We’ve mentioned how over complicated people make keyword research. The truth is, it should not be and by keeping it simple you are cutting down on the risk of getting into that paralysis analysis mode.
Today, we will show you a quick and easy keyword research method that will not only give you some great long tail phrases “on the fly” but will give you the seeds to grow your keyword list continuously. Honestly, it has never been easier. Yes, there are some great keyword tools out there and I own some of them but the truth is, for real time research, Google is hard to beat and it’s for free!
Google continues to improve it’s search facility and because it’s free, many overlook some of the powerful features it continues to add. Google also is a little lax in letting us know about them so it’s a matter of being aware and alert to them.
Google Is Your Secret Keyword Research Weapon
Have you noticed when you begin to type a search term into the box that a drop down menu will suddenly appear and you’ll get a list of suggested phrases? Do you ignore or dismiss this simply because it’s free and anything that doesn’t cost you you’re hard-earned can’t be too valuable? Well, think again. As far as keyword selection is concerned, this is one of the more powerful tools you’ll come across without outlaying any money.
The point is, Google is the king of search. When they give you these suggestions they are giving you real time data. Many keyword suggestion tools fall down in this area. Just think, Google is actually giving you terms people are looking for and in real time. For article marketing purposes, this is an excellent way to grab searched for long tail keywords on the fly.
Here’s an example. Let’s search for the term dog training. Now dog training itself is a term that gets 36,000,000 results so it’s not a good term to go after. But here’s what happens when you begin typing it into the Google search box. Google starts to give you a list of suggested terms related to the term dogs in the drop down. Google is actually pre-empting what you are looking for and they’ve become so sophisticated at doing this that they can just about read your mind.
I suggest writing down any three word terms that take your attention on the way to writing out the term dogs. Here’s the list I got when I did this exercise for the purposes of this newsletter for the term dogs:
cat training
cat training at home
cat training books
cat training tricks
cat training collars
cat training advice
cat training schools
cat training videos
cat training supplies
cat training collars reviews
cat training hand signals
So we have a list of ten keyword suggestions from Google. These are the five I’m interested in…dog training collars reviews, dog training hand signals,dog training advice,dog training schools and dog training tricks.
So now I have five key phrases to work with. You can either write five articles around each of these terms or do some further analysis. I generally do further analysis and we’ll get into that in the post. You’ll want to check things like how competitive the phrase is and competing pages but for now, I have a platform of five keywords to work with and it took me no time at all.
But here’s the beauty of doing this. With the keywords you have, drill down again and type each one back into the Google search box. Bingo! More search term suggestions from his “royal highness” Google. Also don’t forget to test both singular and plural. What started out as typing one term into the search box suddenly grows to many. That’s why you’ll virtually never run out of keyword phrases to write around.