Finally, Google’s keyword search tool has changed – for the better! It now supplies the actual search volume of keywords you are researching.

In the past, the WordTracker service outperformed Google’s service because it supplied the search volume information while Google’s did not (and even hinted that it never would).

But now it appears that Google has changed its mind, and this could be a threat to WordTracker’s business.

WordTracker has long been criticized for their search volume data not being accurate. According to some sources, only 2 to 3% of actual search activities are used to estimate the actual search volume information. Now, comparing with the service with the actual data source of Google, I am quite sure that Google’s information should be much more accurate than WordTracker’s.

And what’s more important to non-English keywords research is that Google’s keyword search supports multiple languages. I have my doubts as to whether WordTracker can provide equally accurate information.

You can access Google’s service here:

http://hopurl.com/46444

Please note that there is actually still one drawback to using Google’s service. Google does not provide the actual number of competing websites for the keywords being researched, so there is no way to know the KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index) of a keyword. (KEI is provided by WordTracker as one of the research results. For information about KEI, refer to my post here). However, since the Google service allows you to directly download the data to MS Excel (or another compatible spreadsheet program), you can estimate the KEI by using the AdWords information about Advertiser Competition. Divide the search volume by this figure to yield an estimate similar to the KEI.

Here is an Excel file (Keywords-Examples.xls) to demonstrate this. I used the keyword “shoes” in this example. Please note that I added the last two columns to calculate the KEI-similar metrics using my unique formula.

Look for keywords with Advertiser Competition less than one, but with a KEI metric in relatively greater values. This Excel file is not as sophisticated as what you can get from WordTracker. This is partly because of the limited information about the advertisers’ competition from Google’s AdWords tool.

But please note the following: The Advertisers’ competition column refers to the Google AdWords’ competition from its advertisers. This is NOT the actual webmasters’ websites that have been using those keywords in their web contents as provided by WordTracker.

So in a strict sense, the KEI metric in my Excel file cannot be considered a true KEI-like metric because the original KEI was not defined using AdWords’ competition.

I am still looking for ways to improve this. If you have any suggestions, leave me message in this post.

I hope this helps you better understand how to use the free keyword research service from Google.

Tags: WordTrackers, Keyword Research Tool, Google AdWords Research Tool

Using Google Alert to Boost your Online Marketing Effectiveness.

Google offers a free service called Google Alert that you should not miss. You can access this service here: http://www.google.com/alert

This service constantly searches for a particular search term that you provide, and returns to you any new updates it finds in cyberspace with this search term. You don’t have to keep going back and searching over and over yourself to find new items… the service does it for you!

For example, I can use the service to constantly search for the term “Damen Choy” to seek any webpages that come up with my name. The results are interesting. Sometimes I locate webmasters who have placed my articles in their directories. Sometimes I discover someone who has commented on my e-book (accessed here: http://www-a-better-job-interview.com). And I can follow up with these writers on those subjects related to me or my product/services to offer a joint-venture proposal, or explore other possible opportunities.

You can also use Google Alert to “spy” on your competitors’ ongoing activities by using their names as the search terms.

What is particularly exciting is that you can use Google Alert to grow your online business by using it to gain publicity. Here’s how.

Let’s say you’re a fitness trainer with a website for fitness-related resources. It’s a headache to get more people to learn about your website. With Google Alert, you can track newly posted news or stories about what is happening in the world of fitness. If something interesting is brought up by Google Alert, you can immediately contact the journalist who wrote the article and offer him your comments (usually a compliment to their story) along with your own website identity. Your compliment or comments may appear in the next story by the journalist. You can take it a step further by offering your e-book or articles to the journalist to demonstrate your skills in your particular field. Offer them the chance to interview you on the subject, or refer to your web resources in your next story. What’s important is to start a relationship with the journalists writing in your field. Relationship is actually the magic word behind the Public Relations industry. Did you know that?

Another way to use Google Alert to your benefit is to use it to search for particular headlines about your area of expertise. Once those headlines come up, you can write articles commenting on the subject from different angles, and then send them to your local media (both online and offline) for possible publication. Since your comments are related to breaking news hot off the press, the media will be more likely to respond to your comments and hopefully publish them.

I constantly use the Google Alert service to generate ideas for my blog writings. You know, it is not an easy job to find contemporary topics every day without this “tool” to help!

I even use it to track down anyone who has published my articles that I submitted to article directories (such as http://ezinearticles.com) by tracking the specially crafted article titles I submitted.

There is a paid service with similar functionality to Google Alert’s free service, but with more powerful deep crawling capability. It can return up to the top 750 searches related to your search term in the Google Search Engine. This service is not affiliated with Google, but it does help with more in-depth daily research for your search terms. If you’re interested, visit this link: http://www.GoogleAlert.com. They offer a free service with limited functionality so you can try it before joining the paid service.

Getting more publicity means getting more traffic and hence more revenue for your business. I hope this article helps. As always, feel free to write me with comments or questions!

Tags: online publicity, article tracking, online public relationship, PR, online PR building, GoogleAlert.com