Wordtracker Update – Keyword Research Improvements

I am pleased to say that Wordtracker, the keyword research tool has begun to finally incorporate some improvements just recently. I am writing this newest post in follow up to my earlier Search Engine Academy post from back in January 2012. I’ll explain why I think it’s time to give Wordtracker a second look. In all fairness, I wanted to wait to see some of the changes they were predicting, actually begin to happen.

In the previous post, I had mentioned my concerns with some of the altered or missing metrics. Up until a few weeks ago, I continued to use the old version of Wordtracker, but only just recently I have started seeing some useful changes by using their newer version of the tool and my confidence in Wordtracker’s keyword suggestions is now being restored.

What’s the deal with new Wordtracker metrics?

Gone is the old IAAT (In Anchor Text and Title metric. But instead, you have a competion number represented by a number between 1 and 100. So ideally, the lower the competition score, the easier your optimization work will be. This number seems to be a fair guideline when watching for the “low hanging fruit.”

How does the new KEI score rate for effectiveness?

Granted, I still kind of miss the old KEI (Keyword Effective Index) measuring metric, but that’s simply because I enjoyed finding high KEI numbers up in the millions which usually worked like magic.

But the new KEI scoring system is still just as effective now, but on an easier to understand scale of 1 to 100. So in general, the higher the KEI value is (or closer to 100), the easier your job will tend to be in optimizing. It is not worth being totally obsessed with obtaining a score of 100, it’s just a guideline.

What else is new?

They’ve added  a variety of new filter options including a handy filter just to identify questioning search
terms (which tend to be telling.)

The new Wordtracker Keywords tool not only makes keyword research faster and easier, but also helps with your site structure, on-page optimization and search engine results tracking, all in one package. Wordtracker can send you automatic reports each by e-mail each week on whether your rankings are goin up or down or if they are staying the same. I like the tabbed layout across the top allowing you to choose to research using Wordtracker data, Google data or PPC data or other related search terms.

I think that for anyone just new to keyword research for the purpose of SEO, using the new Wordtracker keyword research tool will be pretty quick and easy to use. I do find that some of the help files, tend to be a little light on explanations, but the point is that tool still works. I expect we’ll be hearing a lot more from Wordtracker very soon, as I have noticed their efforts to put out a new e-book and you may want to review this article called “SEO Just Got Easier.”

Wordtracker also offers their free 7 Day Trial here.

At the live hands-on SEO Mastery Workshops, the Search Engine Academy teaches the full scope of SEO skills with personalized one-on-one student interaction followed by our free 6 month Mentoring program. So I remind our readers, that as important as tools are, our aim is to teach you the genuine skills with or without total reliance on any one tool. The Search Engine Academy teaches with a focus on Basic and Advanced SEO and Social Media skills and is an organization recognized and approved by the US educational system and offers each participating student the choice to earn Continuing Education Units (CEUS) from the University of Southern Mississippi.

Please see our Workshop dates page for a Workshop in a community nearest to you.