Among the highest-traffic pages on the web aren’t articles. They’re instruments. A grade calculator. A file converter. A color-palette generator. An electronic mail outreach template. Every one solutions a search {that a} weblog put up by no means may, as a result of the searcher doesn’t wish to learn, they wish to do.
That’s the free-tools search engine marketing technique: as an alternative of writing one other information, you construct a small, genuinely great tool, put it on a web page, and let it rank for a question that has big demand and virtually no good competitors. Accomplished proper, one instrument can rank for a whole bunch of key phrases and hold incomes visitors for years.
We all know this works as a result of we do it ourselves. Our /writing-tools/ subfolder launched from scratch in mid-2023, climbed to almost one million US natural visits a month at its peak, and now holds regular within the a whole bunch of hundreds, all from free instruments constructed to reply particular searches. Our free search engine marketing instruments (key phrase generator, backlink checker, visitors checker) inform the identical story: they’re constantly amongst our highest-traffic pages.
Estimated US natural visitors to our /writing-tools/ subfolder (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
There’s a second cause to care about this proper now: instruments are unusually resilient to AI.
Informational written content material is strictly what AI Overviews, AI Mode, and ChatGPT are finest at synthesising, and a great chunk of the visitors that used to land on how-to articles is now being answered contained in the AI response as an alternative. A instrument is way tougher to summarise out of existence. AI Overviews can describe tips on how to convert a file or calculate a margin, however it may possibly’t hand the person the working converter or the interactive calculator.
The catch was once that constructing instruments was costly. It isn’t anymore. With Letaido or ChatGPT you possibly can spin up a working calculator, converter, or generator in a day, so the bottleneck is now not engineering, it’s realizing which instrument to construct. That’s the place Ahrefs comes in.
This window might not keep open eternally: as instruments get trivially simple for everybody to construct, the sting will slim. However for now there’s an actual alternative to construct sturdy search visitors with high-quality free instruments made with AI.
Construct your individual free instruments technique with Ahrefs and Letaido
We’ve constructed tons of distinctive options that can assist you generate natural visitors with free instruments:
- Matching Phrases report – pulls each actual search variation of a seed sample (e.g. “calculator,” “generator,” “converter,” “template”)
- Key phrase Issue (KD) filter – set to ≤30, paired with lowest Area Score (DR) within the SERP, to exclude phrases dominated by high-authority websites and floor realistically rankable ones
- Class filter – narrows Matching Phrases outcomes to a selected sample sort, so that you’re not sifting by irrelevant variations
- SERP Overview + Web page Sorts column – reveals what’s truly rating, so you possibly can shortly spot when web page one is skinny instrument pages (winnable) vs. long-form articles (not a instrument alternative)
And now, you should use Letaido by Ahrefs to construct and deploy any free instrument from a plain-language immediate, producing a working, self-contained web page in a single move while not having a developer.
A calculator is a instrument that takes just a few inputs and returns a quantity the searcher wants. Somebody varieties “margin calculator”, enters their value and sale value, and will get their revenue margin immediately, no article required.
Omni Calculator reveals how far this technique can go. It’s not a media model or a SaaS with an enormous content material group, it’s a library of hundreds of single-purpose calculators, each a web page focusing on a selected “calculator” search. Grade calculators, finance calculators, well being calculators, unit conversions. Every web page does one job, and collectively they pull in tens of millions of US visits a month from search.
Omni Calculator’s estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| omnicalculator.com/different/test-grade | check grade calculator | 5,900 | 61,086 |
| omnicalculator.com/finance/annual-income | annual revenue | 81,000 | 50,825 |
| omnicalculator.com/finance/margin | margin calculator | 55,000 | 49,169 |
| omnicalculator.com/finance/salary-to-hourly | wage to hourly calculator | 42,000 | 45,940 |
You don’t must be a pure-play calculator website to make use of this.
Gusto is payroll and HR software program for small companies, not a calculator website, however its free hourly paycheck calculator pulls round 17,800 US visits a month, and its wage model one other 8,000. Each a type of guests is a small-business proprietor understanding what to pay somebody, which is strictly who Gusto desires operating payroll by its product. The calculator solutions the query free of charge, and the software program is the apparent subsequent step.
gusto.com/assets/calculators/payroll/hourly-paycheck-calculator estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| gusto.com/assets/calculators/payroll/hourly-paycheck-calculator | wage calculator | 17,000 | 17,776 |
And it really works on the prime finish too. Shopify runs an entire /instruments/ hub of free calculators and mills as one channel amongst many. Its profit-margin calculator peaked above 20,000 US visits a month and nonetheless pulls just a few thousand in the present day, each one in every of them a service provider weighing up their pricing, which is strictly who Shopify desires promoting on its platform. Even a web page previous its peak retains introducing the product to the fitting individuals for free.
