How accurate are the Google Keyword Planner Estimates?
If you’re at all familiar with Google’s advertising system, chances are you’ve utilized Keyword Planner. It’s just one of the dozens of tools Google gives you to find different avenues for advertising effectiveness.
It’s not logical, right? Google would like you to be successful in your advertising campaign, as success in marketing will result in greater investment in marketing. And more investment equals more revenue for Google. Offering tools that provide estimates of relevant data is only one of the benefits to these tools.
For those who must rely on the information Google freely gives away however, there are some issues to be aware of. In particular, if making our marketing decisions based on the data Google offers through its Keyword Planner We want confirmation that the information is correct. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
It’s more so when you consider the amount of marketers who use keywords planners to help guide not only their paid advertisements as well as their organic marketing too. What are the times you’ve received advice for starting blogs that say “use Google’s Google keywords planner in order to discover suitable niche keywords to focus on with your the content”? I’m sure I’ve given that advice before however I’m not convinced whether I’d be recommending it now. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Competitive Ranking
Google’s Keyword Planner gives each keyword you type in an ranking. It’s often an unambiguous high or low flag and doesn’t mean anything based on the way you would think. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
The majority of people I talk to about the ranking think it’s due to the issue of ranking content for this keyword. This is the way that many organic SEOs believe and what many paid marketers believe. This is also wrong. The truth is that the rank of competition is pertinent to the number of other companies bidding for this keyword. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Based on my personal experience that might be a little off however, the ranking of competition will be “low” basically regardless of how many companies are purchasing ads for that keyword, unless the bidders are so numerous to ensure that they are unable to compete and aren’t being able to have their ads even viewed. There’s more to the story however the reality isthat “low” could refer to keywords that don’t have any ads in place and keywords that have several bidders all at once. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
In addition, the rank of the keyword is not correlated with natural competition. Keywords with very high competition might not have a high-quality organic websites even though the keyword with a low level of competition may be a bit more competitive, with one or two established players that are hard to challenge. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Monthly Search Band
Another aspect that is brought to the fore with the word planner is the enormity of the magnitude of their ranges of volume. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
The majority of us depend on the tool to provide us with an estimation of the number of people who are searching for a certain term in a specific month. However, the range of results can be wildly different. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
The first thing to note is that Google examines the search engine’s performance over the course of each year, and then blends these numbers to determine the exact number reported. The result is that the average could vary by thousands of searches upwards or down. In reality, it’s such an untrue number that I wouldn’t advise taking decisions based on small variations between two terms. For instance If Keyword A has 150,000 searches however, Keyword B has 170,000, these two numbers are nearly enough that they are almost identical. Do not make any decisions with a margin by 25% or higher according to my experience. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
In addition, you’ll frequently encounter data that’s insensitive. Instead of stating “this keyword is used in 1,50,000 searches per month” you’ll see the typical volume of searches is listed in the range of “10,000-100,000”. What is that number? Where is that number? There’s a huge distinction between ten and one hundred thousand monthly searches and that can be a sign of a profitable or unsuccessful campaign.
It is known as the bucket of traffic. The buckets of traffic are generalized ranges of traffic Google divides keywords into according to the degree of closeness their sampled number corresponds within the interval of the bucket. If Google states that a keyword has 150,000 monthly average search volume however, it could be 140K or the 190K range, or what else. Moz conducted a study in the past and discovered 85 buckets divided logarithmically, with the biggest ones differing by up to 250,000 searches outside of the information. The details of the study in this article. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Data Variance
Another problem with the data of the keyword planner is the variation from other sources for information. Other sources of estimated volume of keywords for example, Google Trends, or even within Google Ads. Make a new Google Ad Group, and then make a single ad inside it that has a single keyword. Maximize your bid – since you’re not planning to launch the ads, but Google will provide you with an estimate of the amount of impressions you’ll see per day. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
An impression is when a user searches for a specific keyword. 100 estimated impressions will be a daily search volume of 100 or 3,000 per month. The math is correct until you examine the same keyword within the planner of keywords, and you will see an estimated monthly number of 10,000. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
There are many possible motives for this. It may be a highly seasonal search term. A phrase such as “Christmas Decorations” is likely to be in an extremely high volume during the months of November through December but will not be seen in June or July. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Google’s Keyword Planner is averaging and rounding data for an entire year however the daily impression estimates are more specific to the present day or week. The difference makes more sense however it doesn’t create trust in Google’s Keyword Planner. If you launch your ads hoping for 10,000 views per month and get only 3,000 views, you’re unlikely to be satisfied. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Keyword Grouping
The keyword planner can cluster “similar” terms, however Google isn’t always intelligent enough to know the appropriateness of certain keywords are appropriate to be placed together. We often imagine Google as a highly intelligent algorithms, which it certainly is however, it’s not enough to reverse-engineer completely any human intention that could be. Moz is a good example of this in an interactive Whiteboard Friday presentation. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
In the article, Rand identifies three keywords that Google considers to be the same , but that have distinct purposes. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
- ” Types of Light” – This keyword is likely to be related to physics. The user may be looking to understand the distinctions between visible light ultraviolet, infrared light and other kinds of light that they do not be aware of. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
- “Types of Lights” This is an additional specific query about the product. Users are likely to want to know more about various kinds of lighting, such as light bulbs or stand lamps, spotlights and so on.
