July 17, 2008 | Thursday

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Google Keyword Tool – now with search volume data!

By Duncan Fisher - Head of Paid Search in Latitude Publications |Articles |Marketing |PPC |Search Engines |Google |Search Expertise |Search Technology

At last, Google have finally listened to our requests and provided us with a tool that can actually be used for forecasting purposes. Its predecessor, the Google Traffic estimator was a complete waste of time with relation to forecasting future search volumes as it provided such wildly inaccurate data. This new release from Google is actually fairly accurate.

We have done some initial analysis against our own client base and on specific key terms have found the Google search volumes were only 17% higher on average. This difference may sound a lot but believe me it isn’t. Below is a screenshot of the new tool in action.

The only down side of this tool is that is based on a monthly average for the last 12 months and does not offer any seasonality throughout the year. This is where the skill of the search marketer will come into play, with their experience in relevant sectors being invaluable in understanding different seasonality trends. This is another tool that the ppc specialist can add to their belt in helping them forecast and plan budget management on campaigns more effectively.