Searching for the synonyms of any keyword is an essential part of the keyword research process. Synonyms make your copy look richer and more natural. What’s also important is that they account for most unexpected (“natural”) long tail search referrals.
1. Use Dictionaries and Reference Guides
Checking reference sources and glossaries outlining “traditional” “proper” English language as well as searching user-generated dictionaries making sense of contemporary slang and urban language are two great ways to start your keyword research. Here are a few online dictionaries listing synonyms for any base word:
- Synonym.com (The dictionary database is really not bad but they really have to work on usability and disturbing pop-ups the keep popping in).
- Reference.com (with the FireFox search plugin) shows your core term synonyms and definitions.
- The free dictionary (available with the FireFox search plugin) list a wealth of useful information for any term including synonyms, idioms, usage examples,etc
- Rhyme Zone offers rhymes, synonyms and antonyms for any term.
2. Use Google Search
~ search operator tells Google to search for the word as well as its synonyms: both the base term and its synonyms are in bold within Google SERPs:
Sample search: ~exercise
3. Try Google Synonyms-based Tool
While it is easy to be fooled by somewhat simplistic interface and ads, the tool works actually not bad: it seems to analyze Google results for ~keyword search and return “clustered” results:
Here’s what I got for [exercise] there:
4. Play with Other Synonyms Tools
Another good option to consider is the synonym tool by HowRank. According to it, [exercise] has the following synonyms:
Any more tools to research synonyms? Please share them in the comments!
