Moz Q&A is closed.
After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.
Search volume discrepancies between keyword tools
-
I'm feeling like I'm basing all my research time on tools that I cannot necessarily trust.
Between Google keyword planner, Keywords everywhere chrome extension, and Moz keyword explorer, I'm getting wildly different results on 2 simple keywords related to colleges with baking & pastry arts degrees.
"baking college", "baking colleges"
So Keyword planner won't give me any search volume for those 2 words, I don't even see them in the results. Instead, it decides I really meant "baker college" which has 33,100 global searches. I tried telling it use only closely related terms, but it keeps giving me "baker college" and refuses to show me the terms I asked for. Stubbornly useless.
Keywords everywhere says both of these keywords bring in 33,100 searches. It does not tell me those searches were for "baker college." Totally misleading.
Moz keyword explorer says baking college as 0-10 volume, baking colleges has 101-200 volume. So at least it's not trying to give me "baker college" numbers. Perhaps I can trust this, but it's not convenient to upload hundreds of various keywords at a time to pull the volume numbers like I do with the other tools.
With Keyword planner making assumptions and grouping unrelated terms together, and Keywords everywhere using those numbers without pointing out the assumptions, I feel like I can't trust anything without taking time to dig into the discrepancies, which is impossible with hundreds of keywords.
Do you know of any good search volume tools that don't force or hide assumptions?
Thanks.
-
Hi there,
Thanks for the question! I can certainly speak to Keyword Explorer's numbers and how we arrived there. We use a number of sources for our volume data, including Keyword Planner, but oftentimes you will see large discrepancies because our data goes through a disambiguation process. As you noticed, Google Keyword Planner currently bundles similar keywords into one overall volume metric. Most people want specific data rather than a grouped number, so we strive to separate out the individual keyword volumes. You can read more about that here: https://moz.com/blog/google-keyword-unplanner-clickstream-data-to-the-rescue
The trouble is that often times you will have one keyword that is responsible for upwards of 95% of the traffic. So, when the data is separated out, it makes the less-trafficked keywords look suspiciously low when in fact their traffic volume is more accurate in our tool.
We have a few additional articles that discuss our volume data compared to Keyword Planner:
https://moz.com/blog/google-keyword-planner-dirty-secretshttps://moz.com/blog/moz-keyword-explorer-vs-google-keyword
I hope that helps clarify things!
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
-
Why keywords have zero data for UAE?
I have searched for food delivery keyword for the United Arab Emirates, EN, and AR. Monthly volume has no data whereas difficulty, organic and priority has figures. When I change the country to US; monthly volume has more data. Can you explain; how can I use your service?
Moz Bar | | Twenzy1 -
Are we actually getting accurate data on keyword volumes from Moz (or other sources)?
I have a client who does patio furniture repair and restoration. When performing keyword research in Moz for terms like "patio furniture repair" I see that only 11-50 people in the entire US are searching for this term according to the Moz data. However, running an Adwords campaign currently and our top keyword is the phrase match for "patio furniture repair" which has generated over 100 clicks in just a couple of months in ONE county. Is there a better way to research more accurate results on search volume estimates? This makes organic SEO and keyword targeting hard! Thanks, Ricky
Moz Bar | | RickyShockley1 -
What is a Good Keyword Volume Score?
Hi All! Continuing my series of discussions about the various keyword scores we use here at Moz (previously: Keyword Difficulty & Keyword Opportunity)... Let's move on to Volume. Volume in Moz's tools is expressed in a range, e.g. Bartending Certification has volume of 201-500. These ranges correspond to data we have suggesting that in an average month, that keyword is searched for a minimum of X to a maximum of Y (where X-Y is the volume range). We use clickstream data as well as data from Google AdWords and then some PPC AdWords campaigns we run and have access to when we build the models for our volume data. As such, we've got very high confidence in these numbers -- 95%+ of the time, a given keyword's monthly search volume on Google will fall inside that range. If you want to see all the nitty gritty details, check out Russ Jones post on Moz's Keyword Volume and how we calculate it. As far as a "good" volume score -- higher is usually better, as it means more demand, but lots of keywords with low volume scores can also add up to strong traffic when combined, and they may be more relevant. Capturing exactly the audience you want that also wants you is what SEO is all about. p.s. When Keyword Explorer or Moz Pro gives you a "no data" or "unknown" volume number, it may just mean we haven't collected information from our clickstream providers or AdWords crawls, not that the keyword has no volume (though it sometimes means that, too, we just don't know yet). One way to verify - see if Google Suggest autofills it in when you type in the search box. If it does, that's usually a sign there's at least some volume (even if it's only a few searches a month).
