Mining Search Engine Data for the Best Keywords

The best way to reach more readers looking for the content you provide in an article is to mine search engine data to determine the best keywords to use. There are a number of top search engine optimization websites available online that you can use for this job, and some offer free keyword suggestion tools.

Most of these websites require you to pay for the services they offer. Fortunately, there are websites you can use with free keyword suggestion tools.

Many of these websites only provide free keyword tools to people thinking about using the additional search engine optimization services and tools they offer. Deciding to invest in the search engine optimization services a top SEO firm provides is the best way to take your writing to the next level and reach thousands of potential readers. You can, however, use the free keywords suggestion services and tools they offer to determine the right keywords for the articles you write.

All of the websites I mention offer keyword optimization services, which both businesses and private individuals use on a daily basis to determine the right keywords for their needs. If you are willing to invest a little money in this venture? You’ll find the best keywords for each article you write on GameSkinny more often, and consequently reach more people.

The search engine optimization data these sites provide is often in a different format, but essentially the same, since the data comes from Google. Finding the best keywords can often be about the data format and free keyword suggestion tools. You’ll need to take a look at a few websites to find the free keyword suggestion tool and interface you find easiest to use and understand.

I also suggest you skip over search engine optimization websites not providing current search engine data volumes or estimates. Not all service providers use current search engine data. This will include some free keywords tools, which don’t offer current search engine data volumes and estimates. You’ll need to do a little additional research to determine which sites offer current search engine data, but the work is worth it.

Below, I quickly outline a four step program to help you determine the best keywords to use.

Step 1

I suggest you start by thinking about the words readers will use to search for and find the article you write. Doing a little brainstorming to determine the keywords and terms people will use to search for the content you offer is essential. You need to think like a reader looking for the content you provide in order to select the best keywords to use in each article.

Step 2

If you decide investing in a writing career isn’t for you right now, you need to take a look at several websites offering search engine optimization to find the best free keyword suggestion tool for your requirements. This will take a little time, but in the end the results will pay off. Conducting research is part of being a professional writer and the practice will be good.

Step 3

Once you find the right search engine optimization service provider and free keyword suggestion tool you need, take the time to get familiar with the tool and the way it works–then we’ll start refining the keyword list you made in step one, using this free keyword suggestion tool.

Remember, while each search engine optimization website offers data in a different format, the data they provide is essentially the same in most cases. We’ll look specifically at four data criteria you need to concentrate on to determine the best keywords to use in each article.

Step 4

We’ll use WordTracker for this example, one of the most popular websites offering a free keyword suggestion tool–perfect for this job. Using the free tool we talk about, you can increase the number of readers you reach, and give your writing career a boost.

Take a look at their website. Here you sign up to use the WordTracker service and the free keyword suggestion tool we’ll use for this example. Once you sign up, we’ll use the WordTracker keyword finder tool to refine the list of keywords you made in step one.

• Take a look at the WordTracker keyword finder tool interface, and type “video games” in the big search box on the left side of the screen.
• To the right, you’ll see a box that says “WordTracker in;” change this box to read Global. You’ll also see other boxes used to narrow and refine the search.
• Next, click the search button, and after a few seconds you’ll see a list of possible keywords appear, which relate directly to the words “video games”. You’ll notice the first word in this list is the phrase ”video games” and it’s part of each word phrase in the list.

We’ll use the fourth term in the list, ‘top video games’, for this example. To the left of each word in the list, you’ll see four different columns; Searches, Competition, IAAT, and KEI. These are the four criteria you’ll concentrate on to determine the best keywords for each article. 

Searches tell you the number of times people on the Internet have used the phrase “video games” in a search. The higher this number, the more readers you reach with this particular search term or keyword. This criteria isn’t as important as the other three in determining the right keywords for each article.

Competition tells you how many competing web pages on the Internet use the same keyword in their web page content. This is one of the most important criteria to use, since this data lets you select keywords with less competition. Being the only web page, or having less competition, on the Internet using a particular keyword or phrase is essential to ranking high on search engines for each keyword you use in an article.

IAAT stands for “In Anchor and Title”. This data tells you how many web pages on the Internet have the phrase “video games” in both the anchor text and title tag of a backlink on the web page in question. This is the most important criteria to use in a search for the best keywords to use, since this criteria uses important metrics to search engines to determine web page rankings. You should select keywords with less webpages including the keyword you select in the anchor text and title tag of a backlink. This will mean an article has less competition for the keyword you select on the Internet and consequently a greater chance for a high number of readers.   

KEI stands for “Keyword Effectiveness Index”. This metric compares the volume of times a particular keyword is used in a search, with the number of web pages using the keyword in content. You should select keywords with a higher KEI, which means this keyword has fewer websites using the keyword in their content, combined with a higher volume of searchers. The KEI goes up when a keyword’s popularity increases, and goes down if competition for a keyword increases.

By concentrating on these four metrics, you can select better keywords to use in each article you write for GameSkinny, and give your writing career a quick boost. You can use these four criteria to increase the number of readers you reach with each article and their popularity on the Internet.

If you have any questions, just drop me, Game Oracle, a line on GameSkinny, and I’ll give you an answer to your question. Good writing until next time!