Understanding Google's Adwords Tool

[Aminka Ozmun]

I notice that the more competition there is for a keyword, the less global monthly searches there are -- and vice-versa.

I would imagine that folks would want to compete for keywords which have more global monthly searches! What don't I understand here? I've tried a few different keywords now and this is the pattern of things.

And I was told there was supposed to be a column for the monetary value, in dollars, of these keywords. Where is it, please?


Thanks!

[mainstreetcm]

I have never noticed such a trend, in fact for most of my clients the more global searches the more competition. Of course there are other factors involved here, but for the most part this is what I've personally seen. I would ask what are you using to determine competition--because I have feeling you may be doing it incorrectly.

Now, for some bonus pointers. For starters, you need to be using the [EXACT] match result criteria almost always. If you are looking at the broad match you are getting an inaccurate estimate on how many times that keyword is searched.

When using [EXACT] match you are requesting the tool provide you with estimates for how many times the exact keyword is searched. This is crucial when it comes to finding keywords with high traffic. To use [EXACT] match once you are in tool and hit the SEARCH button look on the far left and you will see a "Match Types" section. Deselect Broad and select EXACT.

Finally, to get the tool to display the CPC monetary value you will need to be logged in and select the Approx. CPC box in the Columns drop-down menu.

[Aminka Ozmun]

Thanks, mainstreetcm!

Maybe it's the niche I was researching (I'm an aspiring author). Keywords like "romance" and "interracial romance" in Google's Adwords Tool showed that the meter for global monthly searches had an inverse relationship to the competitiveness meter!

[mainstreetcm]

Originally Posted by Aminka Ozmun

Thanks, mainstreetcm!

Maybe it's the niche I was researching (I'm an aspiring author). Keywords like "romance" and "interracial romance" in Google's Adwords Tool showed that the meter for global monthly searches had an inverse relationship to the competitiveness meter!

I figured you might be using that to calculate competitiveness. The bar displayed within the Keyword Tool itself is only displaying the estimated competition for that keyword on the Google Adwords network itself.

It has nothing to do with the competition of keyword in regards to where you can rank organically, which is the competition I originally thought you were speaking of.

[Agota]

Just a quick question on the same topic:

What number of monthly global and local searches indicates a high demand?

[Emini Trading Expert]

Let me see if I can take a stab at this one.

High number of competing pages low number of global searches.
This could be a couple of things. A few things that you might want to take a look at is this trending highly for an area? More than likely this won't be the case but is something that could be possible?

Key words that are to general. Google will often assign value to keywords that are related to the key word even if they are not directly trying to compete for it. Good example, a site that is focusing on stocks, stock trading, online trading, etc could have some great info on "forex". Thus Google could rank them for forex or they may have several keywords that have "forex" in the title.

Another thing could be that someone that does not understand key word research will attempt to rank their site under Meta Keywords for the high level keyword. In the above example "forex, stocks, online trading", etc.

What mainstreecm said is very true, you can eliminate most of the keywords by using [Keyword] or "Keyword" the later is for phrase match.

I have seen the trend for this many times. I have made the mistake early on thinking that the more searches was better. When it comes to SEO you are looking for keywords that convert to buyers. Not all are created equal. One challenge of recent is that traditional SEO has become very difficult. Ever since Google released "Panda" the game has changed.

If you are looking to build up traffic to your site, content beats SEO 9x out of 10. Also social media has been included into SEO rankings, but that is another story. Hope this helped.

[lycan]

1. Google's "monthly search" numbers are false.
2. The more targeted the keyphrase, the more likely it is to convert into revenue for the advertiser. That is why there is more competition, they are more valuable on a per click basis.

[Aminka Ozmun]

Originally Posted by mainstreetcm

I figured you might be using that to calculate competitiveness. The bar displayed within the Keyword Tool itself is only displaying the estimated competition for that keyword on the Google Adwords network itself.

It has nothing to do with the competition of keyword in regards to where you can rank organically, which is the competition I originally thought you were speaking of.

Wow, thanks for the info...but my understanding is that that's how SBI! looks at it, what I've described. Of course, I could be misunderstanding them, too!

Anyway, I guess I better consult Google's own manual on this...and thanks again, mainstreetcm!

[Aminka Ozmun]

Originally Posted by Emini Trading Expert

I have seen the trend for this many times. I have made the mistake early on thinking that the more searches was better. When it comes to SEO you are looking for keywords that convert to buyers. Not all are created equal. One challenge of recent is that traditional SEO has become very difficult. Ever since Google released "Panda" the game has changed.

