Today WordStream released what I and numerous other industry experts believe to be the most comprehensive and accurate keyword tool ever. The best part is that we're giving it away for free – no strings attached! WordStream's Free Keyword Tool is quite different from other keyword tools – we've partnered with ISPs, search engines and other data providers to aggregate and weight over one billion unique keywords, representing well over a trillion search queries, and hundreds of millions of related terms from diverse keyword sources.

This video shows how it works: And this Keyword Tool FAQ explains how we've made it more comprehensive, accurate and faster than other keyword tools out there. But you can see for yourself by trying it out now – type some test queries into t... > Read more

Hello (again!) - I was recently interviewed by Jim Hedger of WebMasterRadio.FM (an online radio and podcast network covering B2B marketing issues) at the Search Engine Strategies conference in San Jose. In the recorded podcast, Jim asked me these questions: How did I get into search engine marketing? Since basic keyword tools already existed when WordStream was started, what kinds of challenges was WordStream aiming to solve? What kinds of surprises do your customers find in their long tail of search? How do certain types of search queries terms indicate greater intent? What kinds of features and functions that differentiate WordStream from the likes of Microsoft Excel and Google AdWords Editor? What kinds of people and companies use WordStream? Is there a particular size of business for ... > Read more

Keyword Organization — classifying keywords according to common attributes, along with keyword discovery and keyword research is the key to successful PPC and SEO efforts. In PPC, keyword discovery and research is obviously important, since clicks on searches of the keywords you pick are essentially what you're paying for.

And having a structured approach to keyword management and organization is equally important for effective organic search optimization as well, since the key to appearing in the SERPS for a particular keyword requires breaking out your keyword list into smaller keyword groupings, and then authoring themed content around more specific topics. Let's first take a look at paid search. To achieve high ROI, you'll need to match up the keywords in your keyword lists with... > Read more

Hi! Last week at the Search Engine Strategies conference, I had the opportunity to be on panel discussion entitled: Brainstorming the Paid Search Super Tool, led by Josh Dreller, VP of Media Technology & Analytics, Fuor Digital. It was really awesome to be included among representatives from the leading PPC Management Software providers including: Wister Walcott, Co-Founder and VP of Products, Marin Software Eduardo Llach, CMO of SearchRev (Acquired by AKQA) Chris Zaharias, VP of Sales for SearchCenter Following the discussion Josh did a short video interview with me about WordStream and the conference, which you can watch here on YouTube! Now I have to say I'm disappointed with myself for a few reasons, including: For being so darn shifty-eyed (No, i'm not watch... > Read more

Out of work? Unhappy at work? Interested in Search Marketing? Consider applying for a Job at WordStream! We're on a mission to build the next generation of Keyword Management solutions to simplify and improve customer success with PPC and SEO, and are currently hiring for the following search marketing jobs in sales, marketing and software development: Marketing Associate: Support inbound marketing efforts to drive awareness and lead generation Software Engineeer:  Electrical/Computer Engineer or Computer Science, +2 Years Experience with C++, Python, Flex Linux Systems Adminstrator: Expand, optimize, maintain & secure a production-environment Linux cluster Product Manager: Define and evangelize our software solutions Inside Sales: Follow up on... > Read more

One of the coolest things about starting a company is that from time to time, you get to show up in blogs, online radio shows or other articles as an "expert guest". Today, I had the opportunity to be interviewed by Greg Meyers of the SEMGeek Blog. I'm listing out the questions that Greg asked me here, and you can read the full interview here.

What's the driving force behind the creation of WordStream? What makes WordStream more valuable than AdWords Editor? What are some of the key differences between Google AdWords Editor and WordStream? Can you give us some insights into the level of experience of WordStream's main target market? Is it targeted to seasoned professionals or novices wanting to start a new career in PPC? During this economic downtur... > Read more

As a search marketer, one of my goals is to engage visitors and keep them engaged. I want searchers to find my sites, spend time reading content, click around, go deeper in the site, exhibit certain behaviors and convert. Two key performance metrics I rely on to measure visitor engagement are bounce rates and page views.

Having a site with a high bounce rate and a low page views indicates a negative user experience –a sign there’s something wrong with the website. Factors that contribute to high bouncing and low views range from poor content, to slow load times, to confusing site architecture, to a lack of proper visual cues. Yet another culprit may be a shortage of inline links: in-sentence or in-paragraph, contextual hyperlinks. In the next section, I’m going to discuss... > Read more

In the last installment of this keyword series, we talked about how sharing information between paid and natural search marketing campaigns could leverage shared data to improve the results of both channels. We used the following graphic to illustrate the process of sharing information amongst PPC and SEO campaigns: The graphic above makes a lot of sense in the event that you’re: Launching a new site Launching a new product/product line/offering Attempting to target a new keyword vertical This cross-channel thinking can certainly be applied by anyone engaging in search marketing, but for our purposes we’ll focus on the process surrounding any of the above.

Step 1: Test Your Keywords with PPC First you want to generate a list of keywords. You can do this any number of different ways,... > Read more

Fundamentally, we at WordStream believe in 10 critically important best practices that are the key for both paid and organic search success: (Drum roll, please...) 1. Your Keywords are a Valuable, Proprietary Asset Understanding the search queries that people actually use to find the products & services that are relevant to your business, and the way that you categorize, organize, and prioritize the keyword data represents a crucial piece of competitive intelligence.

Building a proprietary, comprehensive, up-to-date and well-researched keyword taxonomy is the foundation of any successful SEO and/or PPC effort. 2. Keyword Research Should be Personalized and Based on Real Data The problem with a typical keyword suggestion tool is it provides keyword suggestions of keywords that might be ... > Read more

Welcome to the WordStream Blog! We’ll be covering a variety of things related to Internet marketing here on the blog, but since we sell a keyword management tool, we thought we'd start there. So, in the next week, we'll be rolling out a series of keyword-related content. First, later on today we’ll be publishing our “search marketing philosophy”; a ten point search manifesto penned by WordStream founder Larry Kim.

Additionally, we’ll be publishing our Keyword Management & Optimization Guide—a series of series that will cover: The Value of Keyword Discovery & Expansion The Kinds of Traffic You Should Be Optimizing For And Finally: How Sharing SEO & PPC Information Can Improve the Results of Both Channels **Special thanks and a collective edi... > Read more