I thought long and hard about this topic for today. After just telling you to stop relying so much on Google, here I am publishing another article about SEO.
Well my timing may be a little off, but after realizing how lazy I’ve been with keyword research, I felt compelled to write this.
So I hope you’ll forgive me. 🙂
For the record, I still think you should spend more time diversifying your traffic. However, it doesn’t hurt to fine-tune your existing pages so they are fully optimized for SEO.
My Tumultuous Relationship With Keyword Research
If you follow my sites closely you probably know I am not a fan of keyword research. I will even go as far to say I hate it. All the analysis and number crunching gives me a headache.
Oh c’mon, I know I’m not the only one. 😉
The only time I ever did what I would call thorough research and analysis was when I created Flat Stomach Exercises back in 2005. Since I paid my hard-earned money for Site Build It!, I figured I might as well make use of the built-in brainstorming tool.
My strategy has always been to do a quick check in either SBI!’s Brainstorm It! tool or the Google AdWords Keyword Tool, review the top 10 results in Google to get a true feel for how competitive the phrase is and then choose my keywords. I rarely took the time to do any extensive analysis.
For the record, I’m not bragging about this. As the search engines become more competitive, of course I could benefit from spending more time researching long tail keywords.
Market Samurai Hype
I’ve read the many blog posts and articles about Market Samurai over the last year or so. Quite honestly though, I didn’t put much stock into all the glowing reviews because they were usually tied to an affiliate link.
I really don’t want this post to turn into one of those articles. Even though I am an affiliate, I will give you the good and the bad regarding the software after my recent test drive.
The Good
1) Thorough reports. The SEO Competition section is my favorite, hands down. I love being able to see an overview of the top 10 ranked pages for any phrase and all the information like the age of domain, number of page and domain backlinks, etc.
I know other tools have similar features, but I really like how MS gives you the big picture with a lot of different stats.
One thing’s for sure. It becomes quite clear how important the age of the domain is when it comes to rankings – especially for more competitive phrases.
Not that this was a surprise, but seeing the MS matrix just further solidifies that theory if you have any doubts.
2) I like the all-in-one aspect. You really are getting multiple tools in one. You can analyze domains, research monetization options, track your own keyword rankings, and research competition without ever leaving the tool.
There’s even a place to write and publish your content. Not sure I really see much of a need for this, but perhaps some people find it handy.
3) The filters. It took me awhile to figure out how to use them, but I like the various preset options you can adjust depending on your needs.
For example, if you’re using MS to find better long tail keywords for your articles like me, you don’t need the filter set as high as someone who may be searching a new website idea.
The Bad
1) Not intuitive at first. Perhaps I was having an off day when I downloaded it, but I didn’t find the software to be very intuitive.
I kept getting hung up on the Keyword Research screen and couldn’t figure out why my keywords were mysteriously disappearing when I went to analyze them. I later learned it was the filter and was able to adjust accordingly.
Fortunately MS provides video tutorials so that helped get me on the right track, but I’m still learning.
2) You need patience. Depending on the query you’re running, it may take awhile for the reports to finish. Given the amount of data that is being processed, this is understandable, but it still can be bothersome.
3) It may create analysis paralysis. This can happen with any research tool, but even more so with tools like this because the reports are so thorough.
Market Samurai uses a color-coded matrix that’s based on the traffic light system to tell you how competitive a phrase is. Red means the competition is high, yellow means it’s medium and green means it’s low.
Below is a report of a long tail keyword I found that looks “decent” according to MS because it’s mostly green and yellow with very little red.
I can see how this tool could consume and overwhelm people who are new to keyword research. It’s natural to want to find a keyword that shows almost no red and all green. But the truth is, any keyword worth going after these days is going to show signs of saturation.
Of course you should use the MS data as a guide, but at some point you have to do physical research to see just how saturated the niche really is.
Yes, the MS matrix may show a phrase is too competitive, but if you go look at the actual results and discover that most of them are low-quality sites, how competitive is the term really?
For the record, I did some SEO competition checks on keywords I already rank well for. In many cases, the grid showed very high competition yet I was still able to achieve a top 5 rank. And I’m talking about newer pages, not older pages that have been ranking well for years.
That is proof you can’t go by the tools alone — which is one of the reasons I have been hesitant to rely on keyword research tools too much.