- “Types of Lighting” This is a more expansive but still a useful product category search. Users might be searching to find industrial lights, lighting for the home, portable lighting, or even lighting for photography. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
However the three keywords share the same data on Google Ads. They don’t have the same users and the same intentions or even the identical organic results. The groupings aren’t intelligent enough or sufficient in terms of granularity to be useful. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Hidden Keywords
Another issue for the planner of keywords is because it is primarily concentrated on advertising paid for and paid advertising, it’s likely to overlook keywords that don’t have a commercial motives. It doesn’t matter whether the keyword has a million searches every day, when Google does not believe that users are using the keyword in order to buy or buy, they will not recommend it as a keyword suggestion. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
In this case, Google is mainly protecting its own interests. If you’re running paid ads for a phrase with low commercial value but large volume, you’ll receive a lot of views, but little clicks, and perhaps fewer conversions. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
If this happens, what do you believe is the cause? With the leading argument I’ve laid out you’re aware that this is the wrong choice of keywords however, many marketers don’t adhere to this reasoning. Instead, they think that it’s due to Google giving them poor low-quality traffic. They are furious with Google in their complaints over Google Ads online, or might even transfer their business to a different advertising network. Of course, the identical keywords perform just as badly elsewhere however, since our hypothetical marketing professional can perform flawlessly it proves the advertisers that advertising is an utter rip-off. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
It is evident when you employ any other tool that estimates the search volume for keywords, and then recommend the keywords you should be using to. Google can filter out keywords that it doesn’t wish to display, whereas other tools do not have any concerns. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
In my opinion I would say that this is Google employing the keyword planner to serve as a kind of tool for a beginner. They don’t need long-time marketers with lots of experience to rely on its estimation tools. They want you to set out to build your own knowledge, to determine what works for you, rather than using a few button presses to offer solutions to your advertisements. If you’re looking for that they say, you should hire an advertising manager instead. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Finding reliable data
Now you’ve likely convinced yourself that I’m telling that you should stay clear of the keyword planner. And that’s an excellent decision to make. However, I’ll say it is the case that the planner is much more efficient than I make it solid. Just make sure you use it in the correct way. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Do not use this keyword planner in any manner that considers its information as the gospel. You’ll be dissatisfied. Make sure you realize this: the Keyword Planner isn’t designed to be used to collect specific data. It’s created to provide estimates you can compare with other estimates that are similar. Averages of traffic and traffic buckets aren’t helpful when you’re switching advertisements from week-to-week do you think? However, they can provide an indication of whether a keyword is extremely low in volume, moderately high volume or has a higher volume of traffic. It is basically telling you two things that are: is the keyword relevant and has it been found through other advertisers? – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
Because the information you receive isn’t always 100% exact, I would never suggest employing the keywords planner to conduct organic research or to calculate figures. For instance, if already know that you have a 1- per cent percentage of conversions, you may be tempted to utilize the estimated keyword planner’s search volume to calculate the number of conversions and therefore earnings you can make from your advertisements. This is when using inaccurate data could cause everything to go wrong. Make sure you don’t take their data as source. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
If you’re looking for more precise information, you can obtain it from various places. I’ve hyperlinked to Moz several times in this article as well as you can make use of Moz’s Moz keyword Explorer to obtain more precise information. They collect data from a variety of sources in order to collect relevant information. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
If you’re not keen to make use of Moz or have exhausted your free search queries and don’t wish to pay for a professional account, there are several other tools. Ahrefs provides an similar tool for keyword searches that provides a wealth of details. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
If you’re not sure of the accuracy of any of the tools, you could make use of a variety of sources and tweak the data to be somewhat more precise. Screaming Frog has a great guide to doing this right here.
