Frustrated!! Keyword Daily & Monthly Counts..

[rachelle123]

I have been comparing these numbers and they just don't jive.. Who to go by? Who is the most trusting in data? (obviously none are accurate but which would you base your seo on?)

For the keyword I have researched here are the results:

SEM rush : 260 searches per mth
google keyword tool: 2900 searches per mth
seobook keyword tool: 6900 searches per mth
micro niche finder : 1900 per mth

Who here uses seobook keyword tool and trusts the data?

Thanks,
Kim

[MikesTraffic]

I have seen a lot of hit or miss with the seobook keyword tool....but I guess you could say that about any. Usually I trust the google keyword tool a little bit better....but that is because I figure they know how much traffic they get....with all of their data mining and all you would think so at least...

[rizingstar]

Are you talking about Exact Searches or Broad Searches? Most pros recommend using Exact and not using Broad, Market Samrai has Phrase-to-Broad(PBR) which they recommend setting to min 15 to rude out irrelevant results

[jimgk]

i would compare 5 similar phrases and see if they always line up in order of popularity between programs and ignore the numbers - but know that you are using the best keywords possible.

[SEOpsychic]

here's what i think:

if you look at your source of results, you'd realise that there's only 1 search engine, google. the other are just software. and they are all giving you different results.

the thing is, i would trust google's results cause they are the search engine and THEY receive the queries. the other thing is, the other software tools might probably be collecting data from other search engines combined hence the different results.

however, i'd use the google result as a benchmark. so in this case, the results i'd take into consideration are the results from google and seobook keyword tool. here's why: any result number below google's is BS. cause if SEM rush is giving you results based on search counts, where did it get it's result from? yahoo? bing? or what? while google alone records a higher result and google is the search engine king. think about it.

seobook keyword tool may have a higher number than google which is fine cause it may be that they gather data from 2, 3 or more search engines.

so in conclusion, i'd pick seobook results.

also did you use the same search criteria in all software? that's another thing to consider.

[Kurt]

IMO, it's very important to only use one resource for keyword research. Otherwise the data is distorted.

Actual numbers aren't all that important. What is important is the relative info, meaning which keywords have better/bigger numbers in comparision with all your other keyword research.

To be honest with you, I feel most keyword advice isn't optimal. Your goal shouldn't be to find a good keyword or two, but rather a niche/topic with MANY "good" keywords. This is the only way to get serious traffic.

[mbmehmet]

I have got to the point where I don'e even worry about those tools no more. Common sense will tell you if a keyword generates traffic or not and whether it worth going after. I have got some long tails keywords ranking that get more searches than my main keywords even though tools show 0 results!

So yeh, I totally agree with Kurt. ;-)

[Agep_flippo]

Yes, I have same problem also, but we have to realize that the actual data is impossible, they are all just approximate.