40K monthly searches but i only have 5K impressions

[Promet_MKTG]

I am in the top 3 results for a 40K search volume (exact) keyword. Webmaster tools says ive only done 5400 impressions for that same keyword.

why is there this large a difference.

[Fenshon]

Maybe the traffic is scattered among geographic location. I think most searches are now getting localized. Did you do proper keyword research?

[Promet_MKTG]

in what sense do you mean localized. proper keyword research. well i would assume so, but what do you mean proper. if i knew i was missing something i would have done it.....

[thebitbotdotcom]

Personally, I don't trust the global monthly searches that Google displays. You never get the traffic you would expect to get in the top three listings with respect to their query numbers.

[yukon]

if i knew i was missing something i would have done it.....

That was good

[Sleaklight]

--- The reason is that not everyone who searches for that clicks your site.
--- Another reason is that even though it shows up 1 to 3 for you, it most likely is not 1 to 3 for everyone else.
--- Another reason is your title and description aren't attractive enough to make the searcher click to visit your site.

etc, etc, etc.

[Profit123]

Hello there-I agree with Sleaklight's reasons why high search volume doesn't always translate into high click rate, I have observed the same phenomenon, and I believe his suggestions nail it.

[Fraggler]

He mentioned impressions, not visitors so it has nothing to do with titles and descriptions and people clicking your site.

To the OP, were you looking at Global or Local expected searches? It is unlikely your site will be on Page 1 for all GEO locations. You can change the location from the drop down in WMT to get an idea of which Country you are getting the impressions from. The list is sorted from most impressions to least.

[steveniam]

If you are in a competitive niche, do not forget there are 3 Google Adwords on top of you. So if you are in number one position for organic sites, it mean you are in number four position from the perspective of a searcher. So the top 3 Google Adwords already eaten up quite a substantial amount of traffic.

Originally Posted by Promet_MKTG

I am in the top 3 results for a 40K search volume (exact) keyword. Webmaster tools says ive only done 5400 impressions for that same keyword.

why is there this large a difference.

[Fraggler]

Guys, the OP is talking about impressions, not click through rate/visitors.

[Find]

I guess your problem is CTR? ill research which location gets more CTR for your keyword and adjust the location and optimize your landing page.

[Promet_MKTG]

again, as others mentioned. i am talking IMPRESSIONS, not clicks. That means although my analysis reads that there are 40K monthly searches for this phrase, i am only getting 5K IMPRESSIONS, yet im in the top 3 of google. so the other 35K searches, why am i not appearing.

[Sleaklight]

Google works in mysterious ways.

[MarketAbel]

It so hard to try and relate your position on Google and the number of searches vs. your ad impressions, even if you have only one page with one ad.

Reason being you might actually be getting even LESS acutal visitors from the Google Search. Some could be the same visitor refreshing the site or coming back to it by typing in the URL, etc. etc.

On the other side of things from the searcher side... there could be 40k searches, but a try a second search because the first set of results don't look good enough so they search a different keyword phrase, still records a search tho, but no click. And as someone else said there are the top and right side adwords that could be the winners of the almighty click.

To me... many times I will not click the top 1-5 results of my search query because I know that is not what I am looking for. mainly because it is some other savvy SEO or IM genius that got a keyword related site up high, but it just isn't what I was looking for. Personally, I might go as deep as 3 or 4 pages before I give up and try a different search... and with no click.

I would focus on impressions vs. unique visitors. I have a problem myself where my server stats show 50-100 unique visitors, but my adsense impressions hover at 20-50. To me THAT is weird and I never see any of those public service ads pop up either.

My 2 cents...

[KirkMcD]

The search volumes in the Google Keyword Tool include impressions in the Search Partner Network. (i.e. Ask, AOL, etc...) So the search volume total is actually spread across many sites.

[Fraggler]

Yeah, but their market share is so small the difference in numbers wouldn't count for the large difference being experienced here.

Promet_MKTG, have you confirmed the local searches yet?

Set your Keyword tool to the same location as the server in your Webmaster Tool Keyword Stats and see what the difference is then. You might be ranked #3 on a server that doesn't search for the term nearly as much as the major server, or the searches are evenly spread amongst many Google servers.

[Promet_MKTG]

Originally Posted by Fraggler

Yeah, but their market share is so small the difference in numbers wouldn't count for the large difference being experienced here.

Promet_MKTG, have you confirmed the local searches yet?

Set your Keyword tool to the same location as the server in your Webmaster Tool Keyword Stats and see what the difference is then. You might be ranked #3 on a server that doesn't search for the term nearly as much as the major server, or the searches are evenly spread amongst many Google servers.

