What Is A Keyword Research Tool and How Is It Used

By | October 23, 2016

Get Your Website To Rank Better With A Keyword Research Tool

                                                           Good Keywords

 

 

What is a keyword research tool and how it is used is that it finds the monthly search volume, traffic volume, and competition on a keyword. When you factor in the amounts of search terms on any keyword this could be a daunting task. A good keyword tool not only supplies the necessary data that you searched for but it will also suggest similar keywords that relate to the same subject.

 

 

This keyword research tool is for anyone that wants to market successfully on the Internet. This tool will help drive traffic to a website by pinpointing a search term that will land the website high in the SERPS (search engine results page) . This keyword research tool shows the results on any given keyword or keyword phrase of the monthly search volume, how much traffic, and the amount of competition.

 

 

This data is normally comprised of the total volumes that are searched and analyzed through a particular search engine. This is where keyword tools will differ which is why they may or may not give you a detailed accurate report.

 

 

The keyword tools I use get their data from Google since Google still handles about 60% of all searches done online. Other keyword tools get their information from other search criteria and not necessarily from Google alone.

 

 

The search engines are the highways that bring visitors (customers) to websites. Keywords are like street signs pointing the visitor to the website. The search engines use these keywords and match these keywords to what the visitor types in their search box. The more exact match of a search term to the keyword phrase a website uses will get the website onto the SERPS (search engine results page).

 

 

Another analogy viewpoint of how the search engines connect Internet searches with websites is think of a huge computer somewhere far away. Inside this computer is millions and millions of website folders. To access one of these folders an Internet searcher must type either an exact folder name (domain name of the website) or a description (a keyword phrase).

 

 

The description could relate to five million websites. The search engines rank each website in sequential order as determined by their algorithm formula. The websites with the lowest sequential numbers are selected first and displayed on the search engine results page (SERPS).

 

 

This is basically how the keywords that a website uses in their content gets ranked and places the website higher or lower on the SERPS. There are more factors obviously in how the search engine selects one website over another in determining where in the SERPS and what position. But Keywords are the main focus.
By getting a website listed in the SERPS, especially in position 1 or 2 guarantees the website to receive the maximum amount of search trafic

 

The keyword research tool provides monthly volume numbers on the selected keyword phrase that is entered for analysis. A basic result page will list three sets of volume numbers in three different columns.

    • The first column is the total search volume
    • The second column is the total traffic volume
    • The third column is the competition volume or the number of websites competing for that particular keyword term.

 

 

 

As you can see from the picture below the columns and the search volumes from Google Adwords keyword planner. I will be using the keyword phrase of “making money.”
Google keyword planner

 

 

So if you wanted to know how many people were searching using the term making money above, 10000 to 100,000 is a very large number. There is a huge gap in marginal error. You also are not given the traffic volume and only a medium for competition. This keyword planner is mainly used in buying keywords to advertise with Adwords.

 

 

How many is medium?

 

Just as a reference the chart below is a saved search on the now extinct Google Keyword Tool. Notice the competition is in decimal form; the global search volume; and then the monthly search volume. These were the numbers that Internet Marketers had to decipher, analyse, and select in choosing which keywords to use in their content.

Keyword Competition

______________________________Global      Monthly Searches
build wealth 0.22                               14800           8100
creating wealth 0.27                           12100           6600
how to build wealth 0.22                  14800           8100
money making 0.38                     2740000        1220000
personal wealth management 0.35  22200         12100
easy money 0.35                                450000        201000
ways to make money 0.45              1500000       823000
get rich quick 0.46                               33100           18100
money making ideas 0.53                  60500          27100
making small business 0.57                5400            2900
make quick money 0.62                  301000          201000
make money fast  0.62                     368000          201000
how to make money fast 0.62        368000           201000

 

 

One reason that I suggest you NOT use Google Adwords keyword Planner (in the above picture) is for several reasons. First and foremost, it does not list the competition in numbers, only as low, medium, high. This gives you no clue on the exact number of websites that are competing for that keyword phrase.

 

 

Another reason not to use Google Adwords keyword planner is it is for Google and their Adwords advertisers. It is to set price values on keywords that advertisers are using to drive traffic to their websites. The more competition for a certain keyword drives up the price. This is why it is in Google’s interest not to show all similar, equivalent keywords that are available. If Google doesn’t suggest a keyword that has a high search volume then that keyword is not in their data. You do not get good suggested alternative keywords that will accomplish the same task.

