Google's New Keyword Tool Pros & Cons

There are have been a lot of complaints about the new KW tool from Google everywhere from a lot of marketers.

The thing we need to remember as marketers is that whether we like what Google does or not, they will do it anyway. Sure, sometimes they really piss us off, but we need to learn to adapt if we want to continue to make money.

A perfect example of this is their new KW tool. When it came out, I got a lot of emails from people telling me it sucked and they hated it, etc. My reply to them was exactly what I said above - learn to deal with it because Google will make the change whether you like it or not.

I recommended that they start to compare the old against the new to learn what is different and how to make it work before Google removes the old tool...now the old tool is no longer available.

Anyways, the point is that Google (and IM in general for that matter) will always change. If you want to succeed, you need to learn to change your business and adapt.

Now here are some pros and cons of the new KW vs the old one after my testing since its release:

PRO: The new KW tool consistently returns lower search volume results than the old tool. This is because the new tool returns results only from Google while the old tool gave results from Google and its search partners. This allows for more accuracy when estimating the traffic for your KWs. Like any tool, even Google is not 100%, but I will say that after testing, the results from the new KW tool are much more accurate than the old one.

PRO: You can filter KWs using the advanced search options. For example, if you wanted to find KWs only from the UK that get searched 1000 times a month, you can do that instantly.

PRO: You can filter KWs by categories. This is very useful for choosing KWs that Google sees as relevant to your chosen niche/sub-niches.

CON: The "additional terms to consider" section from the old tool was a great place to get relevant synonyms for your chosen kws. This section is not available in the new version. However, the terms do show up within the results, but it is definitely harder to identify and sort them than it was with the old KW tool.

Other than that, you will find that the new KW tool is actually very similar to the older version when you really start to use it. I personally have grown to like the newer version more than the older one. Although I didn't think so initially, it actually is much more user-friendly and more accurate.

One final tip that is definitely worth while is to sign up for an Adwords account if you haven't already and use the tool from your account. You will get a lot more results returned than when you use the tool when you are not logged in.

Not very constructive I know but I think it sucks from all perspectives.
I liked the old gui and the new one, well I just find it awkward and annoying.

xiphre six said:

Not very constructive I know but I think it sucks from all perspectives.
I liked the old gui and the new one, well I just find it awkward and annoying.

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Maybe you could explain why you find it awkward and annoying so that others can learn from your perspective?

How long have you been really using it?

It has a different layout, so I understand how it can be intimidating or even confusing to some, but it's acually
very similar to the old versions except that it is more accurate and has a few extra functions.

alright this may sound stupid, but the new one isn't it on the same url as the old one? or is it just me?

My opinions:

1-New KWT is better because it gives up to 1000 results.
2-You can click on a keyword and on a new tab (page) you see the search results.
3-It also includes "traffic estimator" which is not well known by most of the people although it exists.
4-It also includes "placement tool" for ads which seems very valuable.

I have had people tell me that it doesn't display CPC, but that is only the default view. In order to get this to display you need to enable CPC in the Columns button in the upper right of the results. I think doing this will eliminate a lot of initial frustration with the new tool.

The Contains column on the right is also a great new way to cull your keyword lists.

I didn't think I was going to like the new tool, but I do. And as Yuki says, don't forget to log in to your Adwords account if you want to see the most complete results. It is amazing how many more keywords are shown to the account holders.

chockfactor said:

alright this may sound stupid, but the new one isn't it on the same url as the old one? or is it just me?

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Yes, it's the same URL as the old one.

A pro, like was mentioned in the OP, is the more realistic number of searches. A con is the difficulty of finding how many searches my entered keywords get if they are not in the top 100. I miss the initial section of the old KY tool that would tell you how your entered keywords fare regardless of how few searches they may have received. Now I have to hunt and hope that they are in the top 100. That drives me crazy.

It is a good point (also made in the OP) that, although many of us (including myself) are ranting about how the new KY tool sucks, we have to get used to it and take advantage of the pros that it offers...

I was at Search Marketing Expo East and attended a panel discussion on the Keyword Selector Tool led by a Google engineer working on the KWT.

Two takeaways.

- If there hasn't been at least one purchase for a query/ phrase in Adwords in the last 12 months it will not show up in the KWT. Thus, it's no surprise the tool is heavily focused on Adwords and driving purchases of Adwords advertising.

- Every month 25% - 30% of searches performed on Google are searched for the first time that month and will not show up in the KWT.

Think about what they're not showing.

Kalimandir said:

Every month 25% - 30% of searches performed on Google are searched for the first time that month and will not show up in the KWT.

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Wow, you'd think Google could add those terms into the KY tool faster than a month!

teeniegenie said:

Wow, you'd think Google could add those terms into the KY tool faster than a month!

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Yeah, I didn't know what to make of that. It was hard for me to believe.

Google has always been a month behind in updating data on search volume. That's why the numbers listed are for the previous month. It's also why they had to have a separate search data for trending topics to deal with searches that were done immediately but may not have enough consistent data to create a monthly average.

I liked the old one better, but I'll live. I saw that G was gonna change it so I got in some practice comparing the old methods and adapting.

The main issue I have with the GKT, or anything Google atm is for the last couple of months the loading time is ridiculously slow. I first noticed this when the KWT was in beta, so I flicked back to the old one most of the time to avoid ripping my hair out. Is it just at my end? Logging into gmail takes a torturous few MINUTES most days, ditto adsense, blogger, etc (I tried logging into different ones first to see if that helped.... nope).

teeniegenie said:

Wow, you'd think Google could add those terms into the KY tool faster than a month!

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I'm actually glad they don't because it keeps the competition lower.

It's easy enough to find a lot of searches not in the GKWT now that they give us Google Suggest.

Tracking software on your sites also gives you a lot of great KWs as well.

Fireboltgirl said:

I liked the old one better, but I'll live. I saw that G was gonna change it so I got in some practice comparing the old methods and adapting.

The main issue I have with the GKT, or anything Google atm is for the last couple of months the loading time is ridiculously slow. I first noticed this when the KWT was in beta, so I flicked back to the old one most of the time to avoid ripping my hair out. Is it just at my end? Logging into gmail takes a torturous few MINUTES most days, ditto adsense, blogger, etc (I tried logging into different ones first to see if that helped.... nope).

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Haven't had a problem on my end.