Search Engine Keywords - What Do People Search For?

by Bryan Brandenburg

Do you ever wonder how people search for things on the Internet? What if you knew exactly what words they typed when using a search engine? If you're marketing a product or service it's extremely insightful to know what are the most popular search terms relating to whatever you're marketing.

The Overture Company

Overture.com is a Yahoo! company that supplies the Pay Per Click infrastructure for Yahoo! and other websites on the Internet. If you do a search on Yahoo! you'll see anywhere from 1-3 paid promotions appear at the top of the search page and then others at the end. These are paid advertiser listings and they come from Overture.

The Overture Search Tool

In order to maximize the number of clicks on their network, Overture supplies a keyword tool so that their customers know which are the most popular keywords relating to their product of service. This way when an Overture customer selects keywords to advertise on, they can pick the ones that are most popular or the ones that most precisely relate to their product or service. This generates more revenue for Overture and more clicks for advertisers.

Anyone Can Use the Search Tool

Fortunately you don't have to be a customer of Overture to use the search tool. Click Here (http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/) to find the search tool; it's at the bottom of the page.

How to Use the Search Tool

The best way to get started is to type in a major word associated with your business. For example if you're in the marketing business, here's the top 10 search terms and their search count.

Search Count         Term 
1253354              direct marketing 
460115               internet marketing 
380450               marketing 
76542                business marketing small 
48494                email marketing 
44160                marketing web site 
43064                advertising marketing 
42613                network marketing 
42414                business marketing 
31484                health care marketing

This search count number represents about 20% of the Internet so multiply it by 5 to get an approximate number of searches for the entire web, i.e. the total searches for email marketing are 48494*5=242470 searches across the Internet every month.

How to Use the Data

The value of this search tool goes far beyond just determining popular search terms. Here's a few ways to use the tool for market research:

Type in your state or city to find out the most popular searches
Compare the number of searches for your product compared to those of your competitors
Use the most popular search terms relating to your business for your web site domain names to increase their visibility in search engines.
Use it to brainstorm new products or services, especially if something is being searched for but is not widely available
Considering a celebrity endorsement or joint venture partner for your next Internet promotion, compare the various candidates and make an informed decision.
Use it for determining market size or segmentation information for your business plan.
Use it to drive all your web content, from web page titles to Meta Tag keywords and descriptions.
Use it to determine which categories to list your business, from Internet to Yellow Page listings.
Use it to determine important searches relative to your business in foreign cultures and countries that you are unfamiliar with.

Make Informed Decisions from Now On

The Overture Search tool takes the guesswork out of many of your marketing decisions, from choosing Pay Per Click keywords, to determining the next market your company should pursue. Take a look today and you'll be amazed at the wealth of information that is available. You can try the search tool now on the Overture website at the following URL http://www.content.overture.com/d/USm/ays/.

About The Author

Bryan Brandenburg has published 5 books as well as a number of articles both in print and on the internet. He has published almost 30 software programs both for consumers and business. More information can be found at www.vmmg.net.