Goto keyword search tool

[cyberbear]

I have been using the Goto Keyword Utility to put together keyword phrases for my U.S. and UK accounts. Since Goto is expanding to so many other portals their selection of keywords searched for and the total number of searches for each phrase will increase. I have been relying on the Goto utility but it would be extemely useful to know what are the popular keyword phrases on AOl, AV, Hotbot, Lycos, etc. What other engines or directories have such a utility?

[minnapple]

I'm right with you cyberbear, I know (well at least think) that certain seach engines will bring more buyers to a certain product type. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to view what search engines are delivering the vistors in the GoTo Report? So if you can determine that BlahBlah.com draws metal widget lookers, and they are good buyers, and BlahBlah.com delivers the top two (or whatever) GoTo listings, you can be agressive on that term postion.
Meaning if BlahBlah.com only delivers the top two why bid on three.
:( GoTo might look at this as a function that would decrease advertising revenues. However a feature like this may allow them to keep one step ahead of the others ppc's exisiting or ready to enter the market.
:)
I for one have tested, looked at, and decide not to advertise on other ppc, because of the reporting etc.... I hope GoTo is agressive in expanding reporting services as their market increases.

[jayz]

Anyone know if the keyword tool is including the search numbers from lycos, direct hit, aolsearch, etc.?

I'm curious if the numbers are just searches done on GoTo or if they include those other search engines.

[tedster]

As of last month, those were searches only from GoTo.

Most of the SEs protect their search data like the Holy Grail. I think GoTo would have a heck of a time getting them to share it right now.

[jayz]

That's interesting. If they aren't adding searches from other sites in there totals, searches really increased for a wide range of keywords that I'm keeping an eye on.

[oLeon]

I donīt think, either, that the search-numbers of the partners are included.
Thatīs interesting due to goto says that only 10% of traffic it brings to your site directly comes from goto itself.
Shall one multiply the numbers of the tool?

[tedster]

Well, to be fair here, they are currently offering October numbers. A lot of the new GoTo partners only kicked in during November.

I agree, oLeon, they should make a real effort to show a representative sample of ALL searches, including their partners, as best they can. As I said earlier, though, I think they'll have a hard time of it.

Right now, GoTo is still the best publicly available place for any search kw data. It takes a lot of clicks to get decent information out that Google thingy!

[jayz]

What google thingy?

[cyberbear]

Does anyone know when Goto will publish the keyword totals for November? I will be bargain hunting as new keyword phrases show themselves for the first time. I am assuming that different search engines ( AOL, AV, Lycos, Hotbot, Netscape,etc.) will provide many new possiblities as they pull far more traffic than Goto does itself.Happy hunting everybody.

[2_much]

Hi JayZ,

Google has a keyword tool as well... It went live with their Ads program. This is the URL:

[adwords.google.com...]

You have to type in a lot of information before you can actually get to the number of times a keyword is searched in google. Ane even then, they give you an "estimate"...So the information is not very reliable...
Also, I just performed a search for a popular keyword and Google's estimate is 100,000 searches smaller than GoTo's! This probably means that the results given are JUST for estimates on the Ads.

[bigjohnt]

I'm with you 2_much -
I don't know what to make of the Google thingy. On one very competitive term (I checked over a dozen) GoTO had over three times as many searches for the same term. Comparing the counts relatively, I saw NO distinct pattern that would correlate to the estimated traffic to each of these engines. GoTo would be higher, much higher, .. then lower on another term, much lower. NO consistent correlation - which leaves me wondering on the source of either or both counts. For example, in picking a key phrase, if I were to rely on Google's thingy, I might pick term "A" and researching GoTo, I find that term B is searched 300% more. I would never rely on absolute counts in any tool such as these, but I fully expected a relative correlation. Makes me wonder, and stay up late...
For Christmas, I want GoTo to make available a breakdown of searches across major partners - totals, and by search term, monthly.....

[seoboy]

i've always been under the impression that certain goto terms (competitive terms) had their search totals artificially inflated because folks like us often go in to "check up" on bid rates.

i think this is precisely why goto now has the bid comparison tool - to try to prevent artificial search inflation...

seoboy

[tedster]

seoboy,

You're on the money. That's got to be a very big factor. I mean, I use the GoTo tool for kw research even if my client isn't bidding. GoTo gets spidered, poked, prodded and pressed, many times an hour, with no "real" search ever intended.

Talk about the observer influencing the observed -- whew!

[oLeon]

so to say:
some numbers are only webmaster-made, no really related numbers.

so, what the hell is it worth it?

[bigjohnt]

I find it good for "relative weighting" The more competitive terms obviously get a higher skew, but they are still the higher searched terms. I would not rely on them for absolute search numbers.

[grnidone]

A question, but I need to do an example first to make it make sense.

widgets 10,000
blue widgets 6,000
fuzzy widgets 1,000
...

OK. As I understand it now, and have always understood it to mean that the search phrase "widgets" (by itself) was searched upon 10,000 times in the last month.

That means "widgets" alone, and not part of another phrase, right? For example, the "blue widgets" doesn't take the widgets from that phrase and add them to the "widgets-by-itself" tabulation...do they?

Honestly, I'd never thought of it before until someone asked me. I can't imagine the numbers would even be close if they did add the parts of phrases to the keyword alone count.

-G

[physics]

Yes, I did a bit of research myself and you are right. Because of the paid model on GOTO (i.e. you can pay for 'blue shoes' or 'shoes blue') the GOTO tool will show the numbers for the specific search only. So you might see:

blue shoes: 100
shoes blue: 23

This might seem like a minor point, but if you are interested in doing research with this tool you need to take this into account.

The GOTO tool is discussed in this GOTO tool question [webmasterworld.com] thread as well.

[physics]

"GoTo would be higher, much higher, .. then lower on another term, much lower. NO consistent correlation - which leaves me wondering on the source of either or both counts."

I agree. I did some serious research into the GOTO tool using all kinds of mathematical analysis and I can't find any rhyme or reason. If I ever figure out a good way measure keyword traffic I will post it here.