Keyword Research Tools - A Preliminary Guide

Keywords - an Overview

Keywords are the index terms or descriptors which allow for subject or article identification and search retrieval. It is essential to use keywords in your online material to increase traffic to your site via use of search engines. 

Keyword Research

Keyword research is tricky, and it takes a lot of effort to find related keywords. Thankfully, many software developers have produced keyword research applications, which save a great deal of time and expense when researching campaigns.

There are quite a few out there and new iterations are being developed all the time, but for starters we'd like to list a few that we use and have found effective:

Google Keyword Planner

Google's old Keyword Tool has been replaced by this new streamlined service now called Keyword Planner which locks neatly in to AdWords. 

KeywordSpy Tool

This is a paid service with a free option, and it is an effective one that has powerful research choices that make for profitable data collection. As the name suggests, it allows you to "spy" on keywords. You can check out what competitors are spending on their own paid search campaigns, their competitors, and other factors.

Keyword Research Tools from Wordtracker

This can be tried free but has a more extensive paid service, but again is an effective tool-set with a simple and intuitive interface.
  

KeywordEye

This is developed in the UK so it uses Google UK. If you're using it in another country such as the US you'll have to change your default location. The free option limits you to 100 keywords, so while useful, it's not something that can be used as your only campaign research tool.