Keyword Tools

Tools for Keyword Research and Keyword Analysis

The first part of any search engine optimisation process is to find the right keywords to use. 

Most search engine optimisation experts use the same tool, WordTracker, so if you use this tool you will come up with the same keywords as your competitors.  If you want to be one step ahead you need to do a bit more research to find a wider range of keywords.  There are a lot of free tools available on the Internet, and elsewhere to help you. To get a unique keyword list I suggest you use a number of these tools.

To build a comprehensive list of keywords it is best to use some or all of the tools and resources below. 

• The best tool to start with is you brain.  You know your business better than anyone so start by brainstorming and compile a list of keywords that are relevant to your product or service.  You may not use all of these words but make a list of as many keywords as you can think of.  Look at your web site, your promotional material, speak to friends and colleges and make a list of at least 50 keywords. 

• To expand your list, use a thesaurus, (found in Microsoft Word or other word processing applications or even a hard copy book).  This will give a list of different words with similar meanings.

• Overture Search Engine Suggestion Tool.  This is a great tool to expand your list.  Just type in your keyword and Overture will produce a list of phrases, relevant words and also the number of searches on Overture for each keyword during the last month.  Bear in mind that Overture and its partners have around 6% of the total searches of the top search engines. Unfortunately this has now been discontinued.

• WordTracker is the most popular tool used by SEO professionals. This online tool has a free trial version or you can pay for the full version by the day, week, month or year.  A good investment.

• Google Ad Words Suggestion Tool. Great free online tool for increasing your keyword list.

• Good Key Words is free software you can download to help you find the best keywords for your web site. Download here

• Ad Word Analyzer.  You will have to pay for this downloadable tool but it is well worth it.  I use this program nearly every day.  It will find good keywords and report the number of ads on Google and Overture for ppc campaigns and also list the ratio between searches and pages.  Read a review of Ad Word Analyzer.

• Miva UK.  Keyword Generator.  Miva has replaced Espotting and Find What ppc search engines and provides a useful which is now one of my favourites tools since Overture was discontinued.

• 7Search.com Keyword Suggestion Tool.  This tool also gives you the top 5 bid amounts for your PPC campaign.

• Misspelled Keywords. You can get high rankings by using misspellings but be careful how you use them because your web page will look unprofessional if it contains errors.

• NicheBot.  Keyword database, Thesaurus, Lateralus, Analysis, Google Ranking and more.  Great free site.

• Keyword Discovery.  This free tool collects data from around 150 search engines; all the major American ones are covered, and so are some based in other countries. Just enter a term in which you’re interested, and the tool will return all the results you could want.