A few weeks ago, I jumped into the Google Keyword Tool to do a new keyword search and was frustrated to see that the “previous interface” button was no longer an option. Now, I have seen the Keyword Tool for months now but have been successfully avoiding it and going straight to the old tool each and every time. Now forced to try out the new tool, I found myself immediately discouraged. While it is no secret that the keyword tool is not meant to enhance SEO, but rather promote Google’s tools, it is still an essential part of SEO. This new tool lacks several fundamental functions that were essential for both PPC (Google Adwords) and SEO.
According to this semrush blog, one of my biggest concerns is the lack of relevant keyword variations within the search results. You have to basically export the data and sift through all 800 options before finding a handful of relevant terms. The old keyword tool would list results in groups, listing the closest related keywords to your search query first, then follow it with a grouping of other closely related ideas. Adding insult to injury is the added frustration of the filters that seem to “filter” out every single result once you uncheck a box. I watched my search results go from 800 to 20 simply by unclicking one box. After testing out the results with each box checked and then unchecked, I decided that the filters are so sporadic that it was best to just export and start manually filtering.
Another common problem seems to be the apparent glitch in selecting match forms. Half the time when I change the results from exact match, to phrase match, to broad match I lose a good chunk of the search results. Not to mention, the “negative match” option seems to be a thing of the past. For a Google’s Adwords account manager, the loss of the negative match option is a substantial shortfall. Like most others who have been complaining for the last month about the new Google Keyword tool, I haven’t the slightest idea what is causing these issues but I, for one, hope that Google fixes these problems ASAP.
My colleague and I recently decided to try Google’s “search based keyword tool” in hopes that it would offer better and/or more relevant results. Noticing the complete lack of consistency in data between the beta tool and the search based tool, we went searching for answers from Google.
“You may also notice that some of the data (like such as the monthly search volume) may vary slightly between the two tools, which is due to different methods of calculation at this time.”
Um…well, thank you for that clarification Google, that makes much more sense now. So far this seems to be the theme in looking for answers and/or explanations to the shortfalls of this new Keyword Tool. So, for now, I will continue to search for answers and hope that these bugs will work themselves out. Most importantly, I have to hope that Google is hearing these major concerns for their new tool from the SEO experts that are stuck using it and are counting on its results each and every day.