I’m a staunch believer in the Content Warfare mantra of Just Be Awesome SEO…
…but that doesn’t mean understanding how to use a few SEO tools can’t help us dominate our industry in search traffic.
The Google Keyword Tool is one of those SEO Tools.
I use Google Keyword Tool in conjunction with almost every post I write (including this one).
This video tutorial will show you how to effectively use the Google Keyword Tool in:
- Generating new content ideas
- Formatting keywords into long-tail phrases
- Pinpoint less competitive keywords within the same niche
(If you cannot see the video above Click Here)
Ryan Hanley is teaching me how-to dominate search traffic for FREE using the Google Keyword Tool | Click to Tweet
The Google Keyword Tool
The Google Keyword Tool was initially created to be a research tool for prospective Google Adwords advertisers.
But smart bloggers (like you) can take advantage of this free tool simply by signing up for Google Adwords. There is no obligation to publish one ad.
I’ve been using the Google Keyword Tool for over a year now and haven’t published one ad in Google Adwords other than…
…when Google sends out a $100 gift card in free advertising because I have an account and Google wants me to test out their product.
The Rub
The Google Keyword Tool is Free… Easy to use… And helps to make you a better blogger.
You shouldn’t not be using it in your content creation efforts.
It’s SEO and Social Tools like these that help you win the battle for attention online.
Thank you and Good luck,
I am Ryan Hanley.
SPEAK YOUR MIND: Have you ever used the Google Keyword Tool? What kind of results have you seen? What other keyword tools free or paid would you recommend?
Ryan,
This is a great video to understand the tools to research what people are typing in their searches but how do you incorporate these words into your blog so your blog gets a “hit” in the search? Do you just keep putting those words throughout your blog? Is there a special way of doing it? What other little tricks help out? Thanks for all your help. Feel free to email me personally on this as well. Cheers,
Andrew
Andrew,
The trick with applying keywords to your site is incorporating them naturally. Focus on a keyword that attracts the type of traffic you want, but careful not to stuff your content with keywords so humans don’t enjoy reading what you wrote.
Also try to focus on only one keyword per blog post.
Thanks!!
Hanley
I agree! Google Keyword Tool is a very potent tool. When my colleagues and I were building our SEO systems, Google Keyword Tool really kicked things into overdrive. We’ve since purchased software to help with SEO, but I find myself always coming back to the simple elegance of Google Keyword Tool.
Brad,
If you don’t mind sharing what tool did you decide to use to help with SEO?
Thanks!
Ryan H.
It’s really an informative post and video as well. One thing you can include in this post is that how to put key words in post or where to put them.
well thanx a lot for this post. keep going.
Hi Ryan,
You have written a great tutorial. I was little bit confused about google keyword tool, but now you cleared all the doubts
Regards!
Sarah
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Thanks Sarah! I’m so happy you found the content worthwhile!! All the best…
Ryan H.
Very helpful article. I primarily use google ad words. But I’ve heard good things the other paid options as well.
Carl,
Have you thought about Facebook ads at all?
I thank to you providing this tutorial, although I am late visiting this site. I will learn about what you explain on using Google Keyword Tool.
Google Adwords tool is proven to be the most efficient tool, but still I prefer market samurai and traffic travis ahead of it.
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simply nice post. i am sure it will help all the people who need help on google keyword. thanks
Thank you! Hopefully there are people that will find the content useful…
Thanks for this awesome guide, though I’m blogging since long, but i’m new to using this stuff and this guide will really help me. thanks again.
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You are very welcome Jim.
Good job you did…I like this…
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I am new to blogging world and where I have seen I found most people recommended WordTracker and Market Samurai for keyword research but as I know Google is the king of internet world so I would like to go with this keyword tool by Google.
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Rajnish,
WordTracker and Market Samurai are paid options and I’ve heard very good things about both products.
Google Keyword Tool is a Free option. The resources with Google Keyword Tool are not as robust, but the tool is Free.
Thanks buddy!
Ryan H.
Great video and tips! I have also used keywordspy.com which has also been helpful. You do not need to sign up for anything and can get great info regarding ad words pay per clicks, cost per clicks and monthly volume.
