how accurate?
This is a common question, but it’s very important as some of these tools are super expensive. So what is the most accurate research tool for finding keywords and terms?
Well each has it’s own strengths and weaknesses so we’ll detail those quickly.
Here are the tools in alphabetical order
Alexa– Alexa is an internet legend when it comes to data tracking. It now displays search analytics or High Impact Search Queries as it puts it. The only problem is that Alexa gets it’s data from the Alexa toolbar, so the traffic is skewed.
Compete-Another great utility for researching keywords. Compete is pretty accurate and has lot’s of data. The only problem is that Compete only purchases data on United States traffic. So if your market is over seas this is worthless. All in all a great site however.
Google Keyword Tool-This is the daddy of them all. Google searches made up around 75% of all searches on the internet, and because of this Google has the largest piece of the data pie. They give you the most accurate analysis in my opinion. They share this info in hopes that you will buy into their adwords service.
Keyword Spy– You have to love this site. I signed up just recently for just one month, did my searches exported my daily limit of 50,000 results into an excel spreadsheet and burnt everything to a CD. Now I have enough data to last me months. Pretty accurate, probably not as accurate as Google however.
SEM Rush-a newcomer but a great little company that offers an API as well. Only $29.95 a month or something like that. Pretty accurate, not sure where to data comes from. The only problem I see here is that they don’t have data until you’ve searched for it before. In other words if I want details on yourdomain.com and no one has ever requested it they will not have it in their database. So it takes a few weeks to get new sites detailed.
Spyfu-Again details on your domain are not available until someone has searched for that domain at least 1x. Fairly accurate, plus some nice features.
accurate
That about sums up the most popular options that I’ve used in the past. There are other tools out there, but these are just the creme of the crop that come to mind.
Good luck and happy hunting.
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