In this post I’ll be showing you a great technique for finding keywords, that involves using the free Google Wonder Wheel tool for uncovering hidden keywords.
Google Wonder Wheel is free and allows you to enter a root keyword and then drill down deeper and uncover more possibilities as you follow it’s branches.
In the image below you can see that I’ve searched on the phrase “finding keywords” the topic of this post. Initially Google Wonder Wheel shows me two main branches to choose from, one relating to ‘choosing’ keywords and the other related to ‘research’ of keywords.
I decided to look for words that related to ‘research’ and so I click on the right side and expand this branch out. As you can see now the Wonder Wheel shows me a whole lot of new ideas for keywords and even more branches to dive deeper into.
I then look through each branch of the new wheel and see what keywords I can uncover that I may never have thought about before. Once I find either a broad category or even a specific keyword phrase, I can then go over to the Google Keyword tool and see what the search volume is like for these new potential keyword phrases.
In the example below I found a keyword phrase “finding long tail keywords” from the Wonder Wheel, that suites this very post for my blog, that I’m writing now. All I need to do next is check how difficult this phrase would be to potentially go after with SEO, and if it’s OK I can target it.
For the phrase “finding long tail keywords” the competition isn’t very hard, with no one really specifically targeting it on the front page of Google, and it gets about 200 exact match searches a month. Therefore I will add this phrase into my meta tags for this post also and see if I can drive some traffic from it to my affiliate marketing sites.
When you are blogging or building a standard website, targeting additional keywords is this manner is a good idea to broaden your reach and the Google Wonder Wheel is a trusty companion for finding keywords!
I try my best to provide quality content for my readers in this blog, so if you like my posts, I would greatly appreciate it if you leave a comment and use the Twitter and/or bookmarking buttons to spread the word!
Thanks
Matt
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Hey Matt.
great post, I was introduced to the Google Wonder Wheel a few months back by Howie Schwartz. By reading your post here it makes it clearer how I can use it in my business.
Drilling down into more detailed or long tail keywords has often been a challenge for me so this tool is really going to help me get those keywords that will help draw in a targeted audience.
So now I feel more comfortable utilizing this tool more often to maximize my profits.
Thanks Matt for great content as usual.
Pierre
How utterly fascinating. I didn’t immediately tumble to the fact that this was a SEARCH you did with this tool. In any case, here’s the link to a blank search page:
Here’s the link: http://www.googlewonderwheel.com/
and, you’ll note: it’s for sale! (????)
Thanks, Matt!
I’m just very very VERY impressed with your website. I’m a fan! It’s hard to find blogs like yours with such great content!
The best of luck and really I think you will become a superstar! cause your articles are excellent!
Hey Matt,
I’ve been a fan of the wonder wheel ( sounds like an Oasis song) for a while.
It’s a great way for finding keywords that don’t show up in the Adwords tool.
However I’m getting more and more suspicious about the data Google provides for free.
A couple of months ago I built a sniper site based on a keyword that Google reckoned had 5400 (broad) searches a month. The site has been ranking at position 3 in Google for a while now, so I would expect to get at least 10% of that traffic.
Well, would you believe in the last month I’ve had a grand total of 17 uniques!
I checked the keyword with SEMRush ( a free service, previously known as SEO Digger), and it was listed as only getting 187 hits per month.
The moral of this story is DONT RELY ON JUST ONE KEYWORD TOOL!!!
Use as many resources that you can find. If you have no budget the Adwords tool gives you the most options. There’s also a free version of Market Samurai and Wordtracker which will give you a whole new set of keywords and traffic data.
Nowadays I tend to cross reference different sources of information to give me a more accurate picture of the keyword landscape.
You can never have too much information when it comes to keyword research.
Knowledge = power = more traffic!
Keep up the good work Matt. I always enjoy reading your emails and posts.
Thanks for spreading the love!
This is a great post. I did not know about the Google Wonder Wheel so this is a great discovery for me. I am a fan of your blog so keep the good info coming!
Hey Matt,
Thanks for the info
I’ll be using this tip to help with my keyword research too!
Thanks again
Antonio Licchelli
Hi Matt
Thanks again for another great article.
It is so important to get your basic research right and I agree with Jeff: Different keyword tools give you different results.
The Wonderwheel is another great keyword tool to use.
Matt always a pleasure reading your posts.
Thanks very much.
Michael
Good info as always Matt. Have used it for a few weeks now from hearing from either you, Daniel Turner or Mark Ling. You guys all give back which is great.
Very true what Jeff said about Google’s monthly search totals. Use it only as a guide and use other tools too, as what they say can sometimes be a lot lower in reality. I have a number 1-2 position and don’t get close to the amount of traffic they say there should be for that phrase.
When Google changed it’s interface i noticed the wheel, just played a couple of times with it. Now your post makes me see how important it is.
