Keyword research and analysis is one of the most important SEO tasks you can accomplish. The fact is if you are not targeting the right keywords then you can potentially have a failed campaign with undeserving results. The goal should be to target keywords which have low competition but yields high search volume. There is very little guesswork that should be done when determining the right keywords for your search marketing campaign. Guessing your target keywords is not a good strategy because you can easily target keywords which you may think are performing well, but in essence they are not.
The best way to find the proper keywords for your campaign is to use keyword research tools. Some of these tools not only provide you with keyword suggestions, but also display search volume and competition ratio for the target keyword. There are a number of keyword research tools available, but you only need to choose one. I prefer using Google Adwords Keyword Tool because it gives you the most information than any other tool and it’s feedback from the horses’ mouth! However, it may be wise to compare results with one other keyword research tools so you know you have the best performing keywords.
Recommended Keyword Research Tools
- Google Adwords Keyword Tool
- WordTracker Keyword Tool
- Keyword Discovery Search Term Suggestion Tool
- SEO Book Keyword Tool
- Nichebot Classic Keyword Tool
- GoodKeywords Research Tools
Using any of the above keyword tools are simple and pretty straight-forward. Many keyword tools do not give full data results such as search volume or average cost per click information, as many of the third-party vendors are not privy to this information and it would be complete guesstimates. However, Google Adwords Keyword Tool gives you all the information you’ll need to make the wisest choice when selecting keywords for your campaign, plus you are getting it straight from the horses’ mouth! This is why I choose to use Google Adwords quite faithfully. The only concern with using Google Adwords Keyword Tool is that since Google does have a beneficial motive it is quite possible Google Keyword Tool will pull back the keyword suggestions which are more likely to cost more per click opposed to those which are more likely to be better performing. This method of manipulation has yet to be proven, but it is something of concern since the motive does exist.
