SEO Copywriting: SEO Tools & Tips Every Web Writer Should Know About (Part II)
This is kinda “SEO Tools Tip Week” here at SeoWritingJobs.com. Yesterday, we discussed perhaps the #1 SEO tool – Google’s Keyword AdWord Tool. Today, we’re going to take a look at its first cousin, Google’s Search-based Keyword Tool.
Google’s Search-based Keyword Tool: What It Is & Why You Should Use It
A first cousin to the Keyword AdWord tool we just discussed, this is a relatively new tool by Google.
The search-based SEO tool uses info from actual searches web surfers have conducted. This alone is invaluable; however, this tool provides much greater value. It compiles a list of search queries relevant to a specific website. It does this by comparing the website’s content against current AdWords (PPC) campaigns and past Google search queries to identify additional keywords.
By knowing the actual keywords prospects have typed in when the surf the web, you have a much greater chance of reaching your target audience.
But, you may be thinking, “I’m not running a PPC AdWords campaign; can this tool still help me when conducting keyword research?”
Yes, absolutely!
The tool spits out the keywords; you can use them to for whatever you want – to run a PPC campaign, write SEO copy for your website, write meta tags, etc.
Conduct a Sample Search Using Google’s Search-based Keyword Tool
Using my freelance writing site, InkwellEditorial.com, as an example, do the following:
1. Access the tool by going to http://www.google.com/sktool/#
2. Type inkwelleditorial.com in the box that says, “Website.” Note: You can search by keywords, in which case you’d click the “With words or phrases” box, or by site, in which case you’d click “Website”. With this tool, I like to find keywords by clicking the “Website” option. Why? Because what you may think are effective keywords for a page on your site may not be at all. Hence, letting the tool “analyze” your site can generate a larger pool of keywords and phrases.
3. Click “Find keywords.”
4. Results show up like this:
|
|
Keyword |
Monthly searches |
Competition |
Sugg. bid |
Ad/Search share |
Extracted from webpage |
|
|
Keywords related to inkwelleditorial.com (100) |
|||||||
|
|
12,000 |
$1.00 |
% / %– |
Another Bank Failure, Another Opportunity for Freelance Writers |
|||
|
|
8,200 |
$3.39 |
% / %– |
Green Tips for Freelance Writers: How to be Environmentally Friendly |
|||
|
|
8,200 |
$4.66 |
% / %– |
Buying an Ebook: 4 Things to Look for Before Buying from a Self-Published Author |
|||
|
|
8,200 |
$3.16 |
% / %– |
Basic SEO Tips for Freelance Writers: Increase Website Traffic with These Search Engine … |
Following are the explanations for each category, as provided by Google.
Keyword: Terms on which you are not currently running your ads, but are highly related to your site.
Monthly searches: Average amount of traffic a keyword receives each month from your chosen country/territory.
Competition: Degree of competitiveness for ad placement with a particular keyword, in your chosen country/territory. Note: You can ignore this category if you’re not running a PPC category.
Sugg. (Suggested) bid: Estimated bid amount that may place your ad in the top three spots of the page, in your chosen country/territory. Note: Again, you can ignore this category if you’re not running a PPC category.
Ad/Search share: (Ad share) Percentage of time with which an ad for your website appeared for the given query. (Search share) Percentage of time which your site appeared in the first page of search results for the query, based on global statistics.
Extracted from webpage: Page on your website that best matched the keyword suggestion.
How to Read the Search-based Keyword Tool Results
What you’re looking for are keyword phrases that are underutilized on a given page.
Take the first result from our search here. It shows “freelance jobs” as a popular keyword phrase for the page entitled, Another Bank Failure, Another Opportunity for Freelance Writers, which can be found at http://inkwelleditorial.com/credit-crisis-means-job-opportunities.htm
|
|
Monthly searches |
Competition |
Sugg. bid |
Ad/Search share |
Extracted from webpage |
|
|
12,000 |
$1.00 |
% / %– |
Another Bank Failure, Another Opportunity for Freelance Writers |
Under the monthly searches column, you see 12,000. Remember, this is the amount of traffic a keyword receives each month (from a selected country/territory). So what I’d want to do is go back to this page and optimize it using this phrase.
What do I mean by optimize? Use the phrase in the copy, especially in headings and subheadings.
Learn everything you need to know to start a successful freelance writing career as an SEO copywriter.
Copyright © 2009: Yuwanda Black for SEO Writing Jobs. This article may not be reproduced or redistributed without the express, written consent of the author. If you like this article, follow SeoWritingJobs.com on Twitter.
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