Melissa,
Appreciate the recommendation of Keywordspy… I have not used that tool and will definitely check it out.
Thanks!!
Ryan H.
Hi Ryan
Nice Post
Great tutorial, Google Keyword tools is a free, reliable and useful tool. I have been using this from the beginning. you have given us a very useful information on Google Adwords keyword tool. This post will help many in their SEO work thanks for sharing this with us
Bryan
Appreciate the feedback Bryan…
I’m glad you enjoyed the tutorial.
All the best!!
Yes, there’s no harm in using free tools for SEO as long as its good and reliable.
Been using Google’s keyword tool for many years now and Its my business partner!
Hi Marnie!
Thanks for the feedback… Google Keyword Tool is most definitely a valuable resource.
All the best!!
Ryan H.
Really insightful post about google keywords tool, got some nice tips from it. Keep up the good work Ryan.
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Ryan,
I keep coming back here to pick-up these great tips! I will be focusing more on SEO going forward and your site is a great resource.
Thanks!
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Craig,
I’m glad to help! If there is anything you’d like to see let me know and I’ll do my best to get you an answer.
Ryan H.
hello ryan,
found your blog link on ana’s post and i must say this post is really helpful for all of us. as you cant grab a huge traffic without the seo and for seo you must use google keyword tool as it gives us an idea about the keywords. like,which keywords we should use and what is the number of local and global monthly searches..and it helps a lot in many ways
thanks for this post
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Thanks Prabhat!
I appreciate you stopping by and I couldn’t agree with your thoughts more.
Ryan H.
Hey Ryan,
it’s a great tutorial – and 8 minutes is a good length of time making it really accessible – I do wonder though – it’s a little bit when all we have to go off is High, Medium or Low.
Obviously we would choose Low.
Once we’ve done that there must be some other things to think about. I like your point about using the chosen keyword phrase over a number of posts, but when there are so many ‘Low’ competition keywords, is there more you need to do in terms of interpreting the monthly search numbers to decide.
I was hoping in your vid for example that on your last keyword search you’d explain ‘When to sue’ which showed a Low competition and 11million+ monthly searches. Just looking at the stats from a purely technical point of view that would seem to be the obvious choice – i.e. Low competition + High monthly search, but I’m guessing that it is actually not a good choice because in reality your ‘competition’ also includes a number of other people using the google adwords keyword research tool and that’s precisely the stand out term they will be attracted to too – right?
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Alan,
The Low Competition figure technically shows the Competition for Ad Space within Google Adwords.
So the competition rating is not directly relationship to Keyword Competition… However it does give a very close relationship as Advertisers are willing to pay more for Keywords that are harder to rank for in Organic search.
I probably should have explained that better in the video.
Thanks!!
Hey Ryan,
thanks for the response but just to check we’re talking about the same thing – I meant the competition rating which says High, Medium or Low and then the figure which is provided is labelled the Global or Local monthly searches.
So competition – means competition for Adspace.
Monthly searches – are you saying this also means people searching purely in adwords/advertisers searching for adspace (e.g. rather than searching in google)?
I was particularly interested in why you didn’t explain the 11million figure as that one seemed to jump out in the demo – but then if the figure represents people searching for adspace rather than a google search surely that would imply that the competition was high and not low? Sorry if I’m being thick here…
thanks,
Alan
Alan wants you to check out… Do You Know When To Lead and When To Follow?
The Competition Rating is based on competition for adspace.
The Monthly Local and Global Searches are actual searches for that term.
So you can get an idea of what kind of competition there is for a term (though not exact) but see how many people are searching for it.
I didn’t purposely not talk about the term “When to Sue”. But that might be a good one with that many search and a low competition rating…
Thanks!!
ah, OK – thanks Ryan,
sorry for all the questions & thanks very much for clarifying that, I have looked at the adwords tool before but wondered if it was really worth it – I’ll give it another look,
thanks again – take care & best wishes,
Alan
Alan wants you to check out… Do You Know When To Lead and When To Follow?
