How to Create Search-Friendly Titles Using the Google AdWords Keyword Tool

We recommend creating titles for your Hubs that contain phrases people type into search engines. This makes them easier to find, and improves your chances of getting a significant number of readers. The Google AdWords Keyword Tool enables you to easily discover and analyze common search terms that are associated with your Hub’s topics.

To access all of the Keyword Tool’s features, you will need to be signed in to your Google Account. If you don’t have a Google Account, you may still be able to use a limited set of features, but it’s worth it to create a Google Account if you don’t have one already.

1. Visit Google AdWords. If this is your first time visiting, you will need to connect your Google Account with a Google AdWords account. This will only take a couple moments.
2. Under the “Tools and Analysis” tab, select “Keyword Tool.” This will take you to the Google AdWords Keyword tool.
3. Enter a phrase or potential title that you would like to research. To research multiple phrases, hit the return key in between each phrase. Leave the “website” and “category” boxes empty.
4. Click “Search”
5. Click the “Broad” and “Exact” boxes under the Match Types header on the left
6. Have a look at the results. They will be a mixture of potential titles and related searches. If they do not pertain to your Hub's subject matter, you can filter these results by selecting one of the categories at the right side of the page
7. Click on the “Columns” button at the top right corner of your results.
8. Uncheck the boxes for “Competition,” “Local Monthly Searches,” and “Local Search Trends.”
9. Check the “Approximate CPC” box.
10. Click “OK.” Now you will only see numbers related to global search traffic and the estimated average cost per click. These are the most important numbers to consider when selecting titles using this tool.

The Global monthly searches column shows the number of times a particular keyword is searched for in a given month globally. By clicking at the top of the column, you can arrange the results so that keywords with the greatest number of monthly searches are at the top.

The Approximate CPC column shares an estimation of of the cost per click for each search keyword that an advertiser is paying. This gives you a general idea of the sort of income you might get from ads on a Hub related to a particular keyword.

The Ideal title has a great number global monthly searches but relatively few search results. This would be a term with (roughly) no less than 500 global monthly searches, but no more than 40,000 global searches per month. Typically, keywords with high search volume have more related articles and webpages competing for readers, making it harder for your Hub to crack Google’s first page.

From the list of results, identify around five keywords that get between 500 and 40,000 global monthly searches that you think would be worth investigating further. Click on each of these keywords to have a look at the top results, as well as the number of search results matching that query.

Ideally, keywords you end up using in the titles of your Hubs will not have any exact matches within the first three search results.

Once you have settled on an ideal title, be sure to properly capitalize it. Also consider adding conjunctions, prepositions, and other embellishments to refine it and make it sound more natural. You might also want to add a short addendum to the title, such as “A Step-By-Step Visual Guide.”

While the Keyword Tool is great for researching the title for a specific Hub you know you want to write, it can also be used to give you ideas on supplementary information to include in that Hub, as well as topics you might like to cover in additional Hubs. Use some of the related keywords as subtopics within your Hub to create an in-depth, informative Hub, as well as a strong collection of related Hubs!