Google Search-Based Keyword Tool

So, what is the relatively little-known, free Google Search-Based Keyword Tool?  In this article, we’ll set the context for this keyword tool by establishing the importance of keyword research.  We’ll then tell you about this particular search-based tool and tell you what distinguishes it from other keyword tools.

By the end of this article, you’ll know what Google’s search-based keyword research tool is, who it’s for, and how to best use it to discover keywords that you may not have thought of.

As a side note, the Google search-based tool is also known as the Google SKTool.

The Importance of Keyword Research

Whether you’re an Internet marketer, a content writer, a market researcher, or an advertiser, keyword research is one of the most fundamentally important activities you’ll undertake when setting up an online business (or marketing campaign).  Knowing what keywords your target market uses (and doesn’t use) to try to find your products, services, and offers can be an expensive failure (or deliver a mediocre ROI at best) if it’s not done well.

Poorly done keyword research has led many a marketer to believe that there was a market for their product when, in fact, there wasn’t.  Mediocre keyword research has made many would-be campaigns dismal failures.  Good keyword research can establish a good foundation for an Internet business or advertising campaign especially if you’re able target the exact point of your market that is going to make you money.

But even then, good keyword research can be improved on.  That’s where the Google search-based keyword tool comes in.

If you’ve ever done keyword research, how did you do it?  You probably sat down one day, and tried to think of all the different keywords and keyword phrases people may use to search for your product or service.

The key word here, is may.

And one of the main points of this article is that just because you think that someone searching for your product may type in a certain keyword, does not make it so.  Even if that were the case, how do you know the numbers of keyword searches (queries) for one phrase, as opposed to a similar keyword phrase that people use to find your business.

And, to make it even more complicated, there are various keyword variations that people may use when they want to find your business.  They may type the plural of a word.  Or, the singular.  They may type a descriptive adjective or modifier before the noun, while others type the noun before the adjective.

They may type the 3-word search phrase that describes your offer in a certain order.  Or, they may type in the same 3 words, but in a different order.

They may even use completely different words that are synonyms that still match what you have to offer.

Your product, your service…so many combinations and possibilities of words, phrases , and variations that people can type to try to find your product.

Are you sure you’re covering all of them?

Luckily, the search engines can recognize synonyms, word order, and variations and attempt to return accurate results, but in most cases, there are still various profitable keywords that can be discovered.

Instead of trying to think of all the possible keyword phrases, synonyms, and words that people can use to try to find your business, what if you could tell someone “Hey, this is what I have to offer,” and have that person reply, “Okay, I’ve seen what you have to offer, and these are the keywords people are typing to try to find your offer”?

The Google Search-Based Keyword Tool | SKTool

Well, that’s what distinguishes the Google search-based keyword tool from most other keyword tools.  It delivers you results, not based on general projections, but based on the searches that people use to try to find your product.

So, you may be asking how the search-based keyword tool is different from it’s better-known counterpart, the Google Adwords Keyword Tool.  There are 3 main differences:

1. The sktool works off of your website (or content on your website), whereas the Google Adwords Keyword Tool works on a much broader scale.
2. The sktool can return results in categories.  That is, it can group keywords.  This is great for keeping better control of your marketing campaign.
3. The sktool is much more restrictive.  From our attempts, it doesn’t return any results unless the site in question is actually in your Adwords pay-per-click account.  This is probably one reason why it’s not as well-known as the Google Adwords Keyword tool.

The way to use the sktool is simple.

1. You need an Adwords account.
2. Your site needs to be associated in your Adwords account.
3. While you’re at the SKTool’s page, you insert your site’s url and some main keywords.
4. The sktool goes to work…looking at your site, scanning your pages, matching your keywords with actual search queries that are done, and finally…
5. …returns your categorized results.

Using the sktool can be a great discovery exercise, because you’re likely to be presented with keywords that you never would’ve thought of.  One marketer added over 900 keywords to his campaign, boosted  sales by 5%, and decreased his cost per conversion by 34%.

The SKTool in Action

Here’s a quick example of how the Google Search Based Tool returns results.  The first step is to enter your domain name and some keywords that you want to expand on.  The SKTool will tell you exactly what keywords your site is relevant to:

To the left you see the exact form I just spoke about.  We’re going to do this test with our site here at ProPro.

So I simply put the domain and some associated keywords that make up some of our categories here.

I chose, internet marketing, affiliate marketing, pay per click, search engine optization, traffic generation, web 2.0 marketing and blogging.

Since this is just a general demonstration, the keywords are broader.  Keep in mind that this tool works best with a broader set of keywords.  The more longtail you go, the less results you will get back.  After clicking the “find keywords” button, a page will be generated with the keyword results similar to this:

The Google SKTool Keyword Search Results:

Once it’s done, it should give you back some results like the above.  You can export those results by text, csv, or Excel – or you can do some further investigation of individual keywords.  If you click on any of the keywords you’ll be taken to another tool Google has, the Google Insights for Search Tool.

What this tool is give you even more information and data that you can use in your campaign.  Here’s what a typical Google Insights for Search keyword query returns:

Web Search Interest

The first, top panel is where you choose the different options, as well as generate a new search.  The first data panel is the web search interest for the keyword in question.  You can how wealthy a market is by a steady interest over the last year.  Definitely good to know before you invest time and money into a market that was dead 5 months ago.

Here’s something even cooler.  You can enter and compare data points between up to 10 keywords.  The output shows the data  results right next to each other with different colored lines.  Below you can see a comparison chart between “affiliate marketing” and “ppc marketing”:

Regional Interest

The second data panel displays regional interest of the market.  As you’ll see below, this keyword has the strongest interest in the U.S. (overwhelmingly):

This is especially good if you have sort of more local or geo-targeted market.  Because you can even go down to not just country, but for example, the state and even city level.  Here’s an example of the state level results for our chosen term:

Here you can exactly which states produce that highest demand in that particular market.  If you’re planning on started a geo-target Adwords campaign, this is an excellent source of extremely valuable data.

Top and Rising Search Terms

The last data panel contains a couple related top and rising keyword terms.  This allows you to explore even more avenues for new or related keyword opportunities.  Here’s an example:

Is the SKTool Right for You?

It depends.  It has quite a different use than the more well-known Google Keyword Tool.  Given the fact that you can only access it if you have an Adwords account and a domain associated with it shows Google created this tool to help Adwords marketers expand, and laser target their advertising.

If you’re not at the level where you need to be doing that kind of keyword research, then you probably won’t be able to get much more out of it than just some general data that you could use in a future campaign.  If you’re looking for more traditional type keyword tool you can try the Google External Keyword Tool, or check out some other ones like Keyword Elite 2.0, Market Samurai and Keyword Discovery.

In conclusion, the Google search-based sktool can really help you do something that you might have overlooked otherwise: Discover keywords–not just any keywords, but actual keywords based on your site, paired with actual Google queries.  This is a great benefit to have, and can help you create marketing messages that match exactly what your key prospect is querying for.

The more eyes you can get on your ads, the more traffic you have a chance to drive, and the more sales you have a chance to make.  If you’re interested in driving more traffic to your websites, than you might be interested in this free traffic method, the “Affiliate Syndicator” or one of our latest reviewed Traffic Driving courses, Traffic Voodoo by Jeff Johnson.

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