One of the only sure things when it comes to SEO is that it is changing constantly. As soon as something becomes a common practice that’s comfortable and easy to use, chances are a change is right around the corner.
It’s important to note these changes are not always negative. In fact, they’re generally brought about as a ways to improve the experience for both SEOs and the end user, providing helpful tools to those engaging in fair practices. One of the latest changes to SEO? The replacement of Google’s Keyword Tool with the Keyword Planner.
While the Keyword Planner is not a negative – though it has been negatively received by many professionals – it changes something that’s been around since the creation of SEO, the way keywords are found, researched and used to effectively increase search engine rankings and optimization. Below are a few things every SEO professional should know about how the Keyword Planner changes the SEO landscape.
An Account is Now Necessary
Google Adwords’ former Keyword Tool was a free, open to the public tool that made the creation of organic SEO campaigns simple, straightforward and easy to access. While the new Keyword Planner is still free, an account is needed, which has been a complaint of many SEO pros.
Setting up an account is not the same as setting up a campaign and has no associated cost, but, it is an extra step that one should be aware of prior to attempting to conduct any last minute or deadline-restricted keyword research. Set up an account now to save the hassle later.
Increased Keyword Uploads
Google’s former Keyword Tool could be a tedious, time consuming tool requiring patience and a lot of trial and error. For example, a brand looking to market methamphetamine addiction treatment could individually input hundreds of options – meth clinic, meth addiction, methamphetamine addiction, drug treatment, meth drug treatment, addiction treatment and so on – for hours or days before coming up with a solid keyword plan to move forward. With an increased capacity to search multiple keywords at once, the new Keyword Planner simplifies the process.
Users are now able to upload lists of up to 10,000 keywords at a time to analyze performance data and to formulate an SEO strategy. Once a set of keywords is uploaded, information pertaining to unique keywords and ad groups can be filtered by language, CPC, monthly search volume and even location demographics – by town, city, county, state, region or country.
While the former Keyword Tool fell short in these areas, the new Keyword Planner provides insight that was impossible to collect before and makes it easy to export the data collected into a spreadsheet or to save it inside of the Adwords account created by the user. Collecting data over a long period of time is now easier than ever before.
Decreased Ability to Segment Traffic
With every good change comes a few potential pitfalls. The Keyword Planner has its share, especially as users are learning to adjust to the system after becoming accustomed to the original tool. One of these is the decreased ability to segment keyword traffic.
With the Keyword Planner, those interested in SEO can no longer segment search traffic by specific device. While Google claims this is to give a more comprehensive set of results, many brands have had adverse reactions, since understanding where traffic is coming from device-wise makes site optimization a more smooth process.
Adgroup Ideas Verses Keyword Ideas
At first glance, SEO professionals who have used the Keyword Tool in the past for campaigns outside of Google Adwords, may be frustrated with the Adgroup ideas the new Keyword Planner populates in response to a basic search query.
The solution is simple, those accustomed to the former system should click on the “keyword ideas” tab inside of the Keyword Planner to gain information and keyword ideas relating to:
- Specific products or services,
- Landing pages, and
- Specific product categories.
While the changes may seem cumbersome and frustrating to those who have been working with SEO for years, there are many positives. However, with any change to the SEO world, there is a learning curve. By following the steps above and by taking the time to become educated on what the new Keyword Planner has to offer, it has the potential to pave the way to more powerful, positive SEO campaigns.