Lost for Words

One invaluable free tool for getting keyword ideas is the external keyword tool from Google. The results are based on Google search results over the prior 12 months but on a monthly basis.

When you first log in depending on where you are geographically, you’ll need to set your preferences in the edit link on the line;

“Results are tailored to English, United States Edit“,

..selecting All Countries and Territories will give you a global idea.

Then in the text field for entering keywords put in keywords that you are thinking of to get some similar ideas, typically a keyword combination should be a 2 or 3 word combo and searching on these will give you results on similar keywords that are both searched on by a searcher and paid for by an advertiser, the point being you can see what keywords are more popluar and worth using on your site. These results are sortable by column heading and you expand the columns to display in the drop down just above the column headings.

Add all the keywords you want and download as a textfile for later viewing or sort by cost per click to budget for your next sponsored link campaign. You can also expand the results to be exact, broad,  negative or phrase.

google-external-keyword options

For a Adwords campaign you get to see exactly what are the most expensive words – generally the ones highly searched for.

Related posts:

1. Lost for Words 2
2. Lost in the Serps
3. Special Search Suggestabox!
4. Manual Submits to Search Engines Part 2