The Value is in the Long Tail
Anyone who has a great deal of SEO traffic will tell you that the value is in the long tail keywords. These are phrases that are longer and not searched for as much so they are often easier to rank for.
Sure, they are not going to bring you a lot of traffic individually, but that traffic adds up over time when you start to rank for many different phrases.
The vast majority of my search engine traffic is from long tail keywords — not from the competitive phrases you may assume.
Don’t buy Market Samurai (or any tool for that matter) expecting to master a top ten rank for a bunch of competitive, broad keyword phrases. The real value in tools like this is finding those untapped long tail keywords that are less competitive and often easier (relatively) to rank for.
Using Market Samurai over the last couple of weeks has caused me to change a lot of my content and begin focusing more on longer tail keywords. I’ve revamped a ton of pages, so it will be interesting to see if it makes any difference over time.
When I first created my site I was very good about doing this, but I’ve gotten lazy and comfortable over the years. Can you relate?
Conclusion
I did purchase the pro version. Once I became more comfortable using the tool, I knew I would use it beyond the 30 day free trial.
Definitely watch the videos first. I’m not one who likes to read the instructions before using something new, but it’s a must if you want to get the most out of MS. I even published a tutorial in case anyone needs the “quick start” version. 🙂
Even though I bought Market Samurai, I am certainly not ready to say this is a must-have tool. I’m going to give it some time and report back later. I know there are many of you who swear by it, but there are also those who are doing just fine using the free keyword research tools.
Having said that, I’m glad I bought it and will continue to use it. It’s definitely forced me to revert back to my old habits of doing better long tail research before publishing content. I wrote four articles over the weekend and I took a lot more time researching “better” keywords to target.
Have you ever purchased a keyword research tool or do you prefer the free tools? What is your keyword research strategy like when you create new content? I’d love to hear from you!
This Market Samurai seems to have potential, but it is pretty intense for me trying to figure it all out. I had tossed it aside and ignored it for a while now, maybe I should get back to figuring it out. From all that I have heard, and seen thus far, it could really be a huge asset as far as keyword goes.
I will check your tutorial see if it helps simplify things for me.
The SEs are constantly changing, the recent change from google supposed to effect 35% of searches, I dont think MS or any keyword tool is 100% equipped to handle those changes..
No tool has or ever will be 100% accurate, but when I look at how many different long tail keywords my sites get found for (thousands), it serves as a great reminder how important the long tail is.
i agree 200% with you on long tails.. long tails are paying off for me now… to achieve top rankings for your target k/w you have to rank well for related long tails ( i think google uses this as a factor).. when you think you get enough traffic only thru long tails, you will boom your rankings for your target k/w very easily…
I am enjoyed to a good results with the keywords that Brainstormer shows. I also like the size of the SBI database.Your article has made me want to go spend some time with it and learn it the way I should have a long time ago! Thanks!
I just started using Market Samurai, still in the 30-day trial. But it is so confusing, even with the video tutorials. I think I’m going to follow along using your tutorial to try to understand it better. Thanks for all the information and for the tutorial.
Hope it helps!
I won’t leave you standing on the limb – you are not alone in hating keyword research! 🙂 The lead SEO guy at my New York website design company says it is not the most desirable part of his job. But, you’re right – it must be done! Great article, Lisa. Thanks.
The SBI research tool (Brainstormer) keeps me on track as well. I have enjoyed good results with the keywords that Brainstormer shows. I also really like the size of the SBI database, too. Pulling data from that many successful sites yields great results.
I have not tried Market Samurai yet, but with you instructional “Quick Start” videos. I may just give it a try.
Hey Lisa: I also am an SBI’er and find that the tools available are very good in producing SEO results for my niche site. The real issue is having the SELF-DISCIPLINE to use these tools regularly. I got lazy and just started writing, only to find that these pages were not getting ranked well. So once I returned to doing key word research, I started making progress again. But, I must say that I am really glad the SBI team is upgrading their templates so we look more like we are part of the 21st century!
Ann
Hi Ann,
Now that is very true! I wish I had thought to write about that because I struggle with that too. LOL on the templates. Yes, they are WAAAAY overdue!!