Thanks Matt, great post.
Thanks Matt, there’s always so much to do, I had totally forgot about the Google Wonder Wheel. It is a great way to do keyword brainstorming quickly.
Evelyn
This was great. I’ve been using the google keyword tool but this refines it a lot.
Hi Matt, thanks for sharing another great tip.
Hi there Matt,
Kool another keyword research tool for the tool box. But what’s really kool about it, is when people such as yourself ‘show, explain and write’ in the most simplest of ways. It makes it more real and doable for a person such as myself. Thank you 🙂
Hi Matt,
I was introduced to the Google Wonder Wheel a few months back by Howie Schwartz’s giveaway ebook which allows me to find lower competition keywords to target on. Great post to share with the rest of the community.
Cheers
Javier
Thanks Matt,
Now that my some of my posts are landing on the first page of Google, I probably should learn more about this Google Wonder Wheel!
James!
Another great use for the wonder wheel is to use it to brainstorm keyword optimized categories for your blogs.
Steve
I’ve always used Adwords but will definitely check this one out. Thanks Matt.
Hey Matt
I first saw this in the Epic Traffic free videos. It’s awesome and like any other tool, it’s not so much about knowing about it as it is using it. Thanks again for the great content!
Mark
Great post, I’ve seen the wonder wheel long ago but never really took it to heart. I will be looking into this deeper.
Thanks a Bunch, A Tweet, A Stumble and A Favorite.
Mike-
I have used this every time I begin to enter a new niche. To get Google to like you use their own tools to “read” the mind of Google.
Very practical and extremely helpful.
Very Good Post! Every person interested in internet marketing needs to read this.
Matt,
You’ve got a great knack for explaining things that make them crystal clear and easy to understand. That’s why I love reading your blog and using some of your products like Rapid Rewriter.
Mike Andrews, Denver, CO
Matt,
Finding the right keywords is more difficult than it seems at first glance. What’s really interesting about it is that there are free tools that do their job perfectly well, kinda like the one you just shared. Keep up the good work.
Enjoy!!
Jorge R.
Hi Matt,
I am a regular reader of your blog, and appreciate the wealth of knowledge you share with your readers.
The info on the Google Wonder Wheel is a great article, and I can’t wait to begin using it to expand my SEO efforts.
Thanks, Ken
I get email messages from lots of people, but I keep yours!
Cheers
Janice
is this new tool from Google?
never heard before ..
but nice info 🙂
Hello Matt
I’ve been a loyal subscriber of your list for a very long time – and you’ve always “survived the chop” when I decided to “clean house” and unsubscribe from the gazillion lists cluttering my inbox. So I’m sticking with you, because you always provide great value and don’t sell to 24/7 Thx appreciate all the effort and good info you put out there.
I tend to agree with Jeff that it is probably wise to use a variety of keyword tools to unearth the most profitable keywords
The wonderwheel method will work extremely well with article marketing!
Cheers
Maggie
http://www.weddingspeechesandtoasts.net
@ Jeff: You are absolutely right! I’ve been at it for some months now and the results of different keyword research tools vary enormously.
I love working with Market Samurai(it does make life easy after all) but I am not sure whether their data are accurate. I should cross refer all keyword data I can get, but that’s a hell of a lot of work and how can one be sure after doing that?
My best guess is to build larger sites that target more LSI keywords and not focus too much on your main keyword. I think that over time you have a much better chance of ranking well for a much broader keyword family and thus getting more traffic.
Btw Matt, great post. I will check out the tool.
All the best,
Andreas
Nice one Matt.
The wonderwheel has been arond some time but I don`t think anyone else has shown it it that light.
By the way when I brought your rapid writer I also got with it backlink blueprint which is proving to be a little gem. Pages I didn`t think would get in the first 100 are now showing up in the top top and some of my main keyword are now in the top 5
best regards, Tom UK
Great post. I first learnt about the wonder wheel through Howie Schwartz. I agree with Jeff who advises to cross reference your results with other keyword tools.
Thanks for sharing
Hey Matt,
I’ve also been a big fan of the wonder wheel for a while now. Like Steve noted above, it’s great for choosing blog categories. I also like to use it for brainstorming article titles.
Thanks for sharing and have a great day.
Thanks Matt for this information. Somewhere in my memory I remember this tool being made available. With so much to absorb, I had forgotten all about it’s presence. Thank you for refreshing my memory.
John.
Keyword research is very important and thanks for highlighting another technique using the Google Wonder Wheel. It’s really a great visual digging tool. Great share.
Rgds,
Jimmy
Hi Matt,
Thanks for enlightening others on another way to help build their IM business. There are so many free tools available that get overlooked.
Wishing you and all your followers a blessed and successful day!
As always for the great information…the wonder wheel works great!!!
Nice use of the wonder wheel. I originally used the wonder wheel for coming up with new topics to write about.
