here’s a quick analysis method I use, that many may clearly be aware of, but I’ll post anyway..
I used to be employed in the PPC arena, and when I researched a search term niche, I used several methods to determine a universe of search volume online from all the major engines. When I began, I leaned on the Overture/Yahoo Search Keyword Suggestion tool heavily. Their tool was free, and it seemed to provide the most accurate estimates (in comparison to Wordtracker). Since Yahoo roughly has a 30% market share, I’d triple the number to determine a universal search estimate. Yahoo has abandoned that tool now, though, and the data is growing stale by the month.
Domainers, obviously, use the same volume tools to determine expected type-in traffic, Serp traffic, etc.
If you’re looking for an alternate tool, consider using the free Google AdWords Traffic Estimator. I know, I know, they only present ‘Expected Clicks’ per day for ads - which isn’t helpful - and it doesn’t reveal search volume. And if you submit a term, they’ll give you estimates for that term along with every variation - which isn’t helpful if you’re simply interested in how many times someone searches for the term ’scuba diving’, and not for the term ’scuba diving in cancun’.
Realize though, since you have the click estimates, you have the ability to back out overall search volume using an expected CTR..
Let’s look at the ’scuba diving’ example..
First, drop that term into the GATE (goog adwords traffic est.). Don’t bother inputting anything into ‘currency’ or ‘daily budget’. Leave language to ‘English’, and *add* ‘All Countries and Territories’ into the Selected Countries and/or Territories box (cause we’re interested in learning how many times this term gets searched across the english speaking world). In addition, though, we also want to add the same term, scuba diving, but with brackets around it, ie. [scuba diving]. I’ll explain why in a second. Press Continue.
On the next screen, Google will reveal the ‘Estimated Clicks / Day’ for this term, assuming the ad is in position 1-3.
The first line reveals expected clicks for the term ’scuba diving’ plus any and all variations (scuba diving instructor, scuba diving trip, whatever). Helpful in some ways, but if you’re solely interested in click activity for the exact term ’scuba diving’, refer to the second line, where the term is bracketed (adding brackets places the term in exact match setting - indicating to Google you’re only interested in click estimates for that exact term).
In this case, we’re looking at roughly 30 expected clicks per day. Back in my PPC days, the Google reps alerted me to the fact that the tool assumes a rough 5% CTR for all estimates it presents in the tool. Is that 100% accurate? Eh, I dunno. But it works for me, and I’ve found the estimates from that CTR to be right on the mark..
So, with a 5% CTR assumption, that would equate to roughly 600 searches per day on the exact term ‘Scuba Diving’, meaning it gets searched for around 18,000 times per month on Google. Then if, we assume Google has the 60% market share, the remaining 40% would raise that search volume to 30,000 per month ..
done! A universal search volume estimate without using Yahoo or Wordtracker
: )
This entry was posted on Friday, July 6th, 2007 at 2:14 pm and is filed under Tips & Tricks. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
If you don’t want to sign up for AdWords, then try this link:
https://adwords.google.com/select/TrafficEstimatorSandbox
Not sure about the difference between the two services, though…
true true.. updated my link..thanks..
For your keyword research try using KeywordSpy - a keyword research technology that will help you know what keywords competitors are using and how it generates money for them, you can use those keywords to drive traffic to your site and give your business the exposure it needs. It also has a free trial.
Great post! You’ve made a subscriber out of me. I have been getting estimates from this tool for a while but never the 5%CTR and Google’s market share into account.
Thanks for this tip. You added 1 more feed subscriber.
Sweet post, mate. Add me to the running list of new subscribers!
By checking WT, the following figures come up: 3150 daily or 94500 monthly total (or around 55k/mo in Google).
Anyone from the scuba diving industry in top #1 to give us some real figures?
Somehow, I still think that keyword research tools are to be used for comparison and research only.
By the way, I doubt Google has only 60% market share.. more like 95% or more..
In April Google’s share was 65.26% according to http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/05/google-market-share-up-again.html nowhere near 95% for now. I think 60% is a good enough estimate to base your predictions on.
A very rational estimate indeed. Thanks for search the tip.
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