Google Keywords Tool External Now Gone

[aakk9999]

Google Keyword Tool External has really gone now and no Google keyword research can be done unless you have an adwords account. Googling it and clicking on SERP result now takes you to this page:

[support.google.com...]

The external Keyword Tool is also no longer available. If you want to get keyword ideas using Keyword Planner, make sure to sign in to your AdWords account.

Google reported back in early July that they will discontinue Keyword Tool External in a near future.

[MrSavage]

Only planner now, no tool. When it was saying "in the coming months", that the tool would be retired, I though that meant months. Sure went away much much faster than I thought it was going to. Boom, outta here.

[lucy24]

This is specifically about Adwords, right? When I saw "Keywords" in the general Google forum I thought of the keywords option in gwt (formally "Content Keywords" under Index), which hasn't gone anywherne. Not that it does me any good, since the first seventeen listed words apply only to one group of e-books, but still.

[aakk9999]

It was an Adwords tool, yes, but the "External" version (where you do not need to be logged in to Google Adwords account to check for searches) was used extensively in checking keywords search volumes when planning the keywords strategy for organic ranking.

It had Broad, Phrase and Exact match monthly search numbers.

The replacement tool (Keyword Planner) provides only Exact match numbers and requires a person to be logged into Adwords account - therefore requires a Google login linked to a website.

<added>
I am wondering how Google would look at (or would it bother with it at all) if people are researching keywords that are completely irrelevant to a website the Adwords account is connected to.
</added>

[brotherhood of LAN]

They've been displaying the warning for a while about the deprecation of the public facing tool.

> provides only Exact match numbers

The option for exact/broad/phrase is still there, it's just moved to just above the KW results.

[aakk9999]

@brotherhood of LAN
I just had a look and the monthly search column numbers are for the "Exact Match" only.

I found the option you have mentioned above, and when I clicked on it (the icon of pen on the top right), there is "Broad", "Exact" and "Phrase" choice, but the explanation below says:

This match type selection only affects your click and cost estimates. It doesn't impact average monthly searches and other historical statistics shown on this page

The text that opens on hover above the Average Monthly Searches defines this column as:

The average number of times that people have searched for this exact keyword based on the targeting setting that you have selected.
About the number: We calculate the 12-month average of the number of searches for this exact keyword, based on the location and Search Network targeting settings that you have selected.

So I think that the Broad and Phrase match has been lost.

[brotherhood of LAN]

Gotcha.

I was playing with the UI before it became the default and am 99% sure that functionality worked, as did uploading a file like

widgets
[widgets]
"widgets"

But it seems you're right, as all of them produce an identical search volume.

[aakk9999]

I am just glad I did some random comparisons between exact match numbers between Keyword Planner and Google Keyword Tool External before the External went away.

For the keywords I spot checked, the exact match numbers were pretty similar.

[carloborja]

Any quick advantages and disadvantages of using this planner over the discontinued external tool?

[aakk9999]

More on keywords referral statistics in these threads:

Not Provided - Looks like organic keyword data is gone
Sept 23, 2013
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4612072.htm [webmasterworld.com]

and also in the earlier thread...

Keywords "not provided" trend and consequences
Mar 11, 2013
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4553265.htm [webmasterworld.com]