KeywordSpy Tracking: Spy On Your Competitors On More Than One Search Engine

While Google is top dog in search engines, it doesn’t completely rule the world. You still have the two other major players: Yahoo and Bing. And your competitor may not just be advertising in your Google. So you would want to figure out how they are faring in systems keyword tools hardly come across.

This gives KeywordSpy Tracking the upper hand among keyword tracking tools. It scours all search engines for all the keywords that your competitors use, and how these keywords are used in the broader spectrum of the industry. Thus, it gives you the option whether or not to compete in another search engine where the competitor is not advertising.

For example, we come across the keyword of a competitor showing up in this search engine, but not on another search engine (e-florist-inc.com)

This provides us with insightful information. It may mean one of two things: Either the competitor wasn’t convinced that the keyword was profitable in one search engine so he chose not to bid there, or he inadvertently did not bid there.

In that case, you can possibly grab the opportunity to move in to the unused search engine (in this case, Bing) to extend your campaign. In doing so, you should be prepared for a risk that your campaign may not also succeed due to limited visibility. And probably your competitor would know that for a fact.

Either way, that valuable information was revealed to you through the power of KeywordSpy Tracking. And this is information that is a strong catalyst of a more competitive strategy for your campaign. It gives you an informed decision on whether to engage or not engage a competitor in a certain millieu. At the same time, it relieves you of the burden that you would normally undertake in carrying this task out, and leaves you to the analysis part—the only part in your whole SEM exercise that you would mind going to.

KeywordSpy Tracking—Keywords Hold The Key To Your Success

People have often asked why for the KeywordSpy Tracking feature, the first thing entered into the system is keywords, and not domains. If you count yourself among those lost individuals, consider yourself lucky at this very moment, as you shall get enlightenment as to how keywords form the basis of this tracking tool.

Let us start you off with this thought: It is easy to pinpoint competitors just by the mere basis of their merchandise. The question is, are they really your competitors when it comes to the keywords they input into their site?

To go head to head with people jostling for a good position on the search engines, you need to cover them all by using the keywords you yourself would use. Most likely, you have entered keywords in your site already.

So on that thought, we now list the reasons why the KeywordSpy Tracking Tool would ask you to put in keywords first, before you discover the competitor domains:

• It lets you narrow down from general to specific.

Think of keywords as pieces to forming a puzzle. Once the puzzle is complete, then you get the big picture.

The same principle applies to the KeywordSpy Tracking Tool. You pinpoint the competitors for the same keywords that you are real time, so it erases doubts that such companies may hardly be your competitors.

For example, you have a diet help website. You’re almost certain about a particular list of competitors. The ones you have been monitoring for the longest time; pre- Tracking, are the following:

Healthy eating
Six pack abs
Metabolism
Low carb diet
Cortislim
Weight loss tips
Weight loss surgery

But since KeywordSpy Tracking requires that you put in keywords first, you heed that call. From your own experience in building the site, you enter the keywords you yourself used for it in the Create Campaign tab:

You then activate the campaign, and wait for a few hours. It is in this time that the system tracks the keywords down among the countries and search engines you specified through the Create Campaign tab. In doing so, it unlocks the domains using these keywords:

• It sets the pace for unlocking more keywords.

Using KeywordSpy to track keywords will trigger a ripple effect in the site; as it will also index the keywords these domains use. These keywords will be shown in the Keyword Suggestion Tool tab—whose main function is showing keywords your competitors use and you are not currently using--and you have the option whether to ad these new keywords or not.

For our diet website case, we are offered the following options:

Amazing, isn’t it? So how do we describe the above picture? As one great poet used to say, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever.”

One more thing: While not obviously stated, it matters that you have a knowledge of keyword optimality before placing in your keywords in the KeywordSpy Tracking module. If a keyword may be too expensive to bid on, you may think twice before adding it in your own campaign. The KeywordSpy Research tool can help you with that, by giving you metrics such as the cost of bidding on the keyword, the ROI, etc.

By using keywords as a starting point for the Tracking module, KeywordSpy becomes wonderful and user-friendly as a keyword tool. With KeywordSpy Tracking, keywords will be the keys to your success.

The KeywordSpy Tracking 2.0 Comparison Tool: Delivering Visually and Numerically

The KeywordSpy Tracking Comparison feature—a new bonus from the KeywordSpy’s Tracking Version 2.0—is not an entirely new option in the field of keyword research and tracking. But how KeywordSpy does it is admirable in scope and unmatched in comprehensive scouring.

For starters, this groundbreaking feature cuts across countries and scours over 30 databases, making it the keyword research and tracking tool with the widest reach among all the behemoths of the industry.

Furthermore, it presents data in a unique graphical manner, which enables clients to get a better scope and overview of how they match up against a competing brand.

