These tools are extremely important in helping to find out how valuable a domain name is. Keyword research can give you a rough idea of how often a particular phrase is searched for at the top search engines. The Google keyword tool is one of my favorites, it tells you how strong the advertising competition is for a particular keyword or phrase – plus you can check the popularity of a keyword based on a language or a specific country… very useful for ccTlds.
You shouldn’t register or buy a domain name based on just one particular tool – you need to research a little further. The Google tool for example only provides data based on searches done via Google – it doesn’t take into account other search engines – ie. Yahoo or MSN Live. Using a number of keyword research tools can help you get a better idea of the overall searches & the market.
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Google Insights for Search (free)
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KeywordSpy (free + paid)
The Google Insights tool is very powerful. I’ve probably only uncovered 10% of its uses so far. It can look a bit daunting and complicated to use – but take a look at this guide to help you understand it better : How to Use Google Insights
KeywordSpy is somewhat underrated. If used together with google keyword tool it can help you get a lot of information on how popular and valuable a particular search term might be. I use these tools not only for finding domain names but also for SEO and even for deciding which keywords to use for parking.
These tools can help you find out what keywords are helping to rank a particular site in search engines… what people search for and where they are located. For example the word “Condo” is searched for more in the USA than it is in Europe, if you had a domain name with that keyword (PalmCondos.com for example) you could save time by targeting your sales to the US market (and anywhere else that they use the word) rather than wasting time trying to sell it to someone in a country where they don’t use that word much. Information like this can help you decide not only whether to register a particular keyword ccTld domain, but also give you some idea of keywords to use when parking or developing the site.