Keyword Expert is similar in feel and functionality to Keyword Elite. It has fewer features, but at almost $50 less could prove something of a bargain.

As with all keyword research tools the primary function of Keyword Expert is to find our which keywords and phrases your customers are using, identify those with the least competition and provide help in optimising your website accordingly.

The process starts by feeding the software a list of target keywords (or set it to spider your website and harvest them). It will compare these words and phrases to a search database to identify related words and report back on search frequency and the number of competing websites that are returned in the results. Keyword Expert doesn't tell us how they compile their database but it's likely they are using Google search data with, perhaps, eBay and Amazon feeding in product search data.

Most keyword research is completed for eventual use in Google Adword campaigns and so Keyword Expert have built an Adwords Editor into their software. The module, which uses the Google Adwords API to interface with your account live, can be used to create ads and organise campaigns. The flow from keyword research to Adwords advert is good and can save considerable time when creating and testing ad variations.

So what's missing?

The big one here is competitor analysis. Yes - you can spider competitor websites to find out what keywords they're targeting, but that's about it. This is an area where Keyword Elite excels, since you can actually find out what Adword campaigns your competitors have been running (for the last six months) PLUS track them in real time.

But if you're focused on your own website and are happy to leave the competition to take care of themselves then this is a perfectly acceptable choice.