what is a keyword search tool

What is a Keyword search tool? I got this question from a person who just started to learn affiliate marketing basics and wanted to start an online business. I thought I would address this question because he is probably not alone in not knowing what a Keyword search tool is and why having a Keyword research tool is important in affiliate marketing.

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Understanding the Basics of Keywords

If you are just starting your own online business you are maybe not familiar with all the expressions being used like Keyword, SEO, Organic search, PPC. I was not either when I first started.

In this article I will address some basic words and expressions in affiliate marketing related to finding Keywords and doing search for Keywords that I have got questions about from readers, friends, colleagues and questions I had myself when I started as an affiliate marketer. I hope this can help you to get a basic understanding of what a Keyword research tool is and why it is so important in Affiliate marketing.

I think It is important to understand the basics and why you do what you do. Everything you do in Affiliate marketing builds on your basic understanding of things. Your awareness and understanding of keywords matters to your growth and how you connect to your audience. I always take time to learn the basics first. I even go through the basics over and over again in my daily practice for success. I have mentioned this topic before in some of my first reviews of Jaaxy and Wealthy Affiliate reviews.

I could have started my Keyword tools reviews series with this topic, but instead I wanted to provide you with a full article on some of the basics after introducing some of the major Keyword tools out there. This way I was able to address my readers questions as well.

Where to get basic training in Keywords and SEO?

My number one recommendation

I learned the basics of affiliate marketing and SEO at Wealthy Affiliate Online entrepreneur certification course.

This training is the best you can find online and you can get 10 lessons for free, free access to the worlds most advanced keyword tool Jaaxy and a Free website. Want to learn the basics from the ground? Start for free here.

Most Keyword search tool companies offers helpful courses and tutorials in SEO along with the product features connected to their tool.

What is a Keyword?

Keywords

(Photo: Unsplash)

A keyword, in the affiliate marketing world,is a word people search for on the search engines like Google, Bing and Yahoo just to mention the three biggest search engines. There are plenty other search engines as well.

When you make a search, the search engines collect the searches you make to use for different purposes like statistics and other.

A keyword is an idea that you write in the search field to find what you are looking for.  It can be a word, question, phrase, number or it could even be an URL as well.

The keyword tool analyzes your search from many search engines according to different metrics that the Keyword Tool you use embodies and find out what keywords are most searched, the most popular, least popular etc.

Based on the information the keyword tool will rate your keyword as a Great, normal or bad Keyword to make it simple to understand.

What is the goal of a keyword?

I was always asking myself what the goal and intention of using of keywords are for me as an affiliate marketer. Is it only to give the search engines food they can process and analyze? How will this benefit me and my website? You may have similar questions too.

As an online marketer Your goal is to come in contact with your audience, become visible, give value and sell your products or the products you promote.

So for you as an affiliate marketer with a website the goal of a Keyword is to get people to visit your site, read your articles, find some helpful information they can use and buy some products you may offer on your website.

So you need to help your audience find you by using Keywords they are searching for. I will come back to how you find these keywords.

 

How do Keywords generate traffic?

Let us say you sell SEO (search engine optimalization) products You want to get traffic to your website. You want people to see that you are selling SEO tools  and you want people to buy SEO products from you.
Well there is only one thing to do: Become visible to people who want to buy SEO products.

And the way affiliate marketers who have a website do this online is using organic search or Paid search. In other words optimized searchable Keywords or pay for ranking with the most searched keywords.

What is SEO?

SEO

(Photo: Unsplash)

SEO means search engine optimization. For you it means to find the best keywords for your niche that people search for on the internet that will send them to your website. We call this organic traffic when your keyword is being found in search by someone who search for it. So to get organic traffic you need to know what people in your niche are searching for.

Most people who are searching online use Google, Bing and Yahoo. We call them the Big 3.

You want to find the best Keywords to rank on Page 1 because most people often do not look beyond the Page 1. Just think about it – When you make a search on Google or Bing. Do you just look at the first page or do you explore additional pages that shows up in the search?. Your audience probably do exactly the same as you do. I want you to keep that in mind all the time when you work with Keywords.

What is Paid Search?

Paid search is exactly how it sounds. You pay money to get visible in search on the most popular or competitive Keywords. Competetive keywords have a high amount of traffic. Here you focus and optimize your keywords to gain as much traffic as possible. It is also called advertisement (Ads) or PPC – pay per click. Every time a prospect clicks on your advertisement link you have to pay a certain amount of money to the Ad provider.

