If you are new to Internet Marketing, you must realize that keyword research is what makes up the foundation of your business. A properly researched keyword not only builds a strong foundation for search engine optimization, it also attracts a highly targeted audience for a successful marketing campaign. In other words, keywords are the heart of your entire online business.

What is keyword and why is it important?

Keywords are words and phrases that people type into search engines (like Google and Yahoo) to find things online. When you conduct a keyword search, search engines basically look for keywords in the titles of web pages, and then they spider through the content in relevant web pages. Therefore, if your title and page is optimized based on specific keywords that you include, there is a higher chance of ranking the web page well for these keywords in the search engines.

Besides ranking well in search engines, keyword research is can also be effectively used when you are running a paid advertising campaign. By conducting a proper keyword research before you design your ads, it will usually earn you a better quality score. A badly designed advertisement that does not have proper keyword relevance will result in a poor quality score that results in higher costs.

To conduct keyword research, all you need to do is to go to google and search for keyword tool, or search for wordtracker. Google keyword tool is free to use and wordtracker offers a free trial for users. Use the tools available to find out more information about they keywords like the number of searches, related keywords and the pay per click competition. There are more detailed information that you can find from other keyword research tools.

Many new internet marketers make the mistake of not conducting proper keyword research. This is a grave mistake as proper analysis and research can save you a lot of work in the long run. There are many ways you can use a keyword research tool to improve your marketing campaign.

An effective Search Engine Optimization / SEO campaign is based on good keyword research. Here is a quick and dirty way to perform keyword research for a search engine optimization campaign from SEO specialist / consultant www.edwardbeckett.com

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You are very certain that there are reasons why people would be very happy to hear about your new site.  You have listed all the possible terms to help you increase web site traffic which is favorable on your part.  Your problem now is how to narrow down your very long list into at least 10 to 20 keywords.  Luckily, you have all the alternatives to choose from to create more profit.  You just have to be guided by the different keyword research tools. 

The techniques to help you increase web site traffic have been updated due to the changing times.  Gone were the days that you have to make trial and errors just to know whether a listed keyword is suitable for your site or is marketable.  Just like other advancements in technology, you have various modern keyword research tools that will lessen your time in gathering the exact data you need.  With these techniques, you will immediately see the number of people conducting researches on topics you want to expound about in your homepage.

One of the keyword research tools adapted nowadays is called the Overture Keyword Selector Tool.  This technique allows you to look into data on searches made associated with your terms for the last month.  It could also help you list other terms which you may have failed to consider.  Another tool which could make you increase web site traffic is Google Suggest.  Just like Overture, the latter could give you a list of words which are synonymous to those which you have keyed in. 

If you want to check on the popularity of your keywords with those of competitors, you may use Wordtracker.  This is a tool which could charge you for each keyword search you make.  They have two reports namely the top 1000 and the Competition Search.  The former, as the name suggests, is responsible for listing the top 1000 frequently searched term while the latter could help you determine whether your terms could be competent in the market.  This will allow you to foresee your chances of gaining high ranks in the market.

Another fee-based technique in keyword research is the Trellian Keyword Discovery tool.  This could help you detect if the term you will use is marketable to browsers.  It may also help you see how many people would search for the term on a daily basis.  You are also given the opportunity to check on the proper spellings of words.  If you want to increase web site traffic at the least possible time, this tool could be a good buy since you could distinguish the terms which create a big effect to people searching for it.

There are other keyword research tools in the major search engines spreading over the net.  Yahoo and Google would always be a familiar site where you could locate all the words and phrases you need to know as well as highlight those which could increase web site traffic.  Once you get to use these tools, you will understand about stiff competition thus leading you to create an action plan for more favorable results.  You just have to be very patient about everything because effort, time and investment are essential even in this kind of business.

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Keywords research plays such vital role in the entire process of search engine optimization (SEO) that it cannot be ignored from the first stage of building a site/blog. You need it from the time when you register a domain name until you go out to promote your site. This will help your organic SEO ranking as well.

When’s Day One in SEO Process?

It’s when you start building up a site/blog. You know that the first step is to register a domain name. In most of the cases, your top keyword should be included in your domain name. It will show what the purpose of your site is. Also, search engines will notice the relevancy between your domain name and your content, links, etc.

