When Google announced its search-based keyword tool we were there to let you know. Of course, we liked it then and like it now. But it’s just gotten better.

It isn’t better, per say, as much as it is more available. Or available in more place. Such as:

• Australia
• Canada
• China
• Japan
• New Zealand

In addition to being available in more places, Google has added two new features (which makes it a better tool, I guess). You can now get language and country specific results and filter your searches by ad share and by search share.

I highly recommend the search-based keyword tool for advanced searches, especially for pay per click usage.

Here’s a little gem from perhaps the best blog post I’ve seen from the MSN Live blogging team:

It’s an odd entrenchment since PPC and SEO are different ends of a single continuum—keyword marketing. Both serve a common purpose but they serve it in different ways.

This isn’t just hitting the nail on the head. It’s popping it into place with one whack.

The most important thing any company can learn from pay per click advertising is that it falls into a broader category that also includes search engine optimization (SEO). The category is search engine marketing (SEM). The whole point is to use keywords effectively to attract new business by driving those keywords to the proper place in the SERPs. Call it keyword marketing if you must.

Keyword marketing boils down to just one thing: Effective use of the right keywords. Two keys there – “effective use” and the “right keywords”. Effective use really means using SEO and pay per click advertising together in a targeted campaign to reach the right audience through the search engines. The right keywords are the ones that are most profitable. How do you find those? Through research and testing. And when you do it right you’ll know it.

Did you know you can use pay per click advertising to test your keywords? Not only can you, but you should. It’s a great way to determine if those keywords are profitable.

You know how to find the popular keywords. Perform a search and see how many results pop up. You have even heard something about a KEI – keyword effectiveness index. The KEI of a keyword is a way of determining which keywords are right for your website based on popularity and competitiveness. The problem is, it doesn’t measure how profitable those keywords may be for your website. While it may be a good place to start to find suitable keywords, I wouldn’t end there.

A good pay per click campaign around the best keywords for your niche can tell you which keywords might be most profitable for you. If you get a lot of click-throughs for a certain keyword, that should tell that you can attract traffic for that keyword. The conversions are up to your landing page. Once you find your most profitable keywords, plug them into your ads and landing pages and watch the dollars roll.

When it comes to managing your pay per click campaigns there is perhaps nothing as important as negative keywords. You can wing it and try to find the right negative keywords by trial and error or you can be proactive and let your tools do the work for you. But you’ll need to ensure that your negative keywords are the proper keywords for your campaign and that they make sense for your campaign.

Negative keywords can save you a lot of money, especially if you use them judiciously. Perform a keyword search for your most valuable keywords and see what related keywords are returned as suggestions by your keyword research tool. Scroll through and see what keywords are not related to your niche. For instance, if you are running a campaign for “red hat linux” and you search for that phrase you’ll likely get some related keyword suggestions for other red hats like derbies and pillboxes. Since you are selling software, not fashion trends you’ll want to include those in your negative keywords list.

Sometimes, however, you’ll find yourself getting found for keywords that make sense. For instance, by checking your analytics package you find that you’ve had a handful of searchers come to your site after searching for “red queen mad hatter”. You know that has nothing to do with Linux so go ahead and add it to your negative keywords list. That’s one more use that your analytics package has for you and it’s a huge benefit.

Two days ago we shared a tip from MSN adCenter about how you can expand your keyword list using an Excel add-on. A few days ago the Google Analytics blog posted about the same topic and shared some tools that you can use to expand your keyword list.

Today I’d like to hone in one tool and talk about how you can use that tool to be more effective in your pay per click advertising campaigns. The tool is Google’s Search-Based Keyword Tool.

The information this tool provides is incredible. When you use the tool it returns the following information on the keywords that it shows you:

• The keyword phrase
• Monthly search numbers
• The level of competition
• Suggest PPC bid

That’s it. Streamlined information.

Furthermore, the tool only returns a limited number of keywords related to the one you searched for. That’s because the tool relies upon actual search data and provides information for the highest sought-after keywords. That makes it one valuable tool. And it’s free.

You can also use the search-based keyword tool to scan your landing page and return relevant keywords for your landing page. Here’s what you do to get a real good feel for your landing page’s optimization success:

• At the top, where it says “Website”, input your landing page’s exact URL. You want to analyze just one page at a time.
• Type in one word or phrase in the next box.
• Click on “More filters”
• If you have an account that is active right now then leave the Partial matches box checked
  Choose your level of competition
• Click “Find keywords”

What you should see is a list of your most valuable keyword search phrases for that landing page. It’s a powerful tool and can help you better optimize your landing pages and find the right keywords to target for your pay per click advertising campaign.