With every core update, Google gets smarter. 

So it’s key for SEOs to stay on top of best practices. This includes their Keyword clusters and content silos. 

Keyword grouping tools will save you loads of time, help you write relevant content, and attract more traffic. Ever since I’ve leveraged Keyword Clustering tools I’ve found that my content ranks for more terms, it ranks faster and I generally write more in-depth posts that website visitors actually read. 

The results have been nothing but positive. 

So in this article, I’ll quickly explain what keyword clustering is, why it’s important and which keyword clustering tools are best. 

What is keyword clustering?

Keyword clustering (also known as grouping) is considered an advanced SEO strategy that involves grouping related keywords based on semantics. The idea is to group keywords that have the same user intent into one piece of content. For instance, the following keywords could be grouped together in a cluster:

• Free copywriting tools
• Best copywriting tools
• Copywriting tools free
• Copywriting online tool
• What is the best copywriting software?
• Free copywriting software

The reason this is so important is that you can target many keywords in one piece of content, instead of trying to create one page per keyword. Using the example above it would make sense to create a single page titled “Best Copywriting Tools & Software” and include all the free and paid options. This way you answer all of the user’s queries in one highly optimized post. 

You can also build backlinks to just one post, making it stronger and more cost-effective in the long run. Here’s a visual diagram of keyword clustering from Search Engine Journal.

Keep in mind that it’s highly likely your competitors are using keyword clustering tools to produce optimized content. In order to compete with them your content needs to be optimized in the same way and ideally match the user’s search intent better. 

Here are the 9 best keyword clustering and grouping tools to help you write better content

1. Keyword Cupid

Keyword Cupid is one of the most popular keyword clustering tools on the market. The software helps you build content silos using large inputs of data (i.e. keywords). Keyword Cupid claims to use neural network models to reverse engineer Google’s Knowledge graph in real time. Even though this is a huge claim the reviews suggest it’s true. 

I’ve had a Keyword Cupid account since February 2022 but haven’t explored every feature. The mind map tool stood out to me the most since I can interpret data better when it’s visually presented. If you’re looking for a keyword research and clustering tool that leverages machine learning to produce high-quality results then Keyword Cupid is a great option. 

Price:

• $9.99/mo for 500 keyword credits and basic features
• $49.99/mo for 5,000 keyword credits + SERP Spy & additional SEO tools
• $149.99/mo for 20,000 keyword credits + SERP Spy & additional SEO tools
• $499.99/mo for 80,000 keyword credits and + SERP Spy & additional SEO tools

Start a free Keyword Cupid trial.

2. Cluster AI (part of Content Distribution) 

Cluster AI tool is a highly capable keyword grouping tool that can reduce your keyword research time by 90%. The tool is a part of the Content Distribution product suite which also includes Workello and Content Ops Framework. The team at Cluster AI believes most people do keyword research completely wrong. You can simply integrate your keyword research tool (think Ahrefs, Moz, Search Console, etc) and Cluster AI will handle the rest. 

One thing that stands out to me is the case studies. There are three key case studies that prove how effective the tool is if you use it for over 12 months. The results are very compelling. 

Pricing:

• Hobbyist: $39/mo for 1,000 keywords
• Consultant: $89/mo for 5,000 keywords
• Team: $179/mo for 15,000 keywords
• Team+: $249/mo for 25,000 keywords
• Agency: $389/mo for 50,000 keywords
• Enterprise: $699/mo for 100,000 keywords 

Start a free Cluster AI trial.

3. Zenbrief

Zenbrief is an AI writing tool that helps you produce quality content in record time. The tool researches your competitors and then applies the same NLP that Google uses. From here you’ll get accurate recommendations for improvements. 

The reason this comes up as one of the best keyword clustering tools is that it’s a completely free value add. You simply paste all of your keywords into a text box and then run the clustering tool. It produces very easy-to-interpret silos and clusters. This should give you a clear direction on how to create your posts. 

Pricing:

• Starter: $79/mo for 10 briefs
• Premium: $195/m for 30 briefs
• Pro: $295/mo for 50 briefs

Get started with Zenrief.

4. SE Ranking

SE Ranking is an all-in-one SEO tool that has a great keyword research product suite. One of the core features is the “Keyword Grouper” which is essentially a clustering tool. It’s a great starting point within the software since it helps you segment keywords and plan your SEO architecture. 

The Keyword Grouper tool also recommends keyword variations through semantic suggestions, synonyms, and closely-related terms. Essentially, you’re able to build the most comprehensive piece of content that covers everything for the same user intent. This is very powerful and one of the key reasons SE Ranking is on this list.

Here’s the pricing based on weekly rank checking and monthly plans:

• Essential: $29.40/mo for 250 keywords and 5,000 keyword checks 
• Pro: $65.40/mo for 1,000 keywords and 20,00 keyword checks 
• Business: $143.40/mo for 2,500 keywords and 50,000 keyword checks

Note: all plans come with other SEO tools including the competitor and keyword research suite. 

Start a free SE Ranking trial.

