BEST PRACTICES Expanding Your Search Keyword List If you are looking for ways to build out your paid search keyword list, there are several free tools that can help you gather more keyword ideas. However, it’s always best to first revisit the site you are trying to drive traffic to and ensure that you have all the products and categories covered. Additionally, your data feed is a great way to see the full product list of all available goods or services that should be included in your keyword list. Google Keyword Tool One of the most popular free tools in the industry is the Google keyword tool that allows you to search for broad, phrase, exact and negative keywords. One way to find additional keywords using this tool is to run your site’s URL through the tool using the ‘Website content’ option or search some of your most popular keywords in an online dictionary or thesaurus, then copy, paste and run the URL through the Keyword tool to find more variations. Google Search-Based Keyword Tool Another tool by Google that allows you to dig deeper into potential keywords is the Search-based Keyword Tool. This tool finds relevant keywords that you might be missing in your Google AdWords ad campaigns based on your URLs. It also allows you to gain more insight regarding your potential customers. You can acquire demographic information, product category information, number of ad competition for the keyword, the suggested bid for higher positions, and much more. A Visual Keyword Tool Another more creative tool to use is the Google Wonder Wheel tool which give you a visual of related keywords based on a the seed keyword you type in. This is a great tool to get inspired for creating negative keywords. Keyword Question Tool One tool that will help give you an idea of what some searchers are looking for on the web is the Keyword Questions tool by Wordtracker Labs. This tool provides you with a list of questions entered into the search engines by users. For example if you are doing keyword research for an ‘Online School’ some of the results you might get are: Where can I get my high school transcript online? How to start an online ministries school? What is the best online school? As you can see from the questions above it’s easy to spot negatives such as ‘transcript’ and ‘ministries’ if you are trying to promote an online school. On the other hand, ‘the best online school’ might be a keyword you want to add to your campaign. Google keyword tool Search-based Keyword Tool Google Wonder Wheel tool Keyword Questions Traditional Brainstorming Last but not least, although the previous tools mentioned may offer great keyword suggestions, it’s important to do your own research such as reading relevant news articles, blogs, and examining your competitors’ online presence. You can also expand your own keyword variations to include plurals, singulars, geographically targeted terms, misspellings, colloquialisms, idioms, phonetic spellings, acronyms, mistypes, and long-term keywords. Furthermore, try to place yourself in the mind of the searcher who is looking for a solution—your product or service—to their problem. How would they describe/search your product or service if they aren’t already familiar with it.