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Introduction

I’m sure you’ve heard many webmasters say that “keywords are the lifeblood of SEO”. That’s only half the story. Keywords are the lifeblood of the entire Internet – including paid traffic sources and just about anything else on the web you might care to mention. You can’t even do a proper competition study without
understanding keywords!

Knowing this, it is really quite surprising to find that so many internet marketing (a.k.a. “IM”) -related products and so-called gurus out there claim that keywords are not all that important in “their” model, or that YOU don’t have to know much about them.

Sure, there are online business models which rely on your keyword knowledge to a lesser extent, but even in those cases knowing your keywords can mean the difference between success and failure.

So let’s clear a few things up. Above all else, the Internet is a WRITTEN WORD medium. Yes, you have pictures and videos too – but even those are tagged, titled and described with WORDS.


Nothing happens on the Internet without words!

OK, I’m confident you’ll agree with that. So – what exactly is a “keyword?” This is where the SEO jargon confuses people. Most non-SEO folks believe that since “keyword” is singular, it must mean that it is equivalent to “an important but SINGLE word.” But this just isn’t the case. Pros, hang with me for a bit of
rookie clarification.

A “keyword” in SEO parlance can either be one word or multiple words (a “key phrase”). But what sets a “keyword” apart from a “word” or a “phrase” is that “keyword” is WHATEVER you type into a search engine in order to find things.

So, “dog” is a keyword, if that’s all you typed. And so is “dog training” – if THAT’s all you typed. And also “how to I teach my dog some cool tricks” – that too is a “keyword.”


So how is knowing this important?

This is where it gets fun. Out of 1,000,000 people who want to know something about dogs, how many, do YOU think, will type “dog” only, how many will type “dog training” only, and how many will type “how to teach my dog to sit”?

You can take a stab at it – but it will be a mere GUESS unless you research it!

And you haven’t even begun contemplating what OTHER phrases people might be entering when searching for products or information about dogs.


And why would you WANT to know this?

If you have a product which teaches dog owners how to train a dog, you will want to optimize your page(s) for the MOST POPULAR search phrases relating to dog training! This way, when someone types a particular phrase which you happen to have optimized for, your chances of getting “organically” found increase tremendously.  That’s why! (There’s a bit more to that, but this is the gist).


So – how do you go about researching keywords?

You can do this manually – or you can do it using a software program. You can do it haphazardly, without a method – or you can use a “deep keyword research system”. Whether you automate your keyword research or do it manually, having a METHOD of keyword study will help you tremendously.

While automated keyword programs have great appeal because research seems “so simple” with them, they often lure you into a false sense of security and you wind up not feeling the need to understand their recommendations. “Says here that keyword is good and that one is too difficult! I’ll use the easy one.”  On the other hand, manual research methodologies take longer – but they help you discover “hard” keywords which you can nevertheless “conquer”. Still, because they’re “manual” many webmasters simply opt for the “automated” solutions – and… 99 times out of 100 pay the price that’s usually associated with willful ignorance! This is not to take anything away from some of those automated keyword research programs – they’re great, but you really DO need to understand their recommendations!


What We’ll Examine Here

Among the recommended programs in this special report, we present systems which offer automation without methodologies, methodologies without much automation – and a few in-betweens.

Among our favorite automated solutions is Market Samurai – arguably the market leader in keyword research – who have, however, recently switched to scanning Bing (instead of Google) for keyword ideas. They did this because Google’s policies have changed to a point where rapid suggestion retrieval became a bit of a burden, so the Market Samurai people reasoned that very similar statistical keyword usage will exist
on all search engines – so why not switch to Bing which doesn’t complicate things unnecessarily? Predictably, this decision has cost Market Samurai some credibility among webmasters who believe that the best way to research Google keywords is by using Google! Although they have a point – they’re not entirely right in my view. If you’re in doubt yourself, why not try Keyword Discovery instead!

Another long-time (automated) fave of ours is Micro Niche Finder which has in fact remained loyal to Google for the bulk of its research. We’ve also had a chance of checking out some of the higher-end programs such as Keyword Discovery or Niche Bot and while we were quite impressed, we weren’t totally blown away either, particularly when we looked at it from the point of view of the economy of a “typical” user. They’re pretty darned expensive!

As far as manual systems go, the web is full of handy suggestions and ideas, but that can be hit or miss and it’s very labor intensive.

In the listing below, I decided not to “rate” these programs, but rather just lay out all the facts – and you can decide yourselves. After all, most of those programs are functionally equivalent, so you pick the one which combines the best cost vs. the best features and a working style which you can relate to.

