How to Find Keywords

Search Engine Clustering Suggestions

So far we’ve discussed how search engines and other tools provide ideas for keywords using backend (i.e., not on search page) tools directed specifically to website marketers.  However, there is an additional front-end feature offered by a couple of search engines that could be helpful to website marketers.  The feature called clustering, is primarily designed to improve the user’s search experience.  Clustering helps users narrow their search by producing groups of similar search words within the same topic as the originally searched keyword.  The sites that do offer it include:

• Vivisimo – The originator of clustering, this search engine is mostly marketed as a search tool for organizational sites and counts as clients the U.S. Government and several Fortune 500 companies.  Entering a search term will produce a list of Clustered Results presented as categories, which often appear as single words rather than phrases.  However, categories can be drilled down to find more narrow keyword suggestions including phrases.
• Microsoft SCR – Among the major search engines only Microsoft has the clustering feature, and they only have it available in testing mode on an obscure website called SCR.  The SCR stands for Search Result Clustering and this site is a development site from Microsoft’s Asia research group.  While the look is not as clean as Vivisimo, SCR displays similar results, though SCR is more likely to produce keyword phrases on the initial display.

Trend Monitoring

Newly coined words and phrases are entering the lexicon nearly everyday.  While many of these never gain acceptance, a large number will eventually become widely used.  Some may even become used within an industry or culture as the key term to describe the industry (e.g., podcasting, viral marketing, crackberry). 

Staying on top of trends can give a website clues to keywords to include within their site.  Here are a few sites that may help:

• Trendwatching - Interesting site that offers a monthly newsletter examining a consumer trend that appears to be occurring somewhere in the world. 
• Wordspy - The creation of new words are often the sign of a trend and this site provides a regular updated list of new words including examples of usage. Site includes a subject index to quickly locate terms.