Tutorial: Google Keyword Tool

How to Use the Free Google Keyword Tool

I get a lot of people asking how to use the Google Keywords Tool to do keyword research for their shops, so I threw together a quick tutorial with screenshots for those who find it too intimidating.

The Google Keyword Tool is found here: https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

The tool does several things:

1)    tells you how many people search a specific term each month on Google

2)    tells you how much competition there is for the phrase from people buying Google Adwords.

3)    gives you other related terms that you might not have thought of using

Load the Tool, and start filling out your first search keywords. It will look like this (click to see image larger):

1)    enter your main search term

2)    click the “x” to change the search options to worldwide instead of your country

3)    enter the “captcha” letters (those weird words in black) into the box

4)    click “Search”

Then you will see this (click to see image larger):

 

 What does this mean? First, the top result shows you that 880 people do searches on Google every month that include the words “abalone earrings”. The keywords beneath are Google’s suggestions, some of which will be completely irrelevant for your item, but others will give you new ideas & info.

Do a quick skim through to get more keyword ideas to try, and then unclick the “Broad” search box on the top left, & click the “[Exact]” box (see the arrow on the left, above). This will tell you how many type the exact search you are researching every month. Clicking “Exact” is a key step, or you may end up choosing keywords that aren’t very popular by themselves & are therefore not particularly useful.

When you click “[Exact]” you will see:

[Exact] match tells you that 210 people search “abalone earrings” on Google each month, and that there is high competition for the phrase (as opposed to Medium or Low competition), in terms of paid Google ads.

Clicking on the blue keyword links on each line will give you several options including “Google Search” which takes you to a Google search for that term, so you can see what is currently ranking on the search pages. There is also a link to “Exclude term” if it is useless to you & you want more relevant results, & one to show more phrases similar to the one you click on – very useful!

Take note of all of the good keywords you see (there can be up to 100) then enter another term to get more suggestions. Keep doing this until you have a full list of keywords that describe your items. Now you are ready to optimize one listing, several similar listings, or even a whole website!

There are a few other things you can do with this tool; here are a couple of more advanced tutorials including different aspects of it:

http://www.wikihow.com/Use-Google's-Keyword-Search-Tool

http://todaymade.com/blog/google-adwords-seo/

http://www.ecommercefuel.com/keyword-traffic-research/

But to do basic Etsy keyword research, using the above tips & also checking the suggested searches on Etsy, you don’t need to get too complicated, so only click on those links if you have mastered the basics and are looking for more advanced ideas  

Post by Cindy.  Cindy is the co-captain of the SASsy Mentors team and an SEO expert.