Changes at Raven Tools!
-
I received notification today that Raven tools will lose it's Adwords API, see below:
"Raven received notice from Google late last week that we would lose access to its AdWords API. Without API access, Raven can't provide Google AdWords research, management and reporting to our customers"
This is a massive blow as we use Raven to track progress for clients and also to run keyword research etc. Does anybody that knows Raven have a suitable alternative?
Thanks...
-
another update to this. Adwords was restored to Raventools today.
-
another update to this. Adwords was restored to Raventools today.
-
We've only received notice that we can't use it, even if we pay. I suspect that many other tool providers like us and Raven also had access revoked, but I can't say for certain.
-
Satisfying the shareholders at any cost really helps to simplify the decision making process considerably. Ever since the Google Wave debacle a few years back, it seems that everything I've seen new and innovative from Google has been less 'cool for techie' and more 'good idea to make more profit'.
It seems we can count the Adwords API as yet another project headed to join the scrapheap in the Google Labs junkyard. Useful for some but not profitable enough to keep around.
-
The EVIL GOOGLE trend continues...
They're acting this way because they can and they will continue to push down competitors until the government steps in. This is what happens when a company becomes a monopoly.
-
There is more from Raven on their blog today. https://raventools.com/blog/update-google-adwords-availability-in-raven/
Interesting what they are saying (or not saying) about other people having access.
-
Thanks Rand...
It's amazing that a company the size of Google with the monopoly that it has in most markets can operate in this way.
-
Thanks for the update Rand.
They're hard to communicate with, inconsistent, and don't have any guarantees, even though we pay...
In a weird sort of way it'd good to know that they treat customers of all sizes with an even hand
-
A few folks on this thread asked how this might affect SEOmoz. As you've probably noticed over the past couple months, our AdWords API and data access has also been intermittently down (and is now down again). This affects the keyword difficulty tool (though not the difficulty scores, as those don't use AdWords data), and it affects the keyword pages in the web app.
The basic story is that we're expecting Google not to give access back, but you never know. They're hard to communicate with, inconsistent, and don't have any guarantees, even though we pay for this data. Thus, my best guess would be that they'll be shutting it off for lots of organic tool providers (like Moz & Raven). If you want AdWords search volume data, you'll probably have to go direct.
Our plan in the short term is to start using data from Bing, and then eventually to see if we can build a good metric that correlates well with search volume as reported by AdWords (like we do with PageRank->MozRank or Page Authority->Google Rankings). It's gonna be a slog, but this appears to be how Google wants it.
-
Do we know yet if this is Raven specific or if this is something that will affect all tools which use the API? Moz - what are you hearing?
I'm naturally very suspicious of everything Google does and this seems like they're moving to eliminate third party reporting services. Thoughts?
-
Thanks Mat for a copy of their email.
-
I used Raven before they added lots of adwords tools and I'll use them if they go. I still think it is one of the best value toolsets out there. I say this as I don't want people to think I'm knocking a great product. However hereis the main part of the mail that went out:
--- start ---
Raven received notice from Google late last week that we would lose access to its AdWords API. Without API access, Raven can't provide Google AdWords research, management and reporting to our customers. There's no short-term solution that will allow Raven to keep its AdWords API access and not affect other tools important to many of our customers.That's why, beginning at 11:59 p.m CST (GMT-5) on this Wednesday, Nov. 14,** Raven Internet Marketing Tools will no longer offer AdWords authentication, tools or reporting data.**First, I want to stress that your Google AdWords accounts and campaigns will not be affected. You can still log in to https://adwords.google.com to manage those accounts and campaigns. This change only affects Raven’s ability to sync your AdWords data in our platform.Second, I want to apologize. We know that this is more than an inconvenience to you. We’re urgently researching alternate data to integrate with Raven, but we don’t have specifics or a timetable to share yet.Since we will no longer be able to provide AdWords reports, I strongly suggest that you export or report any Google AdWords metrics before the cut-off date. For step-by-step instructions on how to download or report on your Google AdWords metrics to date, please see this article from our Knowledge Base.-- end --They then went on to list the exact parts that will be affected - tool by tool and their plan for tackling each.
The impact on keyword manager and serp tracker are bad for me (particularly as these are two areas that I think they do much better than seomoz). I hope that they will find alternative, credible, data sources for those.
-
I did not see that email come in. But that's a big change. What does Raven have to say about it ? Any other vendors using Adwords API facing similar issues ? Knock Knock Moz team.
-
Oh crap, I'm glad I checked the Q&A today as I didn't event receive an email from Raven about this crucial change. This will obviously impact their reporting functionality and take away from their core value of having everything (adwords, analytics, social) available via the one login...
-
Exactly my thoughts...I haven't heard anything from SEOMoz so I can only assume that it's Raven specific, but that would be a big issue for Raven!
-
Received this today as well, just as I was leaving the office. Weird. Does this mean that Google are changing their API terms and everyone is going to have similar problems, or I wonder if it is specific to Raven.
I don't use them for PPC management, but they're still useful tools to have.
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
-
Keyword tool suggestions??
Hello, What does everyone use as a good keyword tool for keyword research? I previously used Google's, but would like something better than what its become. Thanks!
Keyword Research | | CHECOM0 -
How do you compare results using different tools?
