How does Keyword spy software work?

headspin · Feb 11, 2009

For example on Keywordspy, you can enter a website and it will tell you what their PPC keywords are, daily ad budget, etc. How are they getting this information?

I can understand how they do it if I give them a keyword: They search on Google and scrape all the PPC ads. But I can't see how they do it given a domain unless they go through massive keyword lists and scrape all advertisers. But even so there's no way their keyword list would have long-tail keywords that contain brand names.

There are dozens of companies offering similar services so I'm guessing it's no major technical feat either, but I just can't see how it's done.

kimkils · Feb 11, 2009

Does it scrape the keywords from their landing pages as those would likely be the ones being bidded on by them. As for the cost i'm not sure, but i know some other PPC companies allow you to see the price other people are bidding at, for example Miva.

headspin · Feb 11, 2009

kimkils said:
Does it scrape the keywords from their landing pages as those would likely be the ones being bidded on by them. As for the cost i'm not sure, but i know some other PPC companies allow you to see the price other people are bidding at, for example Miva.

I'll check on that. So far I only cross-checked keywords from the main index page with the PPC keywords, not any interior landing pages. Of course, there's no guarantee that a domain's meta keywords will be the same as the PPC keywords but the thinking's right.

bantoncookies · Feb 12, 2009

I never understand how that program works too. I heard some mixed reviews about the software. Anybody has it? And what's your experience with it?

Syowred · Mar 1, 2009

Yep scraping the searchengines. They just automated searching for keyword:"XXXXX" and then seeing who shows up in the results (paid and organic). Display it in a pretty website and charge you $70 a month.

Syowred · Mar 1, 2009

Affiliate espionage is a firefox plugin that will do much the same for you. It's slower since you are collecting data for yourself but if you are looking to get into a new market it can be quite valuable.

deadzed · Mar 1, 2009

doridori said:
I recently noticed hits from a keyword spy service on my site. Is there a way to conceal the keywords that I use. Is this service revealing my Google Adwords keywords or merely puling what is in my meta tag. I don't want my competitors knowing my advertising strategy.

You have to put something like the following in your htaccess file

Code:

<Limit GET HEAD POST>
order allow,deny
deny from 74.53.36.242
deny from 65.39.72.142
deny from 66.34.204.26
deny from 66.34.0.
deny from 66.34.255.
deny from keywordspy.com
deny from keywordspypro.com
deny from spyfu.com
deny from spyfoo.com
deny from foospy.com
deny from fuspy.com
allow from all
</LIMIT>

More info here:
masterlesssamurai.com/ppc/how-to-prevent-spy-bots-from-snooping-around-your-ppc-campaigns/

calm · Mar 1, 2009

doridori said:
hmmm aren't they violating google's TOS ? they must be using some Tor network on their serverend

should they be reported?

but is it as simple as this ?

report them?

the_demon · Mar 1, 2009

Yeah, I noticed these guys once or twice on my server. I gave them a good old PERMA-BAN!

@deadzed Thanks for that IP range will be adding that to my existing list.

... I block all proxies*, keyword spys*, and anyone who even looks like a problem. If someone screws with one of my sites they get banned server wide.

* That I detect of course. Hard to get 100% of them.

bodkin · Aug 23, 2010

It's not a "live" scrape. They regularly scrape for various keywords and build up a database. That's why they're able to show you older ads too as well as the current ones, as well as allowing you to see ads by site.

But since they obviously can't search for everything every day, their database is far from complete.

Bod

How does Keyword spy software work?

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