What Is a Keyword Search Tool?

Keyword marketing has become enormously popular among many businesses. Though having content on a site is considered important, using a keyword list to ensure the right words are in that content is often the goal of many companies. When a certain keyword is entered into a search engine, the websites that feature the word often will be displayed. A keyword search tool can help generate the best keywords for the site, typically by using words already in the site content or company name.

One of the main components of a keyword research tool is user friendliness. Most business owners have only to enter a word into the generator that they think describes their business. Some tools also allow users to provide an address for their site so that it can peruse the words on it to determine how best to describe the company. Either way, the user will typically be provided with a long list of keywords that could describe the business.

Typically, the user of the keyword search tool can decide whether to view keyword phrases that incorporate the word originally entered, or turn it into a phrase that means the same thing. In many cases, hundreds of phrases will be shown, including everything from simple, short phrases with the keyword or longer phrases that use a synonym instead. The phrases displayed are the ones that are commonly entered into search engines by people trying to find a particular business or information about a certain subject.

Most people choose a few phrases from their selected keyword search tool, and then incorporate them into their site's content. Though common sense might suggest that users should choose the top few on the list, more thought needs to be put into the decision. Selecting only the keyword phrases used most often means that the site will be competing with scores of others, typically taking a long time and a lot of work for the website to get to the top of the search engine results page. Instead, choosing phrases that are quite popular, but that also best describe the business is the most recommended route to take when dealing with a keyword search tool.

Many keyword search services are free to use, and can be found online through search engines. Other keyword tools cost money. Using free online tools to start creating keywords for a site is often a good first step, but the drawback is that many offer only limited features to nonpaying users. Some paid services offer the user greater control over the parameters in a specific search.