Keyword research

[StuartDykes]

Again wasnt sure where to put this...

I used to use a keyword research tools, that pulled keyword ideas from wordtracker, and then went on to pull the number of competing sites in google, yahoo and msn for each keyword. This was combined in an all in one package. Unfortunately it no longer works, which is very sad. Does anyone know of any other tool that does similar, even if it just pulls the results from google?

[Chris]

I just do it by hand.

It seems like your tool was doing the original KEI type of comparison, but I feel that total results returned is an indicator of the popularity of the world in the English language, not of the difficulty in reaching #1 with the word.

SO I use wordtracker to get keyword volume, then I go to Google and check the top keywords. I end up going with the keyword that has the most volume that I think I can rank well on (which is usually the #1 keyword because I have high opinions of my ranking abilities).

[cooluks]

Try using different KW tools.... Use the the KW on seobook...

It can help you...

[bermuda]

Whatever tools you use, note to select and target more than one keyword, and preferably not necessarily the first most important one, since it is too difficult for a new website ranking for them.

[isrealh]

Chris, you said that you use word tracker to obtain accurate search volumes for keywords and Google to find top ranking words. How do YOU determine a top ranking keyword on Google? Is it the higher volume of seraches per keyword or the level of competition?

[BGray]

A nice software (although not cheap) for crunching data from google including KEI is Adense Accelerator ( http://www.adsenseaccelerator.com/ ).
I've used to find many long tail KW for aff sites and also for good keyword domain registrations. ;)

[Blue Cat Buxton]

If you are off on your keywords, you miss all the qualified traffic. And people searching on the Internet are very qualified traffic. They are ones at the tip of the lead funnel. They are already interested and looking for information on a subject.



But there is also the case for long tail keywords - a phrase that may not bring in many visitors all at one go, but over time, brings in a steady stream, and for that reason, I believe it is important not to over analyse once you have a core bunch of keywords - just get writing on topic, and you may be surprised what people search for