Is there a better keyword tool than google's adwords keyword tool?

[adriandg]

I have heard a lot of people say not to trust the results of google adword's keyword tool.  Is there a better tool out there that i am not aware of that can judge local monthly and global monthly search volume?

[EGOL]

Who but Google could provide better information about Google?  And, since Google is going to make money from your ads they should do their best to direct you to the proper keywords.

[RyanKent]

EGOL has a way of sharing the answer is such a short, to the point and yet well polished manner. I whole-heartedly agree!

[adriandg]

I disagree.  It isn't entirely in their best interests to provide entirely accurate search volume information.  In fact it is much more exciting to see that a keyword has 5000 monthly searches than to see a keyword only has 5 monthly searches.  It is entirely in their best interest to inflate the search volumes, as it encourages more sales from novice users that don't realize their numbers are inflated.

[adriandg]

I know that yahoo used to have a keyword resarch tool, where did that go? i can't find it anywhere anymore, all the links to it are dead. even a link from their own website to it is dead.

Is it absorbed into microsoft now?

[EGOL]

If that is the case then why isn't every adwords marketer on the planet yelling about it?

I don't hear them.

[Gyorgy]

There're researches about the SERP CTRs and sometimes I compare these research values to my websites' traffic data.  I haven't experienced major differences between the Keyword Tool's and my websites' results, it seems to be accurate.

Can you give us a reliable source of information for these claims?

[adriandg]

http://www.webproworld.com/webmaster-forum/threads/73224-Google-Keyword-Tool-Exaggerates-Search-Demand

I'm sure there are other sources, i don't have the time to dig them all up.  I'm actually kind of shocked that you guys have never heard someone say that google adwords keyword tool's estimated search volumes are inflated.

How about the fact that most of the numbers are rounded.  and that two word phrases are always estimated at the exact same value.

for example: it would say that the global monthly searches for "word1 word2" is the same as "word2 word1", for any combination of two words.  I find that incredibly hard to believe because it is very unlikely that there is exactly a 50% split between them.  what about phrases where it is much more logical that the order is word1 word2, instead of word2 word1?

[adriandg]

Probably because they've realized this and act accordingly. take adwords keyword volumes with a grain of salt. or perhaps they have another tool to cross reference??

[Gyorgy]

Are you checking broad or exact match phrases?

car insurance and insurance car are equal because these are broad match types

[car insurance] and [insurance car] are very different because these are exact match types

Numbers are rounded in order to make them easier to read and manage. 195,000 is easier to read than 194,793 and that slight difference doesn't really matter. Same with 590 and 587.

The "reliable source" you linked is a forum where an unknown person posted a message. That is not something I would rely on. Read more about SERP CTR and check your website's data and you will see that the numbers are roughly correct.

[EGOL]

Thumbs up!

I have heard lots of people complain about the tool giving high numbers and then when you point out that they are looking at broad match numbers they realize their error.

[adriandg]

thank you for pointing out our mistake.

cheers,

storwell

[KeriMorgret]

For a time (October-December 2010, if not earlier), the AdWords Keyword Tool was ignoring keywords that were not commercial in nature, and there was much outcry from the community. For the following two links, the first link is from when they removed non-commercial intent and lists several keyword alternatives. The second post is an update, with information about how Google has improved their keyword tool. This may be one of the reasons you've heard people say not to trust the results.

http://www.aimclearblog.com/2010/10/07/r-i-p-google-keyword-tool-long-live-seo/

http://www.aimclearblog.com/2010/12/21/safe-for-seo-hacking-fixed-google-keyword-tool/

[shirleylxu02]

But i do face some weird data from Google Adword tool yesterday. For 2 most generic Japanese keywords ラップトップ(meaning laptop) & ノートパソコン(meaning notebook), I searched both exact & broad in Japan country and Japanese language, Google adword gave me no result for exact & broad ラップトップsearch and no result for exact ノートパソコン. This result makes no sense to me at all. Have anyone come cross this before?

[blac6789]

I read that the google keyword tool is only applicable to their paid results.  I was finding completely different results when using the wordtracker keyword tool.

[Robin_Jennings]

I find Google Adwords a great tool for the most part.

One thing I have noticed though is Google Places is being tweaked almost daily and some days a keyword I'm chasing will be #1,2,3 organically but is so far down the first page behind all the Google Places listings that chasing that keyword is next to useless (unless they rearrange Google Places again).

Learn from my mistake- do your keyword research and then Google the term when you're logged out!

[matt-14567]

I realize you posted this almost a year ago, so my reply is going to seem random. I found this thread through a search because right now I'm considering trying Wordtracker's paid keyword research tool and wondering whether it's worth the money. I use AdWords right now, but sometimes I question the results for the exact reason you mentioned.

Anyway, I just wanted to ask: In your experience, is Wordtracker's paid tool better than AdWords for keyword research?

Thanks and sorry this is so out-of-the-blue.

[annomd]

Google don't give exact numbers and don't get specific about what the numbers do represent, but it is very handy to compare phrases - which is more popular, etc. - in deciding which to use on your site. The main reason why I didn't Wordtracker a few years ago was that I needed to know usage based on location and, as far as I know, Google is the only one that can give that kind of detail.