Brainstorm It! -- The Google AdWords Keyword Tool

Contents

Brainstorm It! - The Big Picture

The Google AdWords Keyword Tool

The Google AdWords Keyword Tool is an excellent keyword research tool (you can even do research in other languages).

If you're considering making Google AdSense an important part of your monetization plans, this tool gives you a superb "high level snapshot" of how profitable your potential Site Concept(s) could be.

The AdWords Keyword Tool is intended to help advertisers decide which keywords to buy. It tells how much demand there is for keywords by those searching at Google (they call it "Monthly Searches") and by those advertising at Google AdWords ("Competition").

This tool also provides the "monetary value" of your keywords (i.e., what advertisers can expect to pay).

So what do you (a publisher, not an advertiser) look for? More on this later, but remember this for now...

... the better for you!

Important Note

Since the AdWords Keyword Tool is meant for advertisers, not for you, the prices you see are the prices they pay, not the amounts you receive. Still, since you're comparing three niches, it's reasonable to conclude that if, for example, "Caribbean cruise" charges advertisers the most, the amount that you receive will be greater, too.

What's It For?

Use it to look at the advertising price (Cost per Click) for a list of keywords based on each of your Seed Words (this list will not match your MKL list, though). Select one and complete the process outlined below. Save that window to your desktop (File > Save As). Repeat the process for your next Seed Word.

When you've finished, you'll compare results. Let's get started...

You'll notice two choices at the top, Word or phrase and Website (see the screenshot below). Enter one of your Seed Words into the box for Word or phrase (see 1 in the screenshot below). In our example, we've entered the word "anguilla."

Now click on Advanced Options (2). If your target market is global, select "English" and "All Countries." If your market is local/regional, or you'd like to see what the numbers are for a particular location or language, select from the choices Google offers (3).

Choose Ideas containing my search terms (4) to show results for keywords containing the Seed Word.

Now it's time to get your keywords! Click on the Search button (5)...


The page will refresh, displaying a list of keywords, including two graphs indicating "Competition" and "Local Search Trends," as well as numbers for "Global Monthly Searches" and "Local Monthly Searches." By default, the results are sorted by "Relevance," but we suggest you sort by "Global Monthly Searches" by clicking on the column headline, as shown below...


Competition -- the number of advertisers bidding on the same keyword.

Global Monthly Searches -- user searches for that keyword on Google over a recent 12 month period, averaged to one month, from all countries/regions and all languages.

Local Monthly Searches -- user searches for that keyword on Google over a recent 12 month period, averaged to one month, for the targeted country and language. The default is US and English.

Local Search Trends -- fluctuations in user searches for that keyword on Google over the past 12 months, each bar representing one month, for the targeted country and language.

To the left of your keyword ideas, you will see the heading "Match types" with three options underneath: Broad, [Exact] and "Phrase." The default option is Broad. De-select broad, and choose [Exact] instead.

Search numbers will be considerably smaller, which may temper your enthusiasm, especially since smart advertisers only bid on ads for "exact match" keywords. Remember, your human judgement is important when looking at these numbers as well.

Optional Tip

A quick way to compare the overall search volumes for the Site Concepts you are considering is to select "Broad" AND "[Exact]" as match types (forget about the "Phrase" - this one is only interesting for Advertisers). Now sort by Keyword and review the numbers for your Site Concept keyword only.

In the screenshot below you'll see that "anguilla" has 74,000 global monthly searches in exact match, and 550,000 in broad match. What does this mean? Each month, over the past 12 months, there have been over half a million searches on Google for phrases containing the word "anguilla." Think of it as the total Search Volume that you would get if you added up the Search Volumes for all the keywords generated by a vertical brainstorm on that word.

Compare this number to the Broad count for each of your other Site Concept keywords for a quick "overall demand comparison" of each niche.

Put a $ Tag on Each Keyword

It's time to get the monetary value of your keywords. Click on "Views" > "Customize Columns" at the top right corner of the keyword table. A new window will open. Tick the box next to Estimated Avg. CPC...