We are looking at SEO as ways of promoting our online flip page travel magazine but its really difficult to distinguish the good from the bad and the downright ugly in terms of agencies to use. For example we are proposing to use an SEO agency who have come up with a long list of interesting keywords. The problem is that the degree of competitiveness which is listed alongside each keyword varies dramatically from the results I achieved by keying in the same keywords into the moz keyword tool. The agency says their results are achieved by using Google tools. Any advice on what to do would be really welcome. The website is www.eurotravelmag.com and the flip page magazine can be reached here: www.eurotravelmag.com/current Thanks David
Keyword Research | | davidgjacobs0 -
Why do small changes in keyword phrasing have such big SERP impacts?
I am trying to better understand why some of my pages rank well and some don't rank at all. I've discovered that slight changes to how the key phrase is typed into Google can have dramatic effects on the results. Why is this? And how should I interpret it or use it? I understand that some phrases will be more competitive than others, but that doesn't seem to explain the variances entirely. For example, http://traveltipsthailand.com/phuket/best-bachelor-hotels-in-phuket/ (which is SEO optimised for the long-tail phrase "bachelor hotels in Phuket" and "girl-friendly bachelor hotels in Phuket") ranks #1 or #2 for the key phrase "bachelor hotels phuket", but if I modify the phrase slightly to "bachelor hotels IN phuket" it drops to #12 (page 2) with less relevant competitors (like "Bachelor hotels in Chiang Mai") getting in ahead of it. Likewise, if I search on "best bachelor hotels phuket" (the URL phrase of the page) it is #1 or #2 again, but if I modify the search phrase to "best bachelor hotels IN phuket", my SERP drops to #13. If I use the longer-tail key phrase "girl-friendly bachelor hotels in phuket" the results are even more dramatic. I rank #5 for that phrase in the SERPs with or without "IN" in the search phrase. But if I remove "bachelor" from the key phrase and just search on "girl-friendly hotels in phuket" my page drops right off the SERP radar. Somewhere above #200 I think. Would love to get a better understanding of what influences these changes if anyone really knows. Is it just Goovoodoogle or is there a logical explanation? 51c0d097f1c8d9-81984651 51c0d11688af68-43859477
Keyword Research | | Gavin.Atkinson0 -
Google changes my title in search results randomly, any idea why?
hi all, i recently noticed google changing the title tag of one of my pages in search results for certain keywords... I've done a bit of a search and see its not uncommon, however from what i can tell they usually change the title if it is too long, or they seem to change the branding location etc... In my case they are litterally adding key words to it... Example - See Image 1 - This is my main keyword - the title displays correctly See Image 2 - Another keyword - see how google has added "irrelevant" keywords to the title Any ideas why this happens? fr0PIK7.jpg sv6zWOu.jpg
Keyword Research | | isntworkdull0 -
Keyword Analysis Tool
Can someone please enlighten me on the Keyword Analysis tool Matrix. Does Domain Linking refer to the number of links back to that domain as a whole? Also why is it that a page with a lower page ranking can be way ahead of one with a domain ranking that is way higher or vice-a -versa? What is a good number to go after? what is actually attainable? Thanks
Keyword Research | | nooneoconnor0 -
Google Keyword Tool - Competition - How does it compare to SEOMoz Keyword Difficulty?
Hi, Many times, when I look up a keyword in google using their Keyword Tool, the competition might be low or medium, but, it doesn't seem close to the keyword difficulty on SEOMoz. For example, I looked up fantasy sports. It's low competition on Google. I thought, wow, that's amazing. How can that be when it's so popular? Huge search volume, low competition. Then, SEOMoz says 76% difficulty. It sort of shatters my enthusiasm all of a sudden. Maybe I have to change the order of how I look at it 🙂 What is the difference that's going on? What would be considered low keyword difficulty on SEOMoz? How about medium and high? I know someone might argue that for some guru, what's hard for one person isn't hard for the guru, but, for the average webmaster who does some seo, uses SEOMoz, and some other SEO tools, is there some general breakdown? Thanks.
Keyword Research | | webtarget0 -
Keyword Difficulty Tool --------- Do I Need Any Other Kw Research Tool
NOTE: Lost on how to use this keyword difficulty tool, what is the objective of this tool - I am using micro niche finder which tells me how difficult a kw will be to rank for based on backlinks to that kw phrase ( ANY TRAINING VIDEOS ON SEOMOZ FOR THIS TOOL ) Need what is the quick takeaway of the use and benefit of this tool Is this kw research tool on seomoz Similar or Differeent to market samari or google free kw research adwords tool ? If it is similar to wordtracker or google free adwords research tool then how is it similar and then how does it differ ? I guess what I am trying to gather where does it get its data from wordtrakcer have their own unique data it pulls from different data centers from the various different search engines if I remember correctly ... Just ran the report offered at keyword difficulty and was asked compare these 10 top to a website address so I put mine the box there hope I did the right thing if not then what i did wrong !!!!!
Keyword Research | | helpwanted0 -
What keyword research tools do you recommend to help with SEO?
We are looking for a keyword research tool to help with our SEO efforts for our ecommerce site. We sell food gifts and are looking for a tool to help us identify which keywords we should go after. Beyond Google's free tool - what tools would you recommend? We are willing to pay for a tool.
Keyword Research | | agolomb1