 

 

The bottom line is this: Google proclaims that Content Is King. Knowing how to research keywords can be the difference in success or failure. Search engines have advanced from their earlier days of just counting the number of specific keywords used on a page. This was known as keyword stuffing which led to difficulty in reading and understanding what the web page was about.

 

 

Today a very slight change in the search engine algorithm formula can affect thousands of websites instantaneously. This is because no longer is there a time frame given to when the next update will occur. This keeps website publishers on a short leash to hopefully providing good quality content for all time.

 

 

Search engines are good at distinguishing what the content on a web page is about and in their algorithm give the web page a value, or rank. This rank is changing almost daily with the amount of new content being added and indexed by the search engines. This may cause a web page that ranks page one, position one in Google on Tuesday drop to page two, position eleven on Friday of the same week.

 

 

How to Research Keywords

 

I have found that by using a set parameter on the keywords I am researching for allows me to select the best possible keyword phrase. On some searches, the numbers vary drastically while other searches they only differ marginally. I use the same formula regardless of the niche I am searching for.

 

 

As I said before there are three search volumes to be concerned about. The total monthly search volume, the total traffic volume, and the total competition volume. These are the customary search volumes of any keyword tool and also listed in this same order.

 

 

Total Monthly Search Volume

 

As an example of the drastic differences in search volumes for a given search term, making money, the picture below shows the total search volume of this two-word keyword phrase and the other keyword tool suggestions.

 

WA keyword tool search volume

 

 

 

The numbers listed in this picture range from 8777 searches per month down to 82 searches per month. By using just this one key element, the total monthly search volume, it looks as though the two highest searched keyword suggestions are “making money from home” and “making money at home” keyword phrase. Either could be considered the best keyword phrase to use in writing website content.

 

 

The keyword tool as pictured above is from Wealthy Affiliate. Since I am a premium member I get free access to this keyword tool twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I get some of my best keyword suggestions from this tool.

 

 

 

A word of caution here, my friend. The highest numbers are not always the best. The highest number of search volume usually indicates a lot of traffic, which nearly always means a lot of competition. A lot of competition will mean it will be extremely hard, if not impossible, to rank for the keyword term. More on this later..

 

 

This is where most online marketers make the mistake in their keyword research. When I first started this was definitely the mistake I continually made when researching my keyword phrases. My first website in Internet marketing never made it out of the basement of Google.

 

 

Why? Because the keyword research was faulty. You never go after the high monthly search volume if there is a high number of competing websites for that keyword phrase. There has to be a balance between the number of searches and the number of competing websites.

 

 

Sometimes it is much wiser to go after the “low-hanging fruit” on the tree verse the fruit up in the top of the tree. The low hanging fruit are keywords with a much lower search volume but very little to no competition. If researching keyword and every phrase have a high competition, then the ideal keyword phrase is almost always the lower hanging fruit. More on this later.

 

 

So the first parameter of the formula that I use is any search volume over 50. Any search volume under fifty will not get hardly any traffic to my website. A website to survive must get some traffic, else it will be put on life support.

 

 

Traffic Volume

 

 

The traffic volume is usually the second column of any keyword tool. If there is a high number of searches but no traffic is an indication this is not a buying keyword phrase. There are two different types of searches to be made: the information seeker and the buyer. Websites that have products to sell would prefer the buyer visitor instead of the information seeker visitor.

 

 

By looking again at our example in making money keyword phrase, the highest search volume also has the highest traffic volume, of 1493. This is a good indication that there are a lot of people interested in making money online. Probably some of these are information seekers only, but there will be a lot of buying customers too.

 

 

Traffic volume is not my biggest concern. It is actually the least of my worries. I like to see a medium number in traffic volume, but the higher the number usually means the more competition. Competition is the one to fear the most.

 

 

Competition Volume

 

 

Depending on the keyword tool used, usually, the third column is the number competing websites that are vying for the keyword term selected. So by looking at the above example of making money, you will see the keyword term “making money from home” the competing websites are 267. The keyword tool pictured is the Free Keyword Tool I use at Wealthy Affiliate. In order to find out the competing number of websites is by clicking the “view results” which displays the picture below:

 

 

WA keyword tool

 

 

The next keyword phrase to check is the “making money at home” which gives a total number of competing websites at 165. This would indicate that “making money at home” is the better of the two keyword phrases, comparing to the “making money from home”. See the picture below.

