How to Use an Online Keyword Research Tool

1. Spend some time surfing the web and looking at other sites in the same field to learn about the keywords you choose to research. Review the keywords used by the highest ranking sites to begin building your list of possible keywords.

2. Use the online keyword research tool of your choice and input one keyword at a time to get related keyword suggestions. Build a list of related keywords. You are looking for not only the keywords that are within your field, but also the keywords that people search most often. Write down the most popular keywords in your field.

3. Compare the number of sites using your keyword with the number of times your keyword is being used in searches. This is called the KEI, or keyword effectiveness index. The higher the KEI, the better the keyword. Not all online keyword research tools will give you the KEI. You may need to do your own additional research to get an estimate.

4. Begin using keywords to develop your website once you know which keywords being used the most and with which sites you feel you can compete.