Moz Bar | | randfish11 -
What is a Good Keyword Organic CTR Score?
Hi Folks! You might have seen my discussion on What Is a Good Keyword Difficulty Score, and this is a continuation of the same vein. Keyword Organic CTR is probably my favorite score we developed in Keyword Explorer and Moz Pro. It looks at the SERP features that appear in a set of results (e.g. an image block, AdWords ads, a featured snippet, or knowledge graph) and then calculates, using CTRs we built off our partnership with Jumpshot's clickstream data, what percent of searchers are likely to click on the organic, web results. For example, in a search query like Nuoc Cham Ingredients, you've got a featured snippet and then a "People Also Ask" feature above the web results, and thus, Keyword Explorer is giving me an Organic CTR Score of 64. This translates directly to an estimated 64% click-through rate to the web results. Compare that to a search query like Fabric Printed Off Grain, where there's a single SERP feature - just the "People Also Ask" box, and it's between the 6th and 7th result. In this case, Keyword Explorer shows an Organic CTR Score of 94, because we estimate that those PAAs are only taking 6% of the available clicks. There are two smart ways you should be using Organic CTR Score: As a way to modify the estimated volume and estimated value of ranking in the web results for a given keyword term/phrase (KW Explorer does this for you if you use the "Lists" and sort based on Potential, which factors in all the other scores, including volume, difficulty, and organic CTR) As a way to identify SEO opportunities outside the normal, organic web results in other SERP features (e.g. in the Nuoc Cham Ingredients SERPs, there's serious opportunity to take over that featured snippet and get some great traffic) OK, so all that said, what's actually a "good" Organic CTR score? Well... If you're doing classic, 10-blue-links style SEO only, 100 is what you want. But, if you're optimizing for SERP features, and you appear in a featured snippet or the image block or top stories or any of those others, you'd probably be very happy to find that CTR was going to those non-web-results sections, and scores in the 40s or 50s would be great (so long as you appear in the right features).
Moz Bar | | randfish12 -
Confused by "Exact Keyword Used in Document Text at Least Once".
Hi, I am using the On-Page Grader to improve the SEO for certain keywords on certain pages. I have received the notification that the "Exact Keyword Used in Document Text at Least Once". Well from the looks of it I have already done this but I want to make sure that im checking the right thing. What does it mean when it says document text as I assumed it was text on the page but its not reading it as that. Any feedback would be appreciated
Moz Bar | | charlessimmons0 -
How to upload the bulk Keywords with Tags in MOZ Rank Tracker Tool?
Trying to upload multiple keywords at a time with their different Tags. But here i can upload the keyword one by one also i am not able to associate tags with the keyword.
Moz Bar | | _nitman2 -
Keywords Score Meter
Hi Moz, I am using the keywords difficulty tool from your site and find it is quite useful 🙂 I research the community and find the data should be interpreted in the following way. But when I did a quick research for one keyword. The tool bar gives me a data of 22% showing in Yellow and says the keyword is competitive when I hover my mouse. Should this be **Blue **and easy to rank keyword based on the score? Which one should I believe? Sub 30 - (Blue) Low hanging fruit you can take advantage of. 30 - 35 (Green) Fairly easy with good on page and some quality anchored links. 35 - 40 - (Yellow) Will take a bit more work but still in reach may require, good on-site SEO and a solid link profile. 40 - 50 (Orange) Domain authority plays a much more pivotal role so it may take longer to rank for. 50+ (Red) All about resources. Onsite SEO needs to be totally nailed, including internal linking/ topic modelling etc. a strong & diverse link profile with good social signals and ... time. Thanks in advance. ThAqoa5.png OC8xIzP.png
Moz Bar | | russellbrown0 -
How to change the search profiles in the new mozbar
Hi, I want to change the search profiles in the new mozbar, but clicking the + Add new profile does nothing. Is this a browser issue? I'm using chrome Version 35.0.1916.114 m Any light on this would be great because there's no point in me checking US results because my site is only geared towards UK customers, being a mortgage broker we can't target other countries except to cater for expats. Thanks, Amelia xx
Moz Bar | | CommT0