Recently Google released an updated version of the external Adwords Keyword Tool to include the display of the number of times a keyword is searched for. By showing relevant Search Volumes for all of the keyword phrases searched for in their extremely popular search engine, Google has provided for the first time a much more accurate estimate of just how often a keyword phrase or search term is used.
This is very important news for anyone involved in keyword research on the internet.
Until now most internet and affiliate marketers will have used paid keyword research tools such as Wordtracker, Keyword Discovery, Wordze and Keyword Elite to find the keyword phrases that internet users are searching for. However these tools only gather information on a very small fraction of the actual searches performed. Google on the other hand has direct access to a massive number of real searches in comparison.
These paid keyword research services try and predict the total searches for each keyword by extrapolating their data, but the numbers returned cannot be considered accurate in any way at all. But because these tools were the only way to get any significant data they were relied on by many if not most internet marketers.
The Google Adwords external keyword tool has changed all this as it now displays key phrase search volumes that are not calculated, but which are taken directly from real search volume data gathered by Google from their own search engine. Now anyone performing keyword research can get all the data they need directly from Google, which will be much more accurate than that provided by the paid keyword research services.
The most amazing fact about this tool is that you can use it for free to do your keyword research. The tool was originally constructed for use by affiliate marketers to help them set up their pay-per-click campaigns with Adwords. Now however all you need to do is type the URL link into your browser and you can use the tools as often as you like and it is all free.
Many top internet marketers in the industry are claiming this as the biggest thing that has happened to internet marketing for a very long time. For once it seems that Google is giving something back. Of course there are also many cynics out there who question why Google has done this and there are others who question the accuracy of the search data Google has revealed. Early checks have shown that in may cases the data is fairly accurate, but only time will tell as more analysis on these new results is completed.
The other fact that is important to remember is that there is also a free version of this for each geographic country location, such as the UK or Australia, so keyword search volumes are now also available for country specific keyword research. So for UK keyword research, the Google external Adwords keyword tool is now the best keyword research software currently available.
All internet marketers who work in the countries where this new release is available will see this as an exciting development.
The traditional keyword tools have never had sufficient data for the keyword results they provided to be accurate enough to be reliable. Now Google is providing much more accurate numbers and therefore useful information and what is more this is provided by a new tool that is free!
Watch the video related to Keyword research
Ken McGaffin of Wordtracker searchenginestrategies.com McGaffin investigates with Greg Jarboe of SEO-PR what he sees as the most interesting and dominant trend currently taking place in the Keyword Research space, namely the movement of SEO and Keyword Research skills to in-house professionals, as marked by increases in corporate training sessions and the growth of budgets to accommodate a shift to more web-based marketing — especially, in Wordtracker’s case, standard SEO and SEM techniques …
Help answer the question aboutKeyword research
I need help with keyword research for affiliate marketing!?Ok here's the problem.
I was told that when sniffing out the competition it's useful to put a certain keyword in quotes and see how many results are seen on Google.
It's supposed to test how many entries are optimized for than term right?
So why is it that I can enter a unique term that may return only 500 -1000 results in google?
Yet when I look on the google keyword tool it says that the term has heavy competition.
I'm having trouble understanding exactly what I'm supposed to go by here.
9 Comments
My favorite tool is Web CEO – http://www.webceo.com/cgi-bin/go/clickthru.cgi?id=fmdeveloper
You can also try wordtracker.com
I am not aware of any keyword research tools that are "very accurate," and at best they tend to be "somewhat helpful."
There are several issues here. First, no tool is more reliable than the data it is "fed," and neither Google nor Yahoo provide their search data to third parties. WordTracker uses data from a pool of smaller search engine sites, and often shows high traffic levels for very bizarre search phrases. (In my experience, WordTracker's data includes "fake traffic" including traffic from other keyword-research bots.)
In addition, even your own data is not complete: you may find that your bidding draws 150 impressions per day for searches for "where dubai" but in fact, your ad might not be shown for 1,000 other searches done each day. (Your data may also be "over-inclusive," as you may be including searches through the Search Network, which aren't done at Google, or traffic on the Content Network).
Second, search patterns change over time; the number of searches for "Santa Claus' address" rises in December and probably zeroes out from January to October. In addition to predictable seasons like that, there are random fluctuations as well as "surges" (when Jay Leno mentions widgets, there may be a bunch of web searches in the next 24 hours).
There are also "cycles" for certain search terms. For example, searches for "porn" peak on weekends (Friday and Saturday night), while searches for "football scores" peak on Sunday and Monday. For some search terms, it's possible that 80% to 90% of the total searches occur on a single day each week ("lotto numbers"), or even a single day each month or each quarter ("Fed interest rate change").
Another crucial factor to consider is the activity of "fraud operators," who use keyword research tools to identify high-bid keywords; when bid amounts rise, those terms attract more fraudulent activity (because fraudsters can make more money from each click than for low-bid terms), increasing volume.
The bottom line is that you should absolutely NEVER rely on any tools to be reliable — not even within an "order of magnitude" — in predicting search volumes for specific keywords or even "keyword families."
Mark Welch
Internet Marketing Consultant
http://www.MarkWelch.com/
It's true that Aaron Wall's tool is an excellent resource, and widely used by search engine optimization (SEO) professionals. I would also recommend Google's Adwords Keyword Tool.
You'd need to have an Adwords account (theoretically the cost is just $5 because you don't need any live campaigns to use the Tool). It will generate long lists of suggestions based on a "seed list" of keywords. Not only that, but they recently added a slew of features which estimate monthly traffic, seasonality trends, etc. It's really unbeatable. However, it doesn't account for the smaller search engines (Yahoo, MSN, Ask, etc) which is why it works well in tandem with the aforementioned.
I also recommend, if you're going to use these tools, to take a crash course in keyword research.
yes, that should be enough/
While I think everyone here has excellent answers I have found it best to spy on what your competition is doing. There are several tools on the following site that can help you with that. Keep in mind that while there are many good keyword generators out there they are only as good as the initial data submitted to them so if you're way off base from the beginning you could end up going down the wrong path.
Look at what others are doing in your niche and you are guaranteed to go the right direction. Make sure you download the FREE eBook as it helps.
http://www.SEO-Power-Tools.com
Its important because you want to identify your target audience and make a website that has content relevant to what your audience needs. Keyword research doesn't place the same relevance as it used to in search engines like google, for spam related reasons.
If you don't do keyword research, you can run into the problem of writing content that promotes your site but doesn't interest the audience. Keywords is part of the battle because, you want people to have a clear understanding of what you are offering.
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SEO Booko also has some great tools!
http://www.seobook.com/archives/001013.shtml
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
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What do you mean by "Chinese Keyword Research Tools?"
Do you mean online translators or online IMEs (if your computer doesn't allow you to type in Chinese, you can use online IMEs to generate Chinese words by typing pinyin into the input box)?