Alan,
No doubt buddy… Thats what I’m here fore. Happy to help. The Google Keyword Tool isn’t perfect but for a Free tool it can certainly point you in the right direction.
Thanks!
Hanley
Like your site design.
I think there’s a flaw with this video Ryan.
As I understand, the ‘competitive’ ranking is not telling you how competitive a keyword is in natural search, it is telling you how sought after it is in Google Adwords.
So just because ‘social media buttons’ is low – advertisers don’t want to bid on it – doesn’t necessarily mean that you will rank more easily for it in natural search.
“New York Times” is low, but gets 9 million monthly searches. I wouldn’t waste my time trying to rank for it.
Hope I haven’t missed something?
Luke
Luke,
You are right… I should have explained that relationship better. In most cases the relationship is close as Low competition keywords in Adwords are search terms that can be ranked for organically so Advertisers won’t pay as much for them.
But you are definitely correct. I should have went into that relationship in the video.
Thanks Luke… Appreciate your feedback.
Ryan H.
Great piece, Ryan. I have to agree with Danny in that many people believe their online presence and reach can solely rely on social sharing. Although amplification through sharing can help support your brand and your content, we cannot forget the importance of tying our content together with SEO-influenced keywords. I always have a list of about 20-30 keywords beside my monitor that influence that specific post. This is definitely an article that people need to read, appreciate and implement. Well done.
Tyler,
Appreciate the feedback brother and I think keeping a list of Keywords you want to rank for next to your monitor is a great idea!!
Thanks for connecting!!
Ryan H.
Thanks for reminding people about Google Keyword, mate. It’s amazing how many bloggers think social sharing is all they need to succeed – SEO is still the best referrer, and it’s not that hard to conquer, either.
Good stuff, man!
Danny,
Thanks for stopping by buddy!
SEO is also a great way to meet new people to connect with in the social space. You bring interested parties in through SEO then build a strong relationship through different social media.
All the best my man!
Ryan H.
Great stuff Ryan. I use Scribe from Cobyblogger and it’s a use help, but I still struggle with keywords. This is great information.
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What do you think about Scribe? I’ve never used it…
Scribe is awesome Ryan.
Frankly speaking, I don’t have a WordPress blog, but i do guest posts on many WP blogs and all of them use different plugins. Some use EasyWP SEO while some SEOPressor; but i found Scribe the best out of all.
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That’s great feedback Arbaz… Appreciate it buddy!
So for me, over at Blogging-for-Dummies level….the keywords should be…? In the title? As tags? In the content? I’m sure you’ve said it before, but where do you put it? Or do you just repeat it in the title, the tags AND the body?
Great tutorial, Ryan!
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Nicole,
In a natural way you want your Keywords in all those place if possible. They don’t have to be and they certainly don’t have to be every time. But Yes you want the Keywords in the Title, Tags, Headings, Content, and Pictures… Maybe even a link.
You’ve given me a great idea for my next How-to video…
All the best!
Ryan H.
Would you believe that at one day later, I just had a coworker come in and say he met with a client who said he had Googled his specialty insurance needs and ended up with an agent 35 miles out of town….and “How do we get in there on Google…? We should be the ones they find!”
I went all Ryan Hanley on him and told him to write me some blogs TARGETING THE MARKETS HE WANTS TO REACH, then schooled him on your awesome posts.
Thanks again!
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Haha… You need to take that Market over!!!
I hope going “all Ryan Hanley” is a good thing… But you’re right. That should not be happening…
Best of the luck!!
And as always I so much appreciate your support!
Hey Ryan,
Good video. I’ve seen others recommend refining your search with the “Match Types” on the left of the Google Keyword Tool. Curious to know what your take is on those options of Broad, Exact, and Phrase.
I’ve used the tool before, and it’s very helpful.
Jason
I’ve used it for retail sites and I love the info you can get like how many searches are done a month for a particular phrase and which have high “competition”. It is very useful but it takes time to see results.
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The competition rating is very useful because you can steer clear of phrases that you may think are obtainable but really aren’t…
thanks Lisa!
Ryan H.