Keyword Research

Keyword research basically is a process of searching and finding actual search terms that people enter into the search engines when they are conducting a search. The research is typically done through using either an online service or software. Keyword research tools help you find the best keywords for your site that can help drive targeted traffic to your website. For instance, if my site sells "gluten free dog treats", I would want to know what keywords people enter to find these products.

Optimizing my pages for "gluten free" by accident or by design would be a poor choice because there are many "gluten free" products on the market that have nothing to do with "dog treats". Attracting searchers to my site for "gluten free" will result in wasted traffic because few searchers, if any, will be looking for "gluten free dog treats". This is the difference between targeted traffic (looking for "gluten free dog treats") and untargetted traffic (looking for "gluten free breads").

Each page should focus on one or two keywords or phrases that you know your customers use, and to do that requires that you use a good Keyword Research Tool to find the most appropriate keywords to use based on frequency (how many searches per month) and competition (how many pages are competing for the same search term). There are many tools available to use, both free and commercial.

Google's Adwords Keyword Tool (FREE) - Use this Keyword Tool to get new keyword ideas. Originally provided as a tool to improve Adwords campaign bidding, it can also be used for general searches of keywords to determine estimated frequency and competition.
Google's Search Based Keyword Tool (FREE) - Based on actual Google searches.
Wordtracker Free Keywords Tool (FREE) - Use for optimizing existing content, building search engine friendly pages, choosing keyword rich domain names or filenames, optimize press releases and for building keyword rich inbound link text.
SEO Keyword Tool (FREE) - This keyword tool is powered by Wordtracker's API and offers rough suggested daily search volumes by market for Google, Yahoo!, and MSN.
Keywords Analyzer SEO Pro - If you want to research traffic estimations from Yahoo, MSN, Wordtracker, or Keyword Discovery, the Keywords Analyzer is a really nice interface to use with some great options.
Keyword Elite - Organized into projects, Keyword Elite works more like a wizard. For instance, in Project #1 you enter a starting keyword or phrase and Keyword Elite will return a huge list of related keywords and phrases that will help build your initial list.
Good Keywords - The purpose of the tool is to find keywords that online users are likely to use when they search for information on the Internet. It will also suggest additional keyword and phrase combinations you may not have thought of.

Since the introduction of Google's Adwords Keyword Tool and the Search Based Keyword Tool, which are FREE to use, there really isn't any need to pay money for a keyword research tool unless you are involved in a very specialized project.