Google's Keyword Opportunities (Beta) tool is a gem of a keyword idea tool integrated into AdWords Editor. I recently rediscovered this tool and have been tearing through my clients' accounts, adding keywords. The tool generates suggestions similar to the Web-based tool, but is integrated into Editor quite nicely. Suggested use: Launch AdWords Editor and open your Account Launch the Tool - keyboard: ALT-T-O (menu: Tools | Keyword Opportunities (Beta)) Uncheck the box for "Include Additional Items" Set Match Type to "Exact" Input your seed keyword, and click the "Get Keywords" Bu [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | Search Marketing Toolbox | SEM Tools: Keyword Research

Google has merged two of its popular search/keyword research tools. Google Insights for Search has been absorbed by Google Trends; the combined tool keeps the Google Trends name and exists at the www.google.com/trends address, too. If you try to access the Insights for Search address (www.google.com/insights/search), Google redirects you to the new Google Trends. When Google launched Insights for Search in 2008, I remember one of the first really helpful uses that I had for it was to help a client figure out if he should be using the term "lawyer" or "attorney" more frequently. As I use [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Google: SEO | Google: Trends | SEM Tools: Keyword Research

Good SEO begins with good keyword research. After all, if you don't know the ways people are seeking your content, it's pretty hard to ensure that your content "speaks" to them using the words they search for. The folks at Promodo have an infographic outlining some key parts of the keyword research process. Understanding that each page has its own terms to target, brainstorming possible terms, researching with the Google Keyword Tool and more are covered. Check it out: Want the infographic for yourself? You'll find it here: Keyword Research Infographic. Looking to improve your key [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Infographics | Search Marketing: Search Term Research | SEM Tools: Keyword Research

One of the hardest things to do in keyword research is to uncover related keywords. With that in mind, the tools I’m reviewing today all help identify related keywords that you may want to search in more detail. These tools are not a substitute for detailed keyword research like I talked about in my first series of articles. Rather, they may help to either identify those keywords that are most important to your competitors, or help find obscure opportunities where there may be little search volume, but there is also little competition. All of the tools I reviewed for this article are [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | How To: PPC | How To: SEM | How To: SEO | Keywords & Content | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | SEM Tools: PPC

Does Google really "get" international? There are clearly some very clever people within Google who do -- but the corporation's behavior bizarrely still tends to suggest a silicon valley tech company that's a little insulated from the non-English speaking world. Take, for example, the "Global Market Finder" tool which you can find here. This tool was originally conceived in the UK and then made its way into the Google mothership. The idea behind the tool is that you can enter a keyword or several keywords -- and it will then automatically in a matter of seconds rank the markets where the [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | Multinational Search | Search Marketing: Multinational | Search Marketing: Search Term Research | SEM Tools: Keyword Research

Keywords are important. I've heard from several potential clients recently who have talked to other "professionals" who told them keywords are no longer important for SEO, and that good content is all you really need. Here's the thing. Keywords are language. They'll always be important because words are how we communicate with each other. So until someone invents the microchip that can be implanted in your brain and read your thoughts without using words, you'll need to think about language in marketing. And I can only hope that those potential clients were told this by one seriously mis [...]

Related Topics: Beginner | Channel: SEO | How To | How To: SEM | How To: SEO | Keywords & Content | SEM Tools: Keyword Research

Have your seeds germinated yet? Last time, we talked about keywords as "seeds" of ideas; a single keyword to represent an entire keyword cluster. Now it’s time to make our seeds grow. [caption id="attachment_114848" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Germinating your Keyword Seeds"][/caption] Using the example of Artisan Construction Services again (thanks!), we’ll walk through the process that I use to grow a single seed. In this case, let’s use "deck". To begin with, I want to think of the types of decks my client might build: Composite Wood PVC Hardwood Ceda [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | How To | How To: PPC | How To: SEO | Intermediate | Keywords & Content | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | SEO: General

This article presents a rules-based approach for Keyword Generation using Dictionaries, Grammar, and Feeds. Essentially, Dictionaries define the various groups of words that are relevant to an account. Grammar defines how to combine them. Feeds define the data that may be changing regularly, like e-commerce inventory, store locations, etc. Readers may be able to generalize these terms to apply to existing rules-based tool if one is currently in use. First, a word about where this approach fits in to the broader picture. The Broader Landscape of Managing Keywords & Negatives There are [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Search Marketing | Search Marketing Toolbox | Search Marketing: General | Search Marketing: Search Term Research | SEM Tools | SEM Tools: Keyword Research

A few weeks ago, I wrote about how to use your first meeting with a client to understand their business and collect information that could later inform your keyword research. Now, you’re back at your desk and wondering what to do with all that information. To begin with, you should have three lists of keyword-types (I call them seeds): [caption id="attachment_110492" align="alignright" width="240" caption="Elements to include in keyword research"][/caption] Seeds most important to your clients (note that these may include jargon and industry-specific terms that need further researc [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEO | How To: SEO | Keywords & Content | SEM Tools: Keyword Research

