Google Keyword Tool - Is it really that accurate?...

I'm afraid it isn't accurate, but better than nothing. google intentionally distort stats to make it harder to figure out how rankings work. I don't blame them. It's nice that they give us ball park figures.

I think that's unfair lol! Surely we all deserves to know what the correct figures are?

Oh well, like you said it's better than nothing.

My opinion is that any suggestions made by Google lean in their favor in some way. I also believe it is counterintuitive to rely on one single algorithm. When I do my research, I look for a consensus or trend.

Our google rep admitted that it's not accurate, and there's supposedly a replacement in the works.

The "new" Google keyword tool gives a monthly average of the previous 12 months. And the results could be skewed. For example during the winter season in December there was a good number of searches for "air conditioners" if you believed the amount of searches, but using Google trends you see a much different story. Also probably depending on the niche a lot was from software queries from MarketSamurai, MicroNicheFinder, etc.

And the search numbers only count for the first page in Google's SERPs, the second page receives roughly 10%, third page 10% of the second page, etc. Plus you're getting only a percentage of the clicks.

How Much Money is a Top Google Ranking Worth to Your Business?

No it's not accurate but will give you a basic idea of the number of searches, but that's it, basic. Some keywords that they say have for example, 30,000 searches pm may only have half that while a keyword they quote as having 300 searches may have several thousand. They also deliberately miss out many keywords such as those listed when you type any keyword into the google search browser. You can buy software on this forum which gives you these keywords - use the search facility here on wf and you'll find several offers.

It isn't exactly accurate, but it does give you a fairly reasonable idea of the traffic levels.

Aside from the 'accuracy' of Google's search numbers, there are many different possibilities that could be affecting your traffic levels for your keyword.

- Your keyword could be seasonal (Google divides a yearly search count by 12, to give you a monthly average. You can determine if your keyword is seasonal by taking a closer look at Google insights.

- You're not actually ranking for your keyword, Google is just showing results based on preference. If you use Semrush, then does it tell you that you're site is listed in the top 20?

- Your SERP ranking position is below the fold and your title tag and description are not optimized to attract visitors for that search, so they skip right over it for a more relevant site.

- The global search count is drastically different from the local search, and you are not ranking globally to effectively obtain that traffic.

- Your keyword was a previously hot trend, such as a game or gadget that had a big release launch, but the post searches numbers no longer support the average that Google suggests.

Those are just a few things that you should look into to help you discover the real reason that you aren't getting the estimated traffic that you were expecting.

I hope that it's something that you can resolve on some level.

edit: Regards to those that pointed out a few of the concepts that I listed while I typed this up...

The keyword here (no pun intended) is keyword suggestions which can be translated into keyword search approximation. It's not accurate, it's rather impossible to get exact figures. A way I find to get a good idea if data is accurate is by doing a search for the keyword in "quotes" and divide it with what the keyword tool says. Anything around 10% is accurate at around 10%, so give and take +/- 10%.

For example, "dog training" in Google turns 13,400,000 (at the time of typing this) and the keyword tool gives 673,000 or a 95% accuracy but this metric is used to determine saturation. This is rather an odd way to do it but for some odd reason tends to give me accurate results. It's not uncommon to kind a keyword with 1,000 searches according to the keyword tool what will yield 500 visits.

Also keep in mind that those searches do not include queries from marketers like us doing research. There's millions of online marketers so the odds of thousands of marketers searching those keywords are also highly probable especially on keywords with a half decent search volume.

You also have to look at your headline and description as it appears in the search engine. If you're not using words of power, then you might be losing al lthe traffic to the #2 spot who has a catchy headline and convicing description.

Great response guys, all of the information you provided was brill, thanks

I have notice though when you start typing in a letter into google browser is comes up with the first word.

For example: If you type the letter "F" the first response is facebook etc. I think this is interesting.

Usually that Google Keyword Tool is free - and it's enough for seo users, Google Keyword Tool obviously never cheats, it's just doesn't show all. Here were mentioned good tools, which give much more information. I think, if save money on the job, clients will save money on fees.