Google Keywords Tool Overrated?

[amichael]

According to an article I read, (can't post link due to newbie status) Google's tool only serves to deliver an inflated perspective of on-going searches.

Search the article under: why the google keyword tool is useless for SEO and it should be the very first link (smackdown blogs).

Have you heard similar arguments before?

What do you lads and gents think? IS it bollix, completely true, or only feasible to an extent?

 

[djbaxter]

The author, in my experience, gets as much wrong as he gets right. That said, he is talking about a distinction between using the tool for PPC and using it for SEO, and even there I'm not convinced his logic holds.

About all he really shows is that if you use different stats scripts for traffic you may see different results. Hardly a breaking news shocker.

The reality is that the Google keyword tool is still useful for evaluating relative frequencies of searches for specific search terms. Does it really matter if the specific number is 88 or 93?

Google said that I had 93 clicks in that time period, but I only had 88 hits to my tracking URL

He's also using a poetry site as his "test case". Not sure that's representative of anything except his poetry site.

I'd also note that the comments are from 2008. Very little about Google remains static over 2 years.

 

[amichael]

At what number of search results would YOU consider keyword niche-worthy? Now, I understand that niche-worthiness doesn't merely depend on how popular the topic is in the search engines, but also if it's actually marketable.

For the sake of simplicity, what would be the minimum--from your experience--search results that would stir interest in that key word to find if it IS ultimately niche-worthy?

 

[djbaxter]

At what number of search results would YOU consider keyword niche-worthy? Now, I understand that niche-worthiness doesn't merely depend on how popular the topic is in the search engines, but also if it's actually marketable.

For the sake of simplicity, what would be the minimum--from your experience--search results that would stir interest in that key word to find if it IS ultimately niche-worthy?

Are you still asking about the comments in the blog post you referenced? or is this a differen/general question?

 

[amichael]

This is a different question, since you feel strongly that the article I referenced wasn't accurate, I was just wondering what your take on search results was.

 

[djbaxter]

That's a question better answered by others, I think. I'm more of an SEO guy. I'm still learning affiliate marketing myself.