I wanted to put up a few posts about Keyword Research tools. Honestly, maybe a year ago, buying a paid subscription to keyword research tool made sense to me. Now, with the Google “freemium” dealio, it doesn’t make much sense to pour out hundreds of dollars for a paid keyword tool.
I wanted to make a useful list for anyone looking for some FREE keyword research tools. Google has come out with some amazing tools over the past little while. And sure enough, they’re FREE!
Google Adwords Keyword Tool
Google Adwords Keyword Tool – This particular keyword tool offers two ways of generating keywords.
- Enter Descritpive Keywords or Phrases. After adding a few descriptive keywords Google can now find a whole list of keywords based off your short description.
- Website Content – Enter a URL of a website/your website. Google will search your website for keywords and shoot back relevant keywords.
Google Search Based Keyword Tool
Google Search Based Keyword Tool – If you have an Adwords account it will automatically poplulate the URL’s you use in your account. Select to correct URL and enter a few keywords and phrases and your on your way. If you don’t have a Adwords account just enter a URL and keywords and proceed that way.
Here’s a brief description from Google about their new keyword tool.
The Search-based Keyword Tool provides keyword ideas:
- Based on actual Google search queries
- Matched to specific pages of your website with your ad and search share
- New to your Adwords account (typically excluding keywords matching those already in your account)
Google Insights for Search Keyword Tool
Google Insights for Search – This is another keyword tool launched by Google. The tool is still in Beta but this is one of my favorite keyword tools. You can take a topic and get as granular as you’d like with the keywords.
With the Google Insights tool you can search by:
- Categories
- Seasonality
- Demographic Distribution
This can all be researched by this simple search box.
Let me show you a few examples from Google:
Creating an Advertising Message
Can’t decide what to message to send to your consumers? Use the Google Insights tool. Click on the screen shot above to see how the research from this tool can help create an advertising message.
Researching Seasonallity
One of my favorite parts of the tool. How often do you see a lift in traffic or a dip and traffic and you wonder if it’s seasonality? I know I do all the time. This is a great way to use Google Insights to research seasonality from any date range you’d like.
Creating Brand Associations
Use the category filter to see what other brands will be competing in your space.
Exploring New Markets
How many times a month or week are you researching a new search landscape or industry. Stop flying blind and get sloid numbers to back up your initial thoughts.
Just from the 3 tools from Google look at the complexity, flexibility and insights you can gain from a FREE keyword research tool. I think the days of paid keyword research tools are fading, especially now that Google has made its stamp in the industry.