shopify.com/instruments/profit-margin-calculator estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| shopify.com/instruments/profit-margin-calculator | margin calculator | 55,000 | 4,550 |
Calculator key phrase alternatives
The apparent head phrases have big search quantity, however their Key phrase Issue is 80+ and the outcomes are owned by massive manufacturers. You in all probability gained’t rank for these (at the very least not proper away):
| Instance key phrase | Area of interest | Quantity | KD | Site visitors Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| mortgage calculator | Actual property / fintech | 2,220,000 | 81 | 1,390,000 |
| calorie calculator | Well being / health | 868,000 | 86 | 717,000 |
| gpa calculator | Training | 550,000 | 54 | 695,000 |
| paycheck calculator | HR / payroll | 378,000 | 72 | 991,000 |
The winnable key phrases are the area of interest ones. Search quantity is decrease, however so is problem (usually single digits), and Site visitors Potential stays excessive. Discover the chance closest to your area of interest, then verify whether or not the equal key phrase exists to your personal viewers:
| Instance key phrase | Area of interest | Quantity | KD | Site visitors Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| amazon fba calculator | Ecommerce sellers | 4,800 | 20 | 40,000 |
| deck materials calculator | Contractors / decking | 1,200 | 9 | 26,000 |
| roof pitch calculator | Roofing | 11,000 | 13 | 6,700 |
| etsy payment calculator | Etsy sellers | 2,000 | 7 | 4,000 |
| twitch bits to usd | Streamers | 1,500 | 0 | 2,900 |
| tattoo value calculator | Tattoo studios | 350 | 1 | 1,700 |
To seek out your individual, paste these seed patterns into Key phrases Explorer (Matching phrases) and swap the bracketed half to your area of interest: [thing] calculator, [thing] value calculator, [thing] value calculator, how a lot [thing], what number of [thing], [thing] estimator, [thing] measurement calculator, [metric] to [metric], [thing] per [unit], [thing] financial savings calculator.
A converter modifications one thing from one format into one other. Somebody searches “mp4 to mp3”, uploads a video file, and downloads the audio; the instrument does the one job they got here for.
FreeConvert went from round 380K to over 1.5M US natural visits a month in 5 years on the again of “convert X to Y” searches: video, picture, and doc converters plus compressors. Each format pair is its personal touchdown web page, and there’s no scarcity of demand as a result of individuals convert information always and barely keep in mind which instrument they used final.
FreeConvert’s estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| freeconvert.com/video-compressor | file compressor | 348,000 | 259,715 |
| freeconvert.com/mp4-to-mp3 | mp3 converter | 263,000 | 97,330 |
| freeconvert.com/convert/video-to-mp3 | video to mp3 | 64,000 | 79,809 |
| freeconvert.com/heic-to-jpg | heic to jpg | 207,000 | 44,791 |
You don’t should be a converter website both.
Clockify is time-tracking software program, however its free military-time converter pulls round 31,200 US visits a month, and its decimal-hours converter one other 2,400. Each are the identical thought utilized to Clockify’s personal world: the individuals changing time codecs are the individuals who would possibly monitor time in its app. The converter does the one job the searcher got here for, and the product sits proper there once they’re executed.
clockify.me/military-time-converter estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| clockify.me/military-time-converter | 2200 army time | 23,000 | 31,391 |
Adobe sells Acrobat Professional, however its free on-line converters are a large top-of-funnel tactic: the PDF-to-Phrase web page alone pulls round 385,000 US visits a month. Every free conversion nudges the person a bit nearer to the paid subscription.