For example, notice the circular graph comparison above which was generated by KeywordSpy Tracking. The two circles represent the two competing products and the total keywords each one uses. When these two areas of the circle are within each other, this means that the said areas are keywords both domains are either bidding on (if PPC keywords) or using organically (for organic keywords). In this case, since hosting-review.com’s circle is totally inside Rackspace.com’s circle, all keywords used by the former are used by the latter.

For those who need their numerical and statistical fact fix of SEM, PPC and SEO metrics—aside from the already helpful graphical presentation—you can get it from the row located right below the space containing the circular comparative graphic presentation. These competing websites are segregated via tabs, providing individual metrics in a more specific and quantitative size-up, for your business research reports.

It provides the client ratios by which to measure profitability and visibility factor of the keyword, such as average CPC, average click per day, etc - very important factors when it comes to SEM, PPC and SEO strategies. All these keyword analytics are derived from Google API. All in all, this makes it a great blend of the graphical and the statistical, or the visual and the numerical, for your research.

With this new Tracking feature, you can now have a better picture of the real-time battlefield between you and your online competitors. You can avail of the KeywordSpy Tracking package at $89.95.

And if you thought that feature was convincing enough, imagine if you combine it with the metrics of the Research function by getting a Professional membership at just $139.95 (40% less than if you purchase both Research and Tracking separately). Now that’s one unbeatable keyword tool when it comes to your SEM and SEO research needs.

Keywords of Wisdom for the Holidays

The best—or worst—thing about holidays is that people are out to spend more than usual. For those involved in SEM or PPC and SEO, that’s more-than welcome news. Therefore, if you have an online business that sells special items, cashing in on a period in time such as a holiday, or seasonal marketing and advertising, is something you ought to consider in your market research and strategy.

Another decision to ponder on while carrying out your seasonal advertising research and campaign is deciding whether to use PPC or SEO to draw holiday traffic—and buyers—to your site.

For a holiday, or a holiday item that entails people not to do much spending, hype about it, you may just want to settle for SEO for your seasonal keywords. It’s less expensive to employ compared to a PPC campaign, plus it can ensure that your site will get just about the right number of customers from the holiday market.

For longer-period—or special shopping intensive holidays—like Christmas and Hannukah, SEM or PPC application for seasonal keywords would be more applicable. With so many stores competing for spots on the web, these appear as more sensible choices for seasonal advertising.

Of course, this mix of PPC and SEO involves a big amount of thinking. As we’ve said time and again, “words aren’t cheap”, and the genius of melding keywords together is a special skill only the smart and equipped are capable of.

And for SEM, there is no better way to be equipped than with a keyword research tool. The keyword research tool is like what a map is to a trail. It gives you the guidelines so that you don’t get lost in the wilderness. Especially during a special holiday.

The KeywordSpy Tracking 2.0 Keyword Suggestion Tool: Giving You More Keyword Options

Even the best of us make fatal mistakes.

Napoleon, considered the best general of his time, lost in Waterloo. The Disney Company, the world leader in entertainment for children, suffered a setback when EuroDisney flopped.

But those who adapted to the situation always survived. And they also recognized that they count on something more than their own skill.

The thing goes the same for the online business owner. You start off a campaign that goes pretty well, then find out later on that your competitors have matched you in your keyword efforts.

And this happens at a time when your brain is really drained of newer, fresher keywords - even after hours of doing research for the longest time.

To those who found themselves in that situation, fret not. Because KeywordSpy has developed a feature, which manages to put itself in front of the competition, and in turn put you against yours.

The Keyword Suggestion Tool of the Tracking Feature is designed to rectify a mess of a worn-out campaign. From the newly revamped KeywordSpy.com Tracking comes this feature sure to keep you on track.

While most of the results would also come from competitors, they could also help out in enemy territory. After all, a rear admiral of a keyword tool such as KeywordSpy.com explores all available options for you, and gives you endless possibilities of keywords utilized by the competition. Because of this, you need not worry about a secretive move by your opponent.

The KeywordSpy Tracking – Keyword Suggestion Tool: Because the best of us can always use a little help.

Concerns With Keyword Research

In doing keyword research - or even keyword tracking - for your SEM, PPC and SEO campaigns, there are numerous concerns that need to be looked at. Here are just some of them:

1. The keyword you’re bidding on may be too broad.
Your keywords may not be hitting the mark. Maybe what you are putting in your site or your ad may not be the words your competitors are typing in. On that, you should be cautioned.

For example, you bid for term such as “video games” That alone as a search may be too broad, considering that we’re way past the ‘80s and games are just more than Pong or Qubert. You’ve now got RPG games, combat games and so on, and you have to specifiy which of these games you want to be searched for.

Another factor is that broad/general keywords have too much competition. “Bags”, example, could still compete with “accessories” when customers do their search.

