A strategic component when optimizing your website is in using the right keywords. If you are conducting a PPC – pay per click campaign in order to generate traffic and business to your site, you really need to do your keywords research. If your budget doesn’t allow for PPC, being able to target the right keywords are a must in order to start generating traffic.
Take advantage of Google's free keyword tool
While there are several well known keyword research tools available for a price, one excellent free resource is Google’s keywords tool. This can be used for doing an AdWords campaign as well as helping to produce effective SEO results for your website.
Even though Google’s keyword tool is free and easy to use there are still some other pros and cons to be aware of.
Positives:
It offers up a smorgasbord of information from for your AdWords campaign such as: depending on your keyword bid, what your ad position will be, what the average CPC – cost per click is, it lets you know what the number of competing advertisers are, it displays the average search volume for the previous month as well as the previous 12 months, what the search volume trends have been for over 12 months, as well as the month with the highest search volume
Shows you related keywords, as well as different keywords to take into consideration
It enables you to export the keyword list to your computer using Excel or notepad as well as saving them to your AdWords account to help you in your PPC campaign.
It Allows you to put in your websites URL and will analyze your site and offer you keywords based on your content. This really helps to give you a jump start if you are unsure of what words you want to target. Hot tip: you can also use this to see what keywords other websites are using in their campaigns.
Being able to see what the yearly trends are offers you the option of targeting specific keywords through out different times of the year. For example during seasonal changes, and holidays people will be seeking out specific information related to these times of year.
Negatives
Even though Google is the biggest elephant in the room, only their search engine data is reported upon. Results from other search engines such as Yahoo and MSN may offer up different outcomes, so be sure to take this other information into consideration, especially when you are trying to drive organic traffic to your site.
The reality is that the search volume numbers are not exactly precise. I know this may seem a bit contrary but nobody outside of Google knows exactly how they determine their guesstimates. For example, how they differentiate what people type in when looking for something like, “downtown hotel Portland Oregon”, has a different result than, “hotel in Portland OR”. One may be exact and the other results rounded up.
Google doesn’t like anybody to know exactly what they are up to, but it will be a safe bet that their numbers fairly closely represent what they say they are. It’s up to you to watch your campaigns closely to see for yourself.
Google’s Keyword Tool is a valuable free resource that should be utilized when conducting your keyword research.
But just as important you should use as many keyword research resources that you can, in order to get an overall perspective of what people are looking for.
While Google is the dominate search engine and their analysis matters, keep in mind that this is where the greatest amount of competition will be. Do not forget the importance of the other search engines and their results.
Information is power – so obtaining as much information as you can, while learning how to analyze it properly, will help to give you the edge you need in order succeed in internet marketing.
Be Fearless
Billy Ojai
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