SEO success requires a variety of tools to help us analyze and build top results consistently time after time. Our job is made significantly easier through the correct selection and use of the proper tools.
Let's start off by defining specifically what type of tools we'll be discussing. The sheer number and variety of 'tools' on the Internet to help professional SEO's is staggering. What we need to focus on for this article are the ones designed to solve one single piece of the puzzle.
Look at YouTube - this site contains many tools all rolled into one. YouTube can provide a whole host of information about how your videos are viewed, by whom, how often, and so much more. Therefore, we could spend days talking about all that YouTube can do for you and your videos, so let's save that discussion for another article... or two.
The Google Toolbar has plenty of useful functions, such as adding bookmarks and blocking pop-ups, but in SEO terms, the main reason to get the toolbar is to view the PageRank Display. PageRank is used for assessing the importance of the page you are currently viewing. It calculates the ranking of the page based on several factors, particularly the number of links leading to that page.
Webposition is a cool tool that will track the exact position of any of your webpages in a variety of search engines. You won't have to wonder or manually search each engine to know where your pages rank. Let this tool run overnight and in the morning just review all the results.
A core SEO axiom "Keywords tell the search engines WHAT your page is about; inbound links tell the search engines your page is IMPORTANT." If you don't know it already, 'keywords'are the cornerstone of SEO. Target the wrong keywords - and everything else you do will be in vain. Fortunately there are a variety of tools available to help you find the best keywords for your niche. One of the most popular - and useful ones is the Google Keyword Tool.
Here?s another free keyword tool, this time from Yahoo. While useful for determining how competitive a keyword can be, it has its own weaknesses. It does not distinguish between singular and plural keywords, so you can?t determine which of these has a higher search volume. It also seems to be hit hard by congestion due to high usage of both searchers and advertisers alike.
The defacto statndard of professional SEOs for nearly a decade has been Wordtracker. What sets it apart from virtually all other tools is its default "phrase match" paradigm. Although most people do not enclose their searches in double quotes, doing so when researching keywords can lead to more accurate predictions. Wordtracker is now available in both a paid and free version; however, keep in mind - you get what you pay for; pun intended.
If your time is valuable like mine, you may want to invest in a professional paid tool such as Keywordtopia. This time-saving keyword research tool conducts searches through multiple tools in a single search providing you with a comprehensive list from which to narrow down and refine to locate both the 'research' and the 'buying' keywords of your target market.
As small, yet powerful free tool from those guys over at Google provides you with a quick estimate of clicks and bid prices for your keywords. Keep in mind that as competition heats up for organic search engine optimization, businesses turn to advertising using the 'cost per click' or CPC or CPA 'cost per action' model to attract prospects to their sites. The Google Traffic Estimator can be found in their Adwords toolbox. Check it out.
Some more unique tools are now available from Windows LIve. If you're targeting a particular demographic group and want to know what search terms they use, 'Demographics Prediction should be your tool of choice. You can input either a web address (URL) or keyword and flter your results based on data such as gender, age, marital status, or a variety of other demographic data to hone in on your niche market.
Search Funnel, also from Windows Live, this helps you to determine the sequence of keywords searchers usually use. This is to find out how users narrow down or refine their query, by looking at what they would search for next after the first search term.
Let's start off by defining specifically what type of tools we'll be discussing. The sheer number and variety of 'tools' on the Internet to help professional SEO's is staggering. What we need to focus on for this article are the ones designed to solve one single piece of the puzzle.
Look at YouTube - this site contains many tools all rolled into one. YouTube can provide a whole host of information about how your videos are viewed, by whom, how often, and so much more. Therefore, we could spend days talking about all that YouTube can do for you and your videos, so let's save that discussion for another article... or two.
The Google Toolbar has plenty of useful functions, such as adding bookmarks and blocking pop-ups, but in SEO terms, the main reason to get the toolbar is to view the PageRank Display. PageRank is used for assessing the importance of the page you are currently viewing. It calculates the ranking of the page based on several factors, particularly the number of links leading to that page.
Webposition is a cool tool that will track the exact position of any of your webpages in a variety of search engines. You won't have to wonder or manually search each engine to know where your pages rank. Let this tool run overnight and in the morning just review all the results.
A core SEO axiom "Keywords tell the search engines WHAT your page is about; inbound links tell the search engines your page is IMPORTANT." If you don't know it already, 'keywords'are the cornerstone of SEO. Target the wrong keywords - and everything else you do will be in vain. Fortunately there are a variety of tools available to help you find the best keywords for your niche. One of the most popular - and useful ones is the Google Keyword Tool.
Here?s another free keyword tool, this time from Yahoo. While useful for determining how competitive a keyword can be, it has its own weaknesses. It does not distinguish between singular and plural keywords, so you can?t determine which of these has a higher search volume. It also seems to be hit hard by congestion due to high usage of both searchers and advertisers alike.
The defacto statndard of professional SEOs for nearly a decade has been Wordtracker. What sets it apart from virtually all other tools is its default "phrase match" paradigm. Although most people do not enclose their searches in double quotes, doing so when researching keywords can lead to more accurate predictions. Wordtracker is now available in both a paid and free version; however, keep in mind - you get what you pay for; pun intended.
If your time is valuable like mine, you may want to invest in a professional paid tool such as Keywordtopia. This time-saving keyword research tool conducts searches through multiple tools in a single search providing you with a comprehensive list from which to narrow down and refine to locate both the 'research' and the 'buying' keywords of your target market.
As small, yet powerful free tool from those guys over at Google provides you with a quick estimate of clicks and bid prices for your keywords. Keep in mind that as competition heats up for organic search engine optimization, businesses turn to advertising using the 'cost per click' or CPC or CPA 'cost per action' model to attract prospects to their sites. The Google Traffic Estimator can be found in their Adwords toolbox. Check it out.
Some more unique tools are now available from Windows LIve. If you're targeting a particular demographic group and want to know what search terms they use, 'Demographics Prediction should be your tool of choice. You can input either a web address (URL) or keyword and flter your results based on data such as gender, age, marital status, or a variety of other demographic data to hone in on your niche market.
Search Funnel, also from Windows Live, this helps you to determine the sequence of keywords searchers usually use. This is to find out how users narrow down or refine their query, by looking at what they would search for next after the first search term.
About the Author:
Before you start your next search engine marketing campaign, make sure you checkout Shea Ellison's SEO Secrets 2.0 course on how to elevate the pages of your website to the first page of search results. This article briefly discusses the content from the first 7 of 51 pages in the last chapter of SEO Secrets 2.0. Get your free Flash video on the Top 7 SEO Mistakes and How to Avoid Them.
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