Keyword Research and Niche-Finding Software

In this chapter you'll find names, brief descriptions, pricing, and contact information for 24 different keyword research and niche-finding software programs, both desktop (client-side) and hosted ASP (Application Service Provider model, server-side) applications. I share several of these which stand out, as well as awarding four of these the Web Marketing Today Award of Merit 2006 for Excellence in Niche Research Software.

Here is a listing in alphabetical order of 24 keyword research and niche-finding research software programs. Where possible I have included contact information. A high percentage of these software sites do not disclose a physical address, so I had to find one in the Whois Directory. Where addresses were deliberately hidden in the Whois Directory I have so noted in the text. Beware of any company that carefully hides its location and identity.

For most of these programs, I have extracted information from the website only, not from trying each software package individually. For each program I have indicated what I thought was its most suitable tasks: PPC advertising, Niche-finding, or in a couple of cases, planning AdSense content sites. I was not able to determine the source of data feeds for the software and whether or not it was obtained in ways that did not break terms of service agreements.

There's a whole class of software I didn't examine that provides keyword research also -- that is, PPC campaign management software, such as Atlas OnePoint, Ad Gooroo, and others. In your search for the right software, don't count them out.

However, the focus of this survey is software focused on keyword research and niche-finding. Software programs marked with an asterisk seem to be standouts that you'll want to examine further. On four of these programs, I have bestowed the Web Marketing Today Award of Merit 2006 for Excellence in Niche Research Software. Factors I considered included features and general usability, with price as a secondary consideration. A cheap research tool is a poor way of saving money. Several of the software packages seemed quite good, so the fact that they didn't win the Award of Merit should not be considered a negative.

Ad Word Analyzer 2.0

Chief suitability: PPC, Niche
Xybercode, Inc.     Jeff Alderson
2582 Double Tree Place   
Oviedo, FL 32766 US
http://www.adwordanalyzer.com

Displays the number of websites associated with each keyword, the number of searches, and R/S ratio.
Price: $67 one-time fee

AdWordAccelerator

Chief suitability: PPC
Next Generation Professionals Company     
Location deliberately hidden on whois   
http://www.adwordaccelerator.com

Provides theme search to find highly targeted AdGroups and to generate tight keyword lists of affordable keywords that are in some demand. Words can be pasted directly into a Google campaign. Shows estimates of cost and clicks per day. Doesn't contain a built-in tracking program but can produce unique tracking URLs that can be used by programs such as Conversion Ruler.
Price: $9.95/day, $19.95/month

Click Ad Equalizer

Chief suitability: PPC, Niche
Click Ad Equalizer     
Address deliberately hidden on whois   
http://www.clickadequalizer.com

Formerly AdWords Equalizer. Homepage makes get-rich-quick claims. A flash demo speeds through the features a bit too quickly. "Click Ad Equalizer will show you exactly which products affiliates are selling, in order from most popular to least popular across Google for every related keyword for that product." Allows imported keyword lists from Wordtracker and exports lists to HTML or CSV formats. Research fields include R/S ratio, number of Google and Overture campaigns, number of affiliate ads, the most popular products, FindWhat campaigns, Ah-Ha (Enhance) campaigns, Brainfox campaigns, plus Ad Count and Popular Count!
Price: $97 one-time fee

Instant Keyword Research

Chief suitability: PPC
This Stuff Is Amazing, LLC     Rich Creal
http://www.instantkeywordresearch.com

Gives keywords, PPC bid values, monthly search figures, and estimated daily clicks, plus info on directly related keywords. Windows software. Now sold out and no longer available.
Price: $297, but sold out

Keyword Bible, The

Chief suitability: PPC
TheKeywordBible.com     Scot Standke
830 Greenfield Trail   
Oshkosh, WI 54904 US
http://www.thekeywordbible.com

200,000+ precompiled lists which you can browse or from which you can generate your own lists. You can also import filtered results from Overture Keyword Selection tool and/or Google Sandbox, then export them for your own use. Does not include Windows software. Does not offer click frequency, price, etc.
Price: $247 or $359