I bought Market Samurai a long time ago when it first hit the market, I got it at a really low price, a special to get folks to try it out. Unfortunately, I never stuck with it and I never checked out the videos. Now and then I go use it but since I never really bothered to really push at learning it I find it difficult. Your article has made me want to go spend some time with it and learn it the way I should have a long time ago! Thanks!
Since optimising our website for keywords that we found during our keyword research, my business has seen a significant increase in traffic and we’ve sold quite a few forklift trucks lately!
This is really a great post you have added. I never have used Samurai before, I only use tools that are from google cause I find it more easy to understand since I’ve been using it for quite some time now.
Thanks for letting us know about Market Samurai, I’ve heard about the program before but never used it! I just hope it’s accurate, I’ll use it to check my competition quickly. Luckily there’s the 30 day trial so I can get the hang of it
Its been a good post you ever made on this blog. No one can deny the importance of keyword research in the website promotion.
Lisa thank you for these great information. I am also thinking about Market Samurai, and I have been doing some research myself. I read somewhere, unfortunately don’t remember where, that Market Samurai was built around four rules; competition for all high antagonism keywords, relevance by filtering out unrelated keyword phrases, find high traffic keywords in few seconds, and finally commerciality, which means finding the top paying keywords. Your analysis is very helpful and I may test after all the trial version.
thnx for u r nice article .i was looking for that article really nice one and article whixh u have posted is cool awesome bolg lisa good work keep it up
regards techsparx
Keyword research really depends on many things, but for sure there are not many tools out there that can offer results. Let’s not forget that one of the most important factors of keyword research is competitor analysis. As well analyzing existing traffic and top converting keywords can help to determine which keywords have highest conversion.
Hi Lisa,
I first heard about Market Samurai from a course I was enrolled in from Ed Dale (an Internet Marketer from Australia) and thought that they were recommending it only to get a commission back.
I used the extended 14-day trial (at a discounted price) available to us on that course and I really liked the tool, it was buggy sometimes but it definitely was way better than the Google Keyword Tool alone.
Now I normally choose very carefully my services and resources and want nothing but the best and I’d have definitely go the extra mile for a subscription at WordTracker if they managed other languages apart from English which I think they don’t.
So after trying a lot of other keyword research tools, I eventually ended up buying Market Samurai and even though I don’t use it as much as I did in the beginning, it is way more robust than what it looks.
The training I mentioned in the beginning it’s free, maybe you already know about it, if not, google it and check out how those guys recommend to use it, they have like 4 or 5 videos on it.
It is mainly aimed at niche sites by the way.
Hope this helps! 😉
Sergio
PS. Brankica has me intrigued with SBI! is that service really that good? 😛
Thanks so much for the feedback, Sergio. I can certainly see that there is a lot within the tool itself. The more I use it, the more I like it. I just had to get over the newness of it all.
I think SBI! is good for people who want to learn building a web business and not just a site. They get a lot of heat for their templates and I think too many people judge them by that. Fortunately they are upgrading and plus you can create your own design if you want. What really made me proud to recommend SBI! (again) was when I saw Ken Evoy in the forums asking for volunteers in his forum last week for what they call Project 252 (named after Panda 2.5.2). After so many people were hit by Google Panda, the SiteSell team is analyzing all their customers who were affected and will be publishing a thorough report of any commonalities that were found.
That is one heck of a service for a hosting company to provide. GoDaddy, Bluehost or Hostgator would NEVER do anything like that. That company really is dedicated to helping you succeed. I just wish they supported PHP so you could install WordPress without having to sign up with 3rd party hosting.
great post and great comments, I’ve been looking for some new ideas for keyword research – 99% of our traffic comes from 1 single phrase just because that’s where all the searches are in our niche. I’m convinced now that if we can find some lower search volume terms with very low competition we can make some good progress. I’m going to go and try all these tools right now! Thanks.
Hi,
I tried market samurai and didn’t like it. I use the google keyword tool and Kyle and Carsons new tool Jaxxy. Still experimenting but it seems pretty good. I stay in fairly light competition niches.
Thanks,
Jim
thx for info, im kind of new in this key woord tool thing))
Keyword research is easier when you know your niche, or have an interest in the subject. As for me, I have a pretty unusual way of doing keyword research. It’s a mix of Google keyword tool, piggy backing on websites in the niche, plus I get a fair amount of long tails in niche forums as well.