When I talk about your top keyword in your domain name, it means that you already know what your niche will be. Using a very broad keyword as your domain name (one-word keyword), IF it’s available at all, won’t help much. At the same, time, I don’t recommend a domain name containing a keyphrase consisting of 7 words. It should make sense and read easily. While choosing a domain name, make sure you don’t totally forget about the human readers! They are the ones that should remember your domain name.

Keyword Research for Site Structure

When you perform a thorough keyword research and register a domain name with the top keyword in it, it’s going to be the time to devise a site structure with its files and folders. When you’re building a blog, they’re called your post permalinks and categories. Of course, tags are the other factors that need to be considered. One sign of a search engine friendly site is the interwoven relevant web content crafted with SEO copywriting and saved into the files under similar categories and all containing site keywords in their names.

Here’s an example: you have a travel website for an Island called “XYZ”. The folders (categories) you name:

O About XYZ

O XYZ Vacation Packages

O XYZ Vacation Accommodations

O XYZ Hotels

O Souvenirs of XYZ

O Local Cuisine in XYZ

O XYZ Travel Tips

O etc.

And you populate each folder with files having your more detailed keyphrases (longer ones). Organic SEO consultants suggest building up a cluster of related content linking to their most important keyword-rich folder (category). Setting a keyword strategy, you will know which key phrases are going to be your most important ones and what the main purpose of your web presence is. So, strategically speaking, the most important keywords that should help you achieve your goals should be closer to the root of your site. The second important ones should also be located in the first folders as subfolders.

Keyword Research Helps your Web Content Creation

The initial keyword research you conduct should serve you as the roadmap toward building up your web content. The copy you write for each page (post) should follow the keyword basket you’ve set at the beginning. You should write several pages to gain higher search engine ranking and better organic SEO results. Keyword-rich content and site/blog shows how much you’ve narrowed down your attention to one topic. It defines your niche and helps you achieve your goals much faster.

The role of internal linking structure shouldn’t be underestimated. Your keywords should be present in the links you build in your webpages. Are you connecting your web content to other contents of your site using links? It’s very good if you do so. Just remember that you’re supposed to use your keywords in the link text too. This will add to the organic SEO results you’ll gain in search engines.
Keyword Research Determines Your Inbound Link Building Campaigns

You’ve made a keyword basket that is used to plan various campaigns in your online marketing efforts. When it comes to get links from other sites through article marketing, press release marketing or social media bookmarking, like in internal linking structure, you should make sure you use your keywords in the text of the inbound links. You can increase search engine ranking dramatically with this practice over a period of time of online marketing.

Final Word on Keyword Research

As you’ve noticed it’s highly important to perform keyword research to have a clear insight about what your site/blog is going to be about from the day one. You should stick to the result you gain and produce SEO copywritten content for the keyword basket you’ve created both inside your site and outside it. This shouldn’t be forgotten that keyword research should be updated from time to time as Internet searchers use different terms to look for your content. Some stay as they are while others may change. You should create new content for the new search terms you discover through repeated keyword research.

By monitoring your site’s traffic and highly successful keywords in your analytical methods, you’ll know which ones are more popular and bring real business to your site. You check your search engine ranking for them. If you need more enhancement, put more efforts on them. On the other hand, there are some other ones that require you to create more web content inside your site and outside it in form of articles, press releases, bookmarks, and participation in blogs, forums and social communities. Spend more time for them as well.

The organic SEO results you’ll gain will be worth it. Search engine ranking isn’t gained and retained easily. You should work on it and implement right strategies to get to the predestined goals you’ve planned for your site/blog.

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Best answer:

Answer by Ray
To find those keywords that you want your main contents to be focused around.

Add your own answer in the comments!
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Here are some to keyword research tools, both paid and free, that you might want to consider using:

Google Keyword Research Tools

Google has a number of different tools that can help you with your keyword research.  For instance, Google Adwords has a keyword tool that can be used to help generate new keyword ideas with search volume statistics.  

Google Search-Based Keyword Tool is a free research tool that is designed to supplement AdWords by generating keywords based on Google search queries and by matching keywords with analytical data.  

Google Insights for Search is a free keyword research tool that compares search volume statistics by means of niche variables such as search terms, locations, and time ranges.

Keyword Discovery by Trellian

Keyword Discovery requires a paid subscription.  With this tool you can compose keyword data which is compiled from all the world’s major search engines and then use the data to figure out phrases that are popular for your product or service.  You can also gather and use competitor data to understand their campaign strategy.  

Trellian also offers their Free Search Term Suggestion Tool that will generate 100 alternative keyword suggestions compiled from the major search engines.

