Introduction to Keyword Research
Vertical and Lateral Searching
Let’s say I was to go down to my local library and ask the librarian to go and find every book on a particular topic and stack them up in a pile. That would be rough example of a vertical search. It is a vertical pile of books on one topic. In the same way, Keyword Research tools go out and grab all the keyword phrases (books) with a particular keyword (topic) and then return them stacked in a pile. Fortunately, these Keyword Research tools do it a lot faster than my local librarian.
Many tools are also be smart enough to be able to look at the keyword you're searching on and find alternative, similar words that users may also be searching for. So if your seed keyword is “turntable“ the tool brings you back other variations such as “decks“, “record player“ or “wheels of steel“. This is called a lateral search.
To carry on our earlier librarian example, it would be like asking her to bring me books that were related to the topic I chose. She could bring me back books on all sorts of different material that related to my requested topic and stack them beside my original topic search. How smart she is will affect how useful these books are. In the same way, the better the Keyword Research tool, the better the lateral search results you will get.
Many tools also go beyond the basics and bring back extra information to help you understand your market. Some of this extra information includes competition data, competition website URLs, as well as data that relates to advertising on pay-per-click advertising networks such as Overture (Yahoo! Search Marketing). This kind of stuff is really useful as you get more experienced in Keyword Research. It can help you spot trends, access competition, as well as see if there is money to be made or if you would be wasting your time.
Keyword Research really is an important skill to learn. It’s easy to get started and pays dividends if you master it. When I was down by the beach the other day, I was talking with a friend who was interested in trying to leverage the Internet to grow his business. He was intrigued by Keyword Research and wondered how quickly he would be able to learn how to do it. I explained it to him like this.
“I like to think learning how to do Keyword Research is a bit like learning how to surf. You can go out and learn how to stand up on your surfboard within an afternoon and have lots of fun. However, the more practise you have, the bigger waves you can take, the better tricks you can do (and the more girls you will end up with!)”
With your article, I now know more of what Keyword Research actually entails. Thamk you. Being a "newbie" I see everywhere on the "net" about Keywords, searches, et.al., but never truly understood it. Thanks again.