Search Engine Keyword Analysis Pitfalls - Standing on One Leg
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Everyone tends to have his or her favorite keyword tool. It’s natural to prefer one tool, but it’s better to use multiple tools to crosscheck your data. Using a single tool makes you vulnerable to its biases.
Keyword tools draw their data from one or more search engines, and each search engine has unique demographics. Google is preferred by the technical community, Yahoo is popular in Middle America, and MSN is strong with homemakers. Unless you understand the sources from which each keyword tool draws its data, you risk skewing your analysis toward that engine’s demographics.
For reference, Overture reports data for its network, which includes Yahoo, MSN, and Alta Vista. Google AdWords covers Google, AOL, and AskJeeves.
The popularity numbers from Overture and Google can also be skewed by rank checkers and bid management tools that generate artificial popularity. Consider this scenario: a PPC advertiser is using a bid management tool to monitor his sponsored ad on Overture. He has set the bid manager to check his ad placement 4 times a day, which means his tool will execute 120 queries per month for that keyword, artificially inflating the popularity of that term. If he sets the bid manager to check rankings every hour, he could be generating 720 artificial searches per month.
If you only use the keyword tools available from these PPC engines, your numbers could again be skewed by these automated tools.
WordTracker draws its data from a cross-section of meta search engines such as DogPile. In practice WordTracker tends to give the most representative search popularity data. Nevertheless, it’s a good idea to double check even WordTracker’s data. I’ve seen too many cases where a keyword showed attractive numbers in one keyword tool, only to see those number evaporate when I check other tools. It’s a good idea to spot-check your analysis.
Forgetting Seasonal Changes
The weather isn’t the only thing that changes with the seasons – keyword popularity does too. If your client is in the travel industry, keyword popularity can vary by 50% or more between summer and winter months. Do you have a retail client? Then you need to compare the popularity of spring and fall fashions. Does your client sell gifts and collectables? Then you need to know how Christmas, Valentine’s Day, and Mother’s Day items compare in search popularity.
Unfortunately, today’s tools report only a snapshot of keyword popularity, giving little insight into seasonal variations. If you run a keyword analysis with Overture during November, your results are based on searches during October.
Of the tools available, only Trellian’s Priority Submit gives insight into seasonal changes in keyword popularity. Beyond that, your best approach is to ask your client about seasonal changes in their business. If they do twice as much business in summer as in winter, you can apply this as a weight factor in your keyword analysis.
Next: Getting Fooled by Broad Matching >>
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