Keyword research is undoubtedly the cornerstone of every SEO campaign. It's the most critical stage that pretty much determines the results of your efforts. This is perhaps one of the few areas in SEO that can't be managed by hand. You need to arm yourself with quality SEO tools to be able to effectively research and analyze keywords and keyphrases.

There are plenty of keyword research tools out there. Quite a few were designed by Google to help webmasters, SEOs and search advertisers brainstorm, generate and analyze large lists of keywords and keyphrases. Let's go through the 4 most effective SEO tools from Google that you can add to your arsenal.

Google AdWords Keyword Tool

This is the most powerful and perhaps the most popular keyword research tool out there. Although it was initially designed for PPC advertisers it's just as helpful for SEO research. The tool generates keyword suggestions based on the seed keywords you provide. It also shows you how many people search for these keywords on Google monthly and how many bidders compete for these terms on AdWords (Google's paid search network). The data this tool provides is invaluable for every search marketer, and if you are not yet using this tool you should certainly give it a try.

Google search based keyword tool

Google search based keyword tool (SBKT) is very similar to the AdWords keyword tool but the keyword suggestions there don't fully overlap so it's a good idea to use both the tools. All the keyword suggestions you get with SBKT are neatly arranged into various categories which makes grouping and managing keyword lists much easier. Here you'll also see the search volumes for each keyword.

Related searches

This is not a keyword research tool per se, rather an advanced search function. Still you can use it to find new keyword opportunities. When you run a search on Google you get a list of related searches at the end of the search results. Pick the relevant keyword suggestions and use Google AdWords keyword tool to check the search volumes for them. You're sure to find a couple of traffic-heavy search terms to tap into.

Google suggest

This is one of the simplest keyword research tools for Google, yet it gives you a nice insight into what words and phrases are often searched for. If you go to run a search on Google you'll notice that as soon as you start typing in your query into the search box the search engine will attempt to guess your intent and finish your query automatically. The algorithm behind this is known as Google suggest.

You can effectively use this technology to find new keywords and search terms for your SEO campaign. Simply start typing in the seed keywords and see what keyword suggestions pop up. Put down the ones that are relevant to your business. Later you can check the search volumes

The strong side of this keyword research method is that all the suggestions are based on real life searches performed on Google.