Keyword tool's search volume vs real traffic potential

Hi,

I was just wondering about the search volume statistic shown by google's keyword tool. There are some keywords for which it says there were approximately millions of searches and some for which there are only tends of thousands if not even less.

For example, according to this tool, last month people have searched only around 30 000 times for "machinima" (movies made in video games). Does this mean that if I were to make a site with this as it's main keyword I probably wouldn't get much more than 30 000 visits per month, even if I were the top search result?

On face value that's how it seems, yet my goal is to push the traffic up to a million a month and maybe even more at some point.

On the other hand, it could be that it is still possible to achieve more by targetting multiple keywords at once, including keywords which are searched far more (like fun games) and are related to at least some part of the content of the site. Also there are social networking/bookmarking sites, blogosphere, stumble etc. which are increasingly a big source of traffic as well.

So what do you think? Is it possible to drive a million visits a month to a site whose main keyword in google is estimated to get only around 30 000 searches? Or is google's keyword tool not reliable for these kinds of calculations?

Thanks

 

its a good reference but never 100%

its also updated monthly a lot happens in one month so you cant rely on that alone

 

So you guys would say no to this question?

 

It may not be possible to manufacture 1 million visits if one keyword gets 30,000 searches. However if you optimise for more than one keyword and put loads of content on the site too, you will get more visits to the site. Remember, google is not the only search engine

 

hard to tell and very misleading in many cases. i help administer a very niche market site geographic and services related. we get TONS of traffic which is not logical per the results of the google search tool. our top search is just our domain name and even that shows just less than a couple thousand per month but we get at least 250 uniques a day via Google and that is just a quarter of our traffic.

 

Almost every keyword research tools is not 100% accurate, but you can use them to get some ruffly estimations..

 

I sincerely feel that Google keywords tool is a great utility to use before you aim your keywords, but then there are some conflicting stat results that show for the same keywords at http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/

I have tried many a time, and could not figure out the reason behind it.. also regarding the question about generating more than a million visitors with 30k stats - I would say that you should fix atleast 5-8 target keywords and if they have stats of roughly 30 k each, that means - traffic of 100k - 150k and then the combinations and also other search engines..so you would happily end up getting more than a million visitors!!

 

I have been using it for some time and its ok - lack of some features like suggestions maybe

 

The results in google keyword tool is only based on the keyword traffic on adwords but not on the organic traffic. That's why you will notice that traffic of that keywords looks very high.

 

i always preferred to used google keyword tool which give me idea about popularity and traffic of keywords

 

i like to use google keyword tool because gave me more traffic and make my page rank high

 

the best way i used is to make website analysis instead of using tools

 

Google's keyword data is based on adwords data, rather than organic search, as alluded to above.

Let me explain, suppose if somebody did search on google for "basketballs" (for example), then that'd count as a search for basketballs, and added to the "Avg Search Volume" column. However, if say somebody goes onto the NBA site, and the site has adsense on it, then that counds as a hit for "basketballs" and added to the Avg Search Volume.

This tool is great for advertisers knowing how much their ad will be displayed over the network, but for organic SEO'ers it's not to good!

Whilst I like the SEOBook & Wordtracker tools, neither of them is 100% accurate about what is searched for on Google. Adwords Keyword Suggestion is however great for checking phrase density (looking at the "Website Content" tab)

Either way, that is why there's a discrepancy between SEO Book's estimated search & Adwords Keyword Suggestion tool.

 

It is an estimate but remember you shouldn't just be looking at one keyword. Many people can find your site through longtail keywords instead of the shorttail example you mentioned.

 

I see now, that was very helpful, thank you. Reps added.

I'm going with it then. It could be that machinima area is just not utilized enough yet, but I think there's potential there. Machinima is a growing phenomenon (movies made in video games), but I'll expand slightly on that by allowing screencasts of funny in game twists, playing the game the way it's not supposed to be played.

Then I can also take advantage of more general keywords like "funny videos" and a lot more. I think it's got potential. We'll see.

Thanks again.

 

"For example, according to this tool, last month people have searched only around 30 000 times for "machinima" (movies made in video games). Does this mean that if I were to make a site with this as it's main keyword I probably wouldn't get much more than 30 000 visits per month, even if I were the top search result?"

If you make a site with "machinima" as the main keyword then there will be so many other keywords related to this keyword which will also bring traffic.

 

Generally, I always use AdWords Keyword Tool for finding keywords and phrases. I then make a list of keywords I like or think appropriate for the theme of the site I'm working on. I then use Wordtracker for more suggestions. I then cross reference all the keywords and the ones that show up on every list are the ones I use, to start with.

After some time has passed, I'll check the sites stats and find the keywords the actual visitors are using to find the site. By cross referencing once again, I'll have a real idea of the keys that work and the ones that don't. All this takes a little time and effort, but rewards are generally always there and show with a better targeted visitor.

Good thread BTW.

 

I would like it if you gave more information on this if its based on adwords traffic is that not the same as people are typing into google

 

Indeed, that's what I'm thinking (and hoping), cause machinima are just type of movies. I'd probably get keywords related to various popular games (in which people make machinima) and various other random topics (the content of the actual movies). Gonna be awesome if it takes off (I'm already half through with site design ).

@ArticlesFYI:

That seems like an excellent strategy. Gonna keep it in mind.

Thanks