*Keyword Burner

Chief suitability: Niche, AdSense
SoftwareBurner.com     Rick Butts, CEO
9029 E Mississippi Ave   Apt N-102
Denver, CO 80247 US
http://www.keywordburner.com

For the keywords you enter, it produces a list showing cost per click, number of daily clicks, number of searches, number of Google search sites, and an R/S ratio. Uses Google bid information rather than Overture. Allows you to filter searches by minimum search count or maximum R/S ratio, and order your results list any way you desire. All bids are updated every 2 weeks. This tool will help you find high-paying keywords around which to build an AdSense-funded website. Contact info not on website.
Price: $47/month

Keyword Country

Chief suitability: AdSense, PPC
Solutions Beyond LLC     Rajinder Goswami
#101, GH - 9   Sector - 20
Panchkula, Haryana 134112 IN
91-9316064842
http://www.keywordcountry.com

2.8 million top paying AdSense keywords designed to help AdSense webmasters and publishers to dig out thousands of high-paying, as well as niche, keywords that have low competition. Database is updated every 10 days. Search results can be sorted either by traffic or price.
Price: $124 to $163 for 3 months

Keyword Intelligence

Chief suitability: PPC
Hitwise Pty. Ltd.     
Level 7, 580 St. Kilda Road   
Melbourne, VIC 3004 AU
+613 8530 2408
http://www.keywordintelligence.com

International search term data. Provides 12 week reporting periods, 3 months of historical data. Depth of 100 words (basic), 1,000 words (standard). Search terms can be imported and exported. Results show both relative search volume and "success rate" -- whether or not a searcher found what he was looking for.
Price: $89.95/month. basic; $189 standard

Keyword Locator

Chief suitability: PPC, Niche
Silverline Technology     Frenchie Sano
48 Cove Ave   
Norwalk, CT 06855 US
888 224-7074
http://www.keywordlocator.com

Contains considerable hype in the sales page, such as "Your Own Personal Money-Printing Machine." Program allows you to search for keywords on Overture, Google, Enhance, and FindWhat. Results show the number of searches, number of resulting websites, R/S ratio, and the number of campaigns for that keyword in each of the four PPC search engines. You can drill down to see which competitors are bidding on the keyword, the titles of competitors' ads, and the most used keywords.
Price: $87 one time cost.

Keyword Results Analyzer, Wordtracker Version

Chief suitability: PPC
Andrew Williams     Dr. Andy Williams
9 Northolt Grove   Great Barr
Birmingham, B42 2JH UK
+44.1213606692
http://kra.ez-search-engine-optimization.com

Takes keyword research data from Wordtracker and allows you to sort and analyze that data to find the most promising keywords. It currently does not handle Wordtracker data from global directories or PPC bid engines.
Price: $67

*KeywordDiscovery

Chief suitability: Niche, PPC
Trellian Limited     
6-8 East Concourse   
Beaumaris, VIC 3193 AU
+ 61-3-9589-7946
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com

Compiles the search stats from over 170 search engines world wide. Endorsed by Jill Whalen and Andy Beal. Shows seasonal trends, misspellings and fuzzy string search, phonetic matching, top 1000 searches list, keyword cross referencing, related keywords, KEI, and keyword density analysis of your site and competitors' sites. Google API key is required. Displays the number of searches, number of occurrences on sites, KEI, and predicted daily searches. Offices in Australia, the US, France, and Sweden.
Price: $49.95/month to $395/month

*Keywords Analyzer ver 4.24 with Google Bids

Chief suitability: PPC
Goran Nagy     Chris Lee and Goran Nagy
Brodarjev trg 12   
Ljubljana, Slovenia 1000
5406441
http://www.keywordsanalyzer.com

