Accurate Keyword Tool
September 20, 2010 11:19 PM   Subscribe

What's the most accurate free SEO keyword/phrase tool out there?

I've spent months optimizing a site to become #1 for a term the Google Keyword Tool said attracted 74,000 searches per month only to find out I get 2 hits per day.

Is there any free and much more accurate keyword tools out there?

Please discuss the pro's and con's of the ones you mention.
posted by Bacillus to Computers & Internet (5 answers total) 4 users marked this as a favorite
 
If the site in question is the one linked from your profile, you might want to proofread it. Using the phrase "your on the right page" at the start of a long block of text will pretty much ensure that very few people read any further.
posted by flabdablet at 4:10 AM on September 21, 2010


ROFL - sure now that xillions of mefites go to look at that site, numbers will jump up!!

I'm not sure that the keyword tool is the problem. And this therefore isn't answering your question - but having the right keyword isn't the only thing you need. You also need time (for the search engines to find and rank your site) and you need a good ranking, a good site and you need links into your site.

And it kinda depends on if you're relying on organic search or paid placement.

But the Google tool is pretty good. I wouldn't doubt their data. It may not be the most usable tool, but the data's good.
posted by Xhris at 6:01 AM on September 21, 2010


The Google Keyword Tool is really your best option. However, you also have to make sure your site is optimized for SEO - there are about ten "best practices" you can implement right away that will help with pagerank. However, the most important factor (which takes time) that affects how you show up in Google rankings is whether or not other sites link to your site. Google "likes" websites that are linked to by other *credible* websites, which results in a higher pagerank.

The best way to get others to link to you is to create quality content that others will value and actually use. You can also try to participate in your community, via LinkedIn and social media, which will help introduce people to your site, and they will then link to it because the content is helpful.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:21 AM on September 21, 2010


Taking a look at your site, insurance is an incredibly competitive market. You may have more success optimizing your site for your local market. Plus, there are no obvious calls to action on any of the pages. It's not enough to get a high Google pagerank - you also need "conversions".
posted by KokuRyu at 8:17 AM on September 21, 2010


Yes google keyword tool can be patchy. It's generally okay but has blind spots. I had a Org keyword domain show up as a million + monthly exact searches , I sold to someone who had exaggerated faith in the data. Also I was speaking to some one just yesterday who had the exact same story as you.

I don't think PR has much to do with it. Your number one right

If 'your' is in your meta desc or title data that certainly could affect ctr, but with 70000 exact match volume (it is exact, right ) you should expect 100-1000 hits per week

Wordtracker + keyword discovery are both worth looking at to get a relative sense of volumes
posted by hiho at 4:42 PM on September 23, 2010


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