Keyword Planner vs. GAWKT - search results comparison

Just having my second Pilsner (btw the best beer in the world, you should try it at least once before the reaper comes) and playing with the new Keyword Planner... Or to be more exact - I am comparing the monthly search results in order to be ahead of the learning curve when big G shuts it down completely.

OK, let's get to it - all of us love to use the exact or phrase match search in order to know how many people are searching for our desired KW. Broad match is full crap since it incorporates synonyms, changes the word order etc., but it doesn't want to share all these ideas with us. Using exact/phrase can get us some good estimates on how many people are gonna search for the particular KW and how many are probably gonna visit our sites.

When entering KWs into the Keyword planner it shows us three ways how you can do it - no punctuation, using "" for phrase or [] for exact match. Well, the bad news is it doesn't work - the search results are still the same in all three instances. You can only change it afterwards, after clicking on that little pencil on the right, but that will only change the daily click estimates for your AW campaign.

So I tried a little testing - I set the targeting to "All location" and "All languages" and only chose "Google" in the Keyword planner, so it won't include the search partners, because we want to know only the results from the Google search queries. The reason why I set it to all locations and languages is simple - if you're not doing IM for your local barber, then the sky is your limit! Or in other words - when somebody enters a longtail KW in English, it doesn't matter whether it is google.fr, at, de or com - the first SERPs (should and probably) are the same.

Ok, so little hints - this is the color for GAWKT phrase results, this is the color for the GAWKT exact results and this is the color for the KP "average search results".


sex - 338,000,000 - 20,400,000 - 30,400,400
sex education - 368,000 - 60,500 - 90,500
sex education videos for adults - 320 - 320 - 480

engine - 24,900,000 - 74,000 - 90,500
engine bay - 49,500 - 1,000 - 1,300
engine bay wash - 36 - 12 - 20

games - 277,000,000 - 11,100,000 - 13,600,000
online games - 9,140,000 - 1,830,000 - 2,240,000
online games for free - 49,500 - 22,200 - 22,200

... and we can go on and on.

As you can see, the difference between the Average monthly searches that KP shows isn't far from the Exact match results GAWKT gives you. It is something between the Phrase match and Exact, but closer to the Exact match... and I would say this is a step forward, because the difference between these two types of results can be very bleak - let's say you optimize your page for "cheap accommodation in las vegas" and a BFU types in "sexy cheap accommodation in las vegas"... well, you're still be probably on the first page, since no competitor would probably optimize the page for the word "sexy".. (dumb example, I know, but I'm sexy and I know it).

What really sucks more than a black hole is the fact that KP still doesn't show any keyword ideas, nor does it group it into those "ad group ideas". At least this doesn't work for me.

So don't worry, if GAWKT goes down, it would only mean a big trouble for those KW research services that drain data from GAWKT.. but I'm sure they are working on something already

Nice post. You're on the money with it. Btw, you can still search exact match kw's on the KP. The default is broad.

Hi there,

thanks!

How do you search for exact match in KP? As I mentioned in the post, the KP says that you can use punctuation such as "" or [] to define other types of matches, but it simply doesn't work - the average month search number doesn't change when I use it.

BTW I take back my previous statement about non-functional keyword ideas - KP can help you with the KWs, but you need to search through the "Search for the keyword and group ideas" tab.

Pvlman said:

Hi there,

thanks!

How do you search for exact match in KP? As I mentioned in the post, the KP says that you can use punctuation such as "" or [] to define other types of matches, but it simply doesn't work - the average month search number doesn't change when I use it.

BTW I take back my previous statement about non-functional keyword ideas - KP can help you with the KWs, but you need to search through the "Search for the keyword and group ideas" tab.

Click to expand...

One picture's worth 1000 words:

View attachment 34956

But did you try to click it? Did you notice any changes in the "Avg. monthly searches"? Because for me it only changes the "estimated clicks" number in the "Your plan" sidebar on the right.

I like how keyword planner can nail down specific CITY/Regions now. I think this is definitely a big improvement of Google Keyword Tool.