Review: WordTracker is the Key to SEO By Vangie Beal
June 3, 2008
WordTracker is an online keyword
analysis
service designed to help Web site owners with
SEO by identifying keywords and phrases that are
relevant to their business. With WordTracker, you can determine how
many competing sites are using the same keywords and also identify the
keywords, including misspelled words and phrases, that have the greatest
traffic potential in major search engines and directories.
WordTracker works by
compiling a database of over 300 million search terms that have been collected
from MetaCrawler.com and DogPile.com. The database of search terms is
mainly derived by searching other Web sites' keywords, comparing them in a
thesaurus for alternate keywords, and also by adding in the phrases and words that people
are typing into search engines.
The subscriber service basically helps you identify the best niche keywords and
phrases for your e-business, which can be difficult to do after you run out of the first few obvious choices. You can also see how many people are using major search engines to look for
those specific those keywords. Additionally, you can find related keywords that you might not
have otherwise considered, and also see how much competition there is in search
engines for those keywords you choose. You can also use WordTracker to help you climb
higher in search engine rankings or to build
successful AdSense or affiliate-based marketing programs for your Web site.
Dashboard Options One thing I noticed right away is that while WordTracker offers several
separate tools, these tools are combined where needed to enable you to dig down
deeper to find the best keywords and phrases for your Web site SEO. In testing
WordTracker, I opted to use the service to help find the right keywords for a
small shop that offered custom-designed gold jewelry. After you log into
WordTracker as a member you will first access the user dashboard which is laid
out into the following sections.
Keyword Universe Keyword Universe lets you find niche phrases and related keywords that
you may not have even considered. To use this tool you simply enter in two or
three words that best describes your business or products. Here I entered
"handcrafted gold jewelry" and in seconds had a list of 300 related keywords and
phrases. Each result is actually a hyperlink that shows how popular the keyword is when you click on it.
Keyword Universe by WordTracker helps you discover new search terms.
In the results, the Count shows how many times a particular word has
appeared in the WordTracker database over the last 100 days. The Predict
result indicates the maximum total predicted traffic for major search engines
(pay per bids and directories). The Dig option lets you dig down to the
next level of keywords to let you find the more specific ones. After choosing your
keywords, you can export or e-mail the keywords and, finally, you can also
perform a competition search to see which of the keywords from your chosen list
have fewer competing Web pages in the major search engines.
The competition results are probably one of the best that you will find in
any keyword program.
WordTracker offers you the option to see the Keyword
Effectiveness Index (KEI). This feature compares the count result with the
number of competing Web pages to pinpoint exactly which keywords are going to be
the most effective for your campaign.
Here you will want to examine the popular
keywords with a higher KEI as these are the keywords that will have less
competition. The less competition you have in the search engines the higher
ranking you will have on those searches.
Full Search To use the Full Search feature, you first provide one generic term that describes
your business or service. For instance, if you sell apparel, you would simply
enter "clothes," or "golf" if you sell golfing equipment. Here I used "ring" to see
a full list of related words. From the results list, you then choose all the
similar terms that are applicable to your site. The next step will provide you
with details on how popular the keyword is, and you can then complete a
competition search to find your own little niche in the search engines.
Keyword Researcher Keyword Researcher lets you customize your own search rules by a simple
search, precise search, compressed search, comprehensive search, or misspelling
search. You simply type in your seed keywords, in this case I chose engagement
as the keyword, and the option of seeing results for a misspelling. You
can choose to see results from U.S. or UK. Engagement on the misspelling
search returned "engagement" with 14 searches and a Predict of 22 compared to
"engagement" with 139 searches and a Predict of 220. Remember, the predict
result indicates the maximum total predicted traffic for all of the major search
engines.
Check out the keyword competition with WordTracker.
On the comprehensive search, "engagement rings" (lower case) was the highest,
followed by "Engagement Rings" (with capitals), "Vintage Engagement Rings," "Design My
Own Engagement Ring" and "Cheap Engagement Rings." The top 100 comprehensive
search results are provided in a list. You can then go through the process of
checking which results you want to use to evaluate against your competition,
export the data or save the keywords list and KEI report as a project to look at
later.
In addition to these three keyword features, the WordTracker dashboard also
offers a Keyword Projects section where you go to oversee all your
keyword projects. There's also as a Reports section for viewing the most
frequently searched words. You can also view all your WordTracker results in one
place and access WordTracker Support from the main dashboard.
Using Your WordTracker Results Once you have used WordTracker to help you select optimal keywords, you can
then use these keywords and phrases to optimize your site for the search engines.
The keywords should be used on your site in important areas, including within the
Title and Description areas, and in your site's content as well. You can also
optimize different pages on your site for different keywords. Links that point
to the keyword optimized pages on your site, both your own internal page links
and links from other Web sites, should include these keyword phrases. These keywords
can also be bid on in any of the pay-per-click programs you use. (For more
help on SEO, check out our
10 Steps for Improving Search Rankings.)
WordTracker Pricing and Trial Versions Pricing for WordTracker, which has a daily limit of 1,500 keyword searches,
350 lateral searches and 250 competition searches is $50 per month for a single user account. You can also purchase a
yearly subscription for $329, a much better value if you have an ongoing
need for keyword analysis.
WordTracker currently
offers a free, fully-functional seven-day trial that also gives you access to a
"Profit from Keywords" video and a "Keywords Basics" guide. The
free trial must be
activated with a credit card, however you can go into your account settings any time
before the seven-day period is up to cancel your subscription. When you cancel
within seven days, your credit card will not be charged. Free trial accounts are limited to one per year.
Vangie Beal is a seasoned eBay seller, frequent contributor to ECommerce-Guide.com and managing editor of Webopedia.com.
Do you have a comment or question about this
article or other e-commerce topics in general?
Speak out in the SmallBusinessComputing.com E-Commerce Forum.
Join the discussion today!
Tools:
Add ecommerce-guide.com to your favorites Add ecommerce-guide.com to your browser search box IE 7 | Firefox 2.0 | Firefox 1.5.xReceive news via our XML/RSS feed
IE 7
Firefox 2.0
