If you’ve been at Internet Marketing for more than an hour, you already know this; and if you follow this blog or subscribe to Melanies Tips you’ve heard me say it over and over: Keyword Research is the foundation of Internet Marketing.
Whether you’re writing Pay Per Click ads, sales copy, articles, trying to rank your site - it all begins with effective Keyword Research.
And nowhere does it have a more dramatic and immediate effect than PPC. Even a lousy ad will get clicked on eventually if you bid on the right keywords, but bid on the wrong keywords, and you can actually watch as your wallet shrinks.
We do a LOT of PPC here, spending over $100,000 of our own and other people’s money. And so we spend a LOT of time and effort on Keyword Research. We’ve even devoted a section of this blog to the matter with a category “Keywords”, plus an exhaustive list of research sites and ideas at: http://www.improveyourinternetmarketing.com/research-resources-tools/.
In my forthcoming book “AdWords Instant Expert!” I go into each of the Keyword Research tools I use. However since the book won’t be released until October, I’ll give you a preview of sorts. The Keyword Research tool I use most often and rely most heavily on for PPC is Google’s Keyword Tool. Some of the reasons:
- Cost. There is none, it’s free.
- Source. It’s drawn from Google’s massive search database - exactly what I want to target.
- LSI. Using their Latent Semantic Indexing, I get the most relevant related and lateral keywords.
- AdWords cost. I can enter a Min. Bid and get only keywords at or below that amount.
- Site Related Keywords. I can get keywords drawn from similar or competing websites!
You can use Google’s Keyword tool from within AdWords, however you can use it as a stand-alone application as well! Which means you aren’t limited to using it for PPC. In fact, some of the most valuable features, like site-related keywords, is ideal for creating websites and landing pages in competitive niches. After all, what better source for keywords than successful competing sites?
There are plenty of other good reasons why I rely so heavily on this tool, however what it boils down to is this: Google’s Keyword Tool is the closest I can get to ‘reading the minds’ of the users I’m trying to target.
8 responses so far ↓
1 John T. // Sep 25, 2007 at 10:45 am
Thanks for the insight…I’ve been comparing the differences between the various keywords lately myself, and it can get confusing. I’ve tried so many I’ve even listed them all on one post of my own blog. I think you do have a point there, though, that Google is what most of us are concerned with getting into good position in, so it makes sense to utilize their information. Thanks again!
John
http://www.computer-income.blogspot.com
2 Michael // Sep 25, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Hi John,
You hit the nail on the head: Google is what matters. It makes sense to do your keyword research right at the ’source’.
This is what made Overture (Yahoo’s keyword research tool - no longer updated after Jan. 07) so popular: you were getting data based on Yahoo searches.
3 Amin // Sep 25, 2007 at 4:17 pm
A timely reminder that you don’t always have to pay for an excellent tool, or service.
When this kind of resource is freely available, it makes sense to use it first and foremost to research for your niches and sites.
Site-related keywords in particular is a nice little touch, as you say.
Amin
p.s. I discovered your blog through the BlogRush widget - I’m getting to like that little thing more and more as it introduces me to new resource sites. I’ve added you to my Flock feed!
4 Michael // Sep 25, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Thanks for your comment, Amin.
As an aside, I mentioned your ‘BlogRush’ remark on a thread on the Warrior Forum that John Reese has been participating on.
5 Vijay Teach Me $$ // Sep 26, 2007 at 6:20 am
Hi Michael,
Yep very very true, google keywords is the best place for key words, would be better if they could show the number of searches for the keywords.
Vijay
6 Michael // Sep 26, 2007 at 8:50 am
Hi Vijay,
While it takes an extra step, you can always use Wordtracker’s free keyword tool (http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com) which will give you search volume. In fact, there is a Firefox plugin - which I use many times throughout the day - that gives you the top 100 terms for anything you input along with search volume.
7 Hamish // Oct 9, 2007 at 1:07 am
Do you use any software to manage your keyword lists? I am thinking more of ensuring the I don’t duplicate keywords, particularly after spending time brainstorming and managing broad, exact and phrase terms.
Thanks for all the useful information - it really helps making sense of it all!!
8 seo blog // Nov 1, 2007 at 12:45 am
Finding the right keyword suggestion tool is quit confusing now with so many tools out there, each claiming that its best.
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