Tools & Methods for Deep Keyword Research

The selection of programs and systems below is by no means complete. We have not covered many of the remaining online keyword tools available out there. We’re aware that many other stand-alone systems also exist which we never had enough time to personally get to for a thorough review.

Note that all the information was valid at the time of testing, but some of it may have changed by the time
you’re reading this. The features and aspects of all these programs that we focused on were:

  • System – is this a compiled software program or otherwise
  • Primary operational mode – is it an automated or a manual solution
  • Proxy Management – is proxy management included (you use proxies when researching very large keyword sets and don’t want Google to keep stopping you and asking for captcha codes)
  • Project Management – does it allow you to save all your research data in separate project files
  • Video Training – is video training provided to teach you how to use the system
  • Documentation – is written documentation provided
  • Member area support – do they have a support forum or a support ticket system
  • Instant gratification – Straight out of the box, can you “immediately” get keyword suggestions
  • Time to master – an estimate of the average time it takes to learn the given system, as reported by new users, based on online reports and reviews as well as personal experience
  • SEO insights – does the program or its documentation provide additional SEO information
  • Ranking strategies – does the program or its documentation show you different strategies for ranking with the selected keywords
  • Results are clearly evaluated – are the keyword suggestions clearly laid out
  • Results explained – are the results “interpreted” and explained
  • LSI research – are semantically related keywords evaluated and recommended basing on their relevance, or are the suggestions left there without a comment, for the user to figure out
  • Drill-down – is detailed statistical data available about every single keyword
  • Misspelling keywords – does the program deal with misspelled keywords as well
  • Reported keyword effectiveness – basing on user feedback, how happy are they with the quality of the “recommended” keywords
  • Keyword usage limits – does the program have a cap on how many keywords you’re allowed to research per project
  • Mini-site keyword set research – average time based on a 500-keyword set, assuming program mastery, based on online reports and reviews as well as personal experience
  • Keyword filtering – can you filter your keyword database to zoom in closer and closer on specific keywords sets
  • Geographic/Foreign – can you research other geographical areas and/or in non-English languages
  • CPC – does the program supply you with Google’s CPC (cost per click) estimates per keyword
  • Clicks per month – is there an estimate of the how many click-throughs paid-for keywords receive
  • Google search volume – is there an estimate of how many searches occur for each keyword on a monthly bases
  • Profitability – is there an estimate of each keyword’s potential profitability
  • KEI Ratio – how many ways are there in which KEI (keyword efficiency indices) are calculated
  • Guaranteed minimum yield – does the program inform you of the most likely minimum guaranteed traffic yield per keyword (depending on which rank you achieve)
  • Keywords tailored to your site – are the discovered keywords generic or tailored to your site
  • Competition research – does the system show you how to research your competition in terms of keywords
  • Competition explained – is competition research explained in detail
  • Niche research – are there tools or advice regarding niche research
  • Niche explained – is niche research explained
  • Payments (best version) – mode of payment, can be monthly or one-off, or annual
  • Cost after 1 year – what is the typical cost of the given program, after a year of using it  (many of these programs have a monthly re-billing cycle)
  • Cost next year – predicted cost by end of year 2

Enjoy the research!

 


  

Market Samurai

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

Yes

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 months

SEO insights

Good

Ranking strategies

Good

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

partly

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

Very High

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

3-4 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

Yes

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

Yes

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

partly

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

partly

Payments (best version)

one-off

Cost after 1 year

149.00

Cost next year

0.00


  

SEOLater

System

spreadsheet

Primary operational mode

manual

Proxy management

separate

Project management

manual

Video training

Yes

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

No

Time to master *)

1 week

SEO insights

Very Good

Ranking strategies

Very Good

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

Yes

LSI research

Yes

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

Very High

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

3-4 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

Yes

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

Yes

KEI Ratio

4 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

Yes

Keywords tailored to your site

Yes

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

Yes

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

Yes

Payments (best version)

monthly

Cost after 1 year

144.00

Cost next year

0

 

 

Micro Niche Finder

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

Yes

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

1 month

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

Yes

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

High

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

3-4 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

Yes

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

Yes

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

partly

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

partly

Payments (best version)

one-off

Cost after 1 year

99.99

Cost next year

0.00

 

 

Keyword Country

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

separate

Project management

auto

Video training

No

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

1 month

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

Yes

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

High

Keyword usage limits

1500/day

Mini-site keyword set research **)

3-4 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

Yes

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

Yes

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

No

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

partly

Payments (best version)

annual

Cost after 1 year

299.00

Cost next year

299.00

 

