Local monthly searches explained

14 years ago

The easiest way I know of to get an accurate search count is with PPC for your keywords including city. That way, you will get an accurate search count since your ad will be displayed each time someone searches for your keywords.

Marvin

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iamrichard

14 years ago

I agree....that is the fastest way to find out. But please make sure you set your budget right, otherwise you might get burned financially.

Originally Posted by Marvin Johnston

The easiest way I know of to get an accurate search count is with PPC for your keywords including city. That way, you will get an accurate search count since your ad will be displayed each time someone searches for your keywords.

Marvin

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Marvin Johnston 14 years ago

Originally Posted by iamrichard

I agree....that is the fastest way to find out. But please make sure you set your budget right, otherwise you might get burned financially.

Since the objective is to find the search numbers, split testing to get the *lowest* click through would save some money ... unless the ad itself were capable of generating revenue.

Marvin
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thefsboking

14 years ago

Originally Posted by Marvin Johnston

The easiest way I know of to get an accurate search count is with PPC for your keywords including city. That way, you will get an accurate search count since your ad will be displayed each time someone searches for your keywords.

Marvin

So do you mean the number of impressions will equal the number of times some search for the keyword that day?

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Mike Williams

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Marvin Johnston 14 years ago

Originally Posted by thefsboking

So do you mean the number of impressions will equal the number of times some search for the keyword that day?

Yes, since I think that is the definition of adwords . Subject to whatever filters are in place for the ad of course.

Marvin
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- thefsboking 14 years ago
  
  Marvin what is going to be the quickest and least expensive media to create to use for testing. Should I simply create a basic Wordpress site with content about the keyword and no affiliate links to avoid the hassle of slow approval and or getting my Adwords account temporarily locked down for some ad violation that is unclear? Maybe I could just use Microsoft Advertising (Yahoo) who are easier to work with but still would give me some idea of whether to invest time for the keyword.
  
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  Mike Williams
  
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  Catalyst eMarketing 14 years ago
  
  Mike, what is the goal of this research?
  
  Is it to be able to tell a potential new client, there are X # of searches for City + Keyword?
  
  Or is it for you to analyze which keywords are best for your client?
  
  Or which cities have enough volume for that market for you to target in prospecting efforts???
  
  The reason I ask is there is a hot, overlooked tool for local KW research. Google Insights BUT based on your answer above may not give you what you need.
  
  If you are looking for specific #s no. But relative VERY COOL data - yes!
  
  Check these screen shots for example. SEE DISCLAIMER BELOW!!!
  
  THUMBNAIL - CLICK TO SEE FULL SIZE
  
  So that shows the various KWs if someone searches from LA for Los Angeles Personal Injury Atty. BUT if search for New York, FROM NY you see MORE people there search for Personal Injury LAWYER not Atty.
  
  So Insights is great for that type of RELATIVE search volume but does not give the exact # of searches.
  
  DISCLAIMER: Google just updated Insights last week so it no longer works like or looks like the above screen shot.
  
  DAMN! That screen shot (and others like it) were for a big post I was getting ready to do over at my Local Search Forum. Mid post draft Google did the update. Now Insights works/looks totally different and it's harder to drill down to the local data shown above. But it's still doable. Need to work on a completely new post showing how to do it with the new update.
  
  But anyway, even if Insights isn't exactly what you need for whatever the goal was for the Q you asked, hope it's helpful in some other way.
  
  Thanks
  
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  Linda Buquet :: Google+ Local Specialist and Google Top Contributor
  ADVANCED Google+ Local Training :: Also offering White Label Local SEO
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SJJPFTW

14 years ago

Also check advanced settings and make sure it is actually set to your location. I have to set mine back to Australia all the time as it defaults to the UK (presumably because of my language settings)

EDIT: Changed img link

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thefsboking

14 years ago

Linda,

I am looking to create some videos and websites for CPA offers. Instead of going after the large metro city whre the competition is strong I figures I would go after smaller adjoining towns. Using the Google keyword tool they have zero searches and very little competition. I would rather get many small sites and videos ranked in 30 days instead of spending a lot of time and money hoping to get a ranking for a more competitive keyword for a large city. I figure if there are Google ads on the page there must be someone searching regardless of what the keyword tool says.

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Mike Williams

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Marvin Johnston

14 years ago

The OP talked about accurately finding the number of searches quickly where the Google keyword tool didn't give any meaningful data.

As far as media to be used for testing, what are you testing. All I can do is parrot the good advice and questions from Catalyst eMarketing. I'm not sure you are clear in your own mind yet on what you are trying to accomplish.

So anything I could say would be guessing at what you are trying to do, and thus be subject to my own biases, not understanding what you are after, etc. In other words, probably close to worthless for what you are trying to do

.

But that aside, some markets, especially local, do not need the same kind of numbers that a totally online business will need. So being clear on what you want to accomplish is very important.

Marvin

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thefsboking

14 years ago

Marvin I am simply wanting to promote a CPA offer at the local level. My thoughts are that if I go after small cities that surround the larger metros I can rank fast and easy. since the keyword tool gives a serach count of 0 for many of theses cities i would follow your suggestion to use Adwords to see what the real numbers are since there are ads displayed when I Google the keyword phrase.

So I now need guidance on how to properly setup a site that will pass Adwords guidelines for an affiliate marketing site. Then once the site is approved should I not be able to modify it for each city I test?

Mike

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Mike Williams

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bewennick

14 years ago

yes, above everyone has already explained the thing in a very comprehensive way. even i know that to make out the search + city just select the desire country and you will get the desire result.

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sundaymorning

14 years ago

This is very interesting thank you for everyone who contribute. I learned alot.

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