June 21st, 2007 by James Omdahl
I got an email from a fella named Rob the other day telling me about a new keyword research service called KeywordSpy. From the looks of the site, it seems like a pretty neat way to find out what keywords other sites are bidding on.
Using the free example you can access on the homepage I was able to type in the keyword “health insurance” and see a list of companies who are bidding on the term. Then from there you can click on a company name and get a list of the keywords they are using to drive traffic. Once you get the list, you can export the list into a text document or Excel for easy upload.
I haven’t had too much time to really delve into the site but so far it looks promising. I figure it’s got to be pretty powerful for $89.95 a month. 
If you’re in the process of doing some keyword research, and you want to try something that is slightly more nefarious than WordTracker, KeywordSpy might be the tool for you.
UPDATE : Carsten Cumbrowski pointed out that KeywordSpy is a reseller of KeyCompete.com - so if you want the same thing for less money you can use KeyCompete. Read Carsten’s comparison of the two services here.
June 21st, 2007 at 8:00 pm
Nice Idea… This is a good enough concept to write my own. Thx for this.
June 21st, 2007 at 11:34 pm
Hi James,
You are making this sound as a great opportunity. Youre such a happy, positive person!
With an inventory of over 50,000 keywords, I definitely see this as a major threat to my business model. I make lots of money from things like simple spelling errors (”health insurnace”) verb/noun variations (”policy” instead of “insurance”) and people that dont understand how search engines work (”how do i insure my old dodge 1957″).
I make a lot of effort trying to come up with innovative search terms. With KeywordSpy, all the time I spend on this also strengthens my competitors advertising campaigns.
Can you block KeywordSpy from learning your keywords?
June 22nd, 2007 at 10:33 am
Hey John - glad you like the concept…and, as always, Im impressed with your ability to program stuff like this.
Magnus - I dont think there is a way to block this kind of thing…of course, I dont fully understand the technology behind it, but it sounds like they are pulling the info from ISPs, so blocking might be hard.
There are a number of companies that do this, most notably HitWise, so even if you could block one, I think others would figure it out. The good news is that companies have been using data like this for a while, so if you arent feeling too much pain at this point, I think youll be alright.
June 23rd, 2007 at 11:50 am
Its a reseller of KeyCompete.com (who is with CJ, 40% commission).
Use the original instead of the more expensive “knock off”.
See this PDF that compares the two services.
June 25th, 2007 at 1:58 pm
Thanks for that Carsten - Ive updated the post to reflect this.
June 28th, 2007 at 12:19 pm
Hi James,
My pleasure.
They must be a reseller, because the similarities (which go beyond similar at times) are just too great and I know that KeyCompete is the original.
Maybe it is not a reseller, but a copy cat, which would be even worse IMO.
Either way, people should know and make up their own mind.
July 17th, 2007 at 4:47 pm
Ive used wordtracker, keyword discovery, spyFu, seochat tools, and keycompete. all have different data, but KeyCompete is the only one that provides competition reports. At present the reports are hit and miss, but as KC gets more data this will improve.
July 26th, 2007 at 12:17 am
Be careful about using keywordspy, since they seem to be an affiliate that is just monitoring the sites you are you checking. So if you have a profitable niche, think twice about using it on keywordspy. Of course, everyone knows about insurance already though.
September 13th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
Just a comment. KeywordSpy is not an affiliate of keycompete. Keycompete is nowhere close to KeywordSpy id say. Better have to check it yourself so that youll know what im talking about. Ive used both the tools but i came to realize that KeywordSpy is the one i really need to boost my online presence. Keycompete has been keeping out dated data. No good if youre in online advertising.
April 26th, 2008 at 9:25 am
Keywordspy = Copyright violations?
Blocking 66.34.204.26 although Im not sure that will help.
Anyone else see any other IPs that they are using?