 

Word Tracker

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

separate

Project management

auto

Video training

Some

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 weeks

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

No

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

High

Keyword usage limits

1500/day

Mini-site keyword set research **)

5-8 hrs

Keyword filtering

No

Geographic/Foreign

Yes

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

No

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

No

Competition explained

No

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

No

Payments (best version)

annual

Cost after 1 year

299.00

Cost next year

299.00

 

 

Keyword Discovery

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

Yes

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

1 month

SEO insights

Good

Ranking strategies

Good

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

No

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

Very High

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

3-4 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

limited

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

Yes

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

partly

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

partly

Payments (best version)

annual

Cost after 1 year

4,455.00

Cost next year

4,455.00

 

 

Keyword Elite

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

Yes

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 months

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

No

Drill-down

No

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

High

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

5-8 hrs

Keyword filtering

No

Geographic/Foreign

limited

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

No

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

No

Competition explained

No

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

partly

Payments (best version)

monthly

Cost after 1 year

635.00

Cost next year

468.00

 

 

Niche Bot

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

separate

Project management

auto

Video training

Yes

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

1 month

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

Yes

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

Good

Keyword usage limits

3,000/day

Mini-site keyword set research **)

5-8 hrs

Keyword filtering

No

Geographic/Foreign

limited

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

No

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

No

Competition explained

No

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

No

Payments (best version)

monthly

Cost after 1 year

1,302.00

Cost next year

1,302.00

 

 

IBP

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

Some

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 months

SEO insights

Good

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

partly

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

High

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

3-4 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

Yes

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

Yes

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

partly

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

partly

Payments (best version)

one-off

Cost after 1 year

300.00

Cost next year

0.00

 

 

Keyword Spy

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

No

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 weeks

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

No

LSI research

partly

Drill-down

partly

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

High

Keyword usage limits

50,000/day

Mini-site keyword set research **)

5-8 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

Yes

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

No

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

No

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

No

Payments (best version)

monthly

Cost after 1 year

1,068.00

Cost next year

1,068.00

 

 

Wordze

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

separate

Project management

auto

Video training

No

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 weeks

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

No

LSI research

No

Drill-down

partly

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

Good

Keyword usage limits

3,000/day

Mini-site keyword set research **)

5-8 hrs

Keyword filtering

No

Geographic/Foreign

No

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

No

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

No

Competition explained

No

Niche research

partly

Niche explained

No

Payments (best version)

monthly

Cost after 1 year

420.00

Cost next year

420.00

 

 

Key Compete

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

separate

Project management

auto

Video training

No

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 weeks

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

No

LSI research

No

Drill-down

partly

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

Good

Keyword usage limits

300/day

Mini-site keyword set research **)

5-8 hrs

Keyword filtering

No

Geographic/Foreign

No

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

No

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

No

Competition explained

No

Niche research

partly

Niche explained

No

Payments (best version)

monthly

Cost after 1 year

468.00

Cost next year

468.00

 

 

Keywords Analyzer

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

No

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 weeks

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

No

LSI research

No

Drill-down

partly

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

Good

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

5-8 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

No

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

Yes

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

No

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

No

Payments (best version)

one-off

Cost after 1 year

97.00

Cost next year

0.00

 

 

SpyFu

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

No

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

2 weeks

SEO insights

Some

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

No

Drill-down

partly

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

High

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

3-4 hrs

Keyword filtering

No

Geographic/Foreign

Yes

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

No

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

No

Competition explained

No

Niche research

partly

Niche explained

No

Payments (best version)

monthly

Cost after 1 year

456.00

Cost next year

456.00

 

 

Affiliate Elite

System

software

Primary operational mode

auto

Proxy management

built-in

Project management

auto

Video training

Yes

Documentation

Yes

Member area support

Yes

Instant gratification

Yes

Time to master *)

1 month

SEO insights

Good

Ranking strategies

Some

Results clearly evaluated

Yes

Results explained

partly

LSI research

partly

Drill-down

Yes

Misspelling keywords

Yes

Reported keyword effectiveness

High

Keyword usage limits

unlimited

Mini-site keyword set research **)

5-8 hrs

Keyword filtering

Yes

Geographic/Foreign

No

CPC

Yes

Clicks per month

Yes

Google search volume

Yes

Profitability

Yes

KEI Ratio

2 methods

Guaranteed minimum yield

No

Keywords tailored to your site

No

Competition research

Yes

Competition explained

No

Niche research

Yes

Niche explained

partly

Payments (best version)

monthly

Cost after 1 year

644.00

Cost next year

468.00

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