Welcome to the Q&A Forum

Thanks for the quick answer. This totally makes sense. I'll look into the tools you mentioned.

Can anyone (not Google affliated) explain to me where Google's data really comes from in their Keyword Tool?

Is it at all based on organic search? Or only on Google Ads related data?

I know there was some controversy back in June '10 and the Google remedied the return of suggested keywords but I can't seem to get a clear answer (other than from the Google blog itself) whether the search volumes returned are truly indicative of organic search.

Am I relying on the wrong tool? Do those more savvy than I only rely on the keyword tool for PPC research.

Please help! I'm obsessing over my numbers here.

I too have this same question so I hope others will weigh in here. Like Wissam, I too have relied on Google's Keyword tool and market Samurai (which in turn relies on Google's Keyword Tool)

My concern is that despite what Google says, I fear that numbers don't accurately reflect organic search but are more reflective of Adword results. They say they have changed this but that may be in what terms they return in the tool suggestions, not so much in the numbers themselves.

Also, I have read that Bing is making some inroads into Google market share for search. So I feel I should be paying attention to things outside the Google universe.

Any suggestions or thoughts on next gen tools for keyword research would be appreciated.