adobe.com/acrobat/on-line/pdf-to-word.html estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| adobe.com/acrobat/on-line/pdf-to-word.html | pdf to phrase | 183,000 | 402,101 |
Converter key phrase alternatives
The widespread format pairs have massive quantity, however they’re taken by billion-visit websites like FreeConvert at KD 80+:
| Instance key phrase | Area of interest | Quantity | KD | Site visitors Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| foreign money converter | Finance / journey | 459,000 | 84 | 250,000 |
| celsius to fahrenheit | Science / on a regular basis | 330,000 | 23 | 82,000 |
| heic to jpg | Pictures | 222,000 | 31 | 491,000 |
| pdf to phrase | Paperwork / workplace | 220,000 | 81 | 243,000 |
The extra winnable key phrases are the format pairs particular to at least one career, the place problem drops to single digits:
| Instance key phrase | Area of interest | Quantity | KD | Site visitors Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| pdf financial institution assertion to csv | Accountancy / bookkeeping | 90 | 5 | 3,300 |
| psd to png | Graphic design | 2,800 | 4 | 3,500 |
| dwg to pdf | Structure / CAD | 1,500 | 12 | 4,600 |
| mp3 to midi | Music manufacturing | 5,700 | 10 | 8,900 |
| stl to gcode | 3D printing | 1,100 | 1 | 1,500 |
| yaml to json | Software program / DevOps | 2,900 | 1 | 2,200 |
To seek out your individual, paste these seed patterns into Key phrases Explorer (Matching phrases) and swap the bracketed half to your area of interest: [niche format] to [niche format], convert [format] to [format], [pro file] to csv, [pro file] to excel, [format] to pdf, [format] to textual content, [format] to picture, [proprietary format] converter, [format] converter on-line, batch [format] converter.
A generator creates one thing new from a click on or a immediate. Somebody searches “shade palette generator”, hits the button, and will get a ready-to-use set of colors they’ll copy or export.
Coolors is a colour-palette generator that grew into an entire suite of design mills: palettes, fonts, gradients, distinction checkers. It almost doubled its US natural visitors over 5 years by rating #1 for “shade palette generator”, then including a web page for every adjoining “generator” and “maker” question it may serve.
Coolors’ estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| coolors.co | shade palette generator | 84,000 | 340,519 |
| coolors.co/font-generator | font generator | 751,000 | 75,954 |
| coolors.co/image-picker | shade palette from picture | 10,000 | 10,334 |
| coolors.co/contrast-checker | distinction checker | 7,000 | 6,640 |
Kapwing is a video-editing instrument, however a number of its search visitors comes from small free mills: its meme maker pulls round 10,500 US visits a month and its subtitle generator one other 5,800. None of these pages promote the editor instantly, however the individuals making memes and subtitles are the individuals who edit video, so every free generator is an inexpensive strategy to put the product in entrance of the fitting viewers.
kapwing.com/meme-maker estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer). Site visitors can wane, however a fading instrument web page nonetheless pulls way over zero.
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| kapwing.com/meme-maker | meme generator | 305,000 | 10,497 |
HubSpot does the identical at scale. It sells CRM and advertising software program, but one in every of its best-performing pages is a free electronic mail signature generator pulling round 55,000 US visits a month. On the floor, it has nothing to do with the core product, however the individuals who want an electronic mail signature are entrepreneurs and salespeople, precisely who HubSpot desires in its funnel. A generator is an inexpensive, evergreen entrance door.
hubspot.com/email-signature-generator estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| hubspot.com/email-signature-generator | electronic mail signature | 43,000 | 54,653 |
Generator key phrase alternatives
The pinnacle phrases have massive quantity however excessive problem:
| Instance key phrase | Area of interest | Quantity | KD | Site visitors Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| qr code generator | Advertising / retail | 776,000 | 90 | 426,000 |
| password generator | Safety / tech | 300,000 | 82 | 505,000 |
| bill generator | Finance / SMB | 183,000 | 63 | 371,000 |
| enterprise identify generator | Entrepreneurship | 51,000 | 80 | 243,000 |
The winnable key phrases are the area of interest ones: smaller quantity, low problem, sturdy Site visitors Potential. Discover the row closest to your area of interest, then verify whether or not the equal exists to your personal viewers:
| Instance key phrase | Area of interest | Quantity | KD | Site visitors Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| band identify generator | Musicians | 11,000 | 7 | 14,000 |
| podcast identify generator | Podcasters | 12,000 | 8 | 9,900 |
| d&d identify generator | Tabletop gaming | 2,100 | 14 | 18,000 |
| clan identify generator | Gaming | 2,300 | 5 | 4,200 |
| twitch panel maker | Streamers | 450 | 3 | 2,800 |
| meta description generator | search engine marketing / advertising | 1,600 | 12 | 4,200 |
To seek out your individual, paste these seed patterns into Key phrases Explorer (Matching phrases) and swap the bracketed half to your area of interest: [thing] generator, [thing] maker, [thing] creator, [thing] identify generator, [thing] username generator, random [thing] generator, free [thing] generator, ai [thing] generator, [thing] concepts generator, [thing] builder.
A template is a ready-made file the searcher can copy and fill in. Somebody searches “medical doctors observe template”, lands on the web page, and downloads a doc they’ll edit, no design work of their personal.