Many users are now seeing a change in the way that Google's Keyword Ranking tool is providing competition data. Instead of the traditional bars to display competitiveness, Google is using text as the description. Up until now, this tool used small green bars to display the competitiveness of keywords. The more green in the bar, the more competitive the term was: Now the Google tool is only showing text-based descriptions of competitiveness: Low, Medium or High: While the competitiveness has been replaced by text in the web version, the good news is that Google has maint [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | Top News

Yahoo has relaunched Yahoo Clues, its search trends product that doubles as an underrated keyword research tool. Among the new features, the most important from a search marketing perspective are these: Expanded data: Yahoo Clues now includes a full year of data, up from just a month Wider coverage: It includes all English-language searches made globally The new Yahoo Clues also offers a "Top Trends" tab (as part of its new look-and-feel) that lets users explore and analyze the most popular search terms on Yahoo. But the expanded data is also part of the regular Trend Analysis to [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | Yahoo: Search

I love search data. Being able to mine through millions of search queries to find out what people are really interested in is fascinating (and useful!). Google provides search data a number of ways, including Google Trends, Google Insights for Search, and via the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, and Microsoft has some great stuff via its Excel Advertising Intelligence add in (if you have Office 2007 or higher running on Windows). Google has also done some cool things with search data, including forecasting Flu Trends and predicting the impact of the Gulf oil spill on tourism in Florida. Now, t [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | Features: Analysis | Google: Correlate | Google: Labs | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | Top News

Today, Yahoo announced a new tool named Yahoo Clues. Yahoo Clues basically gives you insight into the types of people searching for specific keyword phrases and shows related terms based on those searches and searchers. The tool allows you to plug in one or two keyword phrases and it then plots the search trends of those keywords on the page. It shows you keyword popularity over time, searches by age and gender, income level, geographic location, "search flow" and related searches. Let me take you through each metric for a comparison of iphone vs android on Yahoo Clues. Here you can [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Search | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | Top News | Yahoo: Search

Billing itself as one of the "best kept secrets in Silicon Valley," Adchemy is a technology provider that promises to help search marketers "dynamically" create more relevant ad copy and landing pages at scale. The company recently released its WordMap application, which is intended for very large campaigns with millions of keywords but where the ad copy and landing pages are more general and thus unable to reflect the variety and nuance of the more specific associated keywords. Adchemy says that it can "dynamically generate tens of thousands of paid-search ads directly related to intent [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Search Marketing: General | Search Marketing: Landing Pages | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing | Search Marketing: Search Term Research | SEM Tools: Keyword Research

Many search marketers have experimented with call tracking and measurement as a way to capture online-to-offline consumer activity and determine which ads and campaigns are generating calls. But there has also been debate about whether unique phone numbers required by call tracking harms SEO especially for local advertisers. Some new developments in the field make a compelling argument for call tracking and analytics, at the very least among enterprises or large advertisers trying to generate calls to call centers. Search marketing platform Kenshoo earlier this summer introduced what it cal [...]

Related Topics: Channel: Analytics | Google: AdWords | Search Marketing: General | Search Marketing: Landing Pages | Search Marketing: Local Search Marketing | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | SEM Tools: Web Analytics | SEO: Local

Yahoo published their very own Yahoo Style Guide this week. We took a look at the SEO basics section of the style guide and noticed Yahoo has a list of keyword research tools. In that list, Yahoo recommends everyone from their competitor, Google to 3rd party tools from WordTracker and Keyword Discovery. Many of you probably remember that Yahoo was the king of keyword research tools. Everyone used the Overture keyword tool, which lived at http://inventory.overture.com/. Yahoo, after acquiring Overture, slowly been killing this popular tool and finally laid it to rest two years ago today. [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Microsoft & Yahoo Search Deal | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | Top News | Yahoo: Search | Yahoo: Search Ads

If you try to access Google's external keyword tool, you may notice that you are sent to the new keyword tool Google began offering in September 2009. A Google spokesperson told me that they are now encouraging users to use the new tool over the old tool and have decided to direct a portion of those users to the new tool. I asked Google if they plan on phasing out the old tool. Google told me that the old tool is still available from the new tool via a link at the top right that reads, "previous interface." Google told me they do plan on phasing out the old tool for the new tool, but wou [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | Google: AdWords | SEM Tools: Keyword Research | Top News

Because we are still in the research phase of PPC development, it’s important to get a very clear understanding of the advertiser’s business online and how that will affect the way we build and manage the account. Last week, I introduced the concept of the keyword landscape, the set of keywords, ads and competitors that are relevant to your advertiser. This week, I’ll dive even deeper into the keyword landscape using advanced tools that can tell us a lot more than what last week’s quick glance revealed. Having a solid keyword monitoring tool in your SEM toolbox is absolutely cruci [...]

Related Topics: Channel: SEM | PPC Academy | SEM Tools: Keyword Research