One of the most effective ways to do keyword research is to find the words your competitors are using to rank highly in the search engines, and then borrow them for your own site.



Simply log on to a search engine such as Google and carry out a search for sites like yours. Open the top site, and once the home page has downloaded, click on ‘View' in your browser, and then ‘Source.' That will reveal all the HTML used to build the Web page, including all the keywords that have been specially inserted.

Some of those keywords will be relevant to your site. Others, of course, won't be relevant and there will be lots of other keywords that aren't obviously listed. But you can repeat the process on other sites, using different keywords, and build up a pretty long list.

Other effective ways for finding keywords are:

Pay-per-click sites like Google Adwords and the Yahoo Publisher Network actually let you see how popular a keyword is. They're not being kind; they're trying to make money. The more webmasters bid on those keywords, the higher the bids are going to rise—and the more money the pay-per-clicks are going to make.

If all else fails, try using a keyword service like WordTracker or Googlefight.

WordTracker.com is widely considered the top keyword research service tool online. They're not bargain basement, but you get what you pay for. They'll give you all the keywords you need and in my experience, they're a sound investment.

Googlefight.com is another useful tool to see whether one keyword is more popular than another. The site compares two keywords and tells you which is more popular. It's free and has a limited use, but can be valuable.

As you make up your list of keywords, bear in mind that it's also worth looking at key phrases. It's quite possible that a user looking to buy flowers online might search for ‘red roses' or ‘cheap bouquets' as well as just ‘flowers.' Key phrases are often overlooked by competitors, so you've got a pretty good chance of getting a high placement with the right combination.

Don't worry too much about the competition though. Some people will tell you that you're better off trying to find keywords that no one else has thought of—as if there were any!—and others will tell you to throw in keywords that are only slightly relevant to your businesses.

In my experience, that's a waste of time. If your competitors are using certain keywords, it's because they know they work. And if you pick up any users using irrelevant keywords, you're not going to sell them anything. Don't try to reinvent the wheel here: just try to figure out the most popular keywords and the best key phrases to put on your site.

Whichever of these methods you use—and I tend to use more than one—you should end up with a pretty comprehensive list of keywords that you can stick into your Website.