Templates are a bit completely different: most of them aren’t interactive instruments in any respect, only a web page plus a downloadable or editable file. Template.internet ranks for hundreds of “template” queries (physician’s notes, obituaries, letters, calendars), every web page providing a ready-made file. It’s the lowest-effort model of this technique and nonetheless pulls round 700K US visits a month.
Template.internet’s estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| template.internet/doctor-note | medical doctors observe template | 8,600 | 36,173 |
| template.internet/signature-generator | signature generator | 55,000 | 6,631 |
| template.internet/obituary | obituary template | 22,000 | 5,478 |
| template.internet/letters/character | character reference letter | 6,300 | 5,288 |
Venngage is an infographic maker, and its /templates/ hub pulls round 11,000 US visits a month throughout a whole bunch of ready-made designs, from org charts to infographics. Every template ranks for its personal “template” question, palms the searcher a free beginning design, then invitations them to edit it inside Venngage. The template is helpful by itself, and the product is the pure subsequent click on.
venngage.com/templates estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| venngage.com/templates | infographic template | 13,000 | 10,954 |
Canva runs the most important model of this. Its /templates/ hub pulls round 505,000 US visits a month, with sub-pages for every little thing from budgets to assembly agendas to obituaries:
canva.com/templates estimated US natural visitors (Ahrefs Web site Explorer).
| Web page | Prime key phrase | Quantity | Site visitors/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| canva.com/templates/ | canva templates | 20,000 | 508,826 |
Template key phrase alternatives
The generic head phrases have massive clusters of quantity however excessive problem:
| Instance key phrase | Area of interest | Quantity | KD | Site visitors Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| resume template | Careers / HR | 195,000 | 68 | 424,000 |
| bill template | Finance / SMB | 111,000 | 43 | 80,000 |
| marketing strategy template | Entrepreneurship | 87,000 | 40 | 154,000 |
| price range template | Private finance | 28,000 | 45 | 145,000 |
If you happen to don’t wish to go head-to-head with Canva (and few would), you could find loads of winnable key phrases: particular paperwork your career wants, with near-zero problem.
| Instance key phrase | Area of interest | Quantity | KD | Site visitors Potential |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| marriage ceremony seating chart template | Marriage ceremony planning | 1,900 | 7 | 11,000 |
| building estimate template | Building | 1,200 | 2 | 3,300 |
| pictures contract template | Pictures | 1,100 | 6 | 2,400 |
| podcast script template | Podcasters | 600 | 1 | 1,400 |
| actual property flyer template | Actual property | 350 | 8 | 1,600 |
| tattoo consent type template | Tattoo studios | 150 | 0 | 800 |
To seek out your individual, paste these seed patterns into Key phrases Explorer (Matching phrases) and swap the bracketed half to your area of interest: [document] template, [document] instance, [document] format, [document] pattern, printable [document], free [document] template, editable [document] template, [document] template phrase, [document] template google docs, [document] guidelines.
The 4 classes look completely different, however the course of is similar for all of them: discover a winnable key phrase in Key phrases Explorer, construct the instrument with AI, then get it reside in your website. Right here it’s finish to finish.
1. Search seed key phrases with the Matching phrases report
Each instrument question follows an identical sample: a phrase that indicators the searcher desires to do one thing, not examine it. Search these seed phrases with a broad Matching phrases report, and Ahrefs returns each variation individuals truly seek for:
| Class | Seed patterns to go looking |
|---|---|
| Calculators | [thing] calculator, [thing] value calculator, [thing] value calculator, how a lot [thing], what number of [thing], [thing] estimator, [thing] measurement calculator, [metric] to [metric], [thing] per [unit], [thing] financial savings calculator |
| Converters | [niche format] to [niche format], convert [format] to [format], [pro file] to csv, [pro file] to excel, [format] to pdf, [format] to textual content, [format] to picture, [proprietary format] converter, [format] converter on-line, batch [format] converter |
| Mills | [thing] generator, [thing] maker, [thing] creator, [thing] identify generator, [thing] username generator, random [thing] generator, free [thing] generator, ai [thing] generator, [thing] concepts generator, [thing] builder |
| Templates | [document] template, [document] instance, [document] format, [document] pattern, printable [document], free [document] template, editable [document] template, [document] template phrase, [document] template google docs, [document] guidelines |
2. Filter for the winnable phrases
The pinnacle phrases (“mortgage calculator”, “qr code generator”) have the most important quantity, however they’re dominated by billion-visit websites you gained’t outrank. The winnable key phrases sit a degree under them. Set a Key phrase Issue filter of roughly KD ≤ 30, add a Lowest DR filter to make sure that websites like yours seem in top-ranking positions, then type by Site visitors Potential or Search quantity to floor low-difficulty phrases that also sit below a big guardian matter.
