If you’ve done any kind of online market research before, then you’ve probably heard of Google’s keyword tool. Another commonly used free keyword tool is the free version of Wordtracker which gives up to 100 related keyword phrases for any keyword you enter. But there are some lesser known keyword research tools which should be used for all your market research.
Wordtracker is a great tool, but there is actually a newer free version that makes the normal free version obsolete. This new version is called the Free GTrends Tool, which is basically the old tool with the addition of a Google Trends graph. There will be a link beside each result which leads to this graph, plus the statistics for the approximate number of competing pages and amount of daily traffic. This tool makes it easy to identify profitable keyword phrases because it shows you the results while recommending less than 30000 competing pages and more than 100 unique visitors per day with the results so you know instantly whether the keyword phrase is profitable or not. Not only profitable, but easy to dominate as well.
Keyword Browse is a free keyword tool that is less commonly known. While it does not provide numbers like its counterparts, it is probably the best tool out of the group for niche identification. All that is needed is for you to enter a broad search term such as “wine”. The tool will split that niche into two strands (looks like a DNA double-helix without the rungs). One strand will be related keywords and the other one is sub-niches within your given keyword. “Wine” turns out results such as “wine making”. “Wine making” turns out results such as “home wine making” and “wine making kit” which in turn give results such as “home wine making and recipe”.
So while the Google keyword tool is an excellent and accurate tool for market research, it is essential that anybody conducting such research use the aforementioned. The time that will be saved will be invaluable to your business and the sub-niches that you find will be easy to dominate using some simple search engine optimization.
Watch the video related to Keyword research
This experienced search marketing expert discusses keyword research for Pay Per Click (PPC) advertising and SEO. This is part 1 of a 3 part series, focusing on the initial brainstorming phase.
Help answer the question aboutKeyword research
Is the Overture keyword research tool really accurate? Or rather how accurate is it?Everyone that knows about keyword research knows what I mean. Is overture really accurate? If so what are the methods they use to calculate "real" user query stats?
11 Comments
Great info!
Great info as always, Christine! Thanks for this post Dr. Wilson.
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.
Keyword Research Reports
Word tracker is one way to go.
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How does this work? You are not looking for the obvious keywords that will bring people in through the "front door" of a particular site. You are looking for undiscovered gems that can bring huge amounts of traffic in through the back door, side doors, or even a new door.
Maybe you will find an incredible phrase that doesn't work for the home page, but could deliver amazing results for a page devoted to a particular aspect of some product or service on the site.
Maybe you'll decide to build special landing pages for those keywords.
Maybe you won't use the exact keyword from the list, but will run it through the Wordtracker tools to find a related high-demand phrase for which you can optimize a very relevant landing page.
Or maybe when looking through the list, you'll find guidance to develop a new product, name it, and understand what content to write to best promote it – whatever communication paths you use.
The results can be remarkable. But you'll never achieve those results without first finding the best keywords in our reports.
SEO Booko also has some great tools!
http://www.seobook.com/archives/001013.shtml
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
If you want us to create a report for you just contact us at http://www.rockislandgroup.com we are a marketing company in NYC
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)?