Are you using Google Suggest? You can see it in action at http://www.google.com/webhp?complete=1&hl=en by entering any word or phrase. To use the function, your browser must be Internet Explorer 6.0 (or newer), Netscape 7.1 (or newer), Mozilla 1.4 (or newer), Firefox 0.8 (or newer), Opera 7.54 (or newer), or Safari 1.2.2 (or newer). You'll also need to have both JavaScript and cookies enabled.
I have several ways I do keyword research depending on what I need keywords for. A few months ago, a friend mentioned Google Suggest, a tool I had not heard of. He had to explain it to me several times until the light went on in my brain. I had seen it while using the search box on the Google Toolbar, but I didn't stop to investigate and see that it's not just showing your recent searches.
WHAT IS GOOGLE SUGGEST?
This is one of Google’s recent developments and what a great tool it is for finding keywords. The idea behind it is like predictive texting like you get on mobile cell phones. You start typing something and the software looks at what you are typing and finishes it off for you.
To give you an idea, I’ll provide a few examples of how it works to provide you with actual high search words as you are performing a Google search. This example will use the phrase “real estate."
I started with the broadest, most generic term that could be applied so I typed “real estate" into the search box and here’s what happened.
1. When I got to “real es", Google completed the box and displayed these results:
real estate real estate.com real estate.com.au real estate listings real estate agents real estate agent real estate Australia real estate news real estate license real estate listing
So before I had even finished typing in the search query, Google had come up with some new ideas that I could use for another search!
Out of these 10 results, the following were of interest to me: real estate listings, real estate agents, and real estate license.
2. I can now use these results to perform a new search, so as an example I’ll take “real estate agent". Here’s the results of that search:
real estate agents Real estate agent salary real estate agent mail real estate agent seattle real estate agents Melbourne real estate agent fees real estate agents Sydney real estate agent training real estate agents brisbane
This throws up a few more results that I can drill down a bit further, real estate agent salary, real estate agent mail, real estate agent fees and real estate agent training.
I would do the same again with real estate news, real estate listings, and real estate license (from Step 1) which would give me new results that I could use.
Are you starting to see the power of this method for generating sets and subsets of keywords?
3. Now we go back and continue with the original search, which was “real estate". As we type in each letter, the 10 results change to produce new ideas that we can use, for example:
real estate for sale
This is another useful keyword that I can use.
So from my original search “real estate" I now have the following list:
real estate real estate.com real estate.com.au real estate listings real estate agents real estate agent real estate australia real estate news real estate license real estate listing real estate agents real estate agent salary real estate agent mail real estate agent seattle real estate agents melbourne real estate agent fees real estate agents sydney real estate agent training real estate agents Brisbane real estate for sale
Again these can be plugged into Google Suggest to see what else it displays so there’s a lot more terms that I can find that would be great for a project but that should be enough to let you see how it works.
The great thing about the results that you’re getting is that they are based on search popularity, from information Google has saved from actual searches. If you look at the numbers to the right of the search terms returned, you get an instant picture of how popular these searches are on the internet.
Now Google doesn’t exactly spell this out, but the 10 results that you see are placed in order of number of searches.
Alongside is the number of search page results for the term, so you can do an instant evaluation as to what are going to be the phrases worth going after. If a term is getting a lot of searches and doesn’t have much competition – you have found a new project to work on!
You can also use Google Suggest in the Google Toolbar, but it does not return the actual number of searches. Still a great way to start brainstorming a new project or to quickly find words and phrases people are searching on.
Market research can be very complicated if you are not sure what you have to do. If you want to do market research you can hire someone to help you but it is cheaper and easier to do it on your won. However, if you are doing your own market research there are some things that you should keep in mind.
To start with, you should always remember that the information you collect will only be as good as your market research sample. You should always be careful when choosing your research sample. Your research sample must meet two basic criteria; it has to be relevant to and representative of the entire target population. This is the only way that it will truly reflect what you want it to. When you are doing your own market research it is always a good idea to choose an area of people to question that you do not know. All too often when the interviewer knows the people being questioned some form of bias may find its way into the results. If this happens then the results are not valid and reliable.
You should always design your market research questionnaire carefully. You questions should focus specifically on what you want to know. Be careful that your questions are not too personal because some people do not want to answer questions that involve money earned and money spent. They are more willing to ask general type questions. If you offend the people in some way they will not be willing to fill out the questionnaire at all.
The market research questionnaire should be kept short and to the point. People become bored and restless if they are asked to fill out pages and pages of questions. If at all possible then you should always try to keep your questionnaire to about one page or a little more.
The most important thing when conducting some form of market research is that you have excellent skills for recording information. Before you start doing your market research then you should always practice and refine your recording skills. You could look at how others have collected and recorded information, or you could do some practice samples on friends and family.
Both Gail Metcalf & James Hunt are contributors for EditorialToday. The above articles have been edited for relevancy and timeliness. All write-ups, reviews, tips and guides published by EditorialToday.com and its partners or affiliates are for informational purposes only. They should not be used for any legal or any other type of advice. We do not endorse any author, contributor, writer or article posted by our team.
Gail Metcalf has sinced written about articles on various topics from Online Marketing, Home Appliances and Home. Digital Info Diva™ supports Internet Marketers. Sign up for my for Internet businesses and learn how to profit from your custome. Gail Metcalf's top article generates over 12100 views. to your Favourites.
James Hunt has sinced written about articles on various topics from History, Virtual Private Network and Mobile Phone Reviews. James Hunt has spent 15 years as a professional writer and researcher covering stories that cover a whole spectrum of interest.Read more at