SUBMIT 2.0

Every online ad campaign depends on using the right keywords; and with a pay per click (PPC) campaign, keywords are everything. However, not everyone has the skills or the patience needed to do the kind of detailed keyword analysis needed to find just the right keywords to not only reach your target market, but to get results. Even if you have the time needed to run through all of the statistics and traffic metrics for different keywords, it’s still no guarantee of success.

Few of us have the kind of time needed for all of this, which is why keyword research tools are so useful to anyone running online ad campaigns. However, there are many different ones out there and they are definitely not all the same. Some of these keyword tools are excellent and can be incredibly helpful, while others are essentially worthless. Others fall in the middle, performing very well in some areas but not in others. Keep reading for some ideas about what to keep an eye out for as you look for a keyword research tool.

The Data Sources

The most important thing any keyword research tool does is provide information on how often a given keyword is used. While every keyword tool does this, they don’t all use the same data sources. What matters is which search engine their information comes from and how recent their data is.

Before choosing a keyword research tool, find out what their data sources are and how frequently this information is updated. You definitely don’t want to use a tool which uses old data or an unpopular search engine as its source.

Quality keyword research tools gather live up-to-the-minute information from the popular engines like Google and Yahoo. Better still are the tools which can give you an average of results from different engines as well as an engine-by-engine breakdown. Tools which give you live information from just one engine are less desirable, followed by those which use second tier engines like Bing as their data source. Keyword tools which use archived rather than live data should be avoided; keyword popularity simply changes too quickly to use anything but the most recent information.

Competition Data

Look for keyword research tools which give you not only information on keyword popularity but also data on what your competition is doing. It’s always important to know what your rivals are up to and you’ll want to avoid keywords which your competitors are already doing well with, at least for the short term.

Features

There are many keyword research tools which provide statistics on keyword popularity and nothing else, leaving you with the tasks of keyword grouping and management. Better keyword tools provide more functionality and the very best tools can even guide you through the entire PPC campaign design process, helping you with keyword research, generating ad copy and even submitting your ads to the search engines. Keyword research tools with these kinds of advanced features are a little more expensive than the no-frills options, but the extra cost is more than compensated for by the amount of time and trouble they can save you.

Source: Ezinearticles

Filed under: Search Engine Marketing