 

 

WA keyword tool

 

 

Over the years I have refined my keyword research formula over and over. The formula I use now which I am sharing it with you now is below. I believe this formula will work with most keyword tools.

Search volume – anything over 50
Traffic – more than 0
Competition – anything under 300

 

 

The Long-Tailed Keyword

The truly most valuable keywords are the ones that are called the “long-tailed keywords.” These are generally the keywords that searchers type into the search box when they are wanting to buy something. They are much more specific and narrowed focus which makes them ideal for buyers as well as publishers looking for these buyers. These keywords are always several words or a phrase.

 

 

In my example above the keyword tool gives you suggested keyword phrases, which are actually long-tailed keywords. For Example, making money on the Internet, is a long-tailed keyword. The keyword Making money is a very broad term that can have many definitions and different meanings. Narrowing the keyword down by using a phrase will make the keyword more specific in nature and make the keyword have more value.
The title of this post, for example is long-tailed keyword: “what is a keyword research tool and how is it used.”

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What is The Best Keyword Tool

 

 

The best keyword tool that I recommend is the keyword tool Jaaxy. Since I am an Internet marketer my life depends on the use of the best keyword research tool that I can find. The features that this tool has is phenomenal. Since I use it daily I bought the PRO subscription which is only $19 a month. That’s less than one meal for two people at McDonald’s.

 

The picture below is the Keyword Tool, Jaaxy. It is showing the keyword phrase I entered, “what is the best keyword research tool” and Jaaxy displayed the search volume, the traffic volume, the competition volume, and the possibilities of ranking for this keyword phrase (KQI – green good, yellow maybe, and Red, no). The tool also displays suggestions to my original keyword phrase and corresponding ranking.

 

 

Jaaxy keyword tool

 

But by going through this website, you can get a trial period of 30 searches for FREE! Click on this link =>  the best keyword tool.

 

 

Let me know how your results turn out by using my keyword research formula. The more refine the formula becomes, the more success it will perform.

 

The Best Keyword Tool For Free

 

 

To answer the question of what is the best keyword research tool around would have to be the keyword tool that is found at Wealthy Affiliate. No brag, just fact. The reason why I say this is because I have found it gives the most accurate and relevant information about search volume, traffic, and competition.

 

 

If you want more inside information about this particular keyword tool, also click on the link the-best-keyword-tool-for-free blog post. This blog post will expand on why it is the best free keyword tool as well as show other free trials to other keyword tools. You will get a history lesson from when Google had the only free keyword tool to what you have today.

 

 

There are other keyword tools on the Internet that are kinda free with limited abilities or free for a trial period of time. You are given “x” number of free keyword searches before the trial period has ended and you now have to buy a subscription.

 

To Your Success!

6 thoughts on “What Is A Keyword Research Tool and How Is It Used

  1. matts mom

    I personally use Jaxxy and love it. I am pretty happy with them, so I have not even ventured to look at another key word tool. They are great for giving you the real deal on key words when you are looking them up. I also use Jaxxy to tell me where my posts’ stand on Google.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Thank you, Matts Mom, for your comment that Jaaxy is your go-to keyword tool that does everything that you need the keyword tool to do. It has so many features that really help you research and find the ideal keyword for your writing content. I totally agree with you.

      Reply
  2. sandra

    Thanks for the detailed explanation of keyword tools and the differences between them. I didn’t know that long-tailed keywords are used by buyers more often. Very helpful. Thanks!

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Thank you, Sandra, for reading my post and I am glad that you were able to learn something new about the use of long-tailed keywords. To Your Success.

      Reply
  3. Ronnie Jordan

    Thanks, Ken, for making keyword research more understandable. I use Jaxxy a lot myself. It is a wonderful way to help you while writing your content. This is great information to be passed on to help people.

    Reply
    1. Kenneth Merrick Post author

      Ronnie, the easiest way to learn how to drive traffic to your website is by learning how to do keyword research the right way. Jaaxy is a very good keyword tool, but don’t underestimate the free keyword tool at Wealthy Affiliate.

      Reply

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