It's a bird...It's a plane...It's Keyword Hero!

I’m going to be honest about this assignment. Looking through these solutions was like releasing a kid into a candy store. I research Google Analytics in my free time, but I somehow haven’t come across these solutions yet. I kept clicking through the pages and finding more and more options that I could look into. I even have notes to use some of these solutions at work.

Since this is something I want to use at work, I decided to look through their free tools. My company would pay for some of the other solutions, but it’s easier for me to test out new things when they’re offered for free. Picking one solution was more difficult than I thought, but I finally settled on Keyword Hero. This is a very timely discovery for me. My company is looking to improve our SEO, and I’m not currently trained in SEO. I searched all of the solutions for SEO and this result came up. Keyword Hero claims to be “the most comprehensive SEO tool and fully integrated into Google Analytics.” (Google.com, n.d.)

In order to understand why solutions like Keyword Hero are helpful, it’s important to understand what SEO is. “SEO helps the engines figure out what each page is about, and how it may be useful for users.” (Fishkin, n.d.) Basically, SEO helps your company rise to the top of organic web searches. Companies are able to use keywords to improve their rankings on platforms like Google and Bing.

Keyword Hero helps marketers like me who might not know where to start. The program fills in the gaps that Google Analytics leaves by providing keywords that users have looked up before. “The Keyword Hero shows you the exact keywords your customers have searched for directly in your Google Analytics account. Understanding the intent of their organic traffic is a key component for both e-commerce and web publishers of any size.” (Keyword-hero.com, n.d.)

Keyword Hero has free and paid accounts, offering a variety of options. Their free option, “Little Hero” can be set up with up to 25 URLs. This is perfect for a small company who wants to improve their SEO. For $9 a month, customers can have “Big Hero” check 250 URLs. These plans check the most frequented URLs. This ensures that you’re getting the most out of your money by tracking the pages that would be more likely to give you better results. (Keyword-hero.com, n.d.)

While looking into this solution, I learned a little history on Google Analytics. The information that Keyword Hero offers was once offered on the Google Analytics platform. ““Google used to pass a referrer string when you performed a web search with them that would tell you – ‘This person searched for “red shoes” and then they clicked on your website’. Then you would know that when people searched for “red shoes”, here’s the behavior they showed on your website, and you could buy ads against that, or choose how to serve them better, maybe by highlighting the red shoes on the page better when they land there – all sorts of things.”” (Sentance, 2017)

This information is very helpful to marketers, but soon became a little TOO helpful. “But Google began to take that away around 2011, and their reasoning behind it was to protect user privacy. That was quickly debunked, however, by folks in the industry, because Google provides that data with great accuracy if you choose to buy ads with them. So there’s obviously a huge conflict of interest there.” (Sentance, 2017)

Keyword Hero came onto the scene to help marketers reclaim their beloved keywords. The program itself “…uses a probabilistic method to match organic sessions in Google Analytics with the most probable keyword, using a variety of data sources, such as the Search Console and billions of data points from browser extensions.” (Google.com, n.d.) These keywords are probable matches to searches being made, but honestly, anything is better than Google’s typical “(not provided)” answer.

This program could be a very useful tool for marketers. SEO is an important tool in keeping your website relevant, and Keyword Hero provides support in getting company website to where they need to be. These keywords, if utilized properly, could help websites improve their website efforts in order to bring them to the top of organic searches. I’m a big advocate for paid ads but I think that SEO should work hand in hand with PPC campaigns. Having that organic ranking at the top of a search AND having the top paid ad spots means that you’re covering all of your bases. Using the keywords provided by Keyword Hero to improve SEO efforts would be in the best interest of a lot of marketers.

The keywords provided by Keyword Hero can also help marketers improve their paid campaigns with more relevant search terms. Personally, I find it a little difficult to come up with keywords for some of my paid campaigns. Keyword Hero can provide helpful search terms that could be used in Google Ads, as well as other online advertisements. This program helps marketers see what’s relevant to the website and helps guide them in the right direction. Keyword Hero provides the first steps to optimization on both paid and organic searches.

The reviews can really speak for themselves when it comes to this product. “I provide digital marketing to several companies and I have found no better way to prove the value of my services than with Keyword Hero. This tool is incredibly easy to set up, use, and monitor. The user dashboard is clean and simple enough for me to use without any frustrations. I can set up a new website for a client within two minutes and have so much more data on their organic visitors in Google Analytics. I'm so happy I found Keyword Hero, it is definitely a must-have.” (Google.com, n.d.)

My company is looking to improve our SEO in the coming months. We’re setting up a new website and a top priority has been SEO optimization. Keyword Hero allows us to better improve our keywords, thus improving our overall SEO in the process. Keyword Hero is a lot like Robin Hood; they steal from the rich (Google) and give to the poor (Marketers). This program has really given marketers the ability to view the information that Google took away so they can work at improving their websites.

References

Fishkin, R. (n.d.). SEO: The Beginner's Guide to Search Engine Optimization. [online] Moz. Available at: https://moz.com/beginners-guide-to-seo/why-search-engine-marketing-is-necessary [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018].

Google.com. (n.d.). Keyword Hero - Google Analytics Partner Services and Technologies. [online] Available at: https://www.google.com/analytics/partners/company/5107647938297856/gadp/5629499534213120/app/5707702298738688/listing/5634387206995968 [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018].

KEYWORD HERO. (n.d.). Keyword Hero. [online] Available at: https://keyword-hero.com/ [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018].

KEYWORD HERO. (n.d.). Keyword Hero Pricing. [online] Available at: https://keyword-hero.com/#signup [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018].

Sentance, R. (2017). A world without “(not provided)”: How unlocking organic keyword data leads to a better web. [online] Searchenginewatch.com. Available at: https://searchenginewatch.com/2017/08/08/a-world-without-not-provided-how-unlocking-organic-keyword-data-leads-to-a-better-web/ [Accessed 12 Feb. 2018].