Keyword identification is very important for you, for the search engines and most importantly for the visitors and that's why you have to write your articles with the potential visitor in mind and use keyword(s) that people use.

Sometime ago this whole keyword identification business was a "guess" thing. Most search engine savvy webmasters and copywriters wrote their stuff around keyword(s) or keyphrases that they felt "searchable". No one knew exactly what keyword(s) people used in the search engines. Then came Goto (Overture) with a free tool that listed the keyphrases that people used in their network of sites and it became a very touted tool for keyword identification.

Newer and much better for lots of reasons is Wordtracker. Almost any respectable search engine optimization professional recommends this tool and uses this tool for keyword identification. I myself found it very useful and much more accurate when compared to Overture's free tool. You can also try Wordtracker for free because they do have a free trial version.

Wordtracker's only limitation is that it uses small search engines to gather the statistical data. Unfortunately this makes it less precise (read "credible") when it comes to keyword(s) that are rarely searched. When I use it for my own keyword identification I try to select keyword(s)/phrases that were searched for at least 20 times. It's just a guess number, of course, but I'm sure it helps to keep keyword identification reasonably precise.

Another great thing about Wordtracker is that (in the paid version only) it will show you what is the competition in the various search engines (how many pages are focused on those same keywords). There's also a number called KEI (Keyword Effectiveness Index) that supposedly estimates your chances to get a good ranking. I don't think it's of much use though. The formula used for it is much too simple. Other then that, Wordtracker is without question the best tool for keyword identification.

I'm also looking forward to see if other similar services will appear. That will sure help us all in our keyword identification quest. :-)

Related articles:

How to advertise your website

Using affiliate/associate programs to generate revenue