Keyword research is kind of like the salad of the search engine marketing world.
You know it’s something you need. You know it’s really good for you. But you’d rather just skip it and move on to what comes next.
Keyword research is one of the first and most important parts of all SEO and paid search campaigns.
But, to do it right, it’s a long and tedious process.
Which is why I always love coming across tools and hacks that help me shortcut the process of uncovering those juicy keyword morsels that’ll power search campaigns.
And I’ve got a sweet one to share with you today. (Though I’m a little miffed they changed their name… but we’ll get to that in a minute.)
One keyword research trick that’s been around for years is using Google’s Autocomplete feature.
It’s basically where you start typing your main keyword into Google’s search box and see what related keywords Google suggests.
For example, if you type “dog training” into Google’s search bar, Google will suggest related terms like:
Dog training near me
Dog training collars
Dog training classes
And so on.
It’s a great way to find relevant keywords to build content/campaigns around.
A hack that takes this strategy to another level is to type in your main keyword followed by a space and then the letter “a.”
Then do the same with “b”… then “c”… then, well, rinse and repeat til you get through the entire alphabet.
Type “dog training a” and you’ll get :
Dog training app
Dog training and boarding near me
Dog training at home
“Dog training b” will bring up:
Dog training boarding school
Dog training books
Dog training buttons
You get the idea and can hopefully see how this strategy can generate a cornucopia of keyword and content topic ideas.
The problem with this strategy is it takes FOREVER to go through all 26 letters… for each of your seed keywords… and then copy/type/add the good ones to your main keyword doc.
But I recently stumbled across a tool that does all that heavy lifting for you. And, like TurboTax Free Edition, it’s free. Free Free Free.
The site is keywordsheeter.com.
Unfortunately, the name was changed from the more vulgar variation you’re probably thinking of. (Its logo used to be the site’s old name stretched between the front and back of a toilet bowl.)
But I guess the anti-fun police (VC money?) came along and told them to clean up their act, so it’s now keywordsheeter.com.
Oh well. It’s still an awesome tool.
It basically shortcuts the process outlined above for Google Autocomplete.
You type in a seed keyword, click the “Start Sheeting” (sigh) button, and it does the rest.
It goes through each letter of the alphabet (and numbers, too) with your seed keyword and squeezes out a list of relevant results.
All you have to do is copy and paste them into your keyword doc.
Or, if you sign up for one of their paid plans (each of which allows you to save 1 Billion keyword ideas a month!), you can save your keywords to their keyword planner. The paid plans also add search volume data and other odds and ends not available in the free plan.
This tool can literally save you hours of keyword research.
So if you’re in a pinch to find more keywords to dump into your list, check out keywordsheeter.com (not an affiliate link, we just like the tool).
We’re confident that once you see the results, you’ll breathe a huge sigh of relief.
Featured image credit: Photo by Marc Schaefer on Unsplash