Alternately, you can take the keyword planner the utmost caution. It’s not impossible to use the data, it’s be considered an intangible source rather than specific data.If you’re even familiar with the Google ad system, chances are you’ve used keywords planner. It’s just one of the dozens of tools Google gives you to find different avenues to advertise effectiveness. – Accurate Google Keyword Estimates
It’s logical, isn’t it? Google would like you to be successful in your advertising campaign, as successful marketing results in more marketing investment and more revenue for Google. Offering tools that provide estimates of the relevant information is only one small benefit to these tools.
If you must rely on the information Google freely gives away however, there are some issues to be aware of. In particular, if using marketing strategies based on the data Google gives us via their keywords planner We want confirmation that the information is correct.
This is even more crucial considering how many marketers utilize their keyword planner to help guide not just their paid ads as well as their organic marketing too. What are the times you’ve received advice for creating a blog that says “use using the Google Keyword Planner to identify relevant niche keywords that you can focus on with your blog posts”? I’ve actually previously written this advice but I’m not certain that I’d recommend it now.
Ranking of Competition
Google’s keyword planner will give every keyword that you search with an score of competition. Most of the time, this is simply a binary high or low flag, but it does not really mean what you think it does.
A majority of the people I talk to about this ranking believe that it’s the challenge of ranking content using that keyword. This is what a lot of organic SEOs believe and even what many paid marketing experts think. This is also incorrect. In reality, the ranking of competitors is only related to the number other companies bidding for this keyword.
Based on my own experience and it might be a little off however, the ranking of competition will be “low” almost regardless of how many businesses buying ads targeting that keyword, unless the bidders are so numerous so that some of them are totally outbid and not being able to have their ads even a single time. There’s a little more nuance however the reality isthat “low” could refer to keywords that have no advertisements running, or keywords with several bidders all at once.
The most important thing to note is that the rank of the keyword isn’t a reflection of the organic market in any manner. Keywords that have significant competition may not have any high-quality organic websites even though keywords with lower competition may be a bit more competitive, with one or two established players that are hard to challenge.
Monthly Search Band
Another aspect that is brought to the fore with the word planner is the size of their volume ranges. amount of their ranges of volume.
The majority of us depend upon the keywords planner in order to provide us with an estimation of the number of people who are looking for a particular keyword during a particular month. The issue is that this number can fluctuate wildly.
In the beginning, Google analyzes search results over the course of the year and then averages all these numbers to arrive at the recorded amount. The result is that the average is subject to fluctuations of thousands of searches upwards or down. In reality, it’s such an untrue number that I wouldn’t advise taking decisions based on small variations between two keywords. For instance that if Keyword A has 150,000 searches and Keyword B has 170,000, these two numbers are nearly enough to be unrecognisable. Make decisions only with a difference of 25percent or greater according to my experience.
Additionally, you’ll come across data that’s insensitive. Instead of telling you that “this keyword gets one million monthly visits” you’ll find the search volume average is listed at “10,000-100,000”. Which one is it? What’s the source of that number? There’s a significant distinction between ten and one hundred thousand monthly searches and that can result in profitable ads or a unsuccessful campaign.
It is known as the funnel of traffic. These are the general categories of traffic Google divides keywords according to the extent to which their sampled value corresponds within the bucket’s range. If Google states that a keyword has 150,000 average monthly searches but it may actually be 140K or the 190K range, or what else. Moz conducted a study in the past and found 85 buckets which were divided logarithmically. some of the biggest variations ranging from 250,000 searches outside of the information. Learn more about the study in this article.
Variation in Data
Another problem with the data of the keyword planner is the variations from other sources for information. There are other sources of estimated volume of keywords like Google Trends, or even within Google Ads. Create a brand new Google Ad Group, and then create an advertisement inside it using a single keyword. Maximize your bid – since you’re not running these ads , but Google will provide you with an estimate of the number of impressions per day you’ll receive.
An impression is when a user searches for a specific keyword. 100 estimated impressions will be a daily search volume of 100 which is 3,000 for the month. The math is correct until you examine the same keyword using the Keyword Planner, and you will see an estimated monthly number of 10,000.
There are several possible reasons for this. It could be due to a seasonal search term. For instance, something similar to “Christmas Decorations” will have an extremely high volume during the months of November through December however, it won’t be a huge hit during June and July.
Google’s Keyword Planner is averaging and rounding the data over the entire year and the daily impression estimates are more specific to the present month or week. This makes more sense here however it doesn’t create trust in Google’s Keyword Planner. In the end, if you put your ads up hoping to get 10,000 views within a month and get 3000, you’re probably not going be content.