Franck Silvestre
I must admit I am getting a headache from all this keyword research, I’m quite new to it and it’s hard to know where to put your energy so thank you for the tips and I will look into Market Samurai this afternoon.
Through keyword research I found out that one of my main services was a popular, searched for term so I started optimising for it on my website and guess what… I’m getting enquiries from it! Definitely a must do if you want to make sure you’re getting the most out of your website!
I have Both Market Samurai and Traffic travis and still i like to use the free tools more. Like the google keyword tool or for domains , i just use godaddy instead of the build in feature of traffic travis. I have noticed sometimes an all in one software automatically gives us limitations cause of it’s ‘all in one”.
Ps: I always go with exact match, just to be sure it’s worth my time to get content for it.
Hi Lisa,
As a member of Wealthy Affiliate we get to use a great keyword tool which has helped me create excellent keywords during Halloween. I would use this tool as well as some common sense using just the google search bar and get great longtail keywords that brought tons of traffic this year to all my Halloween sites.
Has anyone ever tried Keyword Eye? I used to use it when it was free but eventually stopped using it. It is super simple and works quickly. The link is keywordeye.co.uk
Great topic. I really find everything in this post interesting!
Wow! Lotsa stuff to do here! I’m off to make some entries in my notebook and watch a few videos! THANK-YOU!
Blog On! – But wait until I get this stuff done, please;)
Kablaam! I was reading another article and asked you about SEO and found this on the post links. I have been trying to research Niche Finder and Market Samurai but most of all the searches were affiliates trying to seem like they were really offering you an honest review…rolls eyes…. google should really do something about this, as a new IM this just turns me off.
Thanks for the honest review and I will be over to the tutorial in a min
Keyword research is vital for optimization.I have bought Market Samurai a few weeks ago.A great tool but a dog to master.I think I wasted 10 hours trying to work it out.I just dont find it particularly user friendly
Hey Lisa,
Exact sentiments here with regards to keyword research.. I used to dislike it, but now I’m fine with it because it gives me inspiration on what to blog about at times. And guess what! I purchased SBI too when I first started marketing online although that didn’t really motivate me to do any keyword research on my own.
I use market samurai right now too although I prefer doing the physical research with Google’s keyword research tool. However, what I really like about Market Samurai is the rank tracker and the find content features.
Definitely agree with you on the point on Long tail keywords too, but you have to consistently blog (not that you shouldn’t), but that’s the only way you can build up a list of keywords for which you’re getting indexed for on the first page of Google!
Regards,
Darren Spruyt
P.S Enjoyed reading this post! =)
I haven’t used MS but i think its worth a try from what i’ve heard with this. thx for share
Nice post Lisa. I think keyword research is the one important thing in the first stages of optimising any website so we can get an average figure of what our traffic will be like and how popular our products are.
Thanks lisa for this post, i love it, simple tips great insight
I have always done well with one site that uses long tail keywords. I rank 1-3 in serp for all my pages (ok there’s only 4, don’t laugh).
60% of my traffic is from search engines but the draw back for me is that my bounce rate is 60% as well. That’s what I get for choosing such a narrow niche I guess.
So this tool goes above and beyond the Google Adwords tool with regards to showing the competition?
This sort of thing is a lot to get into, but especially since they offer up a free trial it doesn’t hurt to give it a shot.
I’m kind of dreading watching the vids though, from the impression I get from you and Ileane 🙂
Guess I’ll get a caffeine high going then press play lol
You’ll need it John. lol This tool uses the Adwords data but it gives a much more thorough analysis and provides info like number of domain backlinks, page backlinks, if the site is listed in DMOZ, how old the domain is, etc. Grab your latte ’cause you’ll need it. 🙂 I have to say though, the more I use it the more I like it. The tool got a good workout this weekend as I was publishing new content. lol
Hi Lisa,
I have never bought a keyword research tool. When I was starting off, I used a combination of Google Adwords keyword tool and NicheWatch website to research the main keywords of my site. Then whenever I write my articles, I just do normal on page SEO and write very detailed recipes which helped me rank for those long tails initially. Ranking well for the major keywords happened much later.
Isn’t it so ironical that we need to diversify yet we need good SERPs rankings to get those visitors that will stick with us? That’s the fun part of this cyberworld. Everything has to do with everything 😀
Hi Lisa, I have a huge learning curve when it comes to using Market Samurai, so I must admit that I was disappointed to find that you tutorial wasn’t a video. 🙁
I know, they have tons of videos, but at times I find myself falling asleep watching them.
