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.
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