Writing content that ranks on Google requires more than good writing. It requires understanding what your target audience searches for, how competing pages are structured, what questions remain unanswered on those pages, and whether your content is technically accessible to search engines. Free tools can handle most of these needs adequately — you do not need to spend Rs. 10,000 per month on software to write content that performs well in search.
I am L.K. Monu Borkala, founder of OneCity Technologies in Bangalore. Our content team uses a combination of paid and free tools depending on the task. The five tools in this post are the free ones we return to consistently — not because they are the only options, but because they provide genuinely useful data for SEO writing without requiring a paid subscription.
1. Google Search Console
Search Console is the most valuable free SEO tool available, and it is under-used by the majority of businesses in Bangalore that have it set up. For content writing specifically, the query report is the most useful feature.
The query report shows every search term that has resulted in an impression for your site — meaning Google showed your page in results for that query, regardless of whether the user clicked. Pages that are generating hundreds or thousands of impressions but very few clicks are either ranking too low to get traffic or have a title and meta description that is not compelling enough to earn the click at their current position.
Both situations tell you something useful for content work. High impressions with low clicks for a page you have recently published suggest the content is indexed and findable but the headline or meta description needs improvement. High impressions with low clicks for an old page suggests it may benefit from a refresh that improves its ranking position. For new content, reviewing what queries a draft topic already generates impressions for (after publishing) helps refine the content’s keyword targeting in subsequent updates.
2. Google’s People Also Ask and Related Searches
These two features within the standard Google search results page are among the most reliable sources of content structure guidance available, and they cost nothing to access.
People Also Ask (PAA) shows the questions real users are asking related to your search query. Each question that appears in the PAA box is a potential H2 or H3 heading in your content — Google has effectively told you that these are the questions people want answered in relation to your topic. For a Bangalore-focused piece on local SEO, the PAA box might surface questions like “How do I get my business on Google Maps in Bangalore?” or “What is the best local SEO strategy for Indian small businesses?” — both of which are logical sections to include in a detailed article.
Related Searches at the bottom of results pages reveal the adjacent terms and variations that searchers move between. This helps expand the secondary keyword coverage of a piece without forcing unnatural keyword insertion — the related searches show how real users handle around the core topic, which is how a well-structured article should handle too.
3. AnswerThePublic (Free Tier)
AnswerThePublic takes a keyword and generates a visual map of questions, prepositions, comparisons, and related terms that users search in connection with that keyword. The free tier allows a limited number of searches per day, which is sufficient for planning individual pieces or small content batches.
The tool is particularly useful for finding content angles that the obvious keyword research approach misses. For a business in Bangalore writing about web design services, AnswerThePublic might surface questions like “why is web design expensive in India,” “what is the difference between web design and web development,” and “how long does web design take for a small business” — each of which is a content opportunity that a keyword tool focusing on search volume would deprioritise because their individual volumes are modest.
The cumulative traffic from targeting twenty specific questions, each with modest individual volume, often exceeds the traffic achievable from a single high-competition head term.
4. Hemingway Editor
Hemingway Editor is a free web-based writing tool that analyses text for readability — flagging overly complex sentences, passive voice, adverb overuse, and reading level. Its direct value to SEO writing is indirect but real: content that is easy to read is content that people finish reading, and content that people finish reading signals to Google (through dwell time and low bounce rates) that it is satisfying the search intent.
For businesses in Bangalore writing content for Indian English audiences — where some readers are more comfortable in English than others — the readability check is particularly useful. A piece targeting small business owners in Karnataka should be written at a reading level accessible to someone who is competent but not a specialist reader. Hemingway’s grade-level indicator makes this easy to check and adjust.
The tool also flags passive voice, which tends to make content feel less direct and authoritative. Active, specific writing — “our team built 47 websites for Bangalore startups in 2024” rather than “websites have been built by our team for startups” — reads as more credible and converts better.
5. Google Trends
Google Trends shows the relative search volume for a term over time and by region, making it useful for two specific content planning tasks: identifying whether a topic is growing or declining in relevance, and calibrating content for India-specific search patterns rather than global data.
For businesses in Bangalore targeting Indian audiences, the regional data in Google Trends is particularly valuable. A topic that is highly searched in the US or UK may have much lower search interest in India, or may be searched using different terminology. Checking Google Trends with the geographic filter set to India — or specifically to Karnataka — before investing in a piece of content confirms whether the demand exists in the market you are actually serving.
Seasonal trends are also visible in Google Trends. A catering company in Bangalore can see exactly when search interest for “corporate event catering Bangalore” peaks — typically around Diwali, the financial year-end period, and the pre-monsoon wedding season — and schedule content publication to align with those peaks.
Using These Tools Together
The most efficient workflow combines these five tools in sequence: use Search Console to identify existing content gaps and underperforming pages, use People Also Ask and Related Searches to structure the content outline, use AnswerThePublic to find specific question angles, use Google Trends to confirm regional demand and timing, and use Hemingway Editor to check the final draft for readability before publication.
At OneCity Technologies, content strategy and SEO writing for businesses across Bangalore and India is a core part of our service. If you want to discuss how to build a content programme that improves your search rankings consistently, contact us at +91 99023 30233.