Helps you find underbid AdWords, Yahoo Search, and Miva keywords. Gives the number of searches on each keyword, number of websites targeting PPC, the amount bid, and ad headlines used by competitors. Searches can be targeted by country. Includes tools to create different spellings, permutations, and combinations of keyword phrases, deduplication of lists, and a word exclusion tool.
Price: $97 one-time fee

*Market Research Wizard 1.41

Chief suitability: Products, PPC
WorldWide Brands, Inc.     
1706 East Semoran Blvd., Suite 103   
Apopka, FL 32703 US
407-464-9333
http://www.worldwidebrands.com/mrw/

This program includes a keyword generation tool that finds the number of searches to indicate product demand. Competition is determined by the number of products using your keyword on Yahoo! Shopping, eBay, and Google search. An advertising tab shows titles for ads on Google, FindWhat, and Overture. A resource tab gives access to WorldWide Brands directories showing suppliers for drop shippers and light wholesale. If you subscribe to these services, price data is readily available. An analysis page summarizes data and gives you a rough estimate of sales potential (0% difficult to sell, 100% best probability). An auction pricing tab shows current eBay ads with current price/bid. Windows software.
Price: $97 one-time fee

Niche Keyword Analyzer Pro

Chief suitability: niche, PPC
RENIO, LLC.     Oskars Baltais
Location deliberately hidden on Whois   
Latvia
+371-594-7567
http://nichekeywordanalyzer.com

Finds keywords, counts AdWords and Overture ads for the specific search term, shows keywords supply and demand, supply/demand ratio, and a profitability ratio (which is essentially the KEI). You can export to Excel, CSV or HTML. Windows software.
Price: $47 one-time fee

NicheFinder

Chief suitability: Niche, PPC
Niche Marketing Research Center     Dennis Baumann
57 Rushbrook Drive   
Kitchener, ON N2E 3C8 CA
519-744-2291
http://www.nichemarketresearch.com

The program helps you generate keyword possibilities from Google and Overture keyword research tools. Once your list is ready, the program can load any statistics you need -- demand from Overture, supply from Google, the number of PPC ads, and KEI. Words can then be exported to a spreadsheet. Windows software.
Price: $77 one-time price.

*P.I.P.E. Product Idea Profitability Evaluator 4.0

Chief suitability: Products, Niche, PPC
ProductIdeaEvaluator.com     Joe Garris
8216 Princeton-Glendale Rd., Suite 142   
West Chester, OH 45069 US
http://www.productideaevaluator.com

PIPE focuses on potential product profitability. You are asked to enter one or two keywords, the average revenue per order, your projected click-through rate, and "non-ad cost" as a percentage of revenue (to reflect your cost for the product). The software generates a Keyword Assessment Table showing all the keywords generated, supply, demand, KEI, an index called PPCEI (Pay Per Click Effectiveness Index), average cost per click and the top 3 bid prices for the keyword. In addition, the summary shows an Overall Profit Potential (OPP) score to compare the potential of this type of product with others. A profitability table summarizes the data for all keywords in this group and displays profit or loss at several conversion rate levels to give a quick idea of profitability. The online version shows a competitor table with the number of ads they have running related to the search term. Data can be exported in Word, CSV, XML, Excel, etc. Windows software.
Price: $147 one-time fee

Pay Per Click Galaxy

Chief suitability: PPC
Answers 2000 Limited     
16 Willow Chase   Hazlemere
High Wycombe, Bucks HP15 7QP UK
+44 1494 438 603
http://www.marketingrocket.com/prodgalaxy.php

For your keyword, the program generates a list of keyword combinations. You can paste the list into PPC search engine submission templates or into Excel. Windows software.
Price: $97.

