When I logged into adwords account and tried to see traffic estimates for a certain keyword, it says; Advertiser Competition very, very low. And with a bid of just 30 c or so, it also shows first position. But what I dont understand is that when I type this keyword on google, it shows heaps of ads, running to two or three pages. So how can it say advertiser competition very low, yet show so many ads? Isn't that contradictory? Can someone explain this?
No necessarily. Lets say the keyword in question here is "horn clamp" and it has little competition. When you search that keyword term, you will receive adverts for people with "horn clamp" keywords. However, anyone using a broad matching "clamp" or "horn" keyword can also show up in this return as well. So returns are not solely based on the "horn clamp" keyword entry, rather on any relevent content associated.
I am aware of that. That's why I searched with quotes, as in "horn clamp." But it still showed many ads, whereas adwords traffic estimator tool consistently shows zero ads.
I don't think putting quotes around a phrase changes the return anymore (but don't hold that over my head). I think Google now uses an algorithm that works to return the most relevent content, rather than results that have both words in it.
Does that mean if the adwords traffic estimator says "very low advertiser competition", we can take it to be 100% true and not double check by typing the keywords on google?
Sure it does, try it and see. It will only return sites that have the keyword phrase in the same order as you typed them.
In another thread, the link given HERE may help quell some of your worries. By no means is google 100%, just realize there are other things out there to consider. I did; typed in "edge clamps", both with and without the quotations, and the natural search return and sponsored ads were the same. I'm not saying that this proves anything or that I am dead certain that my previous statement was true, but I personally dont really see much usage of that form of searching anymore.
I'm not sure what you're doing differently then, I got 239,000 without quotes and 20,100 with quotes. That's a huge difference. There were more ads for the unquoted search too.
I've been managing the adwords trial ads and can verify the google keyword estimates are terrible. For a few keywords it's estimating 35-37 clicks at an average price of 1.20-1.85 in the 1-3 spot with 35-37 clicks potential per day. We're at 1.85 and are averaging 10th position. The QS is excellent. It's been like that for every single keyword pair/sets we've tried. On average it's been about twice as expensive to achieve the results indicated by their estimates. I guess this is a smart business model though as the more that bid at 1.75 thinking they'll do well the higher the overall bidding goes.
I have to say I don't get their estimates either. I recently tried the campaign optimiser on a campaign where I was getting 3 clicks a day for 4c each. They recommended $1.20 per click for up to 100 clicks a day. So I tried it just to see what would happen and the short answer is nothing.