SEMRush

SEMRush helps you generate different keywords as well as analyze your competitors Google search results.  

They have a free limited version which will allow you up to 10 listings per query and 20 results per day.  They also have a couple options for more extensive versions which will allow you more queries with more results per day and will give you more preference for analytical reports.

Wordtracker

With Wordtacker you can conduct a lateral search in order to compare keywords with those of competing or related pages.  Since it gets its data from Dogpile and MetaCrawler, you will be able to gather other data not just data from Google search engines.  

For Wordtracker you need a paid subscription.  However, they have a free keyword suggestion tool which you can use even without a Wordtracker subscription that can be added to your Internet Explorer 7 or Firefox 2 or 3 browsers.

These keyword research tools should get your started generating the right keywords for your campaign from a Seattle SEO business, but remember that the right keywords will get you nowhere if you don’t use them within the right context with compelling and relevant content.

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Not Everyone Searches Like You

Too many people assume that they know exactly which phrases people will use when searching for their products or services.  To you it may make sense for most people to just type in your exact product name.  Not everyone thinks and behaves the same way as you do though.  Here are some ways that their searches could vary:

-They may throw in an extra descriptive word. 
-They may use a synonym for your product
-They might type a whole sentence or just a 2 word phrase.
-They might use regional spelling or terminology.

These are just some examples or search variations.  Some other people might not even know what your product is called.  Some people may search for a very broad phrase, while others search for something very precise.  You just don’t know really know what people are searching for unless you do some research.

How Good Keywords Will Help Your Website

Choosing the best keywords can have a substantial impact on your bottom line.  Good keywords can improve your traffic volume, total sales and conversion rates.

By doing keyword research you can get a good idea of which keywords get the most search volume.  This ensures that you are targeting keywords that enough people are searching for, instead of wasting resources on keywords that don’t get enough searches.  Advanced keyword research will also help identify which keywords have less competition.  These keywords would be easier to get rankings and traffic from.

If you increase your traffic volume, your overall sales are bound to improve, especially if you are targeting quality, relevant keywords.

When you do keyword research you will be able to identify which keywords are most relevant to your niche.  Targeting highly relevant keywords improves the quality of traffic on your website.  These people are much more likely to buy your products or services.

What If You Ignore Keyword Research

Ignoring keyword research is a little like opening up a store but not bothering to put a sign out front.  That sign tells your potential customers what your store offers.  If those people don’t know what your store specializes in, they may very well walk right by your store without going in.  Not putting a ‘sign’ on your website is even worse.  Instead of getting a lot of street traffic that might walk into your store, your store is now in a back alley with a sign written in Swahili.

If you don’t do proper keyword research, you either won’t get much traffic or that traffic will be low quality.  Usually it will be a combination of both.  As a result your sales and profits will suffer.  The people looking for your products may never find your website.  Essentially you would be wasting the potential of your website.  If you want your website to succeed, keyword research is a must!

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As   per   me   WordTracker is the best option for best keyword research   tool. You can have a free version at www.freekeywords.wordtracker.com   .  They    have also a paid version that I highly recommend.  However to start with you can use a free version. The paid version comes with added benefits like   in depth  searches, saving the searches etc.

To start with come out with 10 base keywords which are related to your online   business. For e.g. online business, home based   business, online marketing etc. On keyword suggestion tool page on WordTracker.com when you enter one of this basic keyword and hit you will get 100 keyword searches(in paid version you get more).For e.g. if you enter online business you will get keyword searches like : start an online business, online business from home, automated online business, online business opportunity…. On the left of each keyword you will get a number which indicates how many times someone searched for this keyword across all major search engines. You can go even further by doing keyword research   for e.g. keyword research with online business opportunity will give results like online business opportunity, online business opportunities,  online  business opportunities for women. If you further research on online business opportunities for women you will get about   22   searches. As a benchmark anything below 20 is not a worthy keyword.

For web 2.0 & content marketing you can find out how competitive each of the generated keywords is. For web 2.0 & contents campaigns like blogs, articles, press releases,  squidoo  your concern is about ranking on the natural  searches. First by doing best keyword research you want to find out if the keyword is best keyword people are searching for. Second your concern is do you have a chance to rank in the natural search engine or how competitive is the keyword.   For  e.g.     if   you   do a natural search for online business opportunity then you will get 22,000,000 results   which means people are searching for this keyword. Now if you want to know how many websites are optimised for this keyword then search for “online business opportunity “with   quotes. You will get   3, 87,000  results. Your   objective  of Best Keyword research is get a keyword with results under 5000.

