WordStream’s New Keyword Suggestion Tool
WordStream recently launched a beta version of its new keyword suggestion tool, appropriately named “The Free Keyword Tool.” The UI is clean and simple to figure out, which makes it a quick, user-friendly addition to the task of keyword generation.
The functionality is pretty user-friendly:
- Step 1: In the first box, I give it my list of preliminary keywords or phrases (I see no mention of a keyword limit, so the more the merrier).
- Step 2: Those keywords generate a list of related keywords in a second box that I may choose to add to my preliminary list in the first box. For example, if I have “greyhound” in my preliminary list, I may decide to add “dog,” “pet,” “adoption,” and others to help narrow out keyphrases related to Greyhound buses. Because box #1 is a simple text box, I can also type in or delete any keywords.
- Step 3: After I’m done with my preliminary list in box #1 and considering the related keywords in box #2, I can start browsing through the final suggestions (read: zillions). I can also copy the first 100 results into a notepad or Word doc (w/ relative volume estimates), or, even better, I can email the keywords to myself, my boss, my client, or whomever. Pretty handy.
So, the pros and cons …
Pros:
- Extensive keyword suggestions – could be helpful in coming up with valuable negative keywords.
- Email keywords feature is very nice – allows me to quickly save and share keywords from any computer without having to worry about losing my work.
- “Related keywords” feature helps narrow down my initial list and gives me more targeted keyphrases than those generated from my preliminary list alone.
- Simple, self-explanatory UI.
Cons:
- Extensive keyword suggestions (yes, this could go either way) – if you’re looking for very specific suggestions and don’t want to spend too much time browsing through keyword ideas, this may not be the tool for you. Most ad campaigns don’t need thousands of keywords anyway.
- There is no way to edit the final suggested keyword list online without first downloading the list or emailing it to yourself. Maybe that’s something WordStream can include later, seeing as how it’s a popular feature of other keyword tools.
Needless to say, there is no perfect keyword suggestion tool. The best ad campaigns are initiated from content on your site, considerations from all your favorite keyword tools, and, most importantly, simple common sense.
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On September 18, 2009 @ 3:58 pm Brooke Browne
said
Worth giving a go! Just use Google keyword tool now, so nice to have something else to reference.
On September 18, 2009 @ 6:23 pm Larry Kim
said
Hey Suzanne – thanks for writing this up!! To filter your keyword suggestion list, you have to move your mouse over the keyword search results.
Move your mouse over the word you want to remove – a little fiter box will appear. click on the “x” button that opens, and the keywords will be filtered from your results, both on the screen, and on the CSV file that gets mailed out. Let me know if that works for you. -Larry
On September 18, 2009 @ 10:50 pm Suzanne
said
Thanks, Brooke! Yes, I primarily use the Google keyword tool as well, and I think this will be a good companion to it, especially for coming up with negative keywords.
Larry, thanks for the tip! I didn’t notice the little red “x” box until you mentioned it, but I’m glad it’s there. Perhaps it would be beneficial if it were a bit more noticeable, maybe in its own column. Also, it seems that the “x” doesn’t appear for every keyphrase, unless I’m missing something …
On September 21, 2009 @ 9:08 am Larry Kim
said
Suzanne – the red “x” filter button doesn’t appear on the root words that you were searching on. So for example, suppose you searched on the word “seo”. You can’t then filter out the word “seo” since that would cause all of your results to be filtered (since all of the keywords on the list contain that word). We’re working on a way to make the filter functionality more visible…
On September 21, 2009 @ 1:45 pm Suzanne
said
Thanks, Larry … that makes sense.
Also, I just realized something else: the “x” doesn’t necessarily show up at the end of the keyphrase. For example, I searched “greyhound,” and one of the results was “italian greyhound.” The “x” shows up just behind “italian” rather than “greyhound” … was a bit confusing at first.
On September 29, 2009 @ 2:09 pm Jacob Stoops
said
Looks like an interesting tool. Currently, I like to use the Google Adwords Keyword Tool. Does it show competitiveness?
On September 30, 2009 @ 10:08 am Suzanne
said
Thanks, Jacob … the tool provides a “relative volume” estimate but no real competitiveness exactly. It’s still in beta as I understand, so maybe that’s something that can be added in the future.