How To Conduct Keyword Research
You know the keywords you think you want to use. But do you know their value?
There are several ways to conduct proper keyword research. Some of them are expensive, but keyword research doesn’t have to be expensive. In fact, you can do it without spending a dime.
Keyword Research Tools You Can Use
Some popular keyword research tools include:
- Overture
- Wordtracker
- Good Keywords
- Google AdWords Keyword Suggestion Tool
All of these are viable means of conducting keyword research and provide some level of benefit. No matter which tool you use, however, the object is the same: To find the most profitable keyword for your business.
Keyword Profitability
Keyword profitability boils down to three things:
- Supply
- Demand
- Relevance
Keyword Supply - How To Find It
Keyword supply is all about finding out how many websites use your keyword. The best way to determine keyword supply is to visit the search engines and conduct a search for the specific keyword you are considering. Let’s say your keyword is “guinea pig.” You type in “guinea pig” into Google, Yahoo, and MSN and see how many pages come up in your results. At the top of the search results page in each search engine you will see this figure, which will tell you how many websites use the keyword “guinea pig.”
Keyword Demand - How Many People Want It?
Another important factor in keyword research is keyword demand. You want to know how many people actually perform searches for your important keyword. The best way to get this information is to go to Overture (http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/). Overture’s Keyword Suggestion Tool will tell you how many people searched for your keyword last month.
How To Evaluate Supply Versus Demand
If Google returns 3,440,298 websites for the keyword “guinea pig” and Overture tells you that 5,965 people searched for the term last month then you are researching a highly competitive keyword. On the other hand, if Google returns 5,965 results for the keyword and Overture tells you that 340,561 people searched for the term last month then you have a keyword with huge demand but for which very few websites are supplying web pages for. That is an ideal supply/demand ratio. You want keywords with low supply and high demand as those will have the most potential for profitability for your business.
Relevance: Does It Matter To You?
Even if a keyword has the right profitability score for your website it might not be relevant. If you sell skidoos, for instance, it won’t matter what the supply/demand ration of “guinea pig” is. So you want the keywords you research to be important keywords for your business. Even within your industry you could have keywords that are not relevant. If you sell custom-made bird cages for exotic birds, but don’t sell bird feed then “bird feed” will not be a relevant keyword no matter what your supply/demand ratio is. On the other hand, if “bird cage” has the perfect supply/demand ration then it will be a good keyword match for you because of it’s relevance.
For The Best Results, Mix And Match Your Keywords
It is likely that you will come across keywords that, by themselves, do not match the criteria for profitability because the supply/demand ratio is out of sync. That is, too many websites supplying information on that keyword but not enough people searching for information for that keyword to justify building another web page that will just get lost in the mix. One way to find the right niche is to mix and match your keywords. Perhaps “bird cage” and “cockatiel”, when combined, produce a much higher profitability score. You could specialize in bird cages for cockatiels.
Some people refer to this as the long tail. I don’t care what you call it. I know it works. Take some of your most important keywords, preferably those with high demand, and put them together to see their supply and demand scores. If you get a match that has a great profitability score then put it in your “maybe box.” After looking at all of your keyword possibilities you can finally decide where to focus your efforts in building a niche-related content site targeted specifically toward people with your interests.
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