An Introduction to Traffic Research Using Google Tools

One of the questions that  comes up fairly often is 'How do I do traffic research using Google?' People tend to forget that Google isn't just about search, but also about advertising, publishing and revenue generation, too. 


The two main tools that Google provides that can help with traffic research are:

• Google AdWords Keyword Tool
• Google Analytics

 Both of these tools need to be used together; when people talk about traffic research, what they mean is:

• finding traffic
• getting traffic to visit
• holding on to that traffic to make a sale

The Google AdWords Keyword Tool can be used in traffic research to scope out new opportunities (keyword phrases) that will yield visitors. Luckily, it's not as hit and miss as it might sound, as the AdWords Keyword tool provides some excellent comparison and filtering modules.


Tip : When using the AdWords Keyword Tool, look for traffic of around 10k and Low competition, as this is usually the easiest to target.


The other side of the traffic research question is Google Analytics. This is a very sophisticated service that takes a lot of experimentation to master. Luckily, the Traffic Research with Google Analytics  article will give you a head start in unerstanding how to make the most of it.


Key to using these two resources together, however, is in feeding back some of the Analytics results to the AdWords Keyword Tool in order to find new traffic sources. The process for bloggers is described in the article Using Blog Posts for Keyword Research.


In essence, traffic research using Google tools is like having an insight into the mind of potential customers, and is part marketing and part traffic acquisition.