2. Different words used by business-owner and customer
The keywords you think are ranking highly in search engines may not be the ones they are looking for. You may be thinking that whenever people are looking for outdoor gear, they’ll be typing in “hiking gear”. Then you find out later on that they’re actually searching for “camping gear”. Not only do they miss your website, they troop to your more knowledgeable competitor more.

3. It’s not in the quantity, it’s in the quality
Remember the time when you’d search for a topic and you’d actually go to pages that barely have anything in common with the term you searched for?

Say, while doing a search on Ab Machines, you’d see this site called “AbMachines.com” that claimed to be “the comprehensive guide to Ab Machines”. But then when you click on it, you’d get an intro copy—in big bold letters—that runs: “Find Ab machines in your area. Discounts on Ab machines right at your fingertips! We have the most ab machine information about every machine ever invented.” And right below it, are links to obscure pay sites that don’t really give you what you’re looking for.

By stringing together words that didn’t make sense, yet since they made heavy use of keywords, such sites made themselves irritatingly visible on the front pages of searches. Well, Google, Yahoo and Bing have made controls on that now and it’s not just easy anymore to rank high for a keyword, even if SEO is still a primary basis for research.

That is why it is important that you have to keep a lid on the SEM, PPC and SEO competition. You should know their every move, and allocate a good part of your money for market research. The money you put out will give you better returns. But just as important is what you will be spending it for.

Again, with web-based keyword research and tracking tools at your disposal, you have the information right at your tips. You get information on not just a keyword, but also the basic results that come with it. More than the rankings, you’ll have to have a deeper analysis on the PPC returns it could give you, why they get the number of clicks the get, how much they fare at that current time, and how the rates of search for it fares with your competitors.

In doing so, you’ll be able to hit more targets and have less blanks in your SEM, PPC and SEO campaigns.

9 Things Your Keyword Tool Should Have

The battle for visibility on search engines has become more intense, and it has become more important that people be discerning in the keyword research and tracking tool that they use for their SEM, PPC and SEO campaigns. But how would you know which keyword tool to use?

Before we dive into the details of this discussion, let me stress how important it is to devote your self to a keyword research tool. Sure there might be keyword research tools that have the free trial option, and you could toy with it as long as time permits you, but if you really want to get the very gist of the function of the keyword tool and utilize it to the fullest in conjunction with your business, then you would have to subscribe.

Knowing that you have to shell out cash in order to bring in more cash, you should realize that in finding a keyword research and tracking tool, it is important that one considers the following criteria:

1. A user-friendly nature

The starting page should already show where to do your keyword search. Aside from that, the information should be presented in an orderly manner. Graphics should not be too distracting, but also not too dull, in order to communicate the needed information well.

2. Comprehensiveness in information

Your limit on your keyword tool should be a reasonable one. With thousand upon thousands of keywords on the Internet, your goal is to get each and every one of them. You should have a goal of at least 50,000 keywords to collect, and skim the cream of this already precious crop.

3. Distinguishability in information

This means that once a person gets on a keyword research site, they can search for any of the following when they go to the site: a keyword and its PPC profitability, a competitor’s domain, an affiliate which helps sell his product, and a product which he can take an interest in examining.

4. Relevant metrics

Doing keyword research with having to go all over the search engines is like firing a misguided missile. The bottomline is, when doing your keyword research, you need to consider the metrics or analytics that will put you at the top of the heap. Namely, your keyword ROI, cost per click, and click per day. Such numerical statistics could prevent you from always making a wild guess and actually pinpoint what your customers usually search for.


5. A detailed description of how your competitors’ ads go


Most likely, a keyword research tool will give you the whole copy of the ad, from the title to the description down to the URL. KeywordSpy utilizes this to a hilt, for example, as it has the Ad Variations sections tab for every SEM and PPC related category in the Keyword and Affiliate Research sections, which shows the ad next to the landing URL.

6. Frequent updates

Current information is needed for more accurate scouring of the SEM, PPC and SEO competition. And on the average, keyword tools will give you that on a per-week basis.

Monthly updating is also a reasonable time if it involves meticulous keyword research. Since websites, as a whole, tend to relaunch a campaign on a monthly basis, techniques are fully fleshed out only in such a period. Your keyword research tool would then pick up that information once the database is refreshed and give it to you instantly.

7. Affiliate search capability

It’s not only the product owners themselves who are involved in the selling of their merchandise or service, but also the affiliates who sign up with them. It would be to your advantage if your keyword research tool monitors the PPC activities of these affiliates. Moreover, affiliates also publish keyword ads of their own, and the ideal tool would make sure to pinpoint those and present it to the client.

