Dealing with Keyword Tool Disparity

Aaron Wall wrote a good blog post a couple days ago titled Why Do Keyword Tool Search Estimates Vary So Much? It's a question that Rand and I have grumbled about many times. Actually, I'm pretty convinced that it's like a rite of passage--you're not a tried and true SEO professional until you've played with at least four different keyword tools ;)

Aaron reminds everyone that the tools should serve as a way of identifying trends in various keywords, rather than be relied upon for hard numbers, and he's absolutely right. You really don't need to know the exact number of searches for any given term, right down to the single digit. When it comes to doing keyword research, a pretty good idea of the number of searches for any given query should suffice.

I think the potential harm here is relying on one tool for a set of numbers. No one tool is proven to be significantly more accurate than the next. When I do keyword research, I usually use Overture, Wordtracker, and Keyword Discovery, and then in my report I include the average of all three tools' predicted queries in addition to their individual numbers.

Obviously, knowing the exact number of searches for a term can result in good dinner party conversation. I can see it now:

Rand: Mystery Guest, did you know that last month 268 people searched for the term "Rand Fishkin?"
Mystery Guest: That's really interesting. Can you tell me how many people searched for the phrase "Shut up and pass the pepper"?
Rand: Aw, shucks. Yes dear...

Hmmm, on the other hand, maybe knowing the exact number of searches for a term isn't as interesting (or as healthy) as we thought.

Seriously though, I wonder how long it will be (if ever) before a keyword tool comes out that is so accurate that SEOs' heads will explode with joy.

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Lisa Myers

2006-09-20T05:54:08-07:00

Hi Rebecca,

I have found an excellent keyword and web ranking tool. This tool has also made it so easy for me to report on the progress of clients ranking on the different search engines. And it gives you all the results in a quick report. Genius! It's called: Advanced WebRanking

It has made my optimisation reporting so much easier. Let me know what you think!

Cheers

LisaMyers edited 2006-09-20T05:57:12-07:00
2 0

Hi Rebecca, I have found an excellent keyword and web ranking tool. This tool has also made it so easy for me to report on the progress of clients ranking on the different search engines. And it gives you all the results in a quick report. Genius! It's called:<a href="https://www.advancedwebranking.com/" rel="nofollow"> Advanced WebRanking</a> It has made my optimisation reporting so much easier. Let me know what you think! Cheers
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- Rebecca Kelley
 
 2006-09-20T07:29:53-07:00
 
 Thanks Lisadit (and to everyone else for the suggestions). I'll tinker around with them and let you all know what I think.
 
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 Thanks Lisadit (and to everyone else for the suggestions). I'll tinker around with them and let you all know what I think.
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imarketNC

2006-09-20T07:09:26-07:00

https://seoblackhat.com/clicks-by-search-rank....

Oatmeal edited 2006-09-20T08:15:31-07:00
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<a href="https://seoblackhat.com/clicks-by-search-rank.html" rel="nofollow">https://seoblackhat.com/clicks-by-search-rank....</a>
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am9905d

2006-09-23T11:37:13-07:00

Here is my patented keyword research method :p

I use digitalpoint's tool to identify potential keywords and then I go to google trends and compare the keywords I have identified with keywords that I already rank good and I know what kind of traffic the can bring. I found that this is the best method to estimate what kind of traffic a keyword can bring you. That way I also avoid to spend time on keywords that were popular for a short period of time just because of a news post or anything similar and to find keywords that are on the rise. For example, right now I am ranking for a keyword that brings me close to 1500 uniques per day (1st page yahoo-2nd page google). If you check the keywords tools you will see that there are less than 100 searches per day, obviously this will change next month when the keyword tools refresh their data. In the meantime I have managed to get an important headstart and just by using guerilla link building tactics (time was important in this case) to drive lots of traffic to my site and a ROI of more than 1000% without eve reaching the first page of Google.

