Following on from Michele's thread about SEO and the discussion about keyword research.

My feeling is that KW research is hugely important but I also feel that you have to take care not to trust any one source.

The lack of any clear data derived from the Irish market is also restricitve in terms of local search KW research.

Interested in thoughts of others on KW research and what you found to be effective / the problems you have had.

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Search Engine Optimisation - Red Cardinal Internet Marketing
Internet Consultant Ireland | Search Engine Optimisation Services
Catering Company Dublin - My sister's handmade canape company!

Like yourself, we use a veriety of KW research tools. Some work better than others. As you also mentioned, it is VERY difficult to localise to Ireland the results from the tools.

So far, all we have been able to do is simply add the words "Ireland" and "Dublin" etc to the terms in the tools. The years we have been doing this, there seems to be no other way. We are pretty much at mercy to the KW research tools.

UNtil the tools release more localised or country specific results (I am aware the google KW tool does this but find it the most innefective) we'll just have to use what we have. (And has been going OKAY so far).

What tools do you use for KW research? Wordtracker? Overture? Google Adwords KW tool?

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Web Design | Search Engine Marketing | Pay Per Click Management

I was using WordTracker/Overture/Google KW. I've been branching out a little and looking for similar tools.

The only thing about the Google Adwords KW tool at the PPC level is that it encourages a keyword 'buffet' mentality. Thats not a criticism of the tool itself I suppose.

found this on my travels today. the google suggest tool. may be useful
for identifying popular keywords.
Google

not exactly sure what the numbers refer to monthly, yearly ?

doesn't seem to resolve the localization issue though

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jobs in ireland | Search Engine marketing Ireland

Keyworddiscovery.com seems to be flavour of the month, but as for Irish terms.....

OK semi-shameless plug here, but if you are going to go for Keyword Discovery I would say try out NicheBot which repackages Keyword Discovery data (enterprise API) with a far more superior front-end. It works on a pay-as-you-go set-up (I think you pay $9.95 per month and then top-ups when your credits are gone - I got a free life subscription for being a beta tester).

It works out a hell of a lot cheaper than coughing up $69.95 p.m. for KD.

And the plug? Here's my affiliate link for the $1 sign-up offer: The New NicheBOT v2 - Finds Exactly What People Search For!

You can safely ignore the long-page ****e (I tore into them when I saw it - yanks??) as I can tell you firsthand that the UI and functionality are very good.

/plug

*I got a free life subscription for being a beta tester.* Good for you RC, and kudos for waiting to plug it ;-) I came across it on HR, JW seems to rate it highly.....

FWIW... Which Keyword Research Tool -> High Rankings® Search Engine Optimization Forum