8. Option to track the competition

What would give your keyword research tool a great advantage is if it can, literally, follow every move of your SEM competitors. Your competitors can always pull out a surprising strategy against you, so you must know what to do in order as a counter-attack by way of tracking them—their changes in the use of keywords, ad copies, strategies and so forth. An example of such a site is KeywordSpy, whose revolutionary tracking feature helps you in accomplishing that.

9. Ready support service

Some sites go as far as having chat support for them to better address their market’s concerns in real time. Support via email is also helpful, for a more detailed description of how the service goes, and in addressing one’s concerns regarding the site. But all in all, a support service represents the value the company gives to the customer.


So, knowing all of these things, you can now set about wisely for a keyword research tool for your SEM, PPC and SEO research. And not just any keyword research tool—but something that you will use continually and give you the best value for your money.

Single Character Difference Part 2: Mother’s Day

Earlier, we saw how the keyword research results on KeywordSpy came up for St. Patrick’s Day. Now let’s look at another ambiguously spelled holiday—Mother’s Day.This day, just like other days, brings a promise of profit, especially for people who want to give the special woman in their lives a token of appreciation. Of course there are the traditional players such as Amazon and eBay. But we can also expect a lot of specialty stores either bidding on the keyword on PPC, or optimizing for it on SEO.

This is Mother’s Day 2009: wherein even in the midst of a recession, spending for Mom is still a time-honored tradition. And online commerce takes a huge chunk of that homemade apple pie of mother-honoring merchandise.

Without further ado, let us make the Mother’s Day-keyword research connection. For this day, there are three common variations of the word that pop up: “mothers”, “mothers’” and “mother’s”. Just like in our earlier example, where the apostrophe is placed could determine how it will pop up in searches.

For example let’s take a look at the KeywordSpy research results of “mothers day”:

From our keyword research, we can see that it gave us vague numbers for the keyword metrics. We also see that it only gives us two PPC results, which is surprising since Mother’s Day can be a fairly profitable holiday.

Now let’s take a look at “mothers day”, without the apostrophe:

In this keyword research, we find that people bid more on just Mothers Day. It could be that probably cause it’s easier to punch into the keyboard than that with an apostrophe.

Now let’s look at the alternative spelling for Mother’s Day—“Mothers’ Day”.

This is somehow because the use of Mother’s is more prevalent than Mothers’. The probable reason? It has been a notorious mistake that the apostrophe is inserted in the word itself even when it refers to more than one person, so the spelling variation “Mothers’” may not be as lucrative an investment, even if it is more correct than “Mothers Day”.

This sample keyword research is, of course, a mere experiment on our part, and should not reflect the situation as a whole. But as a KeywordSpy client, we may have helped you shed light on market strategies for keywords. The focal point? Apostrophes can be a factor.

On that note, I would also to greet my mother a nice and warm Mother’s Day. Yes, even SEO, PPC and SEM Specialists can be sentimental creatures themselves, even in the cutthroat arena they tread through.

The Revenge Of The Word-Only Ad

It seems like online search engine ads comprised of mere words are having their revenge over their traditional graphic utilizing counterparts. Recent research shows:

• It is widely reported that PPC ads have experienced a rise in popularity among Internet consumers (10% in the fourth quarter), while the more popular and more graphically appealing display ads have fallen in the ranks (7% drop in the same period). This comes about as a result of contracting in spending.

• Mega-accounting firm PriceWaterhouseCooper also predicts a consistent upward trend for pay per click advertising, increasing by a consistent percentage per month.

• The Wall Street Journal also reports that “in a study by periodical Efficient Frontier , retail marketers increased spending by 9% in the fourth quarter, up from figures in 2007.

• Search engine giant Google itself theorized the increase in search and pay-per-click advertising methods to cope with the recession, as it is one of the most cost-effective avenues.

• Advertisers who spend less than $50,000 on search ads cut spending by 23% year-over-year, while advertisers that spend more than $200,000 on search per month cut spending by 9% in that time. Meanwhile, purchases by advertisers who spend between $50,000 and $200,000 were relatively flat.

With uncertainty over the stimulus one-cure pill, advertisers have to make necessary adjustments. As a result, PPC spots are getting a second look, and keyword research and tracking stands to benefit more from this.

Some advertisers are starting to get the hang of it, but have to contend with old time players, who have already mastered spotting a good keyword combination when they see one.

Keyword research and tracking tools in the meantime, have grown in stature and importance in their role in Internet and SEM. Once part of a sleeper market, it has grown slowly but tremendously as online businesses have grown more aggressive in zeroing in on keywords that would guarantee maximum visibility in popular search engines.

Such sites were launched in the early part of this decade in response to a silent demand for SEO information, an industry that began before the turn of the millenium with the then Goto.com site (the forerunner of today's Yahoo Overture) leading the way. Since then, SEO has become the driving force of Internet marketing. And with the recent shift to PPC and SEM, expect the reliance on keyword research and tracking tools to grow even more.