The SEO/SEM world has not taken kindly to Google’s new Keyword Planner that officially replaced the old AdWord Keyword Tool yesterday.
To use the Keyword Tool now users must login to an AdWords account in order to access the Planner. The Planner has no match type data for any search volumes (search volumes are displayed for exact match data only), ZERO device targeting, ZERO local vs. global monthly searches, and the AMAZEBALLS option to filter by “closely related” terms has been terminated.
Of course, the reactions aren’t 100% negative. There are new features like more geographic segmentation and the ability to bundle geographic regions that allow local SEOs and ad planners to drill down to the city level to get keyword search volume data.
Users are able to upload more keywords from their own lists (up to 10,000 keywords) to get performance data. The Planner will also show search volumes by ad group, landing page and any other categorization you set up.
Still, search volume differences between the two tools have been a source of anger, and the variances are due to two key sources of contention — match types and device types getting eliminated.
Google tells us:
“In general, you’ll notice that the average search volume data is higher in Keyword Planner as compared to the exact match search volume data you got with Keyword Tool. That’s because we’ll show you the average number of searches for a keyword idea on all devices (desktop and laptop computers, tablets, and mobile phones). With Keyword Tool, we showed you average search volume for desktop and laptop computers by default.”
Hopefully Google will continue to update the Keyword Planner and add our old fav “closely related” to the offering. If you are accustomed to the old tool, using the new Planner will be a major adjustment that you will likely have a love/hate relationship with. If the Planner stays the way it is this will for sure drive up a few sales numbers for all those competing keyword research tools on the market.
What tool do you use for Keyword Research?