3. Use the Class filter to seek out alternatives in your area of interest
Scan the outcomes for a time period your individual viewers would search: a deck materials calculator for a contractor instrument, a YAML-to-JSON converter for a developer product, a pictures contract template for a inventive platform. The very best alternatives are particular: smaller quantity, however near-zero problem and consumers who match your product.
You should use the Class filter to shortly discover related alternatives to your particular area of interest:
4. Sanity-check the SERP
Click on into the SERP overview to your shortlisted key phrase. If the highest outcomes are skinny, single-purpose instrument pages reasonably than deep guides, that’s your sign: a centered instrument web page can win right here. If the page-one outcomes are all 3,000-word articles, the intent isn’t a instrument.
The Web page varieties column makes it very simple to verify which web page varieties rank finest in any SERP:
5. Construct the instrument with AI
When you’ve discovered a key phrase value constructing for, you don’t want a developer to make the instrument itself. Describe precisely what it ought to do, then paste that into Letaido, ChatGPT, Claude, or any succesful mannequin.
immediate incorporates the inputs, the outputs, and the on-page copy that helps it rank. Right here’s an actual one I used to construct a deck materials calculator, the area of interest time period from the Calculators part above:
Immediate: deck materials calculator
Construct me a single-page “deck materials calculator” as one self-contained HTML file. Inputs: deck size and width (in ft), the deck board width (in inches, default 5.5), the hole between boards (in inches, default 0.25), joist spacing (12, 16, or 24 inches), and an editable value per board. Outputs: the variety of deck boards wanted, complete linear ft of decking, the variety of joists, and an estimated supplies value. Present the working beneath every quantity so individuals can see the way it’s calculated, not simply the ultimate complete. Make it quick and mobile-friendly, with a transparent title, a one-line explainer on the prime, and no login or sign-up. Beneath the calculator, add a brief FAQ answering “how a lot decking do I would like?” and “what number of deck boards per sq. foot?” so the web page can rank for these searches.
Right here’s what Letaido constructed from that immediate in a single move—a working calculator in a couple of minute, for $1.24:
The deck materials calculator Letaido generated from the immediate above — one move, ~1 minute, $1.24.
Swap the specifics to your personal key phrase. For a converter, ask for a paste-and-convert field; for a generator, ask for a “generate” button and a strategy to copy the end result; for a template, ask for a fillable type plus a “obtain as PDF” button. Then iterate within the chat till it behaves the best way you need.
6. Ship it to your website
That is the half that’s genuinely tougher than constructing the instrument, and it relies upon totally in your stack. The instrument AI palms you is normally a self-contained web page (HTML, CSS, and a bit JavaScript). Getting it reside and rating is the true work:
- WordPress: embed the instrument with a customized HTML block or a plugin, or drop it by itself landing-page template. Preserve it on a clear, descriptive URL (e.g.
/instruments/deck-calculator/). - Webflow, Framer, or a website builder: use an embed/HTML part. Watch that the embed is crawlable and never hidden behind an iframe search engines like google ignore.
- A customized or headless website (React, Subsequent.js, and so on.): your builders can drop the logic straight into an actual web page, which is finest for pace and search engine marketing however wants engineering time.
- No website, otherwise you need it reside quick: host the standalone web page by itself (Letaido can publish it for you, or a static host works), then hyperlink to it out of your primary website.
Whichever route you are taking, the search engine marketing fundamentals resolve whether or not it ranks: a descriptive URL and title, the instrument seen within the web page’s HTML (not buried in an un-crawlable iframe), quick load on cellular, and that FAQ block so the web page has textual content to match the question. Get one instrument reside, let it rank, and use what it teaches you to construct the subsequent.
Remaining ideas
Instruments are largely resistant to the factor consuming everybody else’s visitors: an AI Overview can summarise an article, however it may possibly’t do your calculation or convert your file for you—individuals nonetheless must land on the web page and use it.
Free instruments have by no means been simpler to make: that deck calculator value me $1.24 and a couple of minute, the place just a few years in the past it was a developer ticket. And persons are genuinely glad to seek out them—a free instrument that does one job properly earns hyperlinks, return visits, and goodwill in a approach one other weblog put up not often does.
A defensible visitors alternative that’s getting cheaper to construct and that customers truly like is a uncommon mixture. Go construct one.
