Hello all, I have been doing SEO for the past few years, but lately, I have been noticing some very weird stuff when it comes to search volume. I am referring to the stats shown in the "new" Adwords keyword tool. For example, one of the terms that I am targeting was showing 2,500 local searches for the exact term with the old tool. With the new tool, it is showing around 500 searches. I am currently at the first position in the local results and I see no traffic (2 visitors for the term in the past month), so I am assuming that both those numbers are inaccurate. Before you jump into any conclusions in regards to this particular example, I will say that it has nothing to do with my title or with the rest of the results, because I have so many other examples where the same thing happens. On an average, the new keyword tool shows less than half local search volume for most of my keywords, while for others, there was no or little change. The bottom line is that I no longer feel confident using the Adwords keyword tool unless if someone can tell me of a better way to use it in order to get more accurate results, or at least an indication in regards to the traffic of the exact match of a term. I normally just type in the term, and then select "Exact Match". Would Google Trends, or Insights help in my case? Having said that, do you know of any other tools that would provide the search volume for exact terms in Google? Let me know. Thanks in advance!
No keyword tool is 100% accurate (or even that close a lot of the time). All the keyword software tools I'm aware of uses Googles data, some online tools like Wordtracker uses a different database. The new tool is a lot more accurate than the old tool, but keep in mind that it now goes back a year rather than the previous month, so what you're seeing might be off to begin with depending if it's seasonal (pay attention to trends/insights). Add the fact that all the keyword tools and analysers queries Google to gather the info further skewing the info. And this is an Adwords tool and not really for organic searches so it's most likely adding the content and PPC network numbers to the organic results. IMO it's now the most accurate, but the search numbers are still high a lot of the time. I try to allow for that when targeting keywords Almost forgot, you also need to log out from your Google account before performing the searches or your SERPs will be skewed.
Thanks for your reply Bob. I log off and delete all cookies before I check my rankings, and when we are talking about rankings in the top 3, I always try to confirm them through others as well to make sure that they are right. Having said that, thank you for pointing that out, because I am sure that many people may make that mistake. Now on to your answer. The new Adwords tool supposedly only shows traffic from Google.com and nothing else. The old one would also include their search partners, and that is why the numbers were higher (based on what they are saying). Now, based on what I have seen, that is not the case because I have examples where the numbers remained the same. Having said that, I see a lot of discrepancies and since I can see that you know what you are talking about, I am sure that you have seen some too. I did not know that the info shown is a year old - I thought it was just a month old. What I can say, however, with almost 100% certainty, is that when it comes to the local searches (which are supposedly the average monthly searches [sum of all months divided by 12]) the numbers only show the stats of 1 month, and not the average. That is why the numbers differ so much from one month to the next. I have a specific keyword in mind which showed 5k local searches with the old tool, then 1k local searches with the new tool, and then a few weeks later which brings us to today, it is only showing 480 local searches. I can only account that to seasonality. I have other terms, however, that show absolutely no change between the old tool, the new one, and the different months which makes things complicated. I guess what I am trying to figure out here is which keywords should I keep pursuing, and which of them I should just drop off my list. For the above example that currently shows 480 searches, I think that the number is accurate because I am at the 1st spot and get about 5 visits per day. I was expecting 10 times that when I first started pursuing the keyword about a year ago. If I knew that these 5 visits were my goal then I would have not pursued it. At the moment, I have at least 10 more keywords for which I am in the first 20 results and a few more for which I am in the top 10. It will take some work to get them to the top, and I would hate to waste my time only to see similar traffic from them when I could be concentrating on bigger keywords. I have a formula that evaluates if a keyword is worth pursuing, but of course, that formula largely depends on the estimated searches that the keywords get, so it is pointless when my stats are so inaccurate and keep changing all the time. Unfortunately, when I thought that the Trends will be the answer I am looking for, I show a lot of discrepancies there too. For keywords that have been giving me traffic for a couple of years, it shows no data.... while for others that don't even come close to the amount of traffic that the ones with no data are sending me, it shows trends. No other ideas?
Yeah that's what I thought to until about a week ago. Click on the "About this data" link then select the local monthly searches. That sorta messes up the searches. I think they just changed it with the new tool. As for any other ideas I haven't got any because all the keyword tools and software I know uses Google's data, they only filter it differently. I cross check it with the seobook/wordtracker tool to see if they're close, sometimes one or the other is way out of whack so I'll stay away from the keyword in that case. But at best it's still a "guesstimate", all I do is try not to cut the search numbers to close and allow for the margin of error if you know what I mean. BTW the seobook/wordtracker tool is organic and it's data is from the meta-seachengines and not Google, but a lot of the times it's close to Google's numbers, however it does come up with some really weird longtail searchterms.
I find it beneficial to use a number of tools to get an idea of the traffic that keywors will bring. I like to use Google Insights for Search and Word Tracker's Free Keyword Suggestion Tool. when dealing with keywords, it is almost impossible to have an exact search volume. You are pretty much dealing with approximations. that is why i like to use more than one keyword suggestion tool. I hope that this helps.
This is why I don't rely on any tool that tells me the number of searches, better to rely on tools that give you search trends and competition, much safer bet!
If you are blind or have a disability that prevents you from reading print effectively, such as dyslexia, the free keyword suggestion tool by Google is not the best tool. This is due to the fact that there visual verification system--the captcha--has no other alternative, such as a link that will enable one to listen to an audio captcha. And most individuals, unless they live with others, will not always have someone to breathe over their shoulder and read captchas for them at their beckon call. I'm surprised that Google does not implement accessibility, as far as this is concerned because they make a big deal about accessibility in many other areas, unless it is possible that they feel that disabled people are incapable of working, which is far from the truth, since there are millions who do not wish to sit back and collect a check. There are millions who realize their potential and want to make something of their lives. These millions do not receive benefits at all; rather, they work doing various things to make their own money and give their contributions to society. They fight against all odds. Individuals like these possess a very confident and positive attitude, and "I can't" is not in their vocabulary. I'm sure you have heard of some of these types yourselves. I'm currently leading a petition that makes Google aware of this problem and asks that they fix it. So far, thankfully, I feel that it is going very well. I have a number of people wanting to participate, wihch is very encouraging. Until that point, my determination will call me to use other tools, especially Word Tracker, since they design their site with accessibility in mind, and it is one of the easiest tools to use for Internet marketers and freelancers with disabilities. Thankfully, there are a number of nice tools to use while we wait for Google to rectify this current issue at hand. Now, I'm jumping down off of my soap box. LOL I'm getting tired of standing up here.
Word Tracker's tool and Google Insights for search does these things, and I trust these tools very much. I've always had good results when using these tools. Not to mention, they are accessible to the disabled, which is really awesome. Ive used these tools for awhile now.
If you don't it might skew the search results, like how you browsers cookies will suggest your commonly visited when you start to type a URL, Google remembers your preferences.
I love Micro Niche Finder and also Market Samurai - though these are paid tools, they are very much worth it. Market Samurai will let you try it out for 12 days for free. MNF even tells you what domains are available for the keywords it finds and I absolutely can't live without this one when doing my keyword research.