If you've looked at pretty much any of the keyword products out there, you'll no doubt have been blasted with the hype strewn around their homepages. One of the big 'selling points' you will be hit with is usually the sheer number of keywords you'll be able to generate with a given tool. Bigger. Better. More!

But hold up a second here. The number of keywords a keyword tool pumps out shouldn't determine how good it is, or whether or not you lay down your hard-earned for it. If you think the way to be successful in any market is to build up a VAST keyword list and get as much traffic as possible - you're mistaken.

What's the problem with lots of keyphrases?

Well, nothing. As long as all of the keywords are relevant. The really important thing here is relevance. If you can build up a keyword list of 10,000 keywords that are 100% relevant and focused to your niche, then great.

But some of the keyword tools I've tested create simply massive keyword lists that just aren't all relevant. You get the feeling that they're really padding things out. Trying to bump up the number of phrases to create a bigger selling point. It's a bit like those tracks albums have just to make up the numbers - the ones you hit the skip button on.

I guess the most important thing about keyword research is not to become over-reliant on your keyword research tools. They're only 50% of the solution. You've got to use your brain first and foremost and then use the keyword research tool to find all the variations of your keywords that you couldn't figure out. A huge keyword list can in fact take longer to sort through and cause more problems.

For more information on this see my 3 Essential Stages Of Keyword Research

But above all, don't be too impressed by the number of keyphrases that a tool promises to build for you. Choose a tool that's thorough without resorting to 'padding'. If you're unsure which keyword research tool to buy, make sure you check out my reviews page for more information.