Best Keyword Research Tool

Hi All, Several of my current clients have been having a rather heated discussion on what the best keyword research tool is. Anybody have any thoughts on the subject? Thanks!

I usually use Google´s external keyword tool. Ahead of this I do
- Brainstorming with colleagues
- use an association tool
- use a tool for synonyms
- spin-doctoring of the above results

and THEN I use the external keyword tool.

Another tipp: you got a couple of interesting keywords? search for them on ask.com and then copy the url including the query parameters into the external keyword tool where there´s supposed to be the keywords. Click on the left-hand side "website-content" and do the research. I occasionally get fantastic new ideas from that query.

I don't invest in pre-analysis in keyword research... tools lie because they can tell motive [why a search was made] and sampling for many tools is really small thus the major of error is enormous.

Tools like analytics and hittail [post analysis tools] are far better.

Obviously with any traffic they do nothing but you don't need anything more than a "best guess" for terms... and they will guide you thereafter.

Hi,

The keywords tool I rely most on...

http://www.spacky.com/index.html

&

http://www.google.com/sktool/#

Hope these will help you.

thanks

Google Adwords is one of them.Keywords research tool giving just idea but best tool is ur thinking power.

I'm using google keyword suggestion tool to find keyword synonyms and wordze, wordtracker and keyword discovery to estimate the keyword traffic.

Hi. A few month ago I'm found very usefull Keyword Tool.
Early i'm used Wordtracker and Google Adwords, but this new tool made the biggest impression on me.
It's not for free, but not as expensive as other.
And it has huge potential and opportunities. Look at this keyword tool here:
_xttp://ireport.com/docs/DOC-238747

i usually use ysm and 7search keyword tool as the second alternatives for google keyword tool.

Use spyfu and wordtracker

i def agree that the google keyword tool is one of the best resources out there. It is only in recent years that this tool has really progressed and should now be part of every SEO research. There are two great things about it, firstly it is free and secondly it belongs to Google and was designed for adwords. If any tool is going to be useful in estimating the number of searches per month on Google it is this one.

A few people have mentioned word tracker and this is also a great tool for SEO but is best used in conjunction with the Google keyword tool. Word Tracker is best used a uncovering new markets with limited competition, whereas the keyword tool is best for estimating the number of searches per month.

One thing you do have to bear in mind with the keyword tool is that it is designed for Goolge. Therefore it does not provide an estimate for MSN or Yahoo which together make up and estimated 20-25% of the market share.

Hi Fathom...

As always... I think you have an insightful, if not controversial outlook on this topic. From our past discussions, I know that you you do not make idle suggestions, nor give out advice lightly, so am really interested to find out more about your opinions and experiences on this topic.

Honestly, I was very surprised to hear you say you don't "invest in pre-analysis in keyword research"... I just want to make sure I understand what your saying...

Are you saying that you don't do research to find out what keywords people are searching for before you choose your keywords?

For me, this has always been the most important step in the entire SEO process... when you are targeting long tail keywords, I can't imagine spending the time to create pages to target specific keyword phrases and begin building back links for a keyword phrase that I do not know if anyone is searching for....

I generally use Googles keyword tools and a few other tools to make sure their is some search volume for a keyword before I do anything else.....

I have seen keywords that we were sure would have a lot of traffic, but once we checked with Google, we found out that very few people were actually searching for the terms, but Google suggested other terms which were getting plenty of searches...

Please clarify.. Thanks!

I would tend to agree with Fathom if the question is limited to keyword research for SEO.

On the other hand, if you are in PPC marketing, "spying" on competitors' keywords with tools like KeywordSpy or SpyFu can be useful.

I'm intrigued by this response. I may have seen a similar response from you in another post about this and I may have asked a follow up question so I apologize if I had already done this.

How accurate in general, are you with using this "best guess" technique? Do you find your best guesses are correct guesses after analyzing the post analysis tools? If not, where do you go from there?

I have often struggled with choosing the right keywords for pages. If I choose a term and it doesnt work out, I am not sure where to go from there. How long do you analyze and how soon til you implement the new keywords after your post analysis? What if you are so far off with your original terms, the post data doesn't provide you with any solid information?

TIA

I am with you; I would really like to find out more myself... I can understand his points about inaccurate data, and for larger existing websites with highly competitive keywords.... I could see some advantages to this approach...

But (IMO) it really depends upon you business model, ergo...
If you do micro-niche marketing, you need to do some research before you select the long-tail keyword you are going to build your business around. You need get a rough idea of how much traffic and competition there is for the keyword phrases before you even create the site, and then once the site goes live, test and make sure the “real world” traffic and conversions match your estimates, before you invest heavily into product development. To my understanding, this sort of keyword research is a essentially intertwined into the micro-niche business model.

Also...

I do a lot of work with smaller companies, in local markets; with lower search volume keywords...I have discovered many good long-tail keywords while doing pre-launch keyword research, which I never thought of before I did the research... I have also discovered that keywords which we were sure had plenty of traffic, had next to none...

I would really like to learn more about Fathoms (And everyone elses) views on this subject....

My view toward the subject is distorted. I tend to work only for retail sites, where keywords follow products.