5. Contadu

Contadu is a European SaaS tool that provides NLP recommendations to improve your content. As you can imagine, this includes semantic keyword suggestions. Whilst the product suite doesn’t have a dedicated keyword clustering tool there are two free ones. The first is the keyword mixer which provides all the variations of specific keywords (best, new, top, etc). The other one is a keyword clustering and grouping tool. 

The keyword clustering tool is extremely fast. I’ve input hundreds of keywords and it’s grouped them together very quickly and accurately.

Pricing:

• Starter: €19/mo for 100 keywords and 10 content reviews in the NLP editor
• Freelance: €39/mo for 500 keywords and 50 content reviews in the NLP editor
• Business: €79/mo for 1,500 keywords and 100 content reviews in the NLP editor
• Agency: €149/mo for 5,000 keywords and 250 content reviews in the NLP editor
• Enterprise: €297/mo for 15,000 keywords and 500 content reviews in the NLP editor

Get access to Contadu. 

6. Key Clusters

Key Clusters uses real-time Google SERP data to create topical clusters in minutes. It seems to be one of the more accurate and simple tools to use. Similar to other tools, you can simply run batch analysis on an exported file from your keyword research tools such as Ahrefs or Semrush. Key Clusters then produces an easy-to-read excel file with keywords grouped into accurate clusters. Creating relevant content is much easier from here. 

Key Clusters have perfect reviews on Capterra which is no surprise given its pricing model. They run on a credit system, where you top up credits depending on your requirements. The other tools only offer a monthly subscription, which doesn’t make sense. Most of the time SEOs will run large batches of keywords in one go and then move on to write the content. 

Pricing:

• Basic: $9 for 1,000 credits
• Starter: $19 for 2,500 credits
• Freelancer: $34 for 5,000 credits
• Entrepreneur $59 for 10,000 credits
• Consultant: $110 for 20,000 credits
• Agency: $149 for 30,000 credits

Get $100 free credits. 

7. Keyword Insights

Keyword Insights is a keyword clustering and AI content briefing tool. This combination makes a lot of sense for generating the best content. The process is simple, you upload your keywords, and the tool groups them, based on the report you can use the AI briefing tool to build an outline in minutes. There’s no need to spend hours doing keyword research, competitor analysis, and rewriting your articles.

Unlike any other tools, Keyword Insights have a bespoke “done for you” option which ensures you’re getting the very best output. It’s easy to see why they were the product of the day on Product Hunt. 

Pricing:

• Basic: $49/mo for 6,000 keywords
• Professional: $99/mo for 15,000 keywords
• Premium: $299/mo for 45,000 keywords
• Agency: $599/mo for 100,000 keywords

Note: There’s a pay-as-you-go option where you only pay for the features and keyword size you require. 

Start a Keyword Insights trial for $1.

8. Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is one of the most advanced (and popular) AI writing and SEO tools on the market. The keyword clustering tool is far superior to the others on this list. The grouping tool goes beyond clustering and also aggregates the keyword volume, and difficulty and recommends other semantics to be included in these clusters. From here you can start writing content that has the best chance of ranking. 

Pricing:

• Basic: $49/mo for 10 articles
• Pro: $99/mo for 30 articles 
• Business: $199/mo for 70 articles 

Note: If you’re only interested in the keyword clustering tool, the basic plan will suffice. 

Get started with Surfer SEO. 

9. Frase.io

Frase is another AI writing assistant that helps you write better content in record time. Some of their clients include Coursera, Career Karma, and Talk Space. The core purpose of Frase is to take a single keyword and produce a high-quality draft quickly. You can simply input a high-level keyword you want to target and Frase will do all of the analysis. The keyword grouping and semantics happen once the AI software produced the brief.

Frase genuinely is the fastest AI writing assistant that considers topic clusters. They claim to produce full-length, optimized content briefs in 6 seconds. If you’re looking for a comprehensive tool that cuts your content workflow in half then I suggest reviewing Frase.

Pricing dot points:

• Solo: $14.99/mo for 4 articles (great value for bloggers)
• Basic: $44.99/mo for 30 articles
• Team: $114.99/mo for unlimited articles

Start a 5-day trial for $1.

Which is the best keyword grouping tool for you?

This totally depends on your use case. A hobbyist blogger will have a different set of requirements than an in-house SEO with a team of 15. It’s important to understand your use case and which features are most important to you. Here are my choices based on user type. 

Best keyword grouping tool for solo founders/bloggers: Considering I’m a blogger my choice would be Zenbrief’s free keyword cluster tool coupled with a Frase.io solo plan. This would allow me to do all my clustering prior so I know which pieces of content to prioritize. I would then leverage the basic Frase plan to help me go live with 4 quality pieces of content each month. If I required more briefs, I would simply upgrade. 

Best keyword grouping tool for agencies: The best choice would be Cluster AI since the Agency plan comes with 50,000 keywords. If your use case is purely to produce a keyword cluster for your client’s sites then this is the tool for you. It’s highly capable and reasonably priced for the access you get. 

Best keyword grouping tool for enterprises: This is a tricky one. Some enterprise companies have thousands of ranking keywords and others have less than 100. For larger sites with less than 2,500 keywords, SE Ranking is a perfect option from a capability and price standpoint. If you need to track and group more than 2,500 keywords I suggest Contadu.