Tip

You can reorder the columns by dragging and dropping the green boxes on the right side to the preferred spot.


The "Estimated Avg. CPC" column appears next to the Local Search Trends column, with amounts in the default currency US$.

If you have a Google AdWords account, and are accessing the Keyword Tool from within your account, average CPC will be given in the currency of your AdWords account. Also, the metrics "Ad Share" and "Search Share" will only be available if you use the tool from within your AdWords account. Why?

"Ad Share" tells you what percentage of the time you have a Google ad that shows for this keyword... if you are not advertising for that keyword, there is nothing to calculate.

"Search Share" tells you what percentage of the time your web site ranked on the first page of Google search results for this keyword... if you have no Web site yet, there is nothing to show you. And Google won't give you this data for any site other than yours (meaning the site you're promoting with your AdWords ads).

What you're seeing now is the Cost Per Click (Estimated Avg. CPC column in the screenshot below) that advertisers are paying for the #1-3 spot for those keywords on Google.

Here's what the list looks like, sorted by Estimated Avg. CPC... We've reordered the columns to view the two metrics that interest us most (Estimated Avg. CPC and Global Monthly Searches) next to each other.


Sorting by CPC shows you the high "Cost per Click" values, which are, of course, useful information. But here's a helpful technique that gives you an excellent indication of keyword value...

Click on Global Monthly Searches. That will sort your keywords by global search volume. Then view the Estimated Avg. CPC for your sorted keyword list. You get to see what the most in-demand keywords are worth monetarily. The higher the Search Volume and the higher the CPC, the more each keyword is worth to you.

Why sort on Global Monthly Searches? Because the more relevant and specific keywords there are with users searching for your keyword, and the more keywords there are with high Search Volumes, the better! Sorting makes this "big picture" easy to see.

Don't worry about seasonality (Local Search Trends). You don't want to base your income decisions on a one-month spike (say, Christmas, if your site sells gift products) or a one month trough (like July, if yours is a business services site). Your goal is a consistent (and consistently growing) income. So base your decisions on the 12-month average of searches globally. Unless of course, your product or service is restricted to a specific country and/or language. Then the Local Monthly Searches will be the most relevant dataset for you.

Bottom line? You're looking for a potential Site Concept that has...

What about the other metrics and options that the Google Keyword Tool offers? To help you assess the potential of your possible Site Concepts, there are two more functions that you can try: Google Insights for Search and the option to find keywords by website.

First, let's look at Google Insights for Search.

Next to each keyword you'll see a magnifying glass. Clicking on it will take you to the results for this keyword on Google Insights for Search. Use it to see search trends for your main keywords over a certain period of time. By default, you will see the trends for worldwide searches over the past 12 months. Has the number of searches increased or decreased over the past year? In which countries is your keyword searched most?

Be careful when interpreting the numbers. For example, the keyword 'anguilla' shows most searches in Italy. Does this mean that Anguilla is the favorite tourist destination for Italians? No, it means that Italians like eating eel, the Italian meaning of the word "anguilla."

Second, let's see how you can make the most of the find keywords by website option. This can be especially useful to help you decide if the data from the first option (find keywords by word or phrase) does not give you a clear-cut winner among the Site Concepts you're considering.

Scroll back up to the top of the Keyword tool and enter the URL of one or two of your best competitors in your niche in the box "Website." (A quick way to find solid competitors? Search Google for your Site Concept keyword and visit each of the Top 10 sites.)

Because you enter no word or phrase, it makes no difference whether you check "Show results for all keyword ideas" or "Ideas containing my search terms." You can combine the two options (find keywords by word or phrase AND by website), but for now we recommend you only enter the URL.

Repeat the steps from above. Sort by Global Monthly Search Volume. Then add in the average CPC column and sort by CPC. What keywords are your competitors using? Are there many good words that fit your Site Concept idea? Are there lots of words with a high number of global monthly searches? How many of the words with lots of searches also have a medium to high average CPC?

Remember your bottom line? You're looking for a potential Site Concept that has...