Search Marketing > Search Marketing: Search Term Research

Looking to do search term research? Below are articles covering the topic. But first, here are some tools you might want to consider:

Free Tools

• Google AdWords Keyword Tool: Enter a search term or terms, and you'll be shown other keywords related to that term. You can then sort keywords in terms of search volume popularity.
   
• Google Trends: Got some terms in mind and wondering how they've been trending, such as becoming more or less popular? Google Trends provides a way to go back in time and chart keywords, based on the accumulated search data that Google sees. Also see Google Meme: Hot Trends Added To Google Trends, which explains more about the day-to-day reporting you can get from Google Trends.
   
• adCenter Labs Keyword Forecast: Similar to Google Trends, this shows you the popularity over time of terms you enter. In addition, you can see how popular these terms are by age and gender of those searching. adCenter Labs also offers a variety of other keyword-related tools.
   
• Wordtracker Free Keyword Suggestion Tool: Enter a term and get a list of 100 terms related to (and including it), ranked by daily popularity. Data is based on Wordtracker's search term data collected from the Dogpile and Metacrawler meta search engines. Wordtracker also offers a much more robust fee-based keyword research tool.
   
• Trellian Free Search Term Suggestion Tool: As with Worktracker above, enter a term and get back a list of 100 terms related to and including it. They'll be ranked by how often they're searched for each year, rather than each day. Data comes from a variety of search engines. Trellian Keyword Discovery is fee-based tool hitting the same database and providing more features.
   
• Yahoo Keyword Selector Tool: Long-standing tool offered by Yahoo (formerly Overture) that provide searches done on the Yahoo network in a given month. It no longer works as well as in the past, however -- it often fails to provide information or when it does, the data is old. A new tool is offered to advertisers who are logged in, but it fails to provide as specific of figures as the old tool or sort terms by popularity.
   
• SEO Book Keyword Suggestion Tool: Taps into the Yahoo tool above and provides links and information to many of the other tools also listed above, so that you can get more information directly from them. A variety of other keyword tools are also offered.

Other Tools

• dWoz Keywords & Search Phrases: A collection of places that provide keyword suggestion data, tools and search "voyuer" services.
   
• Hitwise Search Intelligence: Provides the ability to tap into Hitwise's database of how people search, based on ISP data it gathers. Offered on a custom pricing basis. Hitwise Keyword Intelligence offers fewer features but is also available for a lower, fixed cost.
   
• comScore qSearch: Allows you to tap into comScore's database of search activity, gathered from a large panel of web users that it monitors.
   
• eBay Marketplace Research: Mine data on how people are searching at eBay, for a fee.
   
• Good Keywords: Free software for Windows designed to help with keyword lists.
   
• Google Suggest: Start entering a word, and you'll be shown popular searches that are related (based on spelling) to that word.
   
• Google Webmaster Central: Provides a way to see the top search terms that are sending you traffic, according to Google.

See also the Stats: Search Behavior area of Search Engine Land for tools that let you discover what people are searching for in general at particular search engines, plus how people search overall.

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