Free Keyword Research Tools

Free Keyword Research Tools

Learn which keywords you should be targeting to increase your website rankings, traffic, and keep track of what your competition is doing!

These free keyword research tools can be used to find information from blogs, news stories, Twitter, and even what being posted on forums! And we all know that information is power!

The keyword tools that are listed below are all free and quite easy to use!

5 Free Keyword Research Tools For SEO Beginners By rights, I should have titled this article, "Basic Free Keyword Tools For SEO Beginners..Tools That The Experts And Your Competition Use For Their Up-To-Date Keyword Research!"

But I didn't use that title for two basic reasons, (a) Too wordy of a title. (b) I prefer to keep things real simple when it come to keywords in my titles! But Kinda catchy of a title..don't you think?

Anyway, let me take care of some basic terms in a question and answer format before I get to the heart of this article!

(Q) What is a "Keyword"?

(A) Basically a "keyword" is a word that people like you and me put into search engines. Search engines like Google, Yahoo, Bing and a few other lesser known ones! Now since people rarely just put in one word (keyword) in a search engine, they usually put in two or more words in. So for our purpose the correct term is "keywords"! So basically any combination of words that you put into a search engine are "keywords".

(Q) So, why are "keywords" important to me (you)?

(A) Well again let me keep it simple..if you want search engines to visit your blog and or site, use the right "keywords"! If you want more traffic to your site and or blog, use the right keywords especially if you want more traffic than your competition, use the right keywords properly.

(Q) What is SEO?

(A) SEO or S.E.O. is a acronym (short form) for Search Engine Optimization (also known as Optimization). If you are wondering why do I need to know this term? Well, if you want your site or blog to stand out (even a little) from other similar blogs/sites and you want the search engines to visit your site more often..know a little SEO would help!

Now that the formalities are done, lets move on to the main part of this article.

Free, yes free (no cost to you) keyword tools! Tools that help you find or keep track of what going on in Twitter, blogs, sites and even forums and message boards.

(1) Free Keyword Tool - Google Alerts! This tool is offered from the biggest search engine, Google. You can set up this tool for alerts for keywords that are related to your site! These keywords can even include your URL, your competitions URL even your name, those are just a few example of the uses of these tool!

So, depending on how you set up your Alert, every day you should recieve a email from Google Alerts which includes summaries of news stories and blog posts that include your keywords.

Here are the basic steps to set up a Google Alert.

(a) Go to www.google.com/alerts
(b) Enter the search terms (keywords) that you want the alerts for.
(c) From the "Type" drop down menu, pick what type of content you want Google to search! In order, not to miss news items, I recommend choosing the "Comprehensive" option.
(d) From the "How Often" drop down menu, pick the frequency you wan the alerts delivered to your email inbox. I recommend "Once a Day", which in my experience is the best frequency.
(e) Enter your main email address or the one that you want the alerts sent too.
(f) Finally, click the "Create Alert" button.

(2) Free Keyword Tool - Twitter Alerts! Very similiar to "Google Alerts", you can track your keywords on Twitter (twitter.com) by using services like Twilert (twilert.com). You can follow keywords in all the posts in which these keywords appear.

There are a few services like Scoopler (scoopler.com), OneRiot (oneriot.com) and Tweetmeme (tweetmeme.com) that let you scan not only Twitter but other microblogging platforms at once and in real time!

Here are the basic steps to set up a Twitter Alert.

(a) Sign into your Twitter account. If you don't have one, sign up at www.twitter.com. You can also use your Google account.
(b) Go to www.twilert.com/
(c) Enter the search terms that you want the alerts for.
(D) Finally, click the "Create TWilert" button.


(3) Free Keyword Tool - Boardreader. Even though more of a research tool than a keyword tool. Boardreader (www.boardreader.com) is a great tool to use to scan what is happening in messages boards and forums! You can use it to find out what peoples opinion are on your site, brand, company, product also you can find answers to question that you might not find on a single board/forum!

Let say, for example, your sites/blogs keyword is "sports cars". You can use Boardreader to find out which sports car is getting the most positive and or negative comments! Then you can use the information to your advantage by writing an article (blog posting) either putting a positive spin on the feedback or using the information to write a article (posting) to inform your visitors on the latest "trending topic"!

There are other free services like Omgili (www.omgili.com) and Boardtracker (www.boardtracker.com) that are also useful keyword and or research tools!

Here are the basic steps to use Boardreader.

(a) Go to www.boardreader.com
(b) Sign Up
(c) Wait for confirmation email and follow instructions
(d) Once at site, put your search in. You can check out what being posted in Topics, Forums, Images , Videos, Microblogs, Imdb, Yuku, and Lefora.
(e) Board reader gives a detailed account on how to set your email alert!

(4) Free Keyword Tool - WordStream! Here a great keyword tool, yes it free! This tool helps you to find niche keywords, suggests keywords, groups your keyword and even finds negative keywords.

Here are the basic steps to use WordStream.

(a) Go to www.wordstream.com/
(b) Look on the right side for the "search" bars
(c) Put a keyword in
(d) A new pages opens and just click on the "pail" (if there is one) , copy and paste the keywords that you like into something like "Notepad".

Pretty simple to use and you don't have to sign up!

(5) Free Keyword Tool - Google Adwords! Probably the most known of all the free keyword tools, especially used by advertisers who advertise their sites and product with Google!

Here are the basic steps to use Google Adwords

(a) Go to www.adwords.com. You can still use this tool if you don't have a Google Account.
(b) Click on "Get Keywords Idead" (middle column, middle of the page)
(c) To specialize in a country and or a language, use the "Advanced option".
(d) I prefer to use the "Show results for All keyword ideas"
(e) Put your keyword in and wait for your results!

In summary the five free keyword tools listed above so help you stay ahead of your competition and get more search engine traffic to your site or blog (for more Free Get More Traffic tips ) and probably more important to most of us with Google Adsense on our sites get more revenue from our content.