1 0

Here is my patented keyword research method :p I use digitalpoint's tool to identify potential keywords and then I go to <a href="https://www.google.com/trends" rel="nofollow">google trends</a> and compare the keywords I have identified with keywords that I already rank good and I know what kind of traffic the can bring. I found that this is the best method to estimate what kind of traffic a keyword can bring you. That way I also avoid to spend time on keywords that were popular for a short period of time just because of a news post or anything similar and to find keywords that are on the rise. For example, right now I am ranking for a keyword that brings me close to 1500 uniques per day (1st page yahoo-2nd page google). If you check the keywords tools you will see that there are less than 100 searches per day, obviously this will change next month when the keyword tools refresh their data. In the meantime I have managed to get an important headstart and just by using guerilla link building tactics (time was important in this case) to drive lots of traffic to my site and a ROI of more than 1000% without eve reaching the first page of Google.
Cancel
imnotadoctor

2006-09-20T12:45:56-07:00

Thanks for all the great tools!

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Thanks for all the great tools!
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inblosam

2006-09-19T19:30:51-07:00

https://www.soloseo.com/tools/multiKeywords.html

I've created this keyword tool that uses 4 sources and shows them side by side in 4 columns, ordered by popularity. You can quickly compare what you get from other sources too.

To address popularity of searches, I've put everything into a 5 bar scale. Each source is different so I've tried to normalize it in some way, but I'm sure it is never going to be accurate across the four sources.

It won't be free forever though, it's one of our backend tools for subscribers (official launch pending). For now hopefully it's good linkbait. ;)

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<a href="https://www.soloseo.com/tools/multiKeywords.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.soloseo.com/tools/multiKeywords.html</a> I've created this keyword tool that uses 4 sources and shows them side by side in 4 columns, ordered by popularity. You can quickly compare what you get from other sources too. To address popularity of searches, I've put everything into a 5 bar scale. Each source is different so I've tried to normalize it in some way, but I'm sure it is never going to be accurate across the four sources. It won't be free forever though, it's one of our backend tools for subscribers (official launch pending). For now hopefully it's good linkbait. ;)
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Rand Fishkin

2006-09-19T18:51:51-07:00

https://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/

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<a href="https://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/" rel="nofollow">https://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/</a>
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MrPenn

2006-09-19T19:22:28-07:00

https://beta.nichebot.com/ Keyword Discovery WordTracker Keyword Discovery Overture Google Rankings

but I do think Aaron's tool is better.

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<a href="https://beta.nichebot.com/" rel="nofollow">https://beta.nichebot.com/ </a> Keyword Discovery WordTracker Keyword Discovery Overture Google Rankings but I do think Aaron's tool is better.
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imnotadoctor

2006-09-19T16:24:51-07:00

It would be great if there was a keyword tool that shows results from the various different sites on one page?

If this tool exists please let me know and if not make it already!

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It would be great if there was a keyword tool that shows results from the various different sites on one page? If this tool exists please let me know and if not make it already! 
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- Rebecca Kelley
 
 2006-09-19T16:38:20-07:00
 
 Haha, that's not a bad idea. SEOCompany links to a bunch of different tools, some of which pull results from Overture and Wordtracker, but I don't know of one that pulls from Overture, Wordtracker, and KWDiscovery.
 
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 Haha, that's not a bad idea. SEOCompany links to <a href="https://www.seocompany.ca/tool/seo-tools.html" rel="nofollow">a bunch of different tools</a>, some of which pull results from Overture and Wordtracker, but I don't know of one that pulls from Overture, Wordtracker, and KWDiscovery.
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 - imnotadoctor
 
 2006-09-19T16:46:26-07:00
 
 Have one of your friends build it. I am sure you might know someone ...lol
 
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 Have one of your friends build it. I am sure you might know someone ...lol
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- Oatmeal
 
 2006-09-19T18:35:53-07:00
 
 I'm prety sure they all use captchas, so I don't think that's possible
 
 2 0
 
 I'm prety sure they all use captchas, so I don't think that's possible 
 Cancel

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