Keyword Research Tools

Keyword Research Tools – Help Me Find The Right Keyword Phrase!

Earlier this week, while answering questions in a forum about Search Engine Optimization, I ran across a post by a member who was bewildered about the disparity between her #3 ranking in Google, and the lack of a specific type of traffic to her site so she could monetize it. Now, I really have an open mind when it comes to anything that is legal and moral. But honestly, never in my wildest dreams, did I think

• 1) that I would be blogging about “puppy potty training”, or
• 2) I would do research on it!

But alas, we Search Engine Marketing geeks are trained to follow the research. Don’t ever “go where you think”, rather, go where the research takes you. In this situation, I felt that another member of the group who called himself an SEO professional dissed this lady, and I was going to make it right! Huh?! I admit, I’ve had two puppies, I’ve made it through those couple of weeks when first Dianna, then Tuppence had to go outside about every 30 seconds, but really, we got over it and my wife says we’ll never have another dog! Alright, let’s get on with where the keyword research took me.

I really DID go to Puppy-Potty-Training.com, got the keyword phrases that were in the keyword meta tag and went to work! Here’s the list that were there:

• puppy potty training
• puppy training
• housetraining
• puppies

Not much, but it really was a start! Little did I know that this lady actually already ranked for 37 keyword phrases that had to do with puppy potty training. I went to Google and was stunned to find out that there were dozens of ways people were trying to figure out how to get fifi to do her job where, and when Master John, or Mistress Mary wanted her to! Very high level research showed me that the top 127 performing keyword phrases had an average of over 170,000 hits per month! Now I was interested!

I went to Google AdWords Keyword tool and exported the 200 keywords that Google offered me. As I mentioned before, 127 of those actually had to do with the topic at hand. For the purpose of this exercise, I stripped out the other ones. I went to SEO Sniper and set it to work. Here are the results:

Get the entire table here: Puppy Toilet Training Spreadsheet

Top 25 performing keyword phrases

Keywords	Approx Search Volume: January	Approx Avg Search Volume	Compe- tition	KEI
pet training	22,200	33,100	191,000	5,736
crate training	12,100	12,100	26,000	5,631
puppy care	6,600	6,600	27,700	1,573
dog training tips	6,600	6,600	32,900	1,324
potty training puppies	3,600	4,400	1,530	12,654
puppy potty training	4,400	4,400	9,900	1,956
training puppies	4,400	4,400	40,400	479
how to potty train a puppy	5,400	3,600	510	25,412
crate training a puppy	3,600	3,600	1,590	8,151
housebreaking a puppy	4,400	3,600	1,660	7,807
crate training puppies	4,400	3,600	1,710	7,579
house training a puppy	4,400	3,600	1,890	6,857
potty training a puppy	4,400	3,600	2,130	6,085
puppy training tips	4,400	3,600	9,400	1,379
dog potty training	2,900	3,600	10,200	1,271
dog house training	2,400	2,900	12,100	695
dog potty	3,600	2,900	18,500	455
housebreaking puppies	1,900	2,400	1,350	4,267
house training a dog	1,600	2,400	1,850	3,114
house training puppies	2,400	2,400	2,910	1,979
puppy crate training	1,900	2,400	6,750	853
how to house train a puppy	2,400	1,900	668	5,404
how to potty train a dog	1,900	1,900	1,580	2,285
potty training a dog	1,300	1,900	1,690	2,136
house training dogs	1,600	1,900	2,360	1,530

Now let’s figure out which keyword phrases are the most promising. Obviously, we want those with high monthly search volume, with no competition, right? Right! This relationship is exactly what we check first! That’s actually what we call the KEI Index. The higher the KEI index, the better the investment in organic search engine optimization. Please understand though, that the KEI value isn’t the only one! A KEI value over 300 or so is one that could perform well. Now we have to move on to the next decisions. Here they are:

• Is this the right time of year to be pursuing this keyword phrase
• What is the on-page strength of competing pages
• Overall, is this a good business decision

Each of these questions has to be answered before time and money is invested in attracting traffic! Here is the same list, just ordered now, according to the highest KEI value. notice that I brought in the

• average search volume
• Highest Volume Month
• KEI index
• Window of Opportunity Index
• Average On-Page Strength Index

Knowing that the KEI value is important, what time of the year is it? We don’t want to invest resources in optimizing the wrong keyword phrase, for example, Christmas ornaments in February, or Prom dresses in July! As we look at good keyword phrases, what month do they peak in? Are there good ones that we have to pursue first? If not, let’s move on.

The next indicator is the “Average On-Page Strength Index” This tells us how much the top 30 competitors have worked to optimize their pages. The index goes from 0 to 100. The lower the index is, the better. Taking this into consideration, which keyword phrases would you select? The first three I’d look at are:

• How to potty train a puppy
• House breaking a puppy
• Crate training a puppy
• Housebreaking a puppy
• House training a puppy

Keywords	Approx Avg Search Volume	Highest Volume Occurred In	Compe- tition	KEI	Window of Opportunity Index	Avg. On-Page Strength Index
how to potty train a puppy	3,600	Oct	510	25,412	84.55	74
potty training puppies	4,400	Jan	1,530	12,654	92.25	83
house breaking a puppy	1,600	Dec	247	10,364	75.85	25
crate training a puppy	3,600	Dec	1,590	8,151	92.50	55
housebreaking a puppy	3,600	Jan	1,660	7,807	86.15	20
crate training puppies	3,600	Sep	1,710	7,579	84.35	55
house training a puppy	3,600	Sep	1,890	6,857	88.40	23
potty training a puppy	3,600	Oct	2,130	6,085	86.55	61
crate training	12,100	Jan	26,000	5,631	93.75	99
how to house train a puppy	1,900	Dec	668	5,404	76.30	52
housebreaking puppies	2,400	Dec	1,350	4,267	83.55	87
house training a dog	2,400	Dec	1,850	3,114	79.65	50
house breaking puppies	1,000	Dec	422	2,370	69.60	56
housetraining puppies	880	Dec	327	2,368	69.60	31
how to potty train a dog	1,900	Jul	1,580	2,285	89.50	75
potty training a dog	1,900	Dec	1,690	2,136	79.25	59
house training puppies	2,400	Dec	2,910	1,979	83.05	90
puppy potty training	4,400	Dec	9,900	1,956	89.70	75
housebreaking a dog	1,300	Oct	953	1,773	82.60	74
house breaking a dog	590	Mar	203	1,715	86.35	15
house training dogs	1,900	Dec	2,360	1,530	81.80	30
puppy training tips	3,600	Sep	9,400	1,379	83.90	24
potty training a new puppy	110	Sep	9	1,344	76.60	39
best way to potty train a puppy	390	Jan	114	1,334	61.90	49
potty train dog	720	Nov	402	1,290	92.25	40

The final decision making index is the “Window Of Opportunity Index”. This is also a 0 – 100 index. The higher, the better. In other words, if two or three values are real close, this index will be a tie breaker for me. Because the Window Of Opportunity Index is tied to all of the discussed Indices, some people even start by sorting this the list by this index first, then looking at other values. It’s up to you.

Interested in a copy of SEO Sniper? Get your copy of SEO Sniper now!