Nice article Matt, as always!
The Google Wonder Wheel is a great free tool and if you follow the spidering you can build the perfect LSI site which Google will love.
Google is telling you exactly what they expect to see related to your seed keyword by building out your categories and articles accordingly you will rank well with less backlinks.
Hi Matt
Thank you so much for bringing this tool to my attention I am certainly going to be using it in the future it makes keyword search so much simpler.
Michelle Jayes
Hi Matt
Yes I’ve used the Google Wonder Wheel since Howie Schwartz suggested it quite some time ago now. I also use Traffic Travis which I think is also very good because it gives more info and is good for seo.
I agree with some of the other comments regarding no of searches/and results. I’ve had no. 1 pages and haven’t got anywhere near what I expected with hits to my site.
Go to Google Webmaster Tools, sign in (free), enter your site URL and get keyword stats – I was amazed at keyword phrases I was ranking for that I wasn’t targetting!
A real eye-opener and gives info and help.
regards
Graham in UK
P.S. Matt – you always give great tips, thankyou
I used wonderwheel a while back after learning it from Howie Schwartz. I thought it was just hype. Now that you’re recommending it I may have to pay closer attention to it.
Matt,
I did a local search and plugged in the results from the wonderwheel in Google’s keyword tool. However, Google shows no data for those keywords.
On one hand, Google recommends these keywords but on the other hand there is no search data.
Do you think we should skip on these long tail wonderwheel keywords alltogether if there are no searches?
What are your thoughts on this?
Thank you!
google wonder wheel … never heard before but I think I should give it a try… thanks, matt.
As usual Matt, another razor sharp tip! This is definitely becoming my main go to place for anything online knowledge and updates! Always really enjoy your explanation style as well. Thanks for giving value to us all….
I like using Google Wonder Wheel for finding extra keyword phrases to research on Market Samurai.
Thanks, Matt, for some more clear, actionable information.
This is great information and very useful which I will use.I think your
blog is very good for all kind of genuine and helpful informations compared to others on internet market who are not.Definetly
I will buy some of your product because you are honest and truthful person.I agree with lads it is good to combine different tools for good SEO.
Thanks Matt your tips are always good.
Obrad
Matt Carter Reply:
July 17th, 2010 at 8:30 pm
He Obrad,
Thanks for the kind words, and I am glad you like my blog posts.
There will be plenty more great tips on the way.
Thanks
Matt
Hi Matt,
thanks for your great posts. I really enjoy visiting your blog regularly and I learn a lot from your tips. Looking forward to your future posts…
Frank
Matt Carter Reply:
July 17th, 2010 at 8:29 pm
Hey Frank,
Thanks, and I am glad you like the posts!
Cheers
Matt
Great idea. I never heard of the wonderwheel. I will have to try and use it to find good keywords.
Guess it’ll stop you exhausting yourself trying to rank with the top keywords for your business sector. I hadn’t heard of it either I’m going to check it out.
It looks like a good way to get some good keyword ideas from Google. Thanks
I hadn’t heard of this but it sounds a useful tool. Anything to improve your chances in an already crowded marketplace. Thanks
Great information Matt, as always. I don have one question about keywords though. I think you have said in the past that you search for kwywords in quotes (please let me know if this is not so). Are keywords that have low competition in quotes but very high when not in quotes good to use, especially if they have reasonable search numbers?
Hope you can find time to answer this one for me,
Many thanks,
Gordon
Matt Carter Reply:
August 19th, 2010 at 11:34 pm
Hey Gordon
with keywords what you really want to start learning is how to analyze the competition on the front page of Google for that phrase. Just searching in quotes is only a rough indication. I use Mark Ling’s Traffic Travis to analyze the front page of Google for a phrase and I decide if it is worth going after mainly by the number of backlinks the top 3 pages in Google have.
Hope that helps
Matt
Hi Matt
i also discovered the ‘wonder wheel’ a while ago and love it. It’s very simple and visually appealing to work with.
cheers
Hi Matt,
Great post, never really thought about the wonder wheel approach. I was looking at it there tonight and it could be really useful for something I am currently working on for extra keywords I would never have gotten. I will be back to your blog, plenty of useful info, thanks.
Clive.
Great Post. Another way to find keyword. I’ve never heard about Google Wonder Wheel. I’ll try it immediately. Thanks…
Finding long-tail keywords isn’t a difficult task. The real task which unfortunately most of the bloggers keep secret is how to finally select and actually use a set of low competition keywords for their article headings and page titles.
Why they don’t demonstrate by using a dummy blog? They don’t want everyone to use their success secrets.
Wonderwheel is good just for suggesting Niche’ ideas and that’s it. Have you ever seen that for any Niche keywords returned by Wonderwheel, the existing phrases/keywords in page titles (or even as phrases used on blog pages) are exponentially high?
Have a nice day.