Using Google key word tool to reseach key words for a site

[dawsonski]

I have  using  Google’s key word tool to generate potential Keywords for our site. I have been focusing mainly on the information in “Local Monthly” searches  (with the country being set to “New Zealand” as we are not looking to sell internationally. With regards to selecting the Key words for our site is it a matter of simply focusing on the ones that rank highest or are there other variables, in the key word tool I need to allow for. Note at this stage we are not looking to under take a PPC campaign. Thanks for you help

Pete

[makeshiftyy]

No problems

I tend to use Google's Keyword Tool to find keywords I'm interested in, and then I just use Market Samurai to check the competition.

But keep in mind that a lot of SEOmoz tools would probably do the same job a lot better - like their Keyword Difficulty Tool, Open Site Explorer etc. I just haven't had as much time to play around with those yet  

I still like to use both however, because Market Samurai pulls their data from Majestic SEO, which is a larger index than Linkscape. So if you look at both you should get a pretty good picture of where you're at.

[dawsonski]

Thanks for your feedback Clancy. I will keep this in mind.

[josh-riley]

I agree with Clancy - my goal is to find words with significant traffic while identifying what can lead to the best conversion and least amount of bouce backs.

Ex: a word, "example" that has 1,000 local searches a month - if I can capture 10% of those searchers (100) vs. "specific example) which has 100 searches and 10% (10), I have more opportunity.

[makeshiftyy]

By "the ones that rank highest" I'm assuming you mean the ones with the most traffic?

Keyword research tends to be a bit more complicated than that - but not overly complicated. Basically you want to find a keyword that ticks 3 boxes.

1. It needs to bring in traffic - obviously.

2. It needs to be a relevant keyword that will bring targeted visitors to your site. For example, say you're selling balloons - you want to focus on keywords that will attract visitors wanting to actually buy balloons. It helps to look at a keyword and think, "If I'd just searched for that, what would my intentions be?"

3. It needs to look good from a cost/benefit standpoint - ie, is it a competitive term? is it easy to rank for? How much targeted traffic will I get for the amount of work involved? For this reason, the keywords that get the most traffic are sometimes not the best to go after, because ranking for them can literally take years of hard work in some cases - you have to learn to pick your battles.

I tend to use a combination of Google's Keyword Tool and a program called Market Samurai for keyword research, and I find that this gives me a very accurate and workable picture  of what keywords to target and why.