Types of Keywords you might encounter

We separate Keywords into High competition Keywords and Low competition Keywords.

High competition Keywords have often a high amount of traffic and are popular in search – That is why these keywords are better to use for Paid Traffic than for organic traffic.

Low competition Keywords are a Keyword with a fair amount of searches every month and low competition and is better for SEO. Your chances of ranking on first page organically are higher. It will give you a more long term audience.

Single Keyword: A single keyword is just one word. Example: Tool

Short tail Keyword: A short tail Keyword consists of a fem more words. Example Keyword tools

Mid tail Keywords: A keyword that is not short nor long. Best Keyword tools

Long tail keyword: A long tail Keyword is as it implies a longer sentence like: What is the highest ranked keyword research tool for Affiliate marketers?

LSI Keywords : You may see this expression. It means simply related Keywords or Latent semantic Keywords. When you write an article you have a primary Keyword you want to rank for. All the other keywords in your article should be related to your primary keyword so the search engines understand what is your main keyword.

Evergreen Keywords: Evergreen Keywords are words that will always be popular like. Love

Authority Keywords : Authority Keywords are meant to signal Authority to the Audience.

Words like Best seller, expert in a field, charismatic figure, Legal adviser, science based information, a master at something, veteran are all authority keywords. If you say: This Keyword search tool is a must have for all affiliate marketers you are using Authority Keywords.

NB! Must not be confused with Keyword Authority/difficulty which is a way of scoring a keyword according to various metrics.

Product Keywords: Product keywords are keywords that are niche related or brand related. Example of product Keywords are: Jaaxy, Jaaxy Pro, Jaaxy Enterprise. Product Keywords are normally part of a brand strategy or a product strategy.

Customer focused Keywords: Customer focused Keywords can be keywords who focus on benefits for the customer, solving a problem, a feeling, interest, age Type of look, lifestyle etc. Example: Get a competitive edge with Jaaxy

Geo targeting Keywords: Keywords that target geographical groups. This can be very effective. Examples of this can be Best fishing hooks for fishing in (name of a specific river or lake). This is useful where geographical aspects matter.

Intention Keywords: Keywords that signals an intention. Something you want your audience to do. If you write an article about a product you want them to buy your intent is to give information, value on how to use the product, How to get the product and offer a trial of the product to increase the chance of a user to buy the product.,

Competitor Keywords: Keywords that your competitor uses. Example a competitor Keyword for coca cola would be Pepsi.

Power Keywords: Words like magic, supreme, fantastic, Majestic or epic are typical power words.

A little example on a keyword search

So if you needed a Keyword tool and you type in the high competition Keyword : Keyword tool to Google and Bing search engines you get:

Google 421 000 000 search results or websites who have this keyword

Bing: 38 000 000 search results or websites who have this keyword

Which one of these websites would you Pick? Are you going to look through all the search results? Of course, you are not. You probably only look at Page 1 or Page 2 maximum.

The first you see on Page 1 is the paid ads, videos or Wikipedia – Then come the highest ranking SEO websites on Page 1. You need to be on Page 1 to be visible and get more traffic because people often tend to click on the articles on page 1.

This Keyword,Keyword tool, is too broad. If you use that as your Keyword you would probably never even be indexed (found by Google search engine).

Let us say you do another search. A more narrow one. Best Keyword tool . It is more specific but not targeted

Google: 140 000 000 search results

Bing: 30 100 000 search results

Let me target the keyword more. Since you want to become an affiliatemarketer you probably would type:

Best Keyword tool for affiliate marketers

Google: 9 260 000 search results with that keyword

Bing: 12 500 000 search results with that keyword

This keyword have much fewer searches than the other and a much better keyword for SEO Let me show you:

But now you need a Keyword tool to see if your Keyword Best Keyword tool for affiliate marketers is worth using.

What is a SEO and Keyword tool?

Search tool

(Photo: unsplash)

Before I go into more detail about the tools. I want to explain what a SEO and Keyword tool is and why you need one.

You need a keyword search tool so people can find your website and to become visible on search engines. You may be lucky to get a ranking post without a Keyword research tool, but you can not base your website and your business on pure luck. That would not be very wise.

