Keyword Research Methods
They say that there are so many keyword research methods out there, that the most accurate way to count them all is to count all researchers, for each and every one has his own system. I tend to disagree, because most of us use more than one method, depending on the specific case. There are numerous keyword generation tools available, some better then others, but I will not go into those at this point. I will discuss the basic principles of keyword research and the significance of a correct approach to keywords.
First and foremost, one must define the purpose of the promotion campaign. Different query terms will be investigated for different campaign goals. For instance, if we’re trying to boost incoming traffic to our site, we will consider all traffic generating keywords as optional. This is one keyword research method that led to the phenomenon of keyword stuffing, which we should avoid. That is because practically all major search engines have learned to identify and actively penalize practitioners of this technique. If our campaign purpose is, on the other hand, to increase revenue or conversion rates, our keyword research will focus on the converting query terms, rather than listing all relevant traffic generating keywords.
Once the purpose has been defined, there are several strategies one may choose. Using the keyword research services provided by any of the major search engines is the most common method. However, putting all your eggs on one basket is not necessarily the smartest thing to do. Different search engines vary in the ways they classify their keyword databases for their approaches and search algorithms vary as well. The smartest this to do in this case is to leverage those differences to your advantage. No matter how severe their disagreements are, all search engines will agree on one parameter – the least commonly used search queries. The goal of your research being to filter out the best keywords to target, compare the results provided by different keyword research services to find out which words are worst, effectively progressing toward achieving your goal.
Approach is everything in keyword research methods. There are those who prefer more creative keyword research over the conservative, proven methods. What it all boils down to is that there is always more than one method that will work for you. Choosing one is mostly a matter of experience, personal preference and the case at hand. Keep in mind that the method you choose to go with will determine your approach to keywords, and that method should be defined more by the goals of your promotion campaign than by your personal preference.