Targeting proper keywords or key phrases, groups of 2 to 5 keywords, is way to market successfully with pay-per-click search engines and obtain high ranking in search engine indexes. It is a rather arduous task, but one that can yield massive returns in ranking, traffic, and sales if done correctly.

So where do I start?

Many free resources exist to research which keywords you should target. The two deciding factors are number of searches performed on a particular keyword or key phrase, and number of sites currently targeted these. Its nothing more than supply and demand.

Overture

The premiere pay-per-click search engine who previously supplied search results to several major search engines, is now on its own. The free search tool can be found at: http://inventory.overture.com/d/searchinventory/suggestion/ . Search results are displayed only for previous month. This should be sufficient. The internet changes so quickly that what happended 6 months ago is not of much importance. What makes Overture's tool king in my view is that it provides hard numbers on how much a phrase was searched, allowing you to directly compare with number of sites targeting each phrase.

Google Suggestion

Google has their own keyword suggestion tool. If you have an Adwords account then you are already familiar with this resource. Check it out at https://adwords.google.com/select/main?cmd=KeywordSandbox . This tool also provides related keyword information. It provides synonyms that might be used to target areas relatively untouched by others.

7Search

There are two ways these free online SEO tools can be used: (1)For those who are new to area of search engine optimisation, these tools provide excellent insight on how a website is performing and ranking. They can quickly highlight issues and trends with their current website and provide a good insight as to where optimisation work is necessary. (2)For more experienced search engine optimisers amongst us, these tools will act as a complement to more specialised SEO tools, like WebPosition Gold or SpyderOpts. They can even be used to supplement an SEO’s internal knowledge base and experience.

Here is a selection of some choice tools for both novice and experienced search engine optimisers:

Keyword Research Tool http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/keyword-research-tool.shtml This helps to research appropriate words and phrases to include in your webpage's body text to aid promotion. It’s simple and to use and requires user to enter sort of word of phrase you wish to be found under, tool will then suggest some additional words and phrases you can think about using. One of great things about this tool is that it gives you option to select from a range of top search engines, e.g. Google, Yahoo, MSN, Teoma, etc.

Keyword Analyser Tool http://www.webmaster-toolkit.com/keyword-analysis-tool.shtml This tool reads body of page you specify and gives a report on what words are used, and how many times they are used. This is a valuable tool as most engines will rank your site depending on your keyword density (which typically ranges between 3% and 9%).