We've updated our Competition metrics and included a Live Competition figure that gives you a more accurate competition figure.
We also now have a Ranking tool - track your position for up to 100 keywords for your site and up to three competitors.
We've introduced the Title and Description Wizard to help speed up the integration of your Keyword Research into your workflow. Read the details below...
Making a better, faster and more efficient way to do keyword research is the priority for Wordtracker.
The introduction of the new Keywords tool is the most obvious example of this, and we are continuously adding and trying to improve the tool.
We are also aware that SEO starts rather than finishes with keyword research, so we are adding features that help with what you do post-keyword research as well.
Understanding the changes we've made and how to use these features means you can get the most out of the new tool. To find out what we've added and for some great information about using those features read on ...
Competition
The new competition metric has been in the beta version of the Keywords tool since its launch in January 2012.
It has proved a robust method of showing how competitive keywords are and is based on the old metric of IAAT (In anchor and title - there's a link to more information on this at the end of this section).
We decided to offer an alternative to IAAT to prevent the metrics we use from becoming out of date. In some ways, the web has moved on from when IAAT was first introduced, and we needed to reflect that change within the metrics we use. However, for those people who still like to see IAAT in their metric set, we provide it in the Quick Tool (just click 'IAAT' in the 'Show' panel to the left of the keyword list).
What changed was the ease it takes to build large websites using dynamic content and many large sites were built with low quality content, using spammy link building techniques. The Panda update was in part about Google addressing this problem.
IAAT does not, however, look at the quality of sites or links. It relies on identifying sites which have the keyword in both the title and the backlinks. Moving from IAAT to Competition was a way of addressing this, and our competition metrics information explains everything.
Live Competition
Taking IAAT to Competition led us to a better understanding of what competition really is. We realized the only effective way to measure this depended on the sites which rank on the keyword and how difficult it would be beat these.
Understanding this we knew that the most effective way to establish competition was to fetch it live, as it is required.
Live competition looks not only at the amount of competition but also the strength of the competition. We do this by looking at the number of sites which rank for a keyword and which may be targeted at it, then we look at how strong the sites are which rank well for that term. You can find out more about how this works in our competition metrics blog post.
Ranking tool
Understanding where your website ranks for the keywords you have chosen to target in your keyword research is a vital part of SEO and being able to see where your competitors rank on those terms and how they are performing is key.
With the Ranking tool you can do both of those things. Within a single account you can track up to 100 unique keywords across multiple projects. Tracking the same keyword in multiple projects will still count as one of the allowed 100 keywords.
We hope to be able to expand this number so that you can track more keywords soon but we prefer to start with a small number and work up. You can also track the performance of up to three competitors, so you can see how well your campaign is performing against them.
For more information on how the ranking tool works (And what you can do with the information ...)
Title and Description Wizard
One of the key steps towards optimizing a page is to create a proper title and description. This is also one of the most common next steps after keyword research.
A good title and description should also include the keywords found during keyword research. The Title and Description Wizard is accessible from within the keyword map on the Keywords tool through the menu opened by right-clicking on a niche.
The Wizard displays the keywords that have been targeted within the niche and will check those keywords off for you as you include them. It also keeps track of how many characters you have left. Click through to find out more about the Wizard as well as how to write proper titles and descriptions.
We still have plenty more to bring to the Keywords tool, so watch this space - and if you like the sound of what you've been reading, why not check out the tools yourself today? The 7 day trial is completely free, and it's quick and easy to set up.
