Nowadays, there are a number of keyword and competitive intelligence tools on the market. One of my favorites, and one that we’ve used for several years now, is Wordtracker.

Wordtracker has a database of about 330 million search terms which are updated weekly. There are a few bells and whistles but, essentially, Wordtracker allows you to type in a phrase e.g. ‘tomato soup’ and it will generate all the related terms used by search engine users in the previous period.

For each generated search term, Wordtracker will, among other things, give you the ‘count’ - the number of times people have entered the keyword from all the search queries in Wordtracker’s database - the estimated number of searches in a 24 hour period - and the number of competing web pages for each keyword in the relevant search engines.

What I particularly like about Wordtracker is that it’s comprehensive and offers good value for money. In fact, it’s free if you simply wish to generate a list of up to 100 related keywords. If you want full functionality, you can subscribe for $59 per month or $329 per annum.

Overall, Wordtracker is a great keyword tool for:

1. Niche research i.e. to see how popular certain keywords are in order to investigate the viability of a particular niche market;
2. Building a list of keywords for search engine marketing purposes (search engine optimization and pay-per-click advertising); and
3. Selecting ‘trigger’ words to incorporate in your website copy and other marketing material. As discussed yesterday, ‘trigger’ words are those words uppermost in your prospects’ minds. When you use such words in your copy you’re more likely to attract your prospects’ attention and deepen their interest in what you have to offer.

Now, Wordtracker also faces some stiff competition these days. One of its chief competitors, Trellian, actually has its headquarters just a few streets away from me, here in Melbourne, Australia.

My husband has chatted with the Trellian guys a few times and what they have to offer is very impressive, albeit more expensive than Wordtracker.

I’ll tell you more about them and their product offerings in a future Lab article. In the meantime, if you’re interested in a solid, value-for-money keyword tool, take a look at Wordtracker.

You can visit http://www.wordtracker.com or go through our affiliate link:

==> Wordtracker

Google has opened its research and media measurement tool Google Ad Planner to anyone with a Google account. The tool also sports new features, including support for search queries and geo-targeting (to specific states or metropolitan areas).

Google has expanded the demographic audience data to include France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the U.K. Users will also be able to choose between three new ranking methods to display results from the sites they’re considering advertising on. A new ‘bubble chart’ also enables you to visually compare frequency, traffic, and unique visitors.

Source: Robin Wauters, “Google Ad Planner Opens Up To Everyone With Fresh Features”, TechCrunch, November 11, 2008

Compiling keyword lists is an integral part of search engine marketing. It’s arguably an integral part of niche research too. But if you’re relying solely on ‘keyword tools’ to compile your lists, you may be missing out on some significant opportunities.

By their very nature, tools that track the popularity of keywords are retrospective, rather than forward-looking. On that basis, if you’re able to identify terms about to become popular - or jump on terms that have just become popular - you may be able to achieve some quick, significant wins in terms of generating and converting traffic.

Therefore a sound approach to keyword compilation is to use a good tool to identify the quality words in your niche, as well as use a ‘nose for news’ to identify promising words.

MarketingSherpa recommends using a two-step approach where you begin with proprietary research to compile an initial list, and then use a reliable tool to generate a more finely tuned list. To compile the general list:

1. Consider your own product names, terms used on your site, and internal site search query terms.
2. Look at industry marketing materials, press releases and similar content.
3. Research online forums, blogs and social media sites for what words your target audience is using.
4. Perform competitive analysis of how other companies are positioning their sites and search ads.

After your initial research is done, the next step is to use a keyword research tool to fine-tune your overall list:

5. Use the tool to generate additional, related terms.
6. Check your existing list for estimates of search volume and competition ie. for pay-per-click (PPC) and organic search engine marketing purposes.
7. Look through historical search queries for any unusual search syntax to help you generate new search phrases

Source: MarketingSherpa, “Special Report: Online Keyword Research Guide: 5 Tips & 9 Useful Tools”, MarketingSherpa, Jun 26, 2008

It can be highly tempting to rely SOLELY on keyword research tools. Both to indicate what keywords your target market is using to find your kinds of products and services, and what keywords to target for search engine optimization.

After all, the good tools reflect what people are actually searching on… not anyone’s opinion or theory of what they’re searching on.

But are they the be-all and end-all?

Then answer is NO.

There are two main problems with the data generated by even the best keyword tools:

1. It’s retrospective - it tells us what people have searched on in the past, not necessarily what they will search on in the future. Now, depending on your market, people may not use significantly different keywords going forward. On the other hand, you could miss out on huge opportunities to capitalize on the most topical issues and developments by focusing entirely on past search queries. For example, it took one announcement for searches on words related to Governor Sarah Palin to skyrocket in the search engines.
2. A lot of your competitors are not only looking at the same data but may also be typing in those keywords, thereby distorting how often your target market really is using various search phrases. Again, this may not be significant… but if you’re in a hyper-competitive market it may be significant enough for you to make erroneous decisions about which keywords to target.

By all means use a quality keyword research tool (some good ones are listed below). But I also recommend keeping abreast of what’s happening in your industry and the media for news that may impact on what people search on… and what keywords YOU target for search engine marketing purposes.

Tools I like:

• Wordtracker: http://www.wordtracker.com
• Keyword Discovery: http://www.keyworddiscovery.com
• Google AdWords Keyword Tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal