When working on the Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) of a website, one of the initial jobs is to identify the keywords that will be used throughout the Meta Data / Content / Structure of your website. A good way is to cross reference the searches. As an analogy; I could say that the keywords are grapes, the website is the bottle filled with wine which is your content.
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Amongst other techniques, you can harvest your keywords mechanically (with a software/application) or handpick them.
To illustrate our search, let’s assume that I am working on an Ecommerce website which sells brass instruments.
1. Mechanical Harvest : Paid / Unpaid keywords tool
Paid Keywords tool
Wordtracker™
I personally use Wordtracker™ as a foundation for any keywords research. It gives me many keywords variations and I can refine the search from this initial “picture”.
Wordtracker search results
Wordtracker ranks the keywords and gives you the amount of time they have been searched in their search engine partner for a year period. This number is indicative; it shouldn’t be used as an absolute figure, this is only a slice of the global search. Also, some marketing companies use automated tools to check the ranking of their clients for specific keywords and those searches may slightly distort the results.However, it is definitely a good starting point.
Free keywords tool
Google Adwords Keywords tool
This online keywords tool is interesting; especially for products based keywords search. The difference with Wordtracker is that the results are more product based as those are suggestions for the Pay per Click (PPC). Where Wordtracker search results would have been more general, Google Adwords Keyword tool tends to unveil the long tail searches. I would recommend a blend of both search suggestions.
2. Handpicked keywords - Free keywords tool
The main search engine (Google, Yahoo, Bing) have introduced keywords suggestions in their search features. This gives you the opportunity to see the most popular searches according to the main search players.
Google keywords suggestion
Yahoo keywords suggestion
Bing keywords suggestion
Google wonder wheel
One of my favourites is Google wonder wheel; again this tool is more adapted to pick all the keywords that are hiding behind the leaves. You will find gems! The tool is a bit hidden amongst the recent new search options introduced by Google. Below the search results, click on show options:
The wonder wheel is listed amongst the features on the left hand side. It is particularly useful as it will bring you alternative keywords and the molecular visual results are brilliant.
Quintura
Alternatively, you can use Quintura which is slightly different from Google wonder wheel and will give you alternative themes around your main keywords
This post is more about the tools rather than the keywords choice, there is a lot to say about the way you organise your keywords and how they relate to each other. I will write an single post about keywords hierarchy / taxonomy and organisation of a website content. Meanwhile, I’d like to quickly introduce an amazing tool, the Visual Thesaurus, which provide visual results of keywords interaction.
I hope these few tips will help you with your keywords harvest and produce an attractive website. The head sommelier Google will probably pick your website if you propose fine content.
Tags: keywords search, seo
Great idea, thanks for this tip!
I personally find Google Adwords keyword tool very useful, much more than Wordtracker as the niche it comes up with is usually more reansonable and within the sunject I am in. Wordtracker’s results are too particular and most of the time not useful at all. Their database does not seem to me very representative of the whole keyword traffic on the interner - Google is much more reliable.
Similar to the Wordtracker idea (based on proprietary databases) are the following keyword suggestion tools:
-http://www.wordstream.com/
-http://www.keyworddiscovery.com
-http://www.keywordspy.com/
Rather than trying to find the best keywords tool around, my post stresses that a good keyword search tool needs to be cross referenced with other keyword search tool results.
Google AdWords tool is helpful in some areas - however sometimes it can be subjective. It cannot be ignored that Google AdWords has a vested interest in displaying the “most relevant” keywords in results. The most competitive keywords, therefore are the most expensive ones, but are not always the ones that will bring the most search traffic. Also, the AdWords estimates are vague.
I have to disagree with the statement you make that “Wordtracker’s results are too particular and most of the time not useful at all”. I say this because:
- Wordtracker has a separate database for UK results which is really handy and
- And as I mentioned previously the idea is to manage to blend all the keywords research results using both these tools.
I’ve never used WordStream, Keyword Discovery and Keyword Spy. While they are probably helpful, I would always recommend avoiding using just one keyword results tool for research.
Some great info there regarding keyword research and gathering data. I use a few keyword tools but have recently been using Googles External Keyword Tool. I think many people use this incorrectly. There are all kinds of different ways in which to use it to find some great niche keywords. It’s just a case of thinking outside the box and trying out different settings.
Finally someone who sees the power of Google Wonder Wheel! Its great for LSI keywords. Another good method is to use Google suggest, it gives keywords which many other tools dont! G.
I found this article useful in a paper I am writing at university. Hopefully, I get an A+ now!
Thanks
Bernice Franklin
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