Keyword research tools are tools that you use to zero in on actual search words and phrases that real live internet searchers are looking for when they are in a search engine like Google and looking for information on a given topic.
That’s it in a nutshell.
Keyword research tools are not only useful, but necessary in your quest to write relevant content that ranks and pulls in organic search traffic.
Why write if there’s no chance of anyone seeing your stuff?
Google uses their adwords planner that most people use as their adword tool to see basic search metrics for any given phrase, but that is raw information and not in a useful format for a blogger who needs to assess keyword strength on multiple fronts QUICKLY and then write their article on it and move to the next topic.
Who has all day for this stuff?
So, you need an adwords traffic estimator that stacks up against the competition.
A quick word about the competition in looking not only for keywords but the lucrative long tail keywords that you need to lace into your articles for maximum search engine optimization (SEO).
Now, a quick aside first. Many will tell you that you need backlinks to rank, and that is true to an extent, but if you have enough keyword variety and density to rank relatively well, you WILL get traffic for the low competition long tail keywords, and hopefully over time people will link to you and through those links more people may link to you thus providing natural organic backlinks that will raise your search rank even higher. That is the way it’s supposed to work, anyway. Of course you can buy backlinks, but if Google finds out your site will get slapped and deindexed, so that is a slippery slope to navigate.
The keywords finder competition out there consists of mostly web based services that charge hefty monthly fees in order for you to use them. I am talking in the neighborhood of $25/month and UP. Most new and hobby bloggers don’t have that kind of cash to spend monthly. I was never a fan of that pay as you go model for most software use, so I searched around. I’m old school and when I buy actual installable software, I don’t like to have to pay for it over and over. I prefer to pay once and own it. I was happy for a number of years using something called Micro Niche Finder, and that was great, but the developer stopped updating it. Also, it was Windows only, which was a drag since I got a Macbook Pro (and love it!).
I eventually found a great cross platform PAY ONCE tool called Market Samurai that is easy to learn and provides all that you need (and then some) in the world of keyword planner software. It’s an adwords planner and keyword research tools that really stacks up.
You can get it much cheaper from me than if you go straight to the company, and they have videos and documentation that can teach you how to use it like a pro. It’s also constantly updated and you can use it on a PC or a Mac. It uses a free Adobe Air runtime that makes it run on either. Another great licensing feature is that you are allowed to install it on multiple machines at the same time.
I did a quick demo showing how easy it is to get a list of actionable search keywords for a blog article. This was a quick and dirty, and like I said once you buy it you have access to extensive written and video training on how to use all of the features.
I hope that that was informative.
Market Samurai is the Pinnacle of Keyword Research Tools
Market Samurai is a great adwords planner and it’s what I use and I love its thoroughness and versatility when I need a group of keyword research tools suggestions to write my articles around. It’s a great Adwords alternative since the Google tool is way too broad for most people. You need the focus that a tool like this provides.
Market Samurai can help you zero in on the low competition long tail keywords that you can fit into your articles in order to maximize the chances of it being indexed around the targeted keyword phrases that you want it to rank for. The top keywords from search engines are out there being used and when you know how to get that information and embed it correctly into your writing then things get much easier.
Long tail keywords are those multi-word phrases that many small groups of people search on. The special thing about long tail keywords is that while each one doesn’t have huge search volume, they are entered by people who know what they are looking for and are more likely to convert, AND the SEO competition is usually MUCH lower than regular keyword phrases. Any blogger or site owner who doesn’t pay attention to long tail keywords or work that into their SEO strategy is leaving loads of money on the table.
Back to Market Samurai. The adwords competition is measured via the SEO competition module. This is particularly powerful and allows you to know which are the higher vs lower competition keyword phrases out of the various keyword suggestions that you come up with in your research..
Keyword research tools are plentiful out there and many will cost you MONTHLY because they know that you need their service, but with Market Samurai you are free to pay ONCE and get it at a substantial discount from this very page, if you wish.
They have online written and video documentation showing and explaining ALL features so that you are not left guessing how to learn this most important of adword tools.
If you would rather have a web based tool, then this one will also work to get your keyword research in motion.
Anyway, get to it!
The sooner you have a reliable set of blogging keyword research tools and get SEO on your side, the sooner you’ll be pulling in more organic search traffic to your affiliate offers, or simply growing your blogging audience, or whatever reason that YOU are online.
Tom,
It looks like this software might do the trick.
Just today, I spent about a half hour with Google keyword planner, just trying to figure our the perfect key word to focus on my blog post today.
This is certainly worth looking at.
Jack
I hope that you give it a try and learn a lot about keyword research because it’s very important and oft overlooked.
Great post!
Market Samurai is great. Also check SERPstat all-in-one SEO tool. I’m using both of then on top of KW Planner to match and compare results.