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The New Interface to Google's Keyword Tool - How to Use The Google Keyword Tool
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Google has migrated to the new keyword tool interface. Alas. The old interface was much better, more elegant, cleaner, and just all around better. But Google is Google, and like Microsoft, doesn't really ask customers anymore what they want. Google just does. So, as Google users, we need to adjust to the new (inferior) keyword tool. Here are the basics on how to use it.
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By Jason McDonald
Senior SEO Instructor - JM Internet Group.
Posted: September 27, 2010
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Contents:
Culture Matters: Google is More like Microsoft, than Apple
Culture matters. Companies have corporate cultures, and that culture informs everything that they do. Many might compare Google to Apple, in that it is a sleek, Silicon valley company with a cool corporate culture. They may have great cafeterias at Google, and travel the Googleplex using Segways... But really Google is a lot more like Microsoft in its corporate culture, than like Apple.
A case in point is the (terrible) new interface to the powerful Google Keywords Tool (https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal. The former version of the tool was almost Apple in its user interface. Simple, elegant, easy-to-use. What was more it gave powerful data on the global search volumes, and you could easily sort or filter for interesting concepts.
As of last week, however, Google has forced us all to migrate to the new-and-improved keyword tool. Clearly they didn't consult any real users. It almost looks like the hired the Microsoft Vista team to work on this new, bloated, hard-to-use and annoying interface. Sigh, sigh, sigh!
But Google, like Microsoft, is a monopoly and Google, like Microsoft, is busy adding more and more features to their tools, which usually does little to improve their functinality and a lot to make them really confusing and hard to use.
Rant over. How do we use this new tool? It still is an amazing, powerful tool and still the best free keyword tool on the market.
Using the New Keyword Tool
To use the new tool, simply go the URL above and enter a keyword or keyphrase that interests you. The first thing you will notice is that the tool will return results listing various combinations of that keyword and related keywords. On the left column, under 'contains,' uncheck ALL and then check the phrase or phrases that are closest to your search terms. The helpful tool, unhelpfully attempts to think for you and clutters up your results with all sorts of 'related' terms. Using the check boxes under All you can do a better job regulating its results.
- Note: the tool is VERY buggy. If you start getting zero results, close your browser window and reopen the tool. Alternatively, hit CTRL+R to refresh the tool to a virgin state.
Second, notice the MATCH TYPES. This is a more prominent feature in the new tool. Check or uncheck the three types - broad (Google thinks for you and suggests related terms (good for keyword discovery)), exact (the exact search phrase), and phrase (the word / words used in related phrases). All three of these can provide very useful data on search volume, and value.
Third, on the far right, click on COLUMNS and select the estimated average cpc. This will give you the cost per click data, and can be useful for evaluating the keyword value. If your competitors have bid up the value of a particular terms, this is certainly useful food for thought about whether you should SEO optimize for that term! I usually recommend only using GLOBAL SEARCH VOLUME and CPC. The other data returned is, in my opinion, junk. Local search volume often exceeds global volume in the tool, which is of course impossible. Note to Google: actually use the tool, and fix it!
That said, you can still get a ton of useful data from the tool. What is now much more difficult is to take a search term, such as 'Public Relations Firm' vs. 'PR Firm' and compare / contrast to get exact search data on volume. The new, buggy, hard-to-use tool is very bad at answering that most basic of questions: which is more popular? The trick, hit CTRL+R and enter the two terms one after each other. That seems to reset the tool and it can therefore answer that important question.
Advanced Strategies with the Google Keyword Tool
The new tool does have an 'Advanced Options' feature. Select that, and you are able to do some more advanced filtering. You can, for example, filter for countries. That might be useful if you are an international marketer. One thing I like with 'Advanced Options' is it stops automatically giving you results in real-time. The tool is buggy and prone to crash, and using 'Advanced Options' allows you to enter your search term FIRST and then click SEARCH to see results. The whole 'Google Instant' thing is totally unnecessary with this tool, but (like Microsoft) Google is moving to one universal experience, no matter what any customer might want.
The second truly advanced feature is to enter a website (yours or a competitor) and have it spider that website for logical keywords. This is a good test to your own website, and a good way to reverse engineer competitors. To do this, enter your competitors website in the box Website and hit enter. Note that the most logical keywords that Google sees now appear in the left column.
Gone, alas, is the useful feature of spidering a competitor and having Google group suggestions by keyword or keyphrase. But you can still spider your competitors and your own website for a rough view as to what Google thinks you are about.
Enjoy the new tool, and email us any suggestions on usage. As a community, we are all adapting to this new improvement from on high!
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