How do i do this. id like to check this out

[Fraggler]

Go to the Google Keyword Tool; change the location to the one you want and do the search. Check the box to show Exact. Note the number of Local Searches per month for the exact phrase in the results.

Go to Google Webmaster Tools and go to the Search Queries for your domain. Change the dropdown box in the top left from "All Countries" to the location you selected in the Keyword Tool. Change the timeframe from 1 month to the last 7 days. Have a look at the number of impressions and average rank.

[Haussingen Peter]

broaden your link domain's location..40k search includes the worldwide search.your site will only be impressed in your location

[JamesM]

In addition to the geographic factors I'd like to point out that it has often been suggested that the External Keyword Tool numbers include content network traffic (it is intended for PPC research, after all). If this is the case then you could see significantly fewer impressions depending on the ratio of organic search vs content network impressions for your targetted keyword.

[rohnsmith]

I think u should search exact volume for google adword tool . U might have seen the broad search volume for the specific keywords .

[Promet_MKTG]

thanks all for the suggestions

[dhex]

I also have some data for you:

Exact match LOCAL search = 1,300/month
Exact match GLOBAL search = 3,900/month

GWT impression count for the date range: Jun 30, 2010 to Jul 30, 2010 = 140

There is a roughly 0.1 factor between the two numbers and its somewhat similar to what OP has.

My ranking is on the first page (#2 for the whole month) so at least I didn't miss any impression from "Google.com".

If you look around on Google external keyword tool page, there is a link which tells you the source of the data:

https://adwords.google.com/support/a...p&answer=96571

It says this data also reflects the impressions done on across the entire "Google search network"

https://adwords.google.com/support/a...n&answer=90956

My conclusion:

Whatever number you get on Google adwords keyword tool, you should roughly multiply it by 0.1

[Fraggler]

I have enough data for keywords that I am on the front page for to say this isn't needed (dividing by 10).

Was your keyword at #2 for the entire month (according to GWT)? Is the keyword seasonal?

[dhex]

Yes, my page has been on first page of google.com on different spots since May. And it was at #2 spot since July 3, 2010 till date. I track my rank every day using a custom SERP tracking script with US IPs.

Here is the trend for the keyword

Jun-10 = 1300
May-10 = 1600
Apr-10 = 1600
Mar-10 = 1600
Feb-10 = 1600
Jan-10 = 1300
Dec-09 = 1000
Nov-09 = 1300
Oct-09 = 1000
Sep-09 = 1000
Aug-09 = 1300
Jul-09 = 1600

Data from a custom SERP Tracking software


GWT Data (jun28-jul28 2010)



Lets see some of your data and we may reach to some meaningful conclusion.

Originally Posted by Fraggler

I have enough data for keywords that I am on the front page for to say this isn't needed (dividing by 10).

Was your keyword at #2 for the entire month (according to GWT)? Is the keyword seasonal?

[Social-Media-Marketing]

Originally Posted by Promet_MKTG

I am in the top 3 results for a 40K search volume (exact) keyword. Webmaster tools says ive only done 5400 impressions for that same keyword.

why is there this large a difference.

There could be many reasons for this... A couple of the obvious ones are:

1) Search volumes with all tools (including Google's own Adword tools) are estimates based on a sample which gets extrapolated out. If the sample for that particular keyword was not representative of the "actual" search volume then after extrapolation it could greatly underestimate OR overestimate the volume.

2) Just because you rank #1, #2, #3, etc. does NOT guarantee that you will always be shown on the first page of the results. Google is doing a LOT of personalization these days which could account for some of the discrepancy. It's not just based on geotargeting... but also user behavior like which items you have clicked on/have not clicked on in previously rendered results.

Not sure if the volume you talked about was Global or Local, but I never really trust either. The search volumes are best used to compare phrases based on their relative search volumes. Don't think of the search volumes shown as accurate... Use them more to figure out which words get more and which get less searches.

[jaaproos]

Originally Posted by KirkMcD

The search volumes in the Google Keyword Tool include impressions in the Search Partner Network. (i.e. Ask, AOL, etc...) So the search volume total is actually spread across many sites.

This is the corect answer. I am in The Netherlands and here the volume is especially high in the Home & Garden keywords. The only reliable keyword research as I know for google search is running and targeted AdWords campaign.

[jaaproos]

2) Just because you rank #1, #2, #3, etc. does NOT guarantee that you will always be shown on the first page of the results. Google is doing a LOT of personalization these days which could account for some of the discrepancy. It's not just based on geotargeting... but also user behavior like which items you have clicked on/have not clicked on in previously rendered results.

Yes, exactly have been here many times! You should check unpersonalized search plugin from Yoast.com. Or just google when you at a friends place...

When you see different results there this is very likely the cause for your low impressions. Though your position is 3.3 which indicates you really have this position for this keyword. Check it anyways...