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Using Google For Keyword Research

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Anyone who undertakes researching keywords to improve their web-based content has generally realized that the lifeblood of the internet is search. Without search engines, it would be difficult if not impossible to find specific information within the millions upon millions of sites out in the ether. And, without a doubt, the king of the search engines is Google.

Google's status as the most used search engine would almost automatically make them an important key to keyword research efforts, at least for those looking to rank their content at the top of the search results. But, in their quest to remain at the number one position, Google is always experimenting and adding new features, some of which make doing research considerably easier.

One of the key features to emerge has been the suggestion feature. While you type into the search box, Google feeds suggestions as to what you may be typing. This feature, like most others, came about to help searchers find the information they wanted more quickly and easily. The unintended consequence, however, is that Google now offers up the most commonly entered searches based on the characters you've entered so far.
For the keyword researcher, this is a goldmine of information. Often, the keywords that appear in the suggestions are not ones that appear when using specific keyword analysis tools, including Google's own keyword tool. Whether that inconsistency is intentional or not may be debatable, but the fact that you can find a plethora of excellent keywords to target through the suggestion feature is not.

Similar to the suggestions, Google also offers a list of related keywords at the bottom of the first page of some search results. While these do not appear on every search, when they do, they are another rich source of potential keywords. These are often similar keywords, or at least ones with a similar root, and they are often more specific than the one you entered. Be sure to note these keywords any time you are doing research.
A newer feature that has been introduced by Google are the additional search tools. These tools, which appear on the left side of the search result page, allow searchers to narrow down their searches by offering to serve the newest results, or within a specified time frame, or even to add more or remove shopping sites. For the keyword researcher, the most exciting feature is the Wonder Wheel.
The Wonder Wheel takes your search query and offers up to eight related suggestions for keywords. The exciting part is that you can follow one or more of these by clicking on one of the spokes of the wheel, and Google will present another wheel built around that keyword. This can be continued through many levels, giving you the ability to really explore keywords laterally.

While these features mentioned above are enough to keep any researcher busy for hours, no discussion of keyword research at Google would be complete without mentioning their keyword tool. Google understands that it is important for webmasters and marketers to have the ability to know what searchers are looking for so they can better target this need.

In addition to adding and improving features for searchers, which incidentally help with keyword research, Google has been working on improving their keyword analysis tool to improve its usefulness. This has resulted in a new and improved keyword tool that does seem to provide more relevant results.

No matter how you go about conducting your keyword research, the one thing that is certain is that it is a long and time consuming process. As an alternative, you might want to consider outsourcing your research to someone who has experience, saving your time for more productive work. There is actually a service, called Instant Cash Keywords, which will send you a new list of niche keywords, along with some market analysis. If you want to save time and have your work done by two experienced online marketers, go to http://www.instacashkeywords.org today.

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