Back when I was first starting to see success with my sites, there was a software guy in a private SEO forum that I was part of.
This guy had made a keyword research tool with a wildcard functionality and, at the time, it was a real game changer for me.
But the software was kind of glitchy. And it only worked on Windows.
Ever since I’ve been looking for a really good keyword research tool that offers wildcard functionality (and doesn’t require me to have a PC).
Enter Keyword Chef.
Now, before we go any further I need to mention that Ben (the dude behind Keyword Chef) gave me some free credits to take this tool for a spin.
But you also should know by now that if I think something is 💩, then I will tell you that it is 💩.
So, let’s jump in!
**And as always, I’m an affiliate marketer and this post contains affiliate links, meaning I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links
What I Like About Keyword Chef
I think there are a few things that stand out about this tool for me, so let’s run through them.
Pricing
If you’re on a budget, then you will love that this is not a tool with a monthly fee.
Instead, it’s based on a credits system, and you get a preview of how many credits a search will cost you before you actually see the results.
Now, I do think that if you jump in and start going crazy with searches, then you could quickly run through your credits balance – so do be careful with that.
Wildcards
As you may have guessed, I also love the wildcard search feature.
In fact, it’s the only thing that I’ve been using this tool for so far.
And, it’s nice that you have the choice between an exact match or exact + similar.
In my experience, using exact + similar has been the best for me because it’s resulted in me getting ideas that I hadn’t considered otherwise.
User-Friendly & Fast
Another big bonus of Keyword Chef is that it is so freaking easy to use.
Honestly, there are likely features of Ahrefs and SEMRush that I’ve never discovered simply because they’re not exactly user-friendly compared to a tool like this.
Keyword Chef also delivers up results pretty quickly, which is nice after dealing with Ahrefs and it’s near constant lagging.
Lots of Easy Keywords
One thing that I have noticed when testing out Keyword Chef compared to other SEO tools is that it’s much better at finding those low competition keywords that are easy to rank.
I found 30 keyword ideas using Keyword Chef and outsourced 30 articles for one of my sites as an experiment to see how the keywords it found would perform.
Two weeks ago I posted all 30 of those articles.
Here are the results:
A cool 30% increase in sessions to the site – and no, this isn’t a seasonal site and this new content is the only thing to credit.
And yeah, some of these articles have already secured the featured snippet.
Possibly the best part of this experiment for me is that a lot of they keywords I found gave me ideas for whole new topic clusters to add to my site.
Needless to say, I’m stoked about my experience so far.
But Do You Really Need This Tool?
While I don’t think this will ever be my primary tool, it is something that I think is a worthwhile addition to the toolbox.
Adding more new content a site is one of the best things that you can do to grow it, and the keywords you find with Keyword Chef create some easy wins for you.
And since there isn’t a monthly fee for the tool, it just makes good sense to include it as one of your go-to tools — especially if you’re looking for long-tail keywords.
I also think that due to its pricing, that Keyword Chef is a good starter tool for both new site builders and site builders on a budget who don’t want that recurring fee from Ahrefs or another tool.
Plus, Ben is one of us – he builds niche sites and he knows the struggles that we have and what we really want out of a keyword research tool.
And hey, you can try out Keyword Chef for free!
Create your account here and enjoy your 1,000 free credits.
Also be sure to join the Facebook group that Ben has created for the tool.
Don’t miss the Black Friday deal either – Double credits between Nov. 26th and Dec. 1st, 2021!
Hey, I’m Shawna. I make a living working from my laptop in places like London, Sydney, Dubai, Rome, Oslo, Bangkok, Las Vegas, Barcelona, and Amsterdam. I share how I do some of that on this website.