Keyword List Expansion Tips From Google

Using the right keywords in your search engine marketing campaigns will obviously yield the best results. Unfortunately, we don’t always know what those best keywords are. And even if we do have the best ones nailed, there might be others that would potentially perform just as well or close. On the Google Analytics Blog, Google offers a few tips for expanding your keyword lists to potentially get the most out of your campaign.

First off, they suggest using the Google Analytics Keyword Report to look at the best performing keywords. This is demonstrated nicely in this sixty-second video:

Next up is the search-based keyword tool. This gives you keyword ideas based on actual Google search queries. It matches specific pages of your site with your ad and search share.

Then you have Google Insights for Search, which lets you compare search volume patterns across specific regions categories and time frames. Narrow data to specific regions, anticipate demand by seasonality, and look at search volume by geographic region.

Perhaps the best part about all of these is the fact that they are free. With ad budgets tightening in a down economy, that’s a pretty enticing word. By the way, you may want to consider taking your SEO in-house. If you haven’t seen it, Google has an entire page of free tools that can help marketers. It’s certainly worth perusing.