Yesterday Google updated their keyword tool and marketers are beginning to lick their chops in the SEO and Pay Per Click world.
But are they sizzling the steak too fast? Is this Google Keyword Tool just another inflated piece of hype or what? It’s a bit too early to actually give definitive data, but all signs appear that this is a good thing.
Of course my pal Ed Dale’s “Mind Has Been Blown!”, which is a common occurrence lately. But who can blame him with all the cool stuff coming out each and every week on the internet. The net changes faster then a infants diaper.
One guy who I really pay attention to for this kind of stuff is Jerry West. He made a guest blog post on John Cow’s blog about his take on the issue. Jerry really knows his stuff, and tests way beyond what the average marketer does.
His results? Well, he said the numbers appear to be inflated by about 2 times. Keep in mind, it’s still very early and I’ll be waiting it out before coming to any definitive conclusions.
Inflated or not, this tool still provides some very valuable data. It’s definitely not going to be as unreliable as the Overture Keyword Tool in my opinion as I think Google is much more on the ball. However, I think many people are going to end up wasting a lot of time trying to optimize for the WRONG phrases because of this tool.
Why?
Because they don’t do PPC or Pay Per Click first. Simply relying on the data that Google gives out and attempting to game the organic search results is a big mistake in my opinion. Here’s why… You need to test the “CONVERSION RATE” of that keyword before putting time and effort into organic SEO.
And the best way to test that conversion rate super fast is through running “Google Adwords”. You can get your data in a matter of days before wasting all your time with laborious search engine optimization. But most people are afraid of PPC, or can’t afford it.
It would be a shame to spend a bunch of time building links, creating Hub Pages, Squidoo lenses, and other web2.0 properties on a phrase that still doesn’t convert. And Google won’t give you that data with the new keyword tool. You gotta test it out yourself, or have some killer inside information.
Even my pal John Reese will tell you to test this stuff with PPC FIRST! Find out what is working, then go after the free side of Google. Not doing so can waste a bunch of time, effort, and money, because let’s face it, TIME IS MONEY.
So, it will be interesting to see how this new Google Keyword Tool turns out. I have a lot of faith in Google and their tools and am excited to see the developments with this. Any more data has to be good, and Google is in the game of giving relevant info. That’s pretty much their motto.
The internet is sure moving fast, so buckle up, because I have a feeling lots of marketers are going to be breaking some speed limits on the information super highway during the next few weeks.
Chow,
J-Mo
Great feedback Jmo. I’ve always liked the quick results of PPC myself, and have just recently been getting into the seo game…. it’s a lot more work!
Didn’t Ed say that position 1 get’s 42% of the keyword traffic? Using my incredible math skills that would make the 2 times bloat fairly accurate, wouldn’t it?
What’s the best PPC tool you recommend at this time to get your ad higher click through rates? ( . . . so that you can then lower your PPC bids down to a reasonable amount)
Also, any recommendations for the best, most updated, most relevant PPC educational product?
Uncle Mo-Fo…
Excellent reference…I guess I gotta pay attention more to my Google Adwords account 🙂
Got something else to test now.
Joseph Ratliff
Author of The Profitable Business Edge 2
You are right always test with AdWords first. There is nothing worse than spending the time building a site, linking etc and getting a bunch of traffic…that doesn’t buy.
Of course that’s *never* happened to me I’ve just heard about other people wasting their time like that.
Doug
Great call J-Mo, I don’t know how I missed that yesterday, thanks for the update.
Your dead on about testing with ppc too, I learned that lesson awhile ago, never trust the tools %100, you have to test for yourself, always.
Thanks J-Mo
Cheers
Testing is the key. Most of my profit comes from words that don’t show up on the Google tool. Just think. It’s a tool. Use it like one. I use a tool to inflate my tires, not drive me to the bank.
Guest post on JohnCow without the “h” 😉
Hey John,
Thanks for the heads up. Been reading “Chow’s” blog lately and it got stuck in my head.
Change made!
Thanks for stopping by!
Jason
Jason –
This is great advice. I’d love to read a post on some of your own PPC ad techniques if you wouldn’t mind revealing them. You said on UStream that you only use one keyword per ad, is that correct?
I’ve been studying Perry Marshall but I find it a little confusing. There are just SO MANY options for testing and tweaking.
Yep Kelly,
One keyword per ad, including the “quotes” version, and [bracket] version too.
So that’s actually 3 keywords.
Then you want that phrase in the ad itself, and on the landing page as well.
My advice is just start slow. Truthfully, I suck at Adwords, I’m just good at marketing stuff. So I tend to get away with lazy stuff that most may fail on.
I’m a horrible person to swipe or mimic when it comes to Adwords, and even Copywriting at times.
Cheers,
Jason
Jason, this is horrible!
On Google’s Keyword Tool, there’s a keyword with an approx. search vol. of 1000 in june, and an average search vol. of 1300. Not bad huh? Not until you bid on that particular keyword to find that its impression over a span of 2 days is 1… Friggin’ ONE! This is just ONE of several discrepancies in keyword search volume that I can easily pluck off from my Adwords campaign.
I would like to see some serious testing against this microsoft commercial intent tool too. I recall Frank Kern ranting about it. Looks good — it could disappear I guess. Do you know of any testing against this ?
http://adlab.microsoft.com/Online-Commercial-Intention/Default.aspx
Google’s tool are great…sometimes you just need to find the ‘perfect’ way to use their tools to yield good results or tell you something you didn’t see before.
Yep – don’t trust it,
I’m looking at my Google analytics traffic (and adwords impression data) and the numbers WAY down on what the keyword tool says. Like, 650 impressions, where-as the google keyword tool says it should be more like 22,500! That’s almost 38 times different.
Chris at Reseo