Amsive

PUBLISHED: Oct 22, 2009 3 min read

Google’s New Keyword Tool: A Review

Google’s trusty Keyword Tool has been overhauled, mostly for the better.

At its core, the new Keyword Tool, currently in beta, is identical to the old one. You enter seed keywords or a site URL, and it generates relevant keyword ideas, along with associated statistical data, such as search volume and competition. This can then be used for search engine optimization, paid search or general market research.

This is really where the similarity ends. While the new Keyword Tool is missing a few features we’ve become accustomed to, it contains at least 11 new or improved ones, some significant.

New Keyword Tool


11 New or Improved Features

  • Filter by Location and Language – Limit your results to a specific country or language, so you can see search volume for, say, Australia only.
  • Mobile Search Statistics – Did you know there are  41,100 mobile searches for “order pizza” a month? This feature limits your search numbers to non-smart mobile phones, and is particularly useful for convenience-related local businesses.
  • Budget-Based Statistics – We all work within a finite budget. This caps your statistics based on whatever dollar amount you choose.
  • Keyword Filters –  Filter your results by impressions, searches, competition, cost-per-click (CPC), clickthrough rate or cost, so you don’t waste your time with keywords that don’t meet your criteria. This is particularly useful, given the fact the new Keyword Tool allows you to use multiple filters at once.
  • Keyword Categories – Drill down to your keywords by selecting progressively more specific categories, as opposed to starting with either seed keywords or a site URL. This is helpful when you’re researching a market area you’re completely unfamiliar with, and don’t want to deal with the sometimes overly broad keywords generated by using the site URL.
  • Keyword Links to Google Insights – Get access to Google Insights, right from the Keyword Tool interface.
  • Keyword Must Include – Filter your keywords to just those that contain the text you choose. For example, you could review only the keywords containing the (very) commerce-related word “buy.”
  • Unified Keyword Match Types – You were forced to run the Keyword Tool three times if you wanted to research keywords in broad, phrase and exact match. With the new Keyword Tool, you can get keywords in all match types at once.
  • More Data Columns – Get data on keyword relevancy, search share and more. You can now move column order, too.
  • Precise Expected Ad Position – Previously, you were only provided a vague range of expected ad positions, based on your entered maximum CPC. You’re now provided an estimated position up to the second decimal place. (An”exact estimate,” but still better.)

For some reason, the new Keyword Tool is missing the adult, only show entered keywords and don’t show keywords containing filters, as well as the most highest search occurred in column. The don’t show filter is a noticeable omission, and will hopefully be added when the new Keyword Tool is fully released.

That said, the myriad of stackable filters alone make this version of Google’s Keyword Tool a welcome update.

The new Keyword Tool is available within select Google AdWords accounts, under Tools. It’s not available, as of yet, as an external tool, as is the classic Keyword Tool.

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