Tips to use Google’s Keyword Research tool effectively
One of the most popular tools used by SEO’s in Keyword Rsearch is undoubtedly the Google AdWords tool. There are many other tools available, like WordTracker, Yahoo’s KW research tool etc, but Google’s is most reliable as SEO’s consider Google’s data more accurate.
Oh! Wait, if you don’t know what Keyword Research is, its the process of finding out the most popular and searched phrases on the search engines so that one can optimize their website around those phrases increasing the chances of getting search engine hits from them.
Let’s see how to make the best of Google’s Keyword Research Tool.
1. Filter out gems from the data – don’t just believe it blindly
One grave mistake what many people do, is just blindly believe the tool. Let’s take an example. If you search for “red apples” this is the result the tool shows.
Filtering out what’s of interest to you is very important. As a first step I would sort the keywords in descending order of “Global Monthly Searches” (unless yours is a regional website), so that I get the most searched keyword on top with the ones that follow beneath it.
2. Find keywords that are related to your website content
Now, Google doesn’t know if your website is about the company apple, or a fruit shop. It is for you to figure out. For this, we have the categories tab on the left hand side. Google shows you a set of categories in each of which you’ll get suggestions for the selected keyword. If you’re interested in the fruit apple, then select “Food” if its the company Apple, then go for “Technology” or something similar. This is where your thinking comes into play.
3. Don’t go for the numbers, they could be deceptive.
The problem with this data is that the numbers could be very deceptive. Google might have wanted to make this as simple as possible, hence you’ll find every broad match data that you can find from the search engine data. To nullify this, what I’d suggest is you take a look at the numbers (search volume) and match it with an actual google search (if not obvious from the keyword itself).
In the above example, the top keyword suggested is “dried fruit”. While many of us can actually figure out if this is a broad match or not, others can take do a Google search and figure out how difficult the competition is.
“Dried Fruit” has a competition of 3,780,000 websites already, so you might want something more specific and meaningful (unless you have a PR 7/8 page).
“Organic Apples” has lesser competition of 599,000 pages and the keyword is more sensible.
4. This isn’t the most accurate data about search number, use your judgment
The AdWords tool is primarily built for SEM campaigns helping folks figure out what keywords to bid for and what to avoid. Its not actually intended for SEO. What it can do is basically give you clues about what keywords might be useful for your campaigns.
So bottom line is while using the tool, don’t just blindly go for the data. Use your judgment and figure out what works for you and what doesn’t. And also, don’t stick to just one tool, use multiple tools to figure out what are the interesting keywords, and see if it matches your content. If yes, go ahead with the rest of SEO processes.
Thanks Mani, top article ! very helpfull
Very useful information. Thanks Mani
As someone who regularly uses the Google keyword tool it is interesting to read tips such as these, covering different ways to use the tool. There are so many options with the Google keyword tool that it can be unclear exactly how to use it, so tips like these can go a long way.
I’d like to see further posts covering the Keyword Tool as there is a lot that can be taken from this information, for both national and regional search engine optimisation. As there are a number of alternatives to this, such as those offered by Yahoo, it would be interesting to see how these work compared to Google’s.
Thanks for sharing the tips..this is great partner for my market samurai as i do some keyword research.
Thanks Mani for such nice presentation on Google research tool. Must to say that I haven’t seen this caliber of presentation on that very topic before. I am OK with keywords research tool but it will help a lot to understand the things better.
Once you figure out how to use this tool, your life will be alot easier and the money that you make can grow. I have not been using it for very long but, I have used google analytics and my traffic has increase alot. This is a good to share this information. Thanks.
Using google adword tool is not really that complicated compared to some tool that are sold retail.
Since most of the online business gain profit thru google adwords or adsense, so its best to use their tool. But for comparison and to get better results, it is advisable to use multiple tools to compare the results with.
Hi Mani, I started using Google keyword tool a few weeks ago (I’ve been blogging for a month or so only) and, I don’t know if it has something to do with it, but I’ve noticed that now Google indexes my post IMMEDIATELY upon submition. Is this normal?
Sorry to go a bit off-topic, but do you know if there’s a special reason why Google indexes my posts in seconds now? At first it took a few hours, but now is immediate, it’s been like this for maybe a week or two.
My Blog is this: http://timpa-internet-corner.blogspot.com/ (just started, I know I have to work more on the design^^)
Oh and thanks for the post, there were a few things I didn’t know.
This is exactly what i have been looking for. And i really never trusted the numbers, that was the thing that was confusing me all this time.
ty Mani, now I know how to use the tool wisely .. keep on writing !
Using google adword tool is not really that complicated compared to some tool that are sold retail.
thanks.. but at the end you mentioned to use other tools but you didn’t suggest any other free tool as much reliable as Google’s tool. Secondly Google tool doesn’t suggest any organic competition. that’s a little odd for me and i m unable to digest the information. if Google keyword tool is about advertisement competition why SEO’s use them? and if they use, how do they come up with an ultimate verdict on keywords?..
Thanks article is very helpfull
Could you please explain more about how many volume search is better with math types search: exact, board, phrase. Why SEOer always care about exact search only. Thanks
Hi Danny
I think there is over emphasis on doing keyword volume research. It is one thing to know roughly how big the market but another to be overly focus on it. A proper SEO cares about total search traffic volume and not by individual keywords. The more you focus on individual keyword volume, the more likely you will chase rankings and do down the rabbit hole of competing on links.