paid plan gap between free and professional tools
Ubersuggest's paid Individual plan costs $29 per month and removes the daily search limit. That's reasonable, but professional tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush (starting around $99/month) offer significantly larger keyword databases and deeper competitive analysis. Ubersuggest is a solid starting point for learning keyword research, but if SEO becomes a primary growth channel, you may outgrow it.
Frequently asked questions
How many free searches do you get with Ubersuggest?
Ubersuggest gives you three free searches per day. Each search counts whether you look up a keyword, a domain, or a content idea. That's enough to research one topic thoroughly per day if you plan your queries in advance.
Is Ubersuggest accurate enough for course keyword research?
Ubersuggest is reasonably accurate for identifying trends, comparing keywords, and finding content opportunities. Its volume estimates are directional rather than precise. For a course creator choosing between blog topics or evaluating whether a keyword is worth targeting, Ubersuggest provides enough signal to make informed decisions.
Should I pay for Ubersuggest or use Ahrefs instead?
If you're doing keyword research occasionally to guide your blog strategy, the free tier of Ubersuggest is a reasonable starting point. If you're publishing multiple articles per week and need reliable data on keyword difficulty and competitive gaps, a professional tool like Ahrefs will save you time and give you more confident data.
Related guides
- How to Find Course Topic Ideas Using Google Trends — use Google Trends alongside Ubersuggest to validate topic momentum
- How to Track Course Sales Page Traffic Using Google Analytics — once your blog posts drive traffic, measure which visitors convert
- How to Write SEO Blog Posts Using ChatGPT — turn your keyword research into published articles
- How to Create Your First Online Course — the complete path from topic research to live course
From keywords to students
Keyword research isn't an end in itself. The point is to write content that connects your expertise to the people searching for it. Every blog post you publish around a well-researched keyword is a path from Google to your course. Over time, those paths compound — each article builds your authority, earns backlinks, and brings in visitors who are actively looking for what you teach.
When your keyword research reveals the topics your audience cares about and you're ready to build the course they're searching for, Ruzuku lets you create your course for free with zero transaction fees. The content you write brings the audience. The course gives them somewhere to go.