Keyword Research – How to Begin

As a search ad network, we know that a marketer’s keyword list is integral to the success of their campaigns. Keeping a list static for too long can mean missed opportunities and missed revenue, so it’s important that search marketers be constantly adjusting their lists and testing new keywords. As regular readers of this blog know, at LookSmart we try to assist advertisers at key times of the year by aggregating together large lists of seasonal keywords around events like Valentine’s Day and Back-to-School. But what about the rest of the year? We often get questions from advertisers, especially those who are relatively new to search marketing, about what tools they can use to do their own keyword research. Luckily, there are a plethora of inexpensive and even free tools available.

Here’s a quick snapshot of some tools to check out. We haven’t used all of these tools ourselves, so we can’t speak to the quality of each and every one, but we hope this list will at least provide a good starting place for those of you who are interested in expanding your PPC keyword lists. If you try any of the tools, let us know in the comments section how they work!

In no particular order:

• Google Keyword Tool: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal
• Spyfu: http://www.spyfu.com/
• Wordtracker: http://www.wordtracker.com/
• Market Samurai: http://www.marketsamurai.com/
• PPC Keyword Toolz: http://ppckeywordtoolz.com/
• Wordstream: http://www.wordstream.com/free-keyword-tools
• KeywordSpy: http://www.keywordspy.com/
• Speed PPC: http://www.speedppc.com/
• Keyword Elite: http://www.keywordelite.com/
• SEO Book Keyword Typos Generator: http://tools.seobook.com/spelling/keywords-typos.cgi
• Keyword Ninja: http://www.keywordninja.com/
• Sktool: www.google.com/sktool/
• SEMrush: http://www.semrush.com/
• KGen: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/kgen/
• Wordpot: http://www.wordpot.com/

Happy researching!