Next Advanced SEO session is by Chris Dimmock of Cogentis to talk about SEO KW Research – Beyond the Ordinary.

You’ve mastered the KW tools – what next?

– find significant kws’

– uncover competitor’s keywords

– mine the long tail for elusive but valuable obscure search terms

– expand your *virtual shelf space* in surprising ways

KW Tools:

Adwords KW research tool is valuable, but keepin mind it’s just Google data

Adwords Traffic estimator

MS Ad Intelligence for Office 2007 – need an account Bing/msn – has a KW extraction tool – handy for importing from a URL.

WordTracker

Traditional Advice for KW Research

1) brainstorming session – but ask outsiders so you don’t get caught up in your own jargon
2) read your log files – only works if people are already finding you for those terms
3) Lots of time consuming grindy work with s/sheets – safest way

Chris’s Advice for KW Research

– singulars and plurals

– word order e.g. sydney hotels vs hotels sydney

– industry jargon falls into long tail

– searcher intent and your goals- make sure your kws become the conduit

-testing and analystics are key. Don’g be afraid to use SEM to tst your SEO KW coversion rates

– Define your goals- conversions, traffic, newsletter, signups etc. Does the target page provide access to the goal outcome.

Overview of Paid Tools

1) KW Discovery – gives you AU data

2) Word Tracker

3) SEMRush

Look at Current Trends for KW Research

– googletrends

– hot aol

– zeitgeist

– Twitter trends

– GG Insights for Search

– Yahoo Buzz – Buzzlog.buzz.yahoo.com

– Google Buzz

– Trendistic

Chris says there’s a lot of talk about using social media to predict the future. Traditional kw tools don’t help when you’re trying to do this. Sometimes there is no recent history. So take an educated guess in that case and cover your bases.

Try KWSpy etc.

The Google Search based KW Tool is very powerful – allows you to research your competitors

– Remember to research misspellings

– Try MS adCenter Labs

Geographical Sales Expansion

– different markets have different keywords to describe things e.g. accommodation vs lodging vs accommodations

Conclusion

– Use KW tools

– Use PPC to test conversions before you SEO

– Don’t believe the numerical stats from tools

– Test or you’re wasting your time