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July 15 2008
Google adds to AdWords
A new Google tool allows advertisers to find out how many searches were made for a keyword(s) on Google in the last month and on average. But is this a dangerous tool?
Google has added a new tool to its AdWords system that allows advertisers to see the search volume a particular Keyword or Keywords would get on the entire Google network. For example if you were creating an advert for Nike tops and wanted to include “Nike tops” as your keyword phrase the new system would show you approximate search volume – the number of times users has typed that into Google - for the last month and an average search volume for that phrase.
The new function was revealed on the http://adwords.blogspot.com/ Inside AdWords blog by Trevor Claiborne and outlines the new changes with a little more explanation on the new Keyword Tool.
The blog explains that the new search volume data can be useful for:
- Account structure: You may want to create a new ad group around high-traffic keywords that you find particularly relevant. Closely target ad text and a specific landing page to the small, narrowly-focused set of similar keywords you've found through the Keyword Tool.
- Budget planning: See how much traffic is available to your keywords so you can better plan your budget.
- Keyword choice: Search for and select the relevant keywords most likely to return quality leads within your budget.
WARNING - While seeing the number of searches a Keyword(s) produces helps to structure a campaign, for brand-awareness, it’s a dangerous notion to believe that just because a keyword search gets a million more results than another keyword that it will then translate into sales. In our view it’s better to go for a very targeted phrase that gets hardly any searches than one that gets millions. The keyword “Nike” is going to bring in lots of results but not everyone is looking for the Nike product you’re selling. A keyword search “Nike crop-tops for women in blue” will have fewer searches but is far more likely to get you a sale. Plus it’s probably substantially cheaper.
How accurate is this new tool?
However, our experience of using the numbers generated by the "old" Google traffic estimator is that the numbers are often unreliable and inaccurate.
Let's hope that the release of the new tools provide reliable data with accuracy and integrity.