Let us do a search for another keyword – top online business   opportunity. You will get 53,000,000 results and with quotes you get 4570.Hurray!! This is one of a best keyword .You can do an article, blogpost, press release, squidoo lens with this best keyword. Remember to save all your best keyword researches for repeated use.

With best keyword research you can drive lot of traffic for your business.

One of my associate has build a 7 fig income from serious debt driving lot of traffic to his business http://www.netbusinessempire.com

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Unfortunately, the free tools will only give you a rough guide and a quick indication whether a hunch is worth further research. These free keyword research tools are limited to basic information. When performed correctly, expert keyword research exposes so much more – all the gems that are tucked away deep.

Real keyword research requires research AND analysis. There are so many aspects to the process that can not be left to chance. Attempting to do the keyword research on your own is like going to a veterinarian to fix your car. My advise to all clients I do SEO consulting services for is to simply leave this task to the experts who have the correct keyword research tools and expertise.

Following are 5 tips for effective keyword research analysis :

1. Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) – Use multi-word phrases

Latent Semantic Indexing (LSI) is a vital element in Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for better keyword rankings in search results. LSI is based on the relationship, the “clustering” or positioning, the variations of terms and the iterations of your keyword phrases.

Expertly knowing LSI and how it can be most useful and beneficial for your SEO and the importance it has with the algorithm updates to search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo which will benefit your keyword research for best practice SEO.

LSI is NOT new. For those doing keyword research over the years always knew to use synonyms and “long tail” keyword terms which is a simpler “explanation” to LSI. More often than not, these long tail, less generic terms bring more traffic to your site than the main keyword phrases. The real bottom line is that Latent Semantic Indexing is currently a MUST in keyword research and SEO.

2. Page Specific Keyword Research – Target your niche keyword phrases for each site page

Probably the most common mistake in keyword research is using a plethora of keywords and pasting the same meta keyword tag on every web site page. This is SO not effective! Your keyword research needs to be page specific and only focusing on 2 to 5 keywords per page. It’s more work, but combined with best practice SEO, gives each site page a chance for higher ranking on their own.

3. Country Specific Keyword Research and Search Engine Reference

Keep in mind that keyword search terms can be country specific. Even though a country is English speaking, there are different keyword terms you must research – and then reference that country’s search engine when doing your initial keyword research. For instance, UK and Australia may have different expressions, terminology and spellings (i.e. colour, personalised). Referencing the terms in the corresponding search engine is an important element to keyword research that is often forgotten, so for example, be sure to check the search terms on google.co.uk or au.yahoo.com. And of couse, if you have 3 to 4 really comprehensive research tools in your arsenal, you will be able to search for historical, global and country specific search terms easily and effectively.

4. Keyword Analysis – Cross referencing in the search engines

Once the majority of the keyword research has been done for a site page, it’s time to plug those terms into the search engines to determine :

If it is really the desired niche keyword for that page
To assess the competitiveness of your keywords. Along with checking the competitiveness of your keywords you should look at the strength of the competition.
Are the other sites listed for your keywords truly your competitors?
Are the sites listed for your keyword even related to your industry, products or services?

These critical analyses of keyword phrases are often forgotten. Since the keyword research and analysis is the foundation of a successful SEO campaign, you certainly don’t want to build your on-page optimization on the wrong niche keywords!

5. Ongoing Keyword Research – Repeat your keyword research on a consistent basis

While you may think that you have completed your keyword research analysis and laid a solid foundation for your SEO, you need to keep monitoring your keywords and tweak as necessary. Keywords can change from month to month as keyword search terms change, genres change and/or if your niche is within social portal networking sites – to name just a few. Maintaining ongoing keyword research is essential for best practice SEO.

Most Successful Strategy to Streamline Your Keyword Research Efforts:

Yes, many website owners will opt to do the keyword research and analysis themselves with only a marginal effect on an SEO campaign. It’s not the most successful strategy to use to for the most effective results.

To be certain of your keyword data, accurate keyword analysis should be performed – and cross referenced – across multiple expert keyword tools.

Effective keyword research lays the ground work for effective SEO results and can help you kick-start the ranking process – perhaps even giving you a step up on your competitors.

The most successful strategy to streamline your keyword research efforts is to hire an expert. Focus your business efforts on your strengths and expertise and allow the SEO experts to effectively perform the keyword research analysis correctly.

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