SEO Keyword Research Step 2.1: Expand The Keyword List With ‘Related Searches’

Don’t worry – this is a simple step!

Go through your list, and enter keywords one at a time into your search engine of choice. That’s it!

Many times (though not always) search engines will offer “related terms” along with the search results. Just focus on the keywords that are particularly simple or broad (i.e., one- or two-word keywords). The search engines don’t usually offer “Related Searches” if the search phrase is too detailed.

Specific Search Engines

Google

Sometimes the related search terms will appear above the listings, sometimes below, sometimes never. Google is most likely to suggest related searches for generic, one-word searches.

Yahoo!

Yahoo! will return related terms both above and below the listings.

MSN

MSN Search, by contrast, will display the related terms on the side.

Quintura

Quintura is a search engine that uses a visual semantic map (like a tag cloud) to help users easily refine their search. For us, the cloud suggests related and alternative keywords.

For more information on using Quintura, read my post “SEO Keyword Research Tool – Quintura.”

Organizing the Keyword Research

Create a new worksheet named “Step 2,” then copy the contents of the “Step 1” worksheet into it. Then add any new keywords from this step into the “Step 2” worksheet.

I recommend this approach because it allows you to always “step back” to an earlier stage of research, if necessary. You keep all the information you accumulate, which may prove helpful when we start eliminating keywords.

But, here’s an alternative organization system if you prefer:

1. Give every keyword thematic group its own worksheet in a single Excel (or other spreadsheet program) workbook.
2. Color code each step – either the text, or the background color of the cell. So if the initial list of keywords are in black, the keywords you derive from this step might be blue, or the cell might be colored light blue. Then, keywords derived in the next step might be green.