The Answer The Public keyword tool is really a great resources to find commonly searched phrases around a particular topic online. But their menu system and rules have changed recently. A couple of years ago, you could keep searching the tool for free pretty much indefinitely.
But now they’ve limited, free, unregistered users to just one search, after which a prompt screen comes up requiring you to register to keep using the tool:
Whilst you can do this, and there are some good free trials and paid subscriptions available, there’s also a way to use a VPN to keep getting free searches without need to register or sign up to a paid plan.
Whilst it does require a bit of “going round the houses” a bit, it does allow you to keep using the tool for free until you get the data you want.
Use a VPN To Get More Free Searches On Answer The Public
The way that ATP imposes this one search restriction for unregistered users is by logging your IP address – if you attempt more than one free search from a certain IP address, that’s when you get sent to the register screen.
But you can use a Virtual Private Network or VPN software to keep changing your IP address so Answer The Public thinks it’s a new person searching from a new location, thereby allowing you to do another search for free without registering or subscribing.
First thing, you need to get a free VPN. There are some decent ones around, but you can’t get much better than the free version of ProtonVPN, which offers unlimited server use plus loads of different free servers/IP addresses in 3 locations – USA/Netherlands/Japan.
Click here to visit ProtonVPN’s site, and select their free plan.
Then, once you’ve downloaded the program and booted up the interface, you just need to select a server location and follow these steps:
- From your first server location, do your one free search on ATP.
- Once you’ve gathered the data you need from that, switch servers/locations within your VPN interface.
- Refresh or return to the home page of ATP, and you should be detected as anew user from a new IP address, and be able to perform another free search.
- Keep repeating this process, using the VPN to switch IP address and re-visiting ATP’s home page to perform another search, as often as is needed.
Sometimes, you might need to clear cookies from your browser to make this work, but when I tested it, just switching IP addresses alone worked fine in giving me another free search on the tool. It’s a bit long winded as you need to keep switching servers on your VPN app after each search, but it’s a way of getting more data without paying or signing up.
Premium Plan & Trial Options For Answer The Public
If all of this is a bit long winded for you, you’re best off signing up for a Premium plan on Answer The Public. The good news is also that they all offer 7 day free trials, to get a feel for the tool, and how much value you and get out of it. You can also just use the 7 day trial intensively, really drawing out a lot of keywords and reports to keep you going, before canceling if you want.
In any event, here’s an overview of the current Premium plans and pricing:
See their Pricing Page for more details.
