Keyword research is without any doubt one of the critical steps for both PPC and SEO success. Though some of the long-established providers such as Wordtracker and Keyword Discovery are still around, there are also a plenty of free keyword research tools. A few of the latter only offer limited data sets such as the Top 100 keywords instead of thousands but anyhow they are useful – and free.

Give the following 9 free keyword research tools a chance if you haven’t done so yet:

1. Wordtracker: Free Keyword Suggestion Tool
2. SEO Book: Keyword Suggestion Tool
3. Wordstream: The Free Keyword Tool
4. Keyword Discovery: Free Search Term Suggestion Tool
5. Good Keywords ( Desktop App)
6. Google Search-based Keyword Tool
7. Google AdWords Keyword Tool
8. Google Insights for Serach
9. Google Trends

Do you know anymore good free keyword research tools? Then please tell us in the comment section above.

After Matt Cutts had announced officially a few weeks ago that Google ignores the meta keywords tag for ranking search results now follows Yahoo!. During the “Ask The Search Engines session” at SMX East in New York, Cris Pierry, senior director of search at Yahoo! admitted that Yahoo! does not use the meta keyword tags anymore.

All Major Search Engines Ignore Meta Keywords

The fact that all major Search Engines officially ignore meta keywords for ranking results should finally convince most of the website owners and SEOs who still persist in using the keyword meta tags that – seven years after Danny Sullivan’s post titled “Death of a Meta Tag” – it looks as if the time has come.

Ignored by Google, Yahoo and Bing the Keyword Meta Tag can actually be declared dead!

In order to allow small business to advertise on Google and Google Maps without having to manage keywords and ad copies via AdWords, Google is introducing the so called Google Local Listing Ads.  These ads are displayed when users search for related businesses in a local area.

Google Help summarizes the Local Listing Ads features as followed:

• Ads shown on Google.com and Google Maps

• A flat monthly fee based on your location and business category

• Free call-tracking, announcing each forwarded customer call (’This caller brought to you by Google’)

• Full report on the number of calls, clicks to your ad, requests for driving directions, and clicks to your info window on Google Maps

• The option to cancel your ad at any time

A requirement for Local Listing Ads is that your business is registered in the Google Local Business Center with an appropriate business category assigned to it.

There has been a video posted with a few details about the new format.

Local Listing Ads are currently only available in San Francisco and San Diego. The rest of us has to wait until we can try this new format. By filling out this form Google will inform you as soon as Local Listing Ads are available in your region.

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