Search Engine Optimization (SEO) for your website

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Competitors’ Websites

Later this month, we’ll have you digging through your competi-

tors’ websites like a hungry raccoon in a Dumpster. For the moment, try breaking up

keyword writer’s block by browsing your competitors’ sites to see what terms they are

using to describe themselves.

Wednesday Keyword Data Tools

You’ve got a nice long list of keywords. But the list doesn’t mean much to you until

you find out which of these keywords are actually being used by searchers. You’re also

going to want a sense of how competitive the SEO field is for a keyword so you can

get a handle on just how hard you might have to fight to rank well for it.

Fortunately, there are keyword analysis tools available to help you suss out this

important information. And, also fortunately, there are

not so many

different high-

quality options to choose from, so the decision is far from overwhelming. We’ll discuss

the top two here:

• Wordtracker

• Yahoo! Search Marketing Keyword Selector Tool

Today is a “study hall” day. You’re going to find these tools and get your feet

wet utilizing their capabilities.

Wordtracker

Wordtracker is the dominant tool for keyword research in the SEO industry. In a nut-

shell, it tells you how many people are searching for the terms you may want to use on

your site. It does this by monitoring and recording searches on meta search engines

throughout the Web. You can use it to get an estimate of how many searches will be

performed for a given term, and it is also an excellent source of related terms and com-

mon misspellings (see Figure 6.2).

Wordtracker doesn’t give an up-to-the-minute snapshot—its data reflects

searches that took place a few months before you retrieve it. Wordtracker is available

www.wordtracker.com

for a fee. We know how you hate to spend money, so now is

the only time we’ll tell you something like this:

Pearl of Wisdom:

The Wordtracker fee is indispensable in your SEO efforts.

Now:

Go to the Keywords Worksheet and add your new ideas to the list in the Key word column.

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