3 Top Keyword Research Tools

Keyword research is, first and foremost, one of the most fundamental parts of search engine optimisation. Without it we wouldn’t be able to make calculated decisions and every move we make would be a guess.

Fortunately, there are a few tools available to us which, when combined, will help indicate whether a keyword is too competitive, whether it has enough search volume or even no search volume whatsoever — ultimately leading us to a decision on whether or not to target said keyword.

What we are using

We’ve pushed many keyword research applications to their limits, discarding applications which are out-of-date or no longer supported and testing out new applications as soon as we get the opportunity. The keyword research applications we use span from free applications to pay-monthly subscription services. We think that the three applications below really complement one another and will help any SEO make better decisions.

As an aside, if you have any applications you’d like us to test for you, we’d be more than happy to oblige. Just get in touch with us by sending an email through the contact form.

1. Google AdWords Keyword Tool

First on the list and something that cannot go without mention is the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. It’s free, and has some great features. It’s fairly self explanatory and prompts the user to choose a word or phrase (one per line), whether they want to look for broad, exact or phrases based on what they’ve put in the box and many more.

What this gives us is an outline of the following:

• Keyword competition
• Global & local search volume
• Local search trends
• A lot of other cool features which you can add with a dropdown.

2. SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty Tool

A large part of deciding whether it is worth targeting a keyword is it’s difficulty. The SEOmoz Keyword Difficulty application allows you to check the difficulty of a keyword based on a number of different metrics and even includes some of the features of the Google AdWords Keyword Tool. However, the in-depth analysis gives a better insight into why a keyword is or isn’t difficult. Here is the report produced for the phrase “online marketing”:

What this tells us is the following:

• The search volume for local & global searches of the keyword/keyphrase (including broad and exact matches).
• The domain and page authority of the top 10 pages in Google ranking for the chosen term.
• Title + URL of aforementioned top 10 pages, including a link to the page.
• Domain and URL metrics, including the number of linking root domains to the URL itself and the domain itself.

3. A thesaurus.

A few SEOs may be scratching your heads here, but remember that the human mind is such that everyone perceives and does things differently, so an obvious word to you may be completely different to someone else. Using a website like thesaurus allows you to explore the possibility that there may be a hidden gem for you.

What this gives us:

• A new list of keyword possibilities.
• Experience in more creative keyword research.

Conclusion

What I’ve provided you with today is just 3 of the tools we use here at Digital Online Marketing. The final may be quite abstract, but when the 3 are combined (along with other tools of choice) and put in the hands of a talented SEO, that’s when the real magic will happen.

Written by Jason John Mills