Google has launched a new keyword tool to replace the one they previously had in place. We tell you what has changed, what additional features were added, and what we think about the new tool, all this in this week’s SEO news.
Click HERE to download the MP3 and full PDF transcript
In this Video:
00:11 – The End of Google Keyword Tool
00:22 – The Replacement Tool
00:42 – No To Broad/ Phrase Match Search volume
01:00 – Exact Match is …
01:22 – Exact Data
01:48 – Device Type Search Results Are Gone
02:26 – The Need To Log In To Adwords
02:52 – City Level Search Volume
03:20 – 10,000 Keywords Per Batch
03:37 – What Do WE Think About It?
04:12 – What This Reminds Us
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The Google Keyword Tool is dead! In this training I’ll tell you exactly what’s different with its replacement.
With the end of August came the end of the Google Keyword Tool – the trusted Google Keyword Research Tool relied upon by many SEOs including us. The replacement to the Google Keyword Tool, the Keyword Planner has been bought about without too much furry however there have been some changes and we’re going to cover these for you right now.
Let’s first of all take a look at those changes that many SEOs are considering as a downside to the Keyword Planner, the first of which is that you can no longer get search volumes for broad match or phrase match search types; you can only get the search volumes for an exact match search. Well I guess I should first cover what exact match and phrase and broad match are. Basically, exact match is when someone types in that exact keyword phrase in to the search engine. Phrase match and broad match however are when someone types in a phrase, basically associated to that but perhaps the words are in a slightly different order. I will explain this a little better for you in a link placed beneath this video, however what we are talking about here is that Google are no longer giving you a general idea of how many searches are for that particular topic, they’re only now giving you data for searches for that exact keyword phrase. This for SEOs is actually the data we really want. So even though there’s no big changes, probably some small disadvantages. However exact match really is the information we want so no real biggie.
The second change which perhaps a disadvantage is that you can no longer see the number of searches based on device type, i.e. you can’t see how many people search a particular keyword phrase from a laptop or a desktop compared to a mobile device. I have always recommended going for slightly different keyword strategy for your mobile site compared to your desktop or your laptop site because people search on different devices on a slightly different manner, however Google are no longer giving us that data so we’ve really got to take a broad approach now and have the same strategy for the same type of website.
The third disadvantage is you now have to log in to your Adwords account to get access to the tool. Takes an extra step; I always liked the ability to be able to go straight to the Google keyword tool and plug in a few keywords to get some good data, that however is no longer available to us and perhaps a move from Google just to get a bit of an understanding about who is using the tool and in what way they are using it.
In terms of upsides, there are a couple and the first one is one that I absolutely love! You can now within the keyword planner see search volumes at a city level, so here in the UAE I can see how many people in Abu Dhabi search a particular keyword phrase comparative to those people in Dubai. This is fantastic if you serve a local geographic region and really useful especially for local businesses.
Secondly and particularly useful for SEO agencies is that you can now upload up to 10,000 keywords at a time to see their search volume data; very useful if you’re tracking a large volume of keyword phrases. So in summary, what are my thoughts? Well I think all in all the new keyword planner is a good tool and I think that whilst there are perhaps a few downsides the upsides probably outweigh those and I think it’s a good solution.
In this move, Google is really pushing SEO to move away from keyword targeting and adopt a more organic style of SEO, I think this is good and really a move away from people who are trying to stuff content full of particular keywords and perhaps adopt more of an organic approach and an approach that is more useful to the end user, I think that is a real plus side.
Secondly, this is a real reminder that SEO is a constant changing landscape and you really have to be open to change to be doing really well with Google. We really love the new Google Keyword Planner already but I’d love to get your thoughts, how are you enjoying it, or are you not? Post your comments below and let’s start up a conversation. This has been James Reynolds with another SEO news update, I look forward to connecting with you back here again next week.
