If you are trying to promote your website online or your product, you are certain to come across keywords, the most important first step in SEO is Research Keywords.  They are simply phrases or words that can describe the content of your site and webpages. They are used by search engines to serve up your site when people use the same keywords in their search. In order to make your online promotion activities a success, you have to make sure that you are using the best possible keywords for your website and industry.

The Importance of Keywords

In earlier days, it was easy to ensure a high rank of your site on search engine results pages by simply stuffing your site with keywords. This is no longer a viable process. However, this does not mean that you can ignore keywords.

Keywords are still considered to be one of the factors that contribute to the ranking of your site. However, keywords have to be used in the proper manner so as to be beneficial for you. This means, you will have to research your keywords properly before using them. You will also have to make sure that they are relevant to your industry and website content.

Apart from its importance in SEO, keywords are also vital for your AdWords PPC campaigns. In PPC campaigns, keywords are used to display your ads when the appropriate search terms have been used.

How to Use Google AdWords to Research Keywords

In order to use keywords properly, you need to research them first. For the research, you can take the help of Google AdWords, the same service you use to run your PPC campaigns. This is done by the use of a tool known as Keyword Planner. The following steps will show you how you can use this tool.

• First, you need to open Keyword Planner. This requires a Google AdWords account.
• On opening the tool, you will be presented with different options. Select the one that says ‘search for new keywords’.
• Here, you can enter the product or service you are offering. Alternatively, you can enter the URL of your landing page or your product category. You can enter one or more of them.
• Click on Get Ideas to view the list of potential keywords you can use.

To improve your search, you can use the other options given such as filters, targeting options and dates. Targeting options will refine your search to give you the keywords that your intended audience is most likely to use. Filters can be used for refining the suggestions such as negative keywords. Using the date range will give you the search volume data for the keywords.

Using Google Trends to Track Keyword Popularity

Understanding the popularity of your keywords is important when you are trying to rank with them. If your chosen keyword is a popular one, it means more people are searching for it, increasing your chances of getting more visitors. In order to track the popularity, you can take the help of Google Trends, one of the most versatile SEO tools you will ever use. It can show you how the popularity of a given keyword has changed over a given timeframe.

SEO and PPC require a great deal of consideration and thought for best results. Choosing the right keyword is the first step to ensuring it.