Resource of Interest: Google AdWords: Keyword Tool

We recently had Internet Marketing Consultant Amanda Bury from ReachLocal give a talk at our WPO Chicago downtown I chapter meeting and she did a very good job educating us on what SEO (search engine optimization) and SEM (search engine marketing) do for your online business, what the difference is between the two and how to use both effectively to bring greater attention to your business on the Internet.

One tool I always use for my business, and this is outside of the bounds of what Amanda spoke about, is Google AdWords: Keyword Tool. It's a free resource that lets you see what folks are typing into Google. I access great competitive information from it, use it to determine the best choice of words for blog titles and even determine the name(s) of new businesses that require a catchy domain name.

Tips for using Keyword Tool:

• Find keywords based on your site content. Instead of entering your own keywords, try using the Website Content option. It lets you enter the URL of your business website, or of any site related to your business. The AdWords system will then scan your page and then suggest relevant keywords.


• Create new, separate ad groups with similar keywords. We recommend creating several ad groups in each campaign, each with a small, narrowly-focused set of similar keywords. Use the Keyword Tool to discover relevant keywords, then divide them into lists of 5 to 20 similar terms. See examples of ad groups promoting a single product or service and multiple products or services.


• Identify negative keywords. The Keyword Tool can help you identify off-topic keywords that users may be thinking about. Suppose you sell cut flowers and you give the Keyword Tool the keyword 'flowers.' It may suggest the related term 'gardens,' and you may want to add that term to your ad group as a negative keyword. That will keep your ad from showing on searches for 'flower gardens' or similar terms. This helps make sure only interested customers see your ads.


• Specify a language and location. If you're using the Keyword Tool while signed in to your account, you can modify your keyword search with advanced settings and tailor results to a particular location and language. If you happen to be targeting Spanish speakers who live in France, make sure you set the Keyword Tool to that language and location.


• Start broad and then get specific. Try broad terms like 'flowers' in the Keyword Tool first. Then try specific terms like 'red roses' or 'miniature cactus.'

On our own, we did a test (as illustrated above) using keywords: 'women presidents' (clicked the box to use synonyms) and found these keywords related to the term(s) we entered that were searched regularly:

women college presidents
women presidents in the world
women university

What does that mean? You have to factor it in when you create, for example, blog post titles or designate choice paid search listings with keywords for your business. There's so much more -- so spend some time reviewing and learning about how you can use this tool to grow your business.

Give it a whirl here:
Google AdWords: Keyword Tool

Stuck? There's always an online classroom.