The keyword research process typically begins by generating as many keywords as possible from several different sources, such as the tools at Nichebot.com or the keyword research tool in your SEO software. Once you have a long list of possible keywords, you look at the numbers behind the keywords – the number of searches each keyword or phrase receives, the amount of competition for each, the KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index), and whatever other measure the researcher thinks is important.

You will be tempted to automatically select the keywords that generate the most traffic with the least competition. And this makes perfect sense, and is a good starting point for keywords to target for Search Engine Optimization purposes.

But it’s not the ending point.

Even if you know what keywords you have the best chance of dominating while still generating a reasonable amount of search traffic, you still don’t know what search phrases will bring traffic that will most likely convert into customers. That’s where your Pay-Per-Click campaign comes in. By running PPC ads for your keywords, you can generate data that will tell you which keywords convert at the highest rate. If you then focus your Search Engine Optimization campaign around those keywords, you will generate the most profitable traffic possible.

So the formula is basically a funnel that starts with every possible keyword that relates to your business and ends with keywords that generate a reasonable amount of traffic, have little competition, and that convert at a high rate.