Introduction to Keyword Research

Keyword research is an integral part to your overall online marketing efforts. Whether you are creating niche websites, you want to promote your brick and mortar business or anything else, you'll want to have an idea of the specific words and phrases that you should be targeting.

Without keyword research you could end up trying to target words and phrases that are either way too competitive, or too unpopular to produce significant traffic. The good news is that researching your market and harvesting potent keywords is a relatively straightforward task. It's made easier with some of the paid tools and services listed later on in the article, but it can also be performed entirely for free with some of the free tools listed as well.

Steps to Effective Keyword Research

Once you know what niche you want to be targeting - or when you're trying to determine what niche you should be targeting - the first step to your keyword research is to find keywords related to your core market. If you're using a free tool such as the Google Adwords Keyword Tool, you can just type in your phrase and get a list of results.

Once you have some keywords and you can see how popular or widely used they are, the next step is to check up on your competition. An easy way to do this is to go straight to Google and search for a specific phrase that your research turned up. You can search for a term with quotes around it to produce exact matches, or you can just type in the phrase without the quotes for a broader listing.

The things to note here is how many results get turned up. For example, if you search for a broad term such as boots, Google will pull up over 88 million results. A more narrow term such as women's winter boots - I'll show you how I found that term in a bit - pulls up more like 800,000.

In addition to seeing how much competition you have, you should also take a close look at the first page of results. Obviously this is your biggest competition, because they rank the highest. Take a look at their PageRank and at the content of their site.

If all of the first page competition has a high PageRank and very detailed information, you will have a hard time cracking that list. On the other hand, if the top results have a lower PageRank or seem to be incomplete, it may just be a good keyword to go ahead and target.

Keyword Research Programs

There are many different keyword research programs, including both free options and paid software or subscription services. A great place to start is with the Google Adwords Keyword Tool mentioned above. It's simple to use and will provide a long list of matching and related keywords, along with monthly search numbers made through Google. Another free keyword research tool is offered through Wordtracker.

Google also has a new tool called the Google Wonder Wheel which can be a great way to instantly brainstorm ideas for your niche. When you make a regular search on Google, click on "Show Options" at the top of the page, and then click on "Wonder Wheel" listed on the left sidebar. You'll end up with a page like this, showing you your search term with a related list of phrases.

In this instance I looked up "boots" and got results related to that term such as "mens boots" "work boots" and "winter boots". If I clicked on one of those, like winter boots, I get an entirely new set of terms, such as "stylish winter boots" and "women's winter boots". I can keep on clicking on different terms and getting the related results and specific keyword phrases of interest in this fashion.

In addition to these free tools there are many other choices when you're looking for more detailed information or when you're trying to find long-tail keywords. You'll also be able to instantly check on factors such as competition, advertisers and more.

For more advanced keyword research, you can use a tool such as Micro Niche Finder, which has a one time purchasing fee. Or you can sign up for subscription packages from sources such as the paid version of Wordtracker, SEO Elite, SEOmoz, ShoeMoney or a variety of other websites.

Some individuals swear by certain programs or services, while others opt to not use anything they have to pay for. The choice is totally up to you, and it's all about finding something that fits your style and your specific needs.