Google Search Volume Disparities
-
Hello,
I have been researching search volumes for awhlie now for key terms related to my industry, as well as working towards better rankings for those terms that have higher search volumes using on-page optimization, external link anchor texts, etc. The only tool I use for this research is the Google keyword tool.
Today when I was looking at the keyword difficulty for a particular term (first time I
had used this tool in my SEOMOZ account), I saw how the search volumes are listed for both broad and exact match from Google's API. As I said I've based my strategies around results from Google's keyword tool, but now I see that, for a particular term that I have been focused on, there are 15,000 searches for "broad" match and 91 for "exact" match. I just checked the keyword tool at Google and there is apparently no way to set a keyword up to search for its "exact" match search statistics. Is this only available using their API?I'm on the floor here. Does this mean I've been optimizing for a term that has less than
a hundred searches a month as opposed to 15,000? If so, can anyone here reccommend any search volume tool that can deliver a higher degree of accuracy so I can make better
judgements regarding how I will spend my time and effort regarding SEO (and in fact,
to some degree, my budget for PPC)?Any help provided will be much appreciated.
Mike
-
Glad it helped Mike. Lots of theories and beliefs about long tail. What I've found on several client sites is follow these rules to increase the number of long tail phrases you're found for each page:
- Designate two primary phrases, 2 or three words each
- Designate two or three highly related secondary phrases, 2, 3 or 4 words each
- Seed the page Title & h1 with the two primaries
- Seed the URL with one of the primaries
- Integrate each of the primaries into the content area descriptive text at least twice each in exact match sequence.
- Integrate each of the secondaries into the content area descriptive text at least once in exact match sequence.
- Use partials of those phrases at least once each in the content area descriptive text
- Of course the more content you write, the more you can seed phrases, but only where it makes sense to readers.
- Write the content in a high quality way that really sounds human
- Tightly group pages of content based on phrase relationships
When I follow these guidelines, I typically see 30% or more increase in total phrases a site is found for. Of course it's not exact science since there are so many factors in SEO. But doing it this way, where the content really comes across naturally written can result in exponential long tail phrases you didn't intentionally try to focus on figuring out beforehand.
-
I found the section in the keyword tool were you can select the match type. I use firefox/mac however and it does not show up unless you first enter something into the "include terms" section there in that left hand column. I noticed on firefox/pc it is there automatically. Thanks for pointing that out to me. Analytics has always been a weak spot in my efforts, I shall work on that. Thanks for the advice and the quick response Alan.
I also need to learn more about long tail phrases and their implications for SEO. Can you recommend any good resources that could tell me more about that?
Mike
-
mreisbeck
In the Google Keyword Tool screen, below the "categories" choices, there's an option box on the left sidebar to choose broad, exact, phrase or a combination of those.
That being said, every situation is unique - so what Google reports as a low volume exact match may be highly valuable if the majority of people searching for that phrase do so in broad phrases or "long tail" phrases. So don't be so quick to completely discount a phrase just from that data. What do your visitor conversion statistics tell you? Call to action and conversion tracking data is vital in helping make the best decisions in this kind of situation.
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Google Keyword Planner - Just PPC?
Morning Mozzers, Please help a layman learn. This is probably a silly question but when I look at keyword search data in Google's Keyword Planner Tool and I see "COMPETITIVE" or "LOW" am I looking at all searches inclusive of organic and PPC? I have been a bit confused by logging in through an Adwords account? At the moment to get my keyword research I am using a combination of Moz, Webmaster Tools, Keyword Planner. I have had a look at the free version of SEMrush which looks really cool. Is my approach right using these tools? Am I covering all bases / missing key opportunities? Regards Ben
Keyword Research | | Bendall0 -
Acquiring the US Monthly Search for Specific Keywords
My client was handed a spreadsheet with Specific Keyword Data listing Competition (High/Medium/Low) and US Monthly Searches and wanted a similar spreadsheet generated for their industry keywords. Does anyone know how I can generate this data within Moz?
Keyword Research | | JeremyMonster0 -
Where are the Google Search Volumes in Keyword Analysis
I just joined and started by doing some keyword analysis, For some reason although I select "On Google", the tool only reports Bing Search Volume (Exact match). I am not that interested in Bing - not sure how to display the Google search stats
Keyword Research | | jbendiner0 -
Google search not grouping keywords properly
When is a 'Repair' not a 'Repair'...? When it's a "Service" (... cue rapturous applause and laughter!) We run an air conditioning website and we have recently noticed that Google is assuming the keyword "Repair" also means "Service". For example if you type in (in the UK) "Air Conditioner Repair" the first page of Google it puts the word "Service" in bold. E.g: 1. Check this before calling for air conditioner service - YouTube 2. Halfords Autocentres| Air Conditioning Service for all car makes and 3. Service Your Air Conditioner for Summer Comfort « Sustainable Now... why do I find this annoying. I had a amicable dispute with a colleague last year before all of this happened. I noticed that our Google Adwords campaign was showing a high bounce rate for our /air_conditioning_service page. He explained to me that if someone wanted and 'air conditioning service' it was because they wanted their air conditioning fixed / cleaned etc. My argument was that a fair few of the people bouncing off were actually looking for a company to provide a service (of air conditioning) that they were looking for. We split the page in half (half linking through to a repair page and the other half to a page about the service that we offer) and ran a test against the original. I was only expecting a small percentage of people to click on the new option we had added to the page, however, the difference was far greater than ever expected. It was a 60/40% split in favour of the new option not people wanting their aircon repaired/serviced! So in conclusion... very annoyingly, Google is recognising my service page rather than my far more relevant repair page, and there seems to be nothing I can do about it (other than make my service page more relevant) Rant over... but has anyone else experienced anything similar? Is there anything you can do about it?
Keyword Research | | trickshotric0 -
What is the time frame for the search volume on a Keyword?
Let's say I search for AP automation and the search volume comes back as 210, where did that number come from? Is this how many searches by day, by week, year to date, etc.?
Keyword Research | | SheriGolla0 -
Am I Doomed with Low Volume Keywords?
I've been pursuing an internet startup for over a year now. We've figured a lot of things out along the way and even managed to start making some modest revenue ~$3,000/month. We're just now starting to dig into SEO and I'm realizing that most of our keywords aren't very high volume. The best have 1,000 local searches per month (exact match) with most being a couple hundred local searches. I'm worried that I've picked a market that's too small, but I don't have the SEO experience to know if this is normal or not. Most of my keywords are rated 'highly competitive' and also are stacked with CPC ads upon Google search. I'd love to know what others' experience with keyword volume is and if I'm just overreacting on limited knowledge. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | TBiz0 -
Article rewrite tools: do they really do the job to meet google's requirements?
Dear all, I need to produce around 100 articles. I came across several tools which replace some of the words with synonyms. 1- How many words does it need to replace out of 100 words? 2- Which tools do you recommend? 3- Human re writers seems to use the same tools. Which human re writer company do you suggest? 4- Is there any content writing company you suggest? Thanks in advance
Keyword Research | | sarenausa0 -
Duplicated string in the google keyword tool
Is it possible that the google keyword tool is wrong? It's the first time I realize that for many keywords the google keyword tool reports a big volume of searchs for a keyword as if it were tiped two times. In some cases, as the attached image, it's the same volume, in other cases is even bigger the one with the duplicated string What should I think of that, that, "champagne champagne" has really 4 million searchs? if champagnechampagne.com were an available domain name, should it be a good idea for a microsite? Thank you! t9Jwn.png
Keyword Research | | gvnns0