Receptional_Andy - 11:31 am on May 8, 2008 (gmt 0)

The point of keyword research - for me anyway - is to discover what people are actually searching for.

Go for phrases and terms that people would naturally type

While these two goals should be mutually inclusive, there can be an element of artificiality (as engine suggests) to many keyword databases that can be unhelpful.

The other problem with the 'tool-based' approach is that it can dilute focus from keywords that are likely to drive the right sort of visitor - i.e. those that result in sales or other desirable actions.

A useful approach for lovers of statistics (i'm one!) is to start with 'natural' keywords, and then collect usage data on those - cutting out much of the unreliability of external databases. Perhaps that's worth a post in itself.