Effective Keyword Research

One of the first things that you have to learn when you are wanting to make money online is what are keywords? But, more importantly you need to understand how to conduct effective keyword research. Without doing proper research into the right keywords that you can easily overtake the first page of Google for, you can get frustrated and feel like a failure in your attempts to make money online.

So, what are keywords?

Keywords are words and phrases that people type into the search engines in order to find what they are looking for. We will concentrate on Google as it is the most popular and widely used search engine. It also provides us a free keyword research tool that we will be using to research those high paying keywords that we should be focusing on.

The key to effective keyword research is finding those great keywords and phrases that enough people are looking for that also have low competition in the search engines. By low competition, we are meaning sites on the first page of the search results that can easily be overtaken with a little effort. We aren't talking going after keywords like "Credit Cards" or "Payday Loans" because the competition is to severe and high powered.

One of the best places that I found to learn about keywords and it includes the tools to help you find the best keywords, is the Keyword Academy.  I still use this to this day and it teaches you more than just finding the right keywords, but also what to do with those keywords once you find them.  It is worth your consideration, research The Keyword Academy and see what people are saying too. 

First and foremost, open a new tab or new window so you can familiarize yourself with the Google Adwords Tool.

One of the main things that we need to look at is the difference of how people search and how the results are returned by the search engine.  When someone types in a phrase that they are looking for, lets say "golf cart seat covers" (without the quotes), Google will automatically, by default, return the most relevant results that contain all four words.  There are numerous other factors that go into what they return, such as domain age, backlinks, trust factor, etc. that can also affect the results, but for this discussion, lets just focus on the phrase itself.

When Google returns the results that contain all four words, this is considered a "Broad" search.  There is no real useful results in this for us to use when doing keyword research because we really can't tell what the best word order is that people are looking for.  Someone could be searching for "seat covers for golf carts" and it would return very similar results.  So, the "Broad" search in the Google Adwords tool to us is pretty useless.

The next type of results that the tool can return is called the "Phrase" return.  This would take the same "golf cart seat covers" that we searched for earlier, but this time it would concentrate those four words more in order.  However, there could be other words mixed in as well with the results, such as "best golf cart seat covers" or  "golf cart vinyl seat covers" that can skew the results that we really need.

The main thing we need and are looking for is the "Exact" search result.  This is the grand daddy of what we are looking for. 

Why?

Well, when we are researching a good keyword, we need to know what the CPC is estimated to be by Google.  This will give us an idea of what we might earn on each click.  Now, before you get excited about that $25 keyword that you found, realize that several factors go into the value that you are paid on each click.  You can reasonably expect to earn up to 25 percent of the shown CPC from the Google Adwords tool.  Sometimes more, sometimes less and it all really depends on how the click converts for the advertiser.  Yes, Google is smart enough to track the user after they click the ad on your page to determine if it converts well or not.

The "Exact" result will show you the exact word or phrase with no other terms or words in it, and in the exact order that you enter it.  So, if you are using the exact method then there is a difference in "golf cart seat cover" and "golf cart seat covers". 

There are numerous different results that you can select to be shown in the Google Adwords tool.  However, the most important other than the keywords and phrases is the CPC and Estimated Monthly Search Volume.  Any thing else really doesn't matter much and let me tell you why.

You need to know the keyword to determine how much competition there is for it when you search.  You need to know the CPC in order to estimate how much you can potentially earn from each click and you need to have enough people searching for it.

One key to remember is that you can't expect that just because you reach the first page of Google that you will receive 100 percent of the visitors searching for that keyword phrase and that each person will click on an ad on your site.  So here are some general guidelines to consider.

Estimate if you are in the top 3 positions that you could receive 40 percent of the estimated search volume.  So, if that keyword phrase is searched for 1,000 times each month, estimate 400 visitors to your site.

Now, not every of those 400 visitors to your site will click an ad, so let's say that only 10 percent of them will click on an Adsense ad on your site.  Now, this is very conservative, but it can also be generous.  You will need to research your own click ratios on your own site for more specific numbers.  So, 40 ad clicks on your site in a month isn't bad.

Now, the CPC provided by the Google Adwords tool says that the click is suggested to be $10.00 (round numbers for easy math here).  Remember, this is what the Adwords tool suggests, so it is promoting the numbers for advertisers, not Adsense.  Let's say that the click converts well for you and you earn $2.50 for the click.  Not every click will convert this well, so let's say on average during the month you earn 10 percent, or $1.00 per click.

That could convert into a site that provides $40 in Adsense income in one month.  If you do that 100 times or even 1,000 times...

The thing with Adsense is that it is all experimentation and tweaking.  Keeping track of your stats that show what keywords people found your sites with, trying different ad units and positions, even text colors and borders and positions can make a difference with your click through rate. 

There is no set in stone guaranteed way to determine or ensure that you are going to make a set amount each month with a site.  I personally have had keywords that I knew would pay high CPC and had little competition.  The search volume even looked good enough to make it worth my time to register a domain and go for it.  Sometimes they just don't work out.  Then there are the ones that you don't think will do well, or you haven't done anything with the site for sometime and then they start making money.

The old saying of "You throw enough stuff at the wall, something will stick!" is a good analogy to making quality sites and using Adsense as a means of making money online.