Keywords may not be as important as they once were,
but they will always have a place in search engine marketing. You just can’t
get around needing to know the terms that your audience is using to search to
help them find your products or services. Google may tweak its algorithm to use
more and more other signals, but it will always use keywords to understand how
to match up searchers and sites.
1. uber
suggest
Most keyword tools start with the assumption that
you know what keywords you want to research. But sometimes you don’t. Sometimes
you just don’t know where to start. uber suggest helps by giving you keyword
ideas that aren’t even yet available in the Google Keyword Tool. Just put in a
simple, generic term, and uber suggest will help you narrow down the options
with its suggestions. You’ll get related keyword suggestions as well s search
data.
2. Keyword
Tool
Despite its generic name, Keyword Tool delivers
great results for your keyword research. Just enter in a search term and
Keyword Tool will generate up to 750 long-tail keyword suggestions. You’ll need
to upgrade to the pro version to get information like search volume, cost per
click and competition.
3. Google
Keyword Planner
Of course, Google offers its own Keyword Planner as
part of its host of tools for AdSense. The planner has undergone some changes
in recent years, but it still serves as a solid starting point for your keyword
research. You’ll learn about local and global search volume, average ad rates,
and current competition.
4. Buzz Sumo
Keyword research should look beyond basic search.
This tool from Buzz Sumo helps you see what’s being shared so you can get a
handle on what’s popular on social networking. Buzz Sumo lets you look at the
most shared social media posts and articles by keyword or by domain. You can
filter the results by date range, length, language, country of origin, content
type and more. With this tool, you’ll see what types of content are most
popular, not just what types of keywords.
5. Moz Keyword
Explorer
The Moz Keyword Explorer gives you all the
information that the Google Keyword Planner does and more. You can learn about
opportunity for certain niches, get keyword suggestions, and even get
suggestions for blog post ideas around a topic. The keyword suggestions are
also parsed into different topic areas, which makes it easier for you to
explore new directions.
6. Majestic
SEO
The tool at Majestic SEO gives you many metrics that
you don’t get with other keyword tools. The tool returns URLs that have the
keywords, and it provides a search score that is broken down by total hits,
hits in title, hits in anchor, and so on. It also provides the number of
backlinks for each URL, as well as a trust score. You’ll get a better idea of
how the keywords are performing outside of basic volume.
7. SEO Book
Keyword Tool
SEO Book is a leader in the SEM field, and it offers
a keyword tool that uses its own custom database. This tool provides daily
search volume for Google, Yahoo! and Bing, links to trends and other tools,
links to topical databases, links to ad programs for price matching, and more.
Whatever you need to find out for your keyword, you’ll be able to find it here.
8. Keyword Spy
One way to find out what you need to do is to find
out what your competitors are already doing. Keyword Spy lets you know what
keywords your competitors are using and how they are ranking with them. You can
also see what your competitors are spending on their PPC campaigns so you know
what is going into their results. The tool can also help you identify competitors
you didn’t know you had.
9. Wordtracker
Wordtracker promises to help you find
high-performing keywords in minutes. The free tool gives you search volume,
competitor information, and related keywords. It tells you what keywords you
should be focusing on based on your area of interest.
10. Google
Trends
If you have a news site or some other general
interest site, your potential keyword base can be quite large. You can get fast
answers by looking at Google Trends. Just check out what the hot topics are
right now and create some relevant content. Or, if you prefer, you can look at
trends over time to find topics that will be of interest for longer than a
couple of weeks.
Once you’ve found the right keywords, you can start
putting together the right content marketing strategy to get the results you
want. You’ll reach the right customers and get more conversions with less
effort.