There are plenty of keyword tools that you can use to come up with a killer campaign for Google Adwords and other search engine advertising services. There is always this notion among marketers that paid keyword research services are much better than their free counterparts. I don’t argue the fact that some of the paid services on the market do present data in a way that is easier to analyze and get more out of. And they do give you a different perspective on your market and you niche. But if there is one free tool that you should be using to set up your advertising campaigns, it’s Google Adwords Keyword Tool. The tool is going to be soon upgraded by Google and is more powerful than ever. It may not the only tool you will need to come up with a killer advertising campaign. But at the same time, the tool is more than capable of helping you out in developing a comprehensive keyword list.

I have found the new Google Keyword tool to be easier to use. For starters, you can still generate your keyword list by using your core keywords as your starting seeds. You can also use the website search function to find out what your competitors may be using to advertise on Google. Let’s say you want to figure out what keywords Fox News is using to advertise online.

Google Adwords not only shows you the standard information such as your competition level, EACPC, GMS, and local searches, but it also provides you with local search trends. It also gives you an easy way to use Google Insights to find out more information about your each and every keyword.

But it all gets better. Google also makes it easy to figure out what “form” of each keyword get how much traffic. In other words, you’ll be able to distinguish between phrase, exact, and broad matches of your keywords (as far as traffic, competition, and CPC is concerned). You can also search for keywords based on category.

At the end of the day, how much you get from Google Adwords tools comes down to how you use the tool. You can have the most expensive premium keyword tool on the market, but if you are not using it the right way, you are wasting your money. In the case of Google’s keyword tool, you’d be wasting your time if you are not taking the keyword research process seriously. It may be a free tool, but it’s certainly very capable.