Google Improves It’s Keyword Selection Tool
July 28th, 2008If you’ve ever used the Google keyword selection tool, you’ve seen those little green bars that represent how many other folks are searching for specific terms. And maybe like me, you’ve wondered, what the heck do these bars represent in terms of the number of searches? Till now, it was anyone’s guess. But now you can see exactly real numbers!
Here’s a link to the tool so you can try this out for yourself: Google Keyword Selection Tool.
The tool is designed to help people, primarily those who use Google AdWords Online Advertising, select the best keywords for their campaigns. Here’s an example screenshot (click on the thumbnail to see it full size):
It’s truly incredible data to behold. So if you’re wondering how many people search Google.com for specific keywords, give this free tool a try.
One of the cool things to check out, is clicking on the “Choose columns to display”. In the view above, I’ve chosen to show Volume Trends. No wonder I’ve been so busy lately – look at how searches for website design have gone up over the summer months. Very, very cool data. Maybe I’ll use it to plan my next vacation! 
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J. Olkoski
Aldebaran Web Design, Seattle
Jill Olkoski has a BS in Engineering, a BS in Computer Science and an MA in Clinical Psychology. She delights in using her advanced technical, psychological and interpersonal skills to help small business owners develop cost-effective and successful websites.
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August 19th, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I was excited to see that too and often surprised by the numbers. I use to use Site Build It and its keyword tool that did supply numbers but I always wondered how it compiled them. I feel better getting them directly from Google. I like your blog!
August 19th, 2008 at 1:05 pm
Hi Miles,
Having real numbers does indeed offer some surprises, I agree. Thanks for the compliment!
March 14th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
I often search and there are 1000′s of results displayed in the Approx Avg Search Volume column yet the data from the previous month is “Insufficient Data”.
This does not make logical senses to me as how can there be no search volume (Insufficient data) during previous months if there are 1000′s on an average month.
Do you know why.
March 14th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
It’s a good question and I don’ t know why. I’ll guess and say that it’s easier to compute an average (maybe it’s ok if months are missing data) than report every month. But I’m totally guessing. I typically just look at the averages anyway, unless I’m trying to get some seasonality effect.