An easy way to do some online keyword research using the Google free keyword tool is just by knocking out the 500,000+searches in the competition. That’s one way to do it and then rank it based on searches. If you want to be a little bit more advanced and take it a little bit deeper, do that first just like what SEO specialists do.

Outline the exact keywords that you will go after. Make a draft. Then, type in the keywords you have in mind in the Google search box and see what the competitors in your niche are up to. Check the competitiveness of that specific keyword that you have chosen. Observe how far and where that phrase can get you with regards to the industry you are in.

For example, we have ballet dancing. I will go to Google for my research. Keep an eye on the competition. This is what we primarily do as SEO services provider. To find out how old the domain name is, use the domain name Who us tool. That plays a part in ranking factors in connection to your online keyword research. Check on the page rank too. For these activities, use Firefox. I have got disadvantages from using the Internet Explorer because it is kind of buggy. Try FireFox. They’ve got this plug-in called Search Status which is that thing in the top left hand corner. There are a few cool things in there, one of which is it will tell you what the page rank is for the website.

If I go into a new market that I’m going after, and I look at page number 1, and I look at the first person on top and they have a page rank of 4 and then I go to the last one and they’ve got a page rank of 3 or 4 and it is quite solid throughout, I know that is very competitive. I don’t mind so much though if I go into a phrase and then the first one is PR6 but then it drops off really quickly. What you’re looking for is the speed at which the page rank drops off because that will give you an indication of how much competition there is in the search material.

That said, you can get a pretty good idea as to what your competition is by going and having a look at the page. Have they done the basics? Do they know their on page optimization? That is a really basic one, especially in SEO promotion of a local business website or small business internet marketing. Nobody’s doing on page optimization yet; for SEO, that’s just 101. You can also head over to how many pages are indexed within Yahoo. Use the Yahoo! Site Explorer.

More importantly, check also the number of backlinks of the website you are observing. As mentioned earlier, you can do this using the Yahoo! Site Explorer. By simply manipulating the two options found on top of the browser you will have a show of the information that you need. Google on the other hand is best for indexing. When it comes to back link count, Yahoo! Site Explorer is a perfect fit. Understand that all these are part of your online keyword research.