Keyword Research Tools

Write articles that address YOUR readers’ needs!

The overwhelmingly positive response to yesterday’s blog posting tells me that there is going to be a LOT of article writing happening between now and July 1st! So over the next few weeks, I’ll be sharing an assortment of tips and tricks to help you not only generate ideas for all those new articles, but also help you identify ways to make the articles you write more effective.

One way to optimize your articles’ effectiveness is through the appropriate use of keywords. People use different words when they search for online content. These search terms are called keywords.

Keyword Research tools can help you discover topics that people are currently searching for that are related to your expertise. Use this as a springboard to write articles that directly relate to the topics your potential audience is searching for. Provide articles that answer the readers’ questions in their search query.

Popular Keyword Research Tools:

  • Wordtracker: Generates keywords for search engine and website optimization.
  • Keyword Discovery: Compiles keyword search stats from worldwide search engines.
  • Goodkeywords: Downloadable freeware that queries a number of popular search engines to identify good keywords.
  • Google Alerts: Email updates of the latest relevant Google results based on your choice of topic or keywords.
  • Google Suggest: As you type in a keyword, Google offers suggestions and shows the number of results.
    • Example: “Yoga” when entered into Google Suggest tells me that I should write articles about “Yoga Journals” or “Yoga Journaling”.

Key Insight: While you may be tempted to write only about the most popular topics, also remember that these topics have the most competition within the search engines — meaning, you are fighting against hundreds or thousands of competitors to get the attention of the market to your article.

Perhaps a better strategy is to focus on the middle to lower “tail” of the market by looking at the 50th-200th most popular keywords or phrases from your keyword research and use them as your basis for your next set of articles. There will be less competition for the ‘long tail’ than the short list of most popular terms and key-phrases.

Tip: Look at how your niche keywords may intersect with a holiday or current event. It’s a great way to pick up current interest traffic!

The keyword research tools listed above are just some suggestions — do you have one that you think is better? If so, please share it with the rest of us in the comments!

There’s still time to enroll in the 100 Articles in 100 Days Marathon Challenge and put these keyword research tools to good use… plus get a FREE mug! Are you in?

Posted by Marc, Product Marketing Manager on April 7, 2009 at 8:03 am | 23,836 views

15 Comments »


1
Kathy Ostman-Magnusen writes:

Ohh! This makes me so happy! I just sat down to write my 1 of 100 articles and could use some tips.

Happy day!

Comment provided April 7, 2009 at 8:54 AM

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2
Lorna McManus writes:

This is great information, I’m always looking for additional keyword search tools. Thanks!

Comment provided April 7, 2009 at 9:25 AM

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3
Tina Williams writes:

Chris-

Thanks so much for the tips on keyword research. Using “long tail keywords” is a great strategy for article marketing and marketing online in general. People often go for the singular, most popular word first.

Sometimes being a big fish in a little pond is a much better way to go (and more profitable) Getting attention using these keywords and phrases definitely will give you less competition and make you that “big fish”.

Your tips and the mentorship being offered at http://100articles100days.ning.com/ from Jeff Herring, Felicia Slattery and the rest of the members really make it hard not to succeed!

Thanks!
@Tina_Williams
@newoldmom

Comment provided April 7, 2009 at 9:34 AM

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4
prativad.com writes:

It’s a great for me too.

Comment provided April 7, 2009 at 10:47 AM

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5
Shirley Bass writes:

Nice tools to work with. I’ve used WordTracker for the past year and find it to be a great tool.

Two articles in two days, I’m going for my third today.

Like Kathy, this makes me happy!

Think I’ll sign up for the challenge.

Comment provided April 7, 2009 at 11:03 AM

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6
Marcus Baker writes:

Great information thank you.

I am using a trial version (12 days) of Market Samurai and it is pure brilliance. The paid version is not too pricey either. No I am not an affiliate just sharing good stuff with you all. Oh but be warned, compared with a lot of other applications Market Samurai is a heavy weight. Here’s an idea, get the free trail and do as much keyword research as you can in 12 days. You may even have enough to keep you going for the rest of the challenge. Cheers.

Comment provided April 7, 2009 at 3:07 PM

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7
Geoff writes:

Excellent keyword tips, thanks for the suggestions.

Comment provided April 8, 2009 at 9:25 AM

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8
Trina writes:

Good information! There is so much to learn, but I am finding that it is better to be thorough than try and write too quickly with no research. Hopefully you will all see me at the top of the search engines now….lol

Thanks again for this information!
@TrinaG

Comment provided April 9, 2009 at 9:38 AM

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9
King J. For writes:

Impressive keyword research tips. I have noticed that without good enough keyword research one’s articles just won’t do well, especially from the search engines. Thanks for sharing.

Comment provided May 3, 2009 at 10:09 AM

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10
Gunter Eibl from GetArticlesDone.com writes:

I always used Wordtracker and free Google Keyword Tool to verify data against each other. I tried others but found them difficult to use.

I think the biggest issue with all the tools is that the data are still just estimates and especially for long-tail keywords this can quickly lead to wrong results because such keywords don’t have much traffic and therefore the data can be even more inaccurate.

The best is to cross check the data with other tools, or even better, check your on web stats to see for what keywords you are already getting traffic and then try to improve the rankings for these keywords instead of guessing around about other keywords.

Gunter

Comment provided June 24, 2009 at 3:24 AM

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11
Jack Liang writes:

Thank you for posting these wondering keyword research tools. I will definitely keep it in mind, when I do keyword research in long tail for my next articles.

Great post!

Jack

Comment provided October 25, 2010 at 3:32 PM

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12
Joe Miami Mobile Marketing writes:

This is great advice and great affirmation. I wrote an article 2 weeks ago about mobile marketing for tourism businesses in Miami and my ezine article already appears on page 3 of Google and is climbing fast along with my new site. I love the long tail!
The lack of detail and specific articles has always frustrated me about internet searches. Now I know what to do about it. Write my own long tail articles.

Comment provided October 25, 2010 at 4:22 PM

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13
WordPress Guru writes:

Now add Google instant to the keyword research tool list. Though its like Google Suggest, but only better.

Comment provided October 26, 2010 at 3:07 PM

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14
Jon Anderson writes:

The use of long-tail keywords is an excellent way to fight through the clutter of competing voices. Market Samurai is an excellent tool. It is good to double check with Google Keywords.

Comment provided October 26, 2010 at 3:20 PM

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15
Victoria Crombie writes:

thanks so much for the information on keyword research, I really only knew about Google so this is great!

Comment provided November 16, 2010 at 5:47 PM

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