Comments on: How to Estimate Keyword Traffic without PPC (or Google is a Liar)

By: Levi | Stat Centric

Levi | Stat Centric — Wed, 04 May 2011 14:03:19 +0000

I have a theory on this. I think the estimated traffic is for all google search engines (Google USA, Google Canada, Google Australia). You’ll often find that you rank #1 in the USA engine but not well in the others. You would think though that the actual visits would still be much higher though. I have a keyword where my estimated visits should be 7080 a month, but instead its 68. This is factoring in CTR etc. And of course, this is how I found your article, trying to figure out why the big difference in actual visits.

By: admin

admin — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 13:46:49 +0000

It’s been a while since I’ve written this post and Google’s traffic estimates are much more accurate now. Still it’s always a good thing to make sure.

As for PPC, you wouldn’t test broad keywords, you would test exact match keywords. Also, if all you want to test is how much traffic it gets, you don’t need to get many clicks, you just need to see the impressions. That can take 1-2 clicks and you’re out, and sometimes you might even get away with 0 clicks.

Since you’re there, though, it’s good to test if the traffic converts too. That will cost you more but you’d get invaluable data there. If it doesn’t convert, you’d know not to waste your resources pursuing the keyword in SEO. And