If you are looking to build up traffic to your site, content beats SEO 9x out of 10. Also social media has been included into SEO rankings, but that is another story. Hope this helped.

Thanks, Emini Trading Expert!

Yes, that does help, especially knowing that in the end, relevant content is what matters. I don't really like thinking about SEO anyway; I'd rather just write good stuff for my site!

Thanks for the ref to "Panda," too...didn't realize a search-engine revolution was under way! I guess I'll just stick to writing and leave the promotion to inbound links from eZineArticles or something....

[Aminka Ozmun]

Originally Posted by lycan

1. Google's "monthly search" numbers are false.
2. The more targeted the keyphrase, the more likely it is to convert into revenue for the advertiser. That is why there is more competition, they are more valuable on a per click basis.

1. How so?

2. You mean long-tail, niche? I understand that these are more likely to convert, but not sure why these should have more "competition" as they are, by definition of being long-tail and niche, not highly sought-after! (Yes, I'm probably getting caught up on the semantics of all this....)

[DeniseG]

Has anyone used adknowledge as a alternative to Google Adwords? I was reading about it, had never heard of it before, and was wondering if I'd get a better ROI or lower cost per bid.

[lycan]

Originally Posted by Aminka Ozmun

2. You mean long-tail, niche? I understand that these are more likely to convert, but not sure why these should have more "competition" as they are, by definition of being long-tail and niche, not highly sought-after! (Yes, I'm probably getting caught up on the semantics of all this....)

They are highly sought after. It is just that it is harder for the people seeking them to find them. It is much easier to put up an ad for "golf" than "golf hook cure". But the people putting up ads for "golf" go broke fast, while the people putting up ads for "golf hook cure" make money and so have more to invest in advertising and in searching for opportunities.

[mainstreetcm]

Originally Posted by lycan

1. Google's "monthly search" numbers are false.

Far from it. Google gives you an estimated search count, which more often than not is right in the ball park.

Originally Posted by lycan

2. The more targeted the keyphrase, the more likely it is to convert into revenue for the advertiser. That is why there is more competition, they are more valuable on a per click basis.

Not necessarily true. Keyword valuation really boils down to why the user is entering the word or phrase into the search engine. Are they looking for more information or looking to buy. Long tails are (were?) easier to rank for because of less competition for highly searched keywords.

Generally speaking long tails have little to no competition, which makes them attractive. However, if your long-tail draws an info-seeking crowd than its market value will be lower than a long-tail that is a buyer keyword.

[splok]

Originally Posted by lycan

1. Google's "monthly search" numbers are false.

Originally Posted by mainstreetcm

Far from it. Google gives you an estimated search count, which more often than not is right in the ball park.

False seems to imply that they're intentionally wrong. I'm not sure about the intentionally part, but they can definitely be wrong (or at least so out of date or based on such a small sample that they might as well be wrong).

I've had a site ranking #1 for a keyword with an exact match search volume of 30k+ for about a year (yes, [exact], not broad). Want to guess how many visitors it actually gets per month? About 30, heh.

Originally Posted by lycan

2. The more targeted the keyphrase, the more likely it is to convert into revenue for the advertiser.

Originally Posted by Aminka Ozmun

2. You mean long-tail, niche? I understand that these are more likely to convert, but not sure why these should have more "competition" as they are, by definition of being long-tail and niche, not highly sought-after!

Targeted doesn't necessarily mean long-tail, though it often does.

Someone searching for [Ford Taurus] might want to buy one, but instead, maybe they want to know how to fix theirs, to find a pic of one, to read a review of one, etc. etc. However, you can be pretty clear of the intent if someone searches for [where to buy a Ford Taurus in Miami, FL].

To illustrate targeting, the first term probably gets a few million more searches per month, but if you had a Ford dealership in Miami, FL, which keyword would you pay more for?

Also, keep in mind that the adwords is Google's advertising tool, so it's showing you competition based on people wanting to advertise for that word, not rank for it. Those are often correlated of course, but not always.

The great thing about adwords and long-tails is that they're generally cheaper to bid on, and you can bid on tons of them since they're low volume and you only get charged when someone clicks. Oddly enough, with plenty of advertisers doing this, you can get very high competition on keywords with very low search volume, but then, not many people would bother trying to rank a site for a term with such low volume.