Ask Marketing Experts search engine marketing forum

[7thDsites]

I use the Overture Search Term Suggestion tool when building new sites and seeking which phrases to go after when optimizing. So far it's worked out very well as a base guideline of what people are seeking.

Of course you do need to keep in mind that these results are based on last month's search terms and so some might not be as active this month as they were last... none-the-less it's a great Free way to determine good keywords.

[admin]

This is widely used, but I'd classify the Overture tool as being highly inaccurate and good for rough approximations only.

[url=http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/]Overture suggestions[/url]

The types of portals and search sites that provide Overture paid results tend to be a different market and have different end users than normal searchers. In other words, Overture caters to top dollar, and the mass market. Look to the google adwords for a truer sense of what the keywords really are. The downside to this is that adwords cost $, Overture is free.

It really depends upon the type of keyword or theme, that determines the accuracy of search the suggestion tool across multiple search engines. It also aggregates terms used in the "Match Driver" listings, with plurals, and similar search terms combined. These are statistics that no reputable research company would ever pay for.

Here is where automated queries get in the way. Each time an SEO firm generates an automated ranking report on MSN, Alta Vista and Yahoo, you have three searches on a keyword with no actual visitors. With automated queries occuring on the most coveted keywords, the hypothetical traffic continues to grow. This is essentially a positive feedback loop, with the end result being many keyword lookups and few actual searchers.

For much more detailed statistics on which exact keywords to target, use [b:c9cfebc9ee][url=http://our.affiliatetracking.net/wordtracker/af.cgi?830]Word Tracker[/url] [/b:c9cfebc9ee] .

Alexa Site Rank is not a particularly accurate measure of your overall traffic either - this resource comes from a small sampling of disparate results. Alexa doesn't even have a webcrawler.

[rickduncan]

I have to say I disagree with you on this, I use overture for business terms (and we are a top dollar or pound mass market) but I have found that using your common sense and the overture suggestion tool I have effectively pushed my own private websites to the top rankings in Google along with the business ones.

Personally I never trust people pointing me to use some tool like word tracker when they are an affiliate, just my two pennies (or cents) worth .

[admin]

welcome rickduncan!

You point out an excelent example of a small business owner targeting their own niche market. Specific markets and geographic locales have different quirks, and large bodies of research such as wordtracker dont work for small locales.
[url=http://our.affiliatetracking.net/wordtracker/af.cgi?830]Wordtracker[/url] is more accurate by leaps and bounds than the free [url=http://www.overture.com/d/advertisers/p/bjump/?o=131341&b=20]Overture[/url] keyword tool. This is another case of you get what you pay for.

update:
[url=http://our.affiliatetracking.net/wordtracker/a/830?redirect=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wordtracker.com%2Fkeyword-research-guide.html]keyword research tool[/url]

[jim madison]

The problem with most keyword generator tools is that they don't put themselves in the position of the searcher. Take a moment or two and pretend you are the one searching for your site and think of keywords or key phrases that you would use to find yourself. The best ie. that comes to mind is the key word "pool supplies". Are you looking for a Vicking Pool Stick or are you looking for a chlorine dispensor?

All to often we want to use 1800 key words in all shapes and sizes and end up spending way too much money on ppc advertising or throwing dollars at seo companies or even worse buying keywords.

Exact Match Keywording is a very good practice to use because it targets the individual searcher to you the keyword owner bypassing the irrelevant urls that always seem to position themselves between you and your competition.

[admin]

yes - the marketing adage here is its better to use a scalpel than a machine gun. You can shoot all you want, but if you dont hit anything its useless (and expensive).