When asked for the best keyword research tool, 6 AI assistants named 9 brands between them this month. Google Keyword Planner was named most often, followed by Ahrefs and Semrush. One brand was named by every assistant that answered: Google Keyword Planner.
Who named whom
| Brand | ChatGPT | Perplexity | Claude | Grok | DeepSeek | Cohere | Named by |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google Keyword Planner | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 6 of 6 |
| Ahrefs | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 5 of 6 |
| Semrush | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | 5 of 6 |
| Ubersuggest | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | 5 of 6 |
| KWFinder | ✓ | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | · | 3 of 6 |
| Ahrefs Keywords Explorer | ✓ | · | · | · | · | ✓ | 2 of 6 |
| Downside | · | · | · | ✓ | ✓ | · | 2 of 6 |
| Google Search Console | · | · | ✓ | · | ✓ | · | 2 of 6 |
| Moz Pro | · | · | ✓ | · | ✓ | · | 2 of 6 |
Share of voice
What each assistant said
ChatGPT
Named 5 brands, in this order: Google Keyword Planner, Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, KWFinder.
Choosing the best keyword research tool for a small business depends on several factors, including budget, specific needs, and the level of complexity required.
Perplexity
Named 2 brands, in this order: Google Keyword Planner, Semrush.
For most small businesses, Google Keyword Planner is the best starting point if you want a free, simple, and reliable tool for basic keyword discovery and campaign ideas.
Claude
Named 7 brands, in this order: Google Keyword Planner, Google Search Console, Ubersuggest, Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz Pro, KWFinder.
Many small businesses do well starting free, then upgrading only when SEO becomes a proven revenue driver.
Grok
Named 5 brands, in this order: Ubersuggest, Downside, Ahrefs, Google Keyword Planner, KWFinder.
The best keyword research tool for a small business depends on your budget and how deep you need to go, but here’s a practical breakdown based on real-world value:
DeepSeek
Named 7 brands, in this order: Google Keyword Planner, Downside, Ubersuggest, Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz Pro, Google Search Console.
There's no single "best" tool — it depends on your budget, content volume, and how much time you want to invest.
Cohere
Named 4 brands, in this order: Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, Ahrefs Keywords Explorer, Ubersuggest.
Choosing the best keyword research tool for a small business depends on your budget, needs, and goals.
The questions asked
- What is the best keyword research tool for a small business?
Asked between 2026-09-26 and 2026-09-26. Not answering this month: Gemini, Mistral.
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See the GEO suiteHow this was measured
Each month we ask every assistant the same plain buyer questions, worded the way a person shopping for this kind of product would ask them, with no brand suggested in the question except where the question itself names the market leader to find alternatives to. Each assistant answers in a fresh session with no earlier conversation, so an answer reflects what the assistant says to anyone who asks, not what it was steered towards.
From each answer we keep the product and company names it recommends. A name counts only when it appears in the answer as a proper name, is not a heading such as "Best for" or "Pricing", and is confirmed by a second assistant naming it too, by a website the answer cites, or by being the market leader named in the question. Share of voice is each brand's share of all brand mentions in the category this month. Assistants that could not answer this month are listed as not answering, never counted as naming nobody.
Cite this page
https://mentionfox.com/ai-recommends/keyword-research-tools