What seed keyword should I use ?
Several types of seed keywords can be used to generate keyword ideas.
These are the foundation for expanding and diversifying the pool of potential keywords.
A broad-seed keyword like car will generate more general keyword ideas and can help you better understand the underlying topics.
However, the ideas generated from a broad seed keyword are usually more competitive.
Note that due to the nature of Google Auto Complete, the extraction of keyword ideas may sometimes generate ideas unrelated to the initial topic.
You can use include/exclude fields to refine your results (see advanced settings).
A narrow-seed keyword like best tesla will provide more targeted, long-tail keyword ideas. In such a case, the suggested keyword ideas are typically less competitive.
Seed keyword with wildcards
When using a wildcard (*), keyword ideas will match a specific structure.
Example: how to * car => only keywords with this structure: how to something car.
best car for * : 339 keyword ideas.
You can also use double wildcard searches like: best * for *
Seed keyword with double quotes
When using double quotation marks, the keyword ideas will contain the specific words in the quotes.
Example: "best car" => only keywords that contain the words: "best car".
You can also use double quotes around two words searches like: "toyota" "tesla".
Seed keyword with a slash
Use the comparison operator (/) to get keyword ideas that compare two brands, products, countries, ...
Keyword ideas will contain the left and right parts of the slash.
Example: tesla / toyota => only keywords that contain the words "tesla" and "toyota" and compare the two.
Download keywords here.
Seed keyword with brackets
Use brackets [ ] to get keyword ideas around a pre-defined list of words.
Keyword ideas will include any values defined in the list and the text around the brackets.
You can find some pre-defined lists and also define your lists here.
It is a helpful operator to generate a report with location-based keyword ideas.
Example: what to do in [fr_cities] => only keywords that contain "what to do in" and French cities.
Include/Exclude keyword ideas
The include and exclude fields in the Advanced options let you specify words you want to include or exclude from the keyword ideas.
You can also use pre-defined filters to exclude keywords and create custom filters.
For example, the pre-defined filter [country] will delete any keyword idea that contains a country.
Find a list of pre-defined filters in your settings.