Free & Paid Keyword Tools

Keyword research is an essential step when building a website. Your online success could depend on how well you searched for the keywords that would generate the most traffic to your site. Choosing the right keywords is vital, because Google can greatly help you boost your business: more traffic, more leads, more sales...

There is a large choice of keyword tools available on the web. Google provides a free keyword tool called Keyword Tool. If the latest version looks a little complicated to you, switch to the old version, which is a little easier to use. To switch to the old version simply click 'Previous Version' on the top right corner.

Trellian also offers a free keyword tool called Keyword Discovery. This tool is also very easy to use and will generate the Top 100 keywords for you. Another good keyword tool is SEO Book's Keyword Suggestion Tool. You must sign up to the site to access this tool but this is really worth it if you're looking for free alternatives. Note that these two companies also offers paid keyword tools, which are of course more advanced.

For paid keyword tools, three main options: Market Samurai, WordTracker and Keyword Elite. Market Samurai is one of the most popular keyword tools among internet professionals. This tool gathers very useful data from Google and Microsoft. Market Samurai offers a trial version of the tool so make sure you give it a try.

WordTracker has been around for quite a while now, and is still used by thousands of people. A great, easy to use and affordable keyword tool that will help you find the best keywords for your site. As for Keyword Elite, it's a good alternative to other paid tools but it is a little more targeted at internet professionals and might thus look a little more complicated to you.

When searching for keywords for your site, make sure you check the competition too. Some keywords might generate a lot of traffic to your site if you're in the first few positions on Google, but they might also be very competitive, and thus very hard to rank for. Try to avoid broad keywords and rather focus on narrow keywords, which are more likely to drive targeted traffic to your site. Then you may optimise your site for search engines with the keywords you chose.

For more information on keyword research, feel free to contact us at sales@ismartsoftware.com in Australia or sales@ismart.co.uk in the UK. You might also be interested in our SEO eBook.