Some facts about Keyword tools

Keyword tools are segmented into web based and cloud based search tools. Some Keyword finder tools are good for paid search and some are better for SEO.

SEO (Search engine optimization) use different techniques to get organic traffic. I have learned the techniques that Wealthy Affiliate marketing training teach about SEO. I use the Keyword search tool Jaaxy for SEO and PPC (pay per click)

Simply put, the difference between SEO and Paid traffic is that organic search have a higher impact over time being visible through search over and over again, while paid traffic have a higher impact only visible for a small period while your ads are running because they are popular in search. You simply pay to get more visible. Many larger companies with huge marketing budgets use paid search for campaigns all year around to stay visible most of the time.

For a small Solopreneur with a low budget wanting to grow your business it is way more effective with organic SEO from the start. You might want to read my article How to learn affiliate marketing basics.

Keyword tools have different accuracy and coverage of online searches. Keyword tools are often built to perform certain types of tasks like analysis, monitoring, statistics etc. And they have different metrics on the Keywords itself. Some are also built for use towards Amazon, You Tube, Google.Pinterest etc.

For my example I use Jaaxy. Jaaxy is built for Keyword searches on internet. Because it has 99,7% coverage on all online searches. This is the tool I trust and use at the moment. Jaaxy is excellent for SEO and perfect for my use as a small solopreneur. And I find it to be a very accurate Keyword search tool. It is a very advanced tool. You can monitor competitors with Jaaxy and actually spy on your competitors and have many helpful features Like the Alphabet Soup, Brainstorm and Siterank.

When you start growing and If you are a larger company, you might want to use many search tools for different types of tasks like analyzing your competitors and monitoring social media, PPC , reporting, site audits and other different things. All Keyword tools have their strengths and weaknesses.

I have made a list further down with all the Top Keyword search tools I recommend you to use, helpful information and more. Many Affiliate marketers use a mix of several Keyword search tools. And so can you. All the tools have different features for different tasks, coverage, accuracy and user friendliness, All of them are great and a good choice. So whatever you choose from this list it will be a good choice.

How to determine if a Keyword is good?

If I now go to Jaaxy Keyword search tool I find that the short tail keyword Keyword tool is not a good Keyword but ranked as a normal Keyword.

I type in a more targeted mid tail keyword Best keyword tool for affiliate marketers:

So I have some criterias for a good Keyword for organic search:

1. Jaaxy will show you the average traffic in a month. I want the traffic to be over 50 as a minimum criteria.

2. Daily traffic on this keyword: as high as possible

3. The competition or QSR you have on this keyword: as low as possible under 100. Ideally between 30-50.

4 The SEO rank: over 90

If my Keyword meets these criteria I will keep the keyword and if it does not I put it on my keyword list for future use or trash it.

Jaaxy show me that this keyword has monthly average traffic on 10 or fewer searches. 10 or less daily searches and a QSR (quality search rate ) on 22 at the time I am searching it. So the quality of the Keyword is good. The QSR tells you something about your competition on this Keyword. SEO is 85. KQI stands for Keyword Quality Indicator and tell you if the keyword is good or not.

Keyword Evaluation 

The competition is 22 which is OK. But the traffic is not so good yet. Ideally it should be much more. So I would not pick this one because it does not meet my criteria at the moment.

Jaaxy tells me it is a great keyword. It may turn out to be a good keyword over time if people start searching for it, but for now I let it be and put it to my list of future keywords in Jaaxy. I might use it a bit later on when the traffic is higher.

I go to Google and Bing to search the keyword. It is not among the first searches there either so I decided to find a better Keyword. This is how you can evaluate if your Keyword is good or not. When your keyword meets the criteria you should use it.

To learn more about SEO and different Keyword techniques I recommend you to take the free affiliate boot camp course at Wealthy Affiliate and learn it properly step by step. You can start here

You get the idea right? To be visible on first page you need a much better keyword.that is related to your content and a better keyword than your competitors. That is why a Keyword tool is important to use.

As you may have noticed from my latest reviews I am exploring other Keyword tools as well to find out more about them and the differences between them. If you want to find out more about it too you can read them:

1. Jaaxy Review

2. SEMrush Review

3. Serpstat Review

4. Raven Review

 

Just A few things before you go on!

Picture of Hilde Regine Rayani

Thank you for reading my whole review. I hope you found it helpful.

