I usually used to rely on Wordtracker's keyword search results more than the Google Adwords tool, but I think that will change, here's why. I have a number of sites that's come up for renewal and although they're on Yahoo's 1st page some even ranking #1 the search numbers from Wordtracker doesn't reflect that. Here's why, Wordtracker goes back a year when compiling their data and for this particular product (tc-p50g10.net) it REALLY peaks in Nov. and Dec., and then the newer models come out the following year. Anyway using the SEOBook tool (http://tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/seobook/) which uses Wordtrackers database the search term tc-p50g10 supposedly gets about a 1000 visitors a month from Yahoo, but from being on the first page and in one case the first spot the numbers don't jive. Remember they go back a year rather then a month, and by looking at Google trends (http://www.google.com/trends?q=tc-p50g10,+tc-p50g10s&ctab=0&date=all&geo=US) you can see how the numbers can get skewed. Instead of the yearly average the current search numbers are really much lower. Google's old tool used to be really inflated in most cases, but the new tool seems to be a lot more accurate, especially in this case with the monthly searches. For evergreen niches like weight loss, debt consolidation, etc. the search numbers probably won't be affected as much, but for electronics and certain niches you might want to keep in mind that Wordtracker uses a yearly average, time of the year and Google trends. Any thoughts?
Interesting and I didn't realise Wordtracker used its data in that way. One thing experience has taught me though is that most of these tools only give us an idea of what the figures may be and I have found that the only true method that works is to set up a Google Adwords campaign, ensure you target positions 6-10 to reduce the amount of clicks you have to pay for and monitor the impressions shown in the data. A very cheap way of seeing the real traffic for any keyword.
I've been looking into using Wordtracker's Tools so I'm glad I read this. I'm sure their stuff is accurate for searches that don't trend so much but this is good info to keep in mind. How far off is it? How much traffic are you getting compared to how much SEOBook's tool says you should be receiving?
In the above example I'm #4 at Yahoo which supposedly gets about 1,000 searches per month (at Yahoo only) and thus far this month I'm yet to have any visitors. a rough estimate would be about 5% of that traffic. At the time I purchased the domain around this time last year (Nov) the search numbers was probably twice the amount. When it comes to January it's still more accurate the Google's tool because in January you're looking at Dec. results with Google, but annually with Wordtracker. So depending on the time of the year and niche it's a good idea to look at the trends as well.