5 5
5 5

Keyword Research - Initial Question

by
TomCrick
TomCrick
Profile picture of TomCrick
TomCrick
Posts: Threads: Thanks: Account age: less than a second
4 replies
Hi All,

I'm new here so it seems wise to kick off with an apology for asking perhaps a very basic question; after all, I've bought a few programmes and know my way around some of the traditional tools of the trade. But I keep on failing to get my head around keywords. Am I right in thinking that basically, if someone wants to know if <picks at random> tea tree oil can cure spots, you type that into Google Keywords or Jaaxy or whatever and that then gives you information as to the current competition?

From that, what's going on when they then throw up further ideas at you? I recently did a bit of keyword research into cameras and the CSV file that I ended up downloading was huge and I couldn't really make head nor tail of it.

My understanding would be to pick a product / niche, look at the keywords and try to find some which have current low competition and then incorporate those into my blog posts.

I may be asking the dumbest and most vague questions here but whilst I get the blogging bit and the monetising bit and the list building bit, I appear to be a bit weirded out by the hundreds of alternatives that are thrown up when I use a keyword tool.

And would you recommend Jaaxy over Google Keywords? I love it; it strikes me as an all-in-one stop, versus GK then Uber Suggest, Traffic Travis etc...

Thanks ever so much for thoughts / links / explanations!

Cheers

TC
#initial #keyword #question #research
  • Profile picture of the author mariscal19
    mariscal19
    mariscal19
    Profile picture of mariscal19
    mariscal19
    Posts: Threads: Thanks: Account age: less than a second
    Hi Tom,

    The basic idea behind keyword research is this:

    1 - You start with a "seed keyword" it may be the "name" of your niche or something a little more specific.
    2 - You then "expand" that seed keyword into a list of many related keyword. The old Google Keyword Tool was historically the main resource for such procedure (even used by mostly all other software products). Now Google offers the Keyword Planner as a replacement. There are other alternatives. But the main goal is to end up with an expanded list.
    3 - You try to find keywords that offer a good balance between search volume and competition level. That is keyword that are actually being used by humans in their search queries and that you have a reasonable chance of ranking well for.
    4 - Last, depending on how you are monetizing your blog, you probably want those keyword to have some commercial intent behind.

    Now, about the available tools, some things that you need to be aware of: (I'm pretty much in the loop here, because my company developed a keyword tool recently; we only take people by invitation, and we send invitations once in a while - so I'm not trying to promote it here).

    - Some tools are just a shortcut for Google Keyword Tool/Google Planner. They don't provide competition analysis.
    - Number of search results is just remotely related to competition level. Not a good metric at all.
    - Most tools don't do a FULL on-page analysis. It's extremely common that keyword tools just take a look at: URL, Title and description. Why is that ? Because they can do so by just looking at the first page of Google search results. Doing a FULL on-page analysis requires actually going to each page of the top ten and analyze the content.
    - Keep speed in mind. Because while the process of analyzing 1 keyword is "hands-free", you have to trigger the analysis keyword by keyword. It's time consuming. You want something that is really quick. That is usually expensive.

    These are just a few pointers.
    Hope this helps.
    Best,
  • Profile picture of the author Nick Logan
    Nick Logan
    Nick Logan
    Profile picture of Nick Logan
    Nick Logan
    Posts: Threads: Thanks: Account age: less than a second
    I am using a great tool called LTP (Long Tail Pro). It is not free, but it will help you quickly find niche related long tail keywords that will rank high on Google. Highly recommened!
    Signature

    *****
    • Profile picture of the author doctorofpc
      doctorofpc
      doctorofpc
      Profile picture of doctorofpc
      doctorofpc
      Posts: Threads: Thanks: Account age: less than a second
      Originally Posted by Project View Post

      I am using a great tool called LTP (Long Tail Pro). It is not free, but it will help you quickly find niche related long tail keywords that will rank high on Google. Highly recommened!
      I have been also using LTP and it work like charm. If you are ready to spend some money, maybe a good choice for you!
  • Profile picture of the author TomCrick
    TomCrick
    TomCrick
    Profile picture of TomCrick
    TomCrick
    Posts: Threads: Thanks: Account age: less than a second
    Thanks very much for that explanation, Mariscal; that's helped me see things a touch more clearly. Cheers

Trending Topics