Using Search Tools for SEO

You’re not supposed to use a screwdriver like a hammer or a chisel. I’ve done both. It may not work as well as using the right tool, but it got the job done. In a similar way, you can use certain tools to help you with some SEO tasks, despite the fact that they weren’t designed for these tasks in the first place.

Before I continue along these lines, I want to emphasize, especially to those of you who are new to SEO, that there are many, many SEO tools you can use for free. You’ll find links to plenty of them to the left of this article, under “SEO Tools.” If you read various threads in our SEO Chat forums, you’ll probably find links to even more; some will be free, while others will charge a flat fee or a subscription for their use. They can help you accomplish an amazing number of tasks, such as researching keywords, calculating the cost of your AdSense campaign, checking the age of your domain and the size of your pages, and many more. None of the tools or techniques that I’m going to suggest is intended to replace these sorts of purpose-built tools; at best, they’re meant to supplement them.

If that’s the case, then why should you use these tools at all? They can give you a different perspective. The search engines created some of these tools specifically to improve the search experience of the user. So using these tools can help you get into the mindset of someone who is looking for your site, or at least what you offer. If you’re thinking like a searcher, you’re in a better position to set yourself up to be found.

Some of these tools might even lead you in directions you didn’t originally anticipate. Here’s an analogy by way of example: a doll maker’s needle is relatively thick, about five or six inches long, and used for such tasks as sewing the eyes on dolls. However, it can also be used for making certain forms of lace. In fact, it’s actually easier to use for that task than the tool it replaces.

Using this analogy, imagine that your site is a little like the doll maker’s needle. In that case, you’ll want it to be found in the places that cater to doll makers, and in the places that cater to lace makers. And reaching those different places will require optimization for somewhat different sets of keywords. Do you follow me so far? Good, because we’re about to take a look at a “tool” that can help you with keywords.