Google defines a keyword as “any word or short phrase that describes a website’s topic or page. The more a keyword is used by search engines and websites, the more pulling power it has.” Keywords are a vital part of online activity. When doing a search, they are the words search engines and users use to find your site. Choosing the right keywords will allow your site to be optimized to appear in the SERPs.
Choosing profitable keywords is not easy. it’s an art. You must be able to determine what words your target audience will search for. Proficiency in this art can be acquired if practiced.
There is a process for choosing keywords. The process begins with brainstorming to identify concepts. There are many ways to generate ideas to get concepts. One way is to go to the library. It’s free and you can look in many books for ideas. A second way is to use Google trends to see what people are searching for. A third way is to go shopping. Hundreds of ideas can be found in stores. Type the generic word of the store items to use as root keywords. A fourth way is to visit eBay’s category listing page. If you click the “see all” link, you’ll be able to access hundreds, maybe even thousands of results. A fifth way is to check out other websites in your niche, see what other niche sites they are linking to, and try to figure out what keywords they are targeting. These five ways are just a few of the many ways you can brainstorm and identify words. Hopefully, though, this will give you a start.
After you’ve brainstormed your main concepts, there are many tools that can help you find keywords that represent these concepts. These tools help you take the main concepts and identify strong words that represent the content of your site.
There are fourteen really great free tools and paid tools that you can use to identify keywords. Really good paid tools for keyword research are Moz Keyword Analysis, Raven Tools Research Central, Advanced Web Ranking, Keyword Spy, Keyword Discovery (free and paid), Word Tracker, SemRush, Keyword Eye, and Long Tail Pro. Really good tools Free ones that you can use to search for keywords are WordPot, Bing Keyword Research, Wordstream, and Suggestions.