1. Would you be so kind and share this post with someone who might need to hear this?

2. Subscribe to my newsletter in the sidebar if you want to receive updates and regularly tips from me about different affiliate marketing topics that can be of value to you.

3. If you have any questions about SEO, Keywords or Keyword search tools please leave them in the comments below.

4. Follow me on WEBTALKmy new favorite Social Media Platform where you can connect, read, post, like, share, comment and earn money while doing the things you normally do on other Social media platforms. (photo: by Hilde Regine Rayani)

 

 

14 Comments

  1. I am just getting comfortable with the use of SEO, and understanding the power of keywords. When I started working online, I thought that my experience as a writer, and a teacher would be enough to get me the results I was looking for. After having business that was growing at snails pace and sometimes not growing, I zeroed in on the power of keywords and began to give it some attention. Your article here gives me a good summary of the topic and the elements associated with it. I specially value that section about long tailed keywords and I am beginning to appreciate them. Thanks

    1. Author

      Hi JJ! Yes working with Keywords is a different way of thinking and planning what you write. I am happy to hear you found some value from my article.

  2. Jaaxy is an amazing tool that can help you in getting the best word that will rank, I have been using jaaxy for years and have come across keyword that have caused me to rank on Google, bing, yahoo, and other search engines. I will recommend this tool to anyone who wants a good ranking in the search engines.

    1. Author

      Hi Norman! Thank you for your comment! Yes Jaaxy is a superb Keyword search tool. It helped  me rank many times too. It is built for Internet and that is why it is so great for organic search.

  3. Hello, thanks for the enlightenment you have here. There are many reasons why I want to go into an online business. Making it to Google on the first page is a dream for me and any site owner. However  steps and Keyword tools needs to be used. To find the right keywords would help me gain more organic traffic to my site and learning these techniques will be very helpful for me.

    1. Author

      Hi! Thank you for your thoughts here. The basic understanding of keywords is very important if you want to get to page 1. Learning the different techniques will definitely help you in doing so. Glad you found this article of help to you.

  4. This example on a keyword search has helped me a lot. I now understand how imporatnt keywords are. I see that most sites compete to be on page 1. And I must admit that I haven’t gone to page 2 on Google for ages. That gives me an idea about how important it’s to learn SEO. And also how important learning different techniques for keywords are.

    1. Author

      Hi Abel! I am so happy I could help you to understand more about keywords. It could be a super idea to learn some useful techniques and get a good keyword research tool. I do not know if you use one today, but I would definitely find a good Keyword tool for search and use some time to practice the basic techniques. You can try out some of the tools I have been writing about and listed above in my article.

  5. Wow, this is a concise information about keyword and SEO tools. I can see why this is really important to digital marketers. I’m just starting affiliate marketing and of course the use of keyword is a bit strange to me. An affiliate marketer will not just write a random article and publish it, the keyword must first undergo some careful research before making an article of it. Now looking at SEO, can you be successful only with PPC? And where can I have the full training.

    1. Author

      Hi Kelvin! Thank you for your thoughts. You can get the full training by becoming a Premium member at Wealthy Affiliate. You can start on  a free trial  and get an amazing action bonus the first month if you become a full member within 7 days.. 

  6. For me personally, the Keyword search tool is one of the most important items for the functioning of your website. To become seen on the internet it is crucial to have the terms that are currently the most sought after. Being on the front page of Google is something we all dream about. Choosing the right words is crucial if you think your website will be seen and visited. This is very useful information, thank you

    1. Author

      Hi Oliveir! You are so right that finding Keywords that will rank demands good tools. You can not leave it to randomness, luck and hope only. Having the understanding of what a Keyword tool is and how to use it will give you that extra edge to potentially rank. However a good keyword tool alone is not enough always, because there are so many other factors impacting your ranking.

  7. When I started with blogging, it took me ages to understand the concept of keywords, I mean the way how it works. I wish I had your explanation and breakdown available at that time, I was thinking my brain would explode sometime.lol

    Keyword search tools are of great help, but some of them are too complicated and some are overpriced, in my opinion. I use Jaaxy regularly together with the google instant alphabet suggest and I’m happy with that, Jaaxy is great.

    1. Author

      Hi Lenka! Yes it is a learning curve with keywords like everything else. I agree with you that some are overpriced and too complicated. Thank you for your comment!

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