Using Keywords | Let Google Suggest Your Keywords

But how do you know for sure that these are the keywords people really use? One of the best tools to consider is from Google itself. Take Google Suggest which offers SEO's a great research tool for both SEO and PPC campaigns.

Google Suggest is a feature that instantly provides suggestions as you type your search query in Google. The list of suggestions drops down just below the actual search box, for example if you start typing in 'Bizcommunity Jobs,' once you start typing in the word 'Bizcommunity,' the search box might drop down with some suggestions like 'bizcommunity careers, ' 'Bizcommunity Africa,' 'bizcommunity medical.' Basically Google is trying to guess what you are going to type in next, and tries to save you the time it takes to type in each letter.

How does it work?

As you type, Google Suggest communicates directly with Google and comes back with the suggestions that will be displayed. If you're signed in to your Google Account (and have Web History enabled), suggestions are drawn from searches you've done, searches done by users all over the world, sites in Google's search index, and ads in Google's advertising network, and if you're not signed in to your Google Account, then no history-based suggestions are displayed.

So the suggestions Google gives you comes from actual user search queries. This is a good way to mine more keywords that you may have never thought of, but are currently being searched for.

Google Suggest can also be used as a negative keyword tool for your PPC campaigns. How so? Let's say you are searching for 'little black book; ' you will find that suggestions like 'little black boots,' 'little black box' etc. If you're doing an AdWords campaign, you may want to add those as negative terms, to make sure that your ad doesn't show up for irrelevant searches as this could be costly.

Google Suggest for keyword research

If using Google Suggest for your keyword research, you will have to first sign out of your Google account. Next, setup your favourite way to take down notes - you may be comfortable using a text editor or writing on paper, either one is perfectly fine. Now, choose one of the major keywords you're targeting and slowly type it into Google's search box - one letter at a time.

Take note of the various keyword suggestions as you type in each letter, write them down if the keywords look promising. Continue with this process with several variations of your keyword until you have a reasonably sized list.

To double check if these keywords are worth all the effort, copy all the keywords into the Google Adwords tool to see the approximate number of times these keywords were searched for so you can prioritise certain keywords. Obviously, if these keywords came from Google Suggest, there should be some kind of search volume associated with them.

Also remember that certain keywords are seasonal and may only be popular during a certain time of the year. If you are unsure about how some keywords may perform during the year, try Google Insights.