Overture suggestion tool - Overture only?

Do they count MSN, Altavista searches?

[WebmasterFisherman]

I hear distant rumors, Overture suggestion tool also counts and includes searches made on MSN and Altavista and Alltheweb (Overture partners).

Could anyone confirm their keyword suggestion stats include not only searches made on overture alone?

WF

[1Lit]

Not true. Would not be possible for Overture to do that.

[CygnusX1]

1Lit,

I'm afraid you are wrong about Overture not counting its partners. When you do a search in MSN, Yahoo, or any other search partner that Overture is working for. You actually are doing two searches, one for that search engine and one for Overture. Thats how Overture knows what “sponsor” websites to list under your search term? Overture keeps track of the number of times each search term was used for the month and then uses that number to show what the previous month count was on that search term.

I had this discussion about 2 months ago in here, and had a hard time convincing several people I was right. All they had to do was to call Overture to confirm what I said. I got it straight from Overture on the phone.

But don't believe me. Just call Overture and ask them yourself. They will tell you that Overture plays at least a part in 80% of all searches. I personally think that number is a little high, but that is the number Overture uses.

Remember, no-matter where you go there you are. :)

[1milehgh80210]

"I'm afraid you are wrong about Overture not counting its partners<<
exactly, there's very few searches on overture alone, not worth indexing..

[moltar]

What do you think is the ratio of OV vs. Google searches?

[WebmasterFisherman]

Considering NielsenNetratings stats (oh yeah I know about 3 types of lies and statistics) - Google (count yahoo, aol) is believed to possess about 65 to 70% of all traffic. MSN, Altavista, Alltheweb and Overture would have twice as little.
Considering Overture stats' delinquency (like at least 20% exaggeration) the rough ratio would be
(OvertureStats*0,8)*2 = Google estimates
WF

[shorebreak]

In my own experience, Overture's search term suggestion tool (STST) ends up being 45% of the total traffic I get from Overture & Google together. So I multiply STST estimates by 2.2 to get total paid search impression info.

Anyone else care to comment? This topic is always one worth responding to in order to build a consensus.

[CygnusX1]

I don't think it really matters what the percentage is. I think it's more important to remember that this is just a tool to use and results can vary from Overtures keyword tool to another search engines keyword tool.

Never put all your eggs in one basket, and you can't go wrong.

There's my two cents worth.

[pleeker]

The suggestion tool includes the whole Overture distribution network. I asked about this a year or three ago and was pointed toward a legit response from OV.

If you want to see it for yourself, use the tool and search on a single-word, generic term like "health", "travel", or "sports", all of which show close to 2 million searches. Overture itself is not used as a search engine to that degree.

[rogerd]

I have verified this by personal experimentation, although this was few years ago. I was testing a position checker, and ran a search on a unique keyword string that no other searcher would be likely to type in. At the time, my number of searches was multiplied by five, indicating that 5 engines that I queried were reporting back in the suggestion totals. I'm sure this may have changed a bit, but the concept is no doubt similar. Overture itself wouldn't be a good statistical resource.

[webdiversity]

The tool is a historical search of data that will include some but not all of the Overture publishers results.

It should only ever be used as a guide to past performance.

If you look up Christmas related keywords now and it looks we can all make a mint on those keywords, what d you think?

Maybe they have a dart board and throw darts to arrive at the figures, and to be honest that would probably be a more accurate prediction on what to expect.

if you write lousy copy you could get way less than 45% or way more, it also depends the position you bid to (#4 on MSN now looking good...)

[rharri]

Is'nt it a better question to ask whether the distribution of terms on Overture is similar to the other search engines?

If "widgets" is 0.05% of all searches on Overture and Google, then its a good tool.