Keyword Grouping
The keyword planner can cluster “similar” keyword phrases, however Google isn’t always intelligent enough to know the appropriateness of certain keywords should be put together. We usually imagine Google as a highly sophisticated algorithmic device, and it certainly is however, it’s not enough to reverse-engineer completely any human intention that could be. Moz is a good example of this by presenting an interactive Whiteboard Friday presentation.
In the article, Rand identifies three keywords that Google considers to be identical, however, with very distinct meanings.
- ” Types of Light” – This keyword is likely to be related to physics. The user may be seeking out the distinctions in visible and ultraviolet light light, infrared, or any other types of light that they might not have heard of.
- “Types of Lights” This is an additional specific query about the product. Users are likely to want to learn about various kinds of lighting, such as lights or stand lamps, spotlights or any other.
- “Types of Lighting” This is more general but useful product category search. Users might be searching to find industrial lights, light fixtures for homes, lighting for portable use, or for photography.
However each of these keywords share the same data within Google Ads. They don’t have the same audience and the same intentions and the identical organic results. The groupings aren’t sufficient or sufficient in terms of granularity to be useful.
Hidden Keywords
Another issue in the use of this tool is since it’s heavily focused on advertising that is paid and paid advertising, it’s likely to not consider keywords which don’t carry a commercial motives. It doesn’t matter whether the keyword has a million searches per day, but when Google isn’t convinced that people are using the term for shopping or buy, they will not recommend it as a keyword suggestion.
In this instance, Google is mainly protecting its own interests. If you’re promoting paid ads on a specific keyword that has very minimal commercial purpose but large volume, you’re likely receive a lot of views, but little clicks, and perhaps less conversions.
If that’s the case, what do you suppose is the reason? With the leading reasoning I’ve provided you’ll know it’s not a good choice for a keywords, however, the majority of marketers do not take that approach. Instead, they think the problem is Google sending them bad traffic of low quality. They are angry with Google as well as complain over Google Ads online, or perhaps they decide to move their business to a different advertising network. Of course, the same keywords will perform exactly as badly elsewhere however, since our hypothetical marketing professional can achieve nothing wrong it proves the advertisers that advertising is frauds.
It is evident when you employ any other tool that estimates the volume of searches for keywords and suggest the keywords you should be using to. Google can filter out keywords they don’t want display, while other tools don’t have such reservations.
In my opinion is that this is Google employing the keyword planner to serve as a kind of tool for introducing people to the field. They don’t need people with years of experience to rely on its estimation tools. They want you to set out to build on your own research to discover the things that work by hand rather than relying on a handful of buttons to provide solutions for your ads. If you’re interested they say, then you should consider hiring an advertising manager instead.
Finding reliable data
You’ve likely convinced yourself that I’m telling that you should stay clear of the keyword planner. And that’s an excellent decision to make. However, I’ll say that the word planner is much more efficient than I make it plausible. Just make sure you use it in the correct way.
Don’t make use of Keyword planners in a manner which treats its data as the gospel. You’ll be dissatisfied. Be aware this: the Keyword Planner isn’t designed to be used to collect specific data. It’s created to provide estimates that can be compared to other similar estimates. The traffic buckets and annual averages aren’t helpful when you’re switching advertisements from week to week isn’t it? They can however give you an indication of whether a keyword has a low volume, moderately high volume or has a higher amount of traffic. It basically tells you two things whether the keyword is specific and have you identified from other marketing companies?
The information you collect isn’t always 100% exact, I would never suggest employing the keywords planner to conduct organic research or for estimates. For instance, if are aware that you have a one per cent percentage of conversions, you may be tempted by the estimated keyword planner’s search volume to estimate the number of conversions and therefore earnings you could earn from advertisements. This is the point where using inaccurate data could cause everything to go wrong. Make sure you don’t use their data as source.
If you’re looking for more accurate information, you can obtain it from various sources. I’ve included a link to Moz several times in this blog as well as you can make use of Moz’s Moz keyword search engine to obtain more precise information. They collect data from a variety of sources to gather relevant information.
If you’re not interested in make use of Moz or have completed your free searches and don’t wish to pay for a professional account, you could use several other tools. Ahrefs offers an very similar tool for keyword searches that provides a wealth of details.
If you aren’t sure about any of the tools, you could utilize a number of sources to modify the data to be somewhat more accurate. Screaming Frog offers a helpful guide to doing this right here.
You can also utilize the keyword planner with a big grain of salt. There’s nothing inherently wrong with the data. It should be considered an intangible source rather than specific data.