I refer to myself as being “SEO challenged” because it seems no one ever searches for the things I like to write about, but that doesn’t stop me, I go ahead and write what I want anyway. You can tell I don’t make a living online. One that that really annoys me – MS needs to be updated like every other day – even during the times when I use it a few times during the week.
My favorite module is the rank tracker because I least I can feel good to see that I rank well for some things. At that point I don’t even care that it’s not making me any money, it’s just fun to see high rankings. I have the affiliate banner in my sidebar, and I was able to get a few sales.
lol @ falling asleep. Yeah they are all pretty long. I may do a video once I master it, but I’m still learning the ropes.
I haven’t used MS but i think its worth a try from what i’ve heard. Thanks for sharing!
Great job again Lisa. I think keyword research is really important to be in the first page one google. I am learning a lot about market samurai cuz I always use google keyword tools. thanks for the info Lisa
keyword research is the main reason why my niche websites are successful / profitable online. when i blog, i don’t pay much attention to the keywords i use. however when i start a niche site, i can’t get enough of it.
although some of the paid tools are really good, i find that the free google keyword tool is pretty good itself.
You know I thought about you when writing this. lol You are the keyword research king, Sunil!
Hi. Lisa.
I am reading your blog from a 1 month. And now know lot more about you. According to me, your bad habits to research keywords are also better than me. Thanks for this awesome post
Sometimes it’s a good thing to get the help from a tool that does it all…the Internet becomes too competitive, and I think having a keyword tool won’t hurt.
I also have a tool on my own, and what I like about it…is that it shows me how well my page will rank for by giving my particular link a grade from A to F. Really useful though:)
Regards,
Dev
Lisa, I have the same feeling about MS. I actually still prefer SBI tools, especially when you find some words in MS and they don’t even show up in SBI. The things is that as far as I could see MS pulls the results from Google only and you know that the Google tool is sometimes a bit off. But like you, although I don’t think it is a must have I still use it to get some overview of keywords.
When SBI! upgraded their keyword tool a couple of years ago, I never really used it much. Not sure why. I was just stuck in my Google AdWords Keyword tool habit I guess. 🙂
Just like the other software tools you can not learn it in a first glance. Good thing for this tool as what I’ve heard it is good in keyword analysis.
I bought Market Samurai a few months ago, and like you, I didn’t find it all too intuitive at first.
I did go through their tutorial videos, which helped me to understand how to properly use the tool. Once you can master the tool, then it can be a very powerful tool for finding keywords.
I use Keyword Strategy by Fraser Cain. It’s a great tool that I pay for monthly that is integrated with the Google Keyword tool. I’m able to see the competition, KEI, CPC and monthly searches. I can even assign my URL to a keyword that I’m using within my articles and then Keyword Strategy supplies me with a rank as well as all of my internal links and any backlinks. It does tons of things, so I think I’m gonna stick with it.
Interesting, Scarlet. I must say, never heard of that one!
I found your post very helpful as I am doing research on
Keyword Research Tool and this article will help me to complete my
eBook.
Great post. I think keyword research is really important in the first stages of optimising any website so you can get an average figure of what your traffic will be like and how popular your products are.
Thanks for the reminder Lisa. I have kinda stopped using so much longtail keyword research too. I had a trial membership to a site once that had an amazing tool. It evaluated keywords and placed them in categories for excellent, good, fair and poor. It was rather discouraging to see the results because there is so much competition on the web these days.
I started out years ago just using the free Google keyword tool and a few other metrics to find my keywords. I also used Market Samurai and agree that it’s by far the best. However, anymore I just use Niche Finder because of it’s simplicity. About 95% of the info Market Samurai gave me I didn’t use and Niche finder pretty much covers just that 5% that I do.
Thanks for the info, I’m looking at Niche Finder now and comparing it to Market Samurai.
I also use Market Samurai. Without it, keyword research it’s really hard to do. You have to do everything by yourself, note numbers on a piece of paper and compare them (that’s how I started to do keyword research.) and it’s really time consuming.
Market Samurai it’s not really user friendly, it takes ages until it gets the data sometines, but it’s the best tool for keyword research, in my opinion.