There doesn’t seem to be a common consensus on what keyword tools are useful or whether you need to use them in the first place, but there are a lot and we will get to them. Sometimes I used them, sometimes I don’t.

There are tools that can build a mass of keywords and cost some money like Keyword Elite. I myself see no use of having 5000 keywords on a niche. I did maybe at one time. But it is much better to build a general overview of your niche with a knowledge of a few of the keywords people would use to find it. Then write articles that gravitate around a few main topics of the niche.

Since I currently write in niches that I originally learned online, I know what I was looking for when I was initially lost. I used phrases that I no longer use because now I know the correct terminology. Some of the articles on this blog were written during research using a lot of incorrect terms. I figure that if I write in the midst of learning, I will pick up a lot of search hits that I will be losing later and what may look sloppy to my direct peers may reach the audience I am intending to reach.

Then start using your own keywords from your stats. As your base of articles grow, your pool of long tail key phrases for future, more directly target articles grows. Or optimize your titles. Or hunt down these phrases in your post and use the Alinks module to hyperlink the post getting the hits. One way to use Alinks.

But eventually you get the psychology behind the search phrases and the word patterns people use. Some only make perfect sense after you see them.

So I see these keyword tools as exactly what they are, tools. Use them to learn how people search. If you are writing a post, check your topic out first. A little insight into what people are looking for can help a lot. That’s about as technical as I get with keyword tools unless we’re talking about Pay per Click.

Just Cool and New

• The Rarest Words – Read the article at Techcrunch

Keyword Services

• WordTracker
• Compete
• Keyword Discovery

Competitor Keyword Spy Tools

• KeywordSpy
• SpyFu
• KeyCompete
• AffSpy
• SeoDigger – A tutorial

Pay Per Click Company Site Keyword Tools

• Overture – The old standby, no longer that reliable.
• Adwords – Good for everyday blog posts.
• Miva
• MSN – There are some cool keyword tools you would have never thought of here.
• 7Search

Keyword List Processors

• Google Adwords Wrapper
• Geo Targeted Keyword Lists
• Keyword Lizard

Typos, Brainstorming, and Misspelled Keywords

• Mistypes
• Typo Generator
• Urban Dictionary
• Keyword Map
• Visual Theasaurus
• Wordnet
• Lexical Free Net
• SearchRadar

Other Keyword Tools

• SeoBook – This one combines a lot of the other tools on this list together.
• Wordpot
• Wikipedia Article Traffic Statistics
• Niche Warehouse
• 123 Promotion