Optimum keywords

Where are the 'most popular' keywords on the net

[BRasCO]

I remember a few years ago goto.com had a keyword generator.

You could enter the keyword and it would being up alternatives based on popularity from their database. This seems a good way of choosing keywords by going on the current trends.

Do any of these service still run at all, either general or for each search engine.

If so could anyone please give me the full URL

Thanks a lot

[Birdman]

Try wordtracker.com [wordtracker.com] or Overture's keyword selection tool [overture.com].

Added...
Oh yeah. Welcome to WW, BRasCO.
Overture was Goto, I think.

:)Birdman

[edited by: Birdman at 2:05 am (utc) on June 8, 2002]

[Woz]

Hi BRasCO,

It's over here [inventory.overture.com].

Onya
Woz

[fathom]

Google's AdWord is another good resource

[mykel]

Then again, do you really want to choose a keyword where you have 2 mln pages competing with you? It might in some cases be better to choose a couple of less competitive ones and easily cruise to 1st place.

[agerhart]

>>>>It might in some cases be better to choose a couple of less competitive ones and easily cruise to 1st place

Ahhh, and this is why we all spend so much time researching, analyzing, and selecting our keywords before setting out to actually do the optimization work. There are two sides to the coin.

On one hand, you can disregard the more popular search terms that are highly competitive and tougher to rank well with. Instead you can choose less competitive terms that will be easy to rank for, and are searched for less. Herein lies the problem: they are not searched for as much, so targeting these keywords may be detrimental to business, traffic, conversion rates, etc.

On the other hand, you can disregard the keywords that are not highly searched for, and instead focus all of your efforts on a select few highly competitive, highly searched, keywords and keyword phrases. The problem with this route is that your keyword focus may be more narrow as the competition is heavier, and it may take you longer to climb up the ranks and overcome the sites that are already in the tops spots.

You can opt for a third alternative. With a structure similiar to this themed structure [searchengineworld.com], it is feasible to plan your campaign around a few heavier keywords, but also target the less competitive keywords within other sections of the site.