Keyword spy is not accurate
Submitted by KE on Tue, 05/27/2008 - 13:42.
I just tried using keyword spy based on a rec I saw on this board and it's listing of the # of competitors is totally innaccurate. Has anyone else noticed this?
If you go to keyword spy and look up the # of competitors it has listed, then go to google/sponsored links to see if that number is accurate, it's not.
hmmmm
Was it off by much? I
Was it off by much? I wouldn't think the data from KeywordSpy is real time, so there's going to be some fluctuations.
James
It was totally off. Said
It was totally off. Said they were 9 competitors and when I checked google.com/sponsored - links - they were hundreds!
unless I'm using the tool incorrectly.
I'm having the same problem
I'm having the same problem with keyword compete
I type the word cellulite and it brings up 77, 000 searches a month
Seobook says it's only about 2,172 a month or 543 daily
very strange.
I'm not sure of all the
I'm not sure of all the details of how Keyword Spy works, but I wonder if it's giving you how many people are bidding on that exact term.
If you're doing a search and seeing hundreds of ads, that is probably mainly people who are bidding on similar terms with a broad match, but there might only be a few people who are bidding on the term as an exact match.
Since Google doesn't give any preference to match type from what I remember, this additional information wouldn't do you any good, so hopefully that's not what Keyword Spy is doing.
James
KeyWord Spy is OK...sorta
No tool will give you a 100% accuracy or even 90% ...these are all benchmarking tools.
I used to be a GoogSpy fan before it turned into SpyFu. The problem was that the data I was getting was 3 months old and way off! The worst part, was that my company wanted me to guarantee the accuracy of my data.
When I shopped around for a new tool, in addition to looking at cost, I also looked at how often they collected data. This is what I found:
Comparing the 'freshness' of the data, the $89/month guys make me feel like I'm paying premium for little more than promises.
I guess that if they all do about the same thing, I want more for $89/month. Especially when I can get plenty in the $39 range.
Freshness of Data
Rick,
You make a great point. The 'freshness' of the data is very important when you are making tactical decisions on your PPC campaign.
Adgooroo's data is actually updated multiple times per day, and gives you the most timely information of any of the tools listed. The interface also also you to drill down into the data and pull very specific information on your competitors and their PPC ads.
This is a good discussion. When you use competitive intelligence the right way, it can give you a substantial advantage over your competitors.
Abuna Demoz
Technical Architect
Adgooroo.com
AdGooroo is updated more often than stated here.
I used to be a sales manager for AdGooroo. I have since moved on from there to my own company and finally to my current role at DreamCo Design...but I want to assure you that the data you receive in AdGooroo is updated overnight EVERY night, for *both* PPC and organic listings. On the $89 account, you will not receive a lot of the premium services, but you will see the entire landscape of competitors bidding on the keywords you specify in the admin panel. They have several monitors located in different geographic areas within the U.S. and abroad. If you research U.S.-based keywords, you can be confident that you are getting aggregated data from major metro touchpoints across the country. Some of the replies here state that none of these tools are 100% accurate, and that's absolutely true. But the integrity of the AdGooroo data is the best I've seen.
Thats good information
Thats good information Rick.
Thanks For posting.
If your findings are accurate (and I have no reason to believe they wouldn't be) it seems some of the higher priced services put more emphasis on their bottom line, sales pitch, and market speak, than serving up timely data doesn't it.
I have witnessed via presentation, a very intelligent ppc consultant use some of these spy tools to help her set up a campaign. For the most part, it failed.
I'm not dissing any of these spy tools, yet they seem to be a bit overpriced and are apparently, by no means the proverbial silver bullet, even in skilled hands. (your results may vary -lol)
Thanks again for sharing your info.
Barry
I've also tried KeywordSpy
I've also tried KeywordSpy via their Free Trial. Regarding the "timeliness" i think they're okay considering. According to them they update like every 2 weeks or so, so sometimes they can be off by a few numbers (according to my campaigns, that is). But with benchmarking tools such as these, you cant really expect perfection like Rick said. In terms of competition analysis, they can give you a pretty good idea how others are doing. But its up to you on how you use the data.
I think its a safe bet to try them all out first before paying for membership. Spyfu, Wordtracker and Adgooroo, don't seem to offer these option though. I'm trying out KeywordSpy for now and browsing around. From the looks of it, it works for affiliate marketing too so there is a lot in there for 89 bucks if your also in that field.
Money and Service Matters
You’re right Rick, money and the service is what matters in this kind of industry. I was a project manager before for an SEO company who’s servicing more than ten 10 small to medium businesses online on a daily basis and because of this my team sought after a more credible tool to use in our keyword research. We’ve tried almost all them in the market - Adgooroo, Spyfu, Wordtracker you name it, and they just aren’t enough.
And so we tried KeywordSpy. Free trial was my only option because I don’t want to give funds just yet on such a risk. The results were very surprising for me and my team. I think the tool really has a lot to offer plus the fact that they give updates pretty accurately. Very promising as well is the information I gathered from colleagues that KeywordSpy does update their system every 2 weeks which according to them is apparent if you’re a frequent user.
You really might want to give them a try if credible results are what you want to show your big bosses. I could say money is worth here.
KeywordSpy has been amazing!
I got into this talk with a friend of my regarding ways on how I could get more people to know about my company in the web. And that's when he introduced me to the process of SEO. He mentioned sites like Spyfu, Adgooroo and KeywordSpy. I tried all of them but KeywordSpy proved to me more user-friendly and more accurate.
I am now earning a lot more (lets say 3 to 4 times more than I used to) because of KeywordSpy. It's given my company the exposure I needed online. Not only am I getting more popular, I know I can also keep this up because I have subscribed to them and I trust that they're data is fresh and accurate.
It's the best. You should try it!