PPC Toolkit

Chief suitability: PPC
Softnik Technologies Pvt. Ltd.     
DBS Office Business Center   31A, Cathedral Garden Road
Chennai, 600 034 India
http://www.ppctoolkit.com

A collection of Windows-based software tools: PPC Bid Reporter Pro, Softnik AdMaker, and Keyword Builder. The latter generates a large number of keywords showing searches per month. It can create misspelled keywords and build keyword phrases. Helps you organize keywords into groups.
Price: $99 one-time price

*RapidKeyword 2.0.6

Chief suitability: PPC
Rapid Decision Corp.     
3231 NW 54th Ter   
Margate, FL 33063 US
800-860-4932
http://www.rapidkeyword.com

Uses the Overture Keyword Suggestion tool and includes searches/month data. You can extract Google Suggest Keywords. The program can also generate possible keyword typos. It can count competing ads on AdWords, Overture, and Miva and determine how many related websites are found in Google search results.
Price: $69.99 one-time price

*Site Build It! (Brainstorm It!)

Chief suitability: Niche, PPC
SiteSell     Dr. Ken Evoy
68 Cote St. Charles   
Hudson Heights, QB J0P 1J0 CA
http://sales.sitesell.com/buildit/

A hosting platform with a detailed Action Guide, site-building-and-marketing tools, Brainstorm It! is the beginning of a suite of more than 70 modules (many automated) for research, optimization, marketing, e-commerce, etc. The online Brainstorm It! tool takes your keywords and searches the web to find keywords showing demand (searches on Yahoo, Wordtracker, meta keywords from top 200 Google sites for each keyword), supply (websites on Google, and soon its very own technology), and profitability (Yahoo and Wordtracker). It also includes "notepad fields" in which you can record ideas for content, monetizing, and possible linking/super-affiliate partners, including detailed Alexa and linking information for each keyword. A standalone version of Brainstorm It! is coming soon.
Price: $299/year

TheDowser Pro

Chief suitability: PPC, Niche
TheDowser Software     
10A, Mohamed Sultan Road. #02-03   
Singapore, 238960
(65) 6736-0500
http://www.thedowser.com#

Derives keyword data from Overture, Google, and Wordtracker. Performs KEI determination based on various search engines and determines the top 10 bids and ads for Overture and Enhance. Windows software. Video tutorials are available.
Price: $97 one-time fee

Top Keyword Lists

Chief suitability: PPC
Matt Garrett Ltd     Keith Baxter
20 Winchcombe Street, Suite 258   
Cheltenham, GL52 2LY UK
http://www.topkeywordlists.com

Service provides 25 keyword lists each week, maximum bids, special reports, videos, guide, how to conduct keyword research articles, forum, and expired domains list.
Price: $37/month

Web CEO

Chief suitability: PPC, Niche
Radiocom Ltd.     
15, 9th Yanvarya St., off. 422   
Kherson, 73000 Ukraine
+38 055 232 52 05
http://www.webceo.com

Web CEO is a multiple function web analytics tool. The keyword suggestion component allows you to generate keywords based on lateral searches, shows the estimated number of searches per day, how many competing sites there are, helps pinpoint the most promising keywords using KEI, and stores researched keywords in different folders. Shows how many pages have the keyword in their title pages (to estimate optimized pages), the number of links to the best ranked pages with this keyword, an Alexa ranking, and Overture bid prices.
Price: Range from $189 to $479

*Wordtracker Keywords

Chief suitability: PPC, Niche
Rivergold Associates Ltd     
Unit 11, Apollo Studios   Charlton Kings Road, Kentish Town
London, NW5 2SB UK
0207 485 8855
http://www.wordtracker.com

From your keyword, the program generates lists of thesaurus-generated synonyms and related keywords taken from meta tag keywords on similar sites. For each synonym you can drill down to families of keyphrases. Each keyword shows the number of searches and predicted searches for the word. Search frequencies are obtained from a database of over 300 million searches on MetaCrawler.com and DogPile.com over the last 130 days. You can also target keywords by sorting for the number of competing sites. Words can be saved as projects for future work. A KEI analysis is available for competing sites based on your choice of 16 search engines. The free version has limitations. The enhanced version also includes misspellings, multiple search techniques, multiple projects, top 1000 reports, and the ability to e-mail keywords to clients. The PPC search feature allows you to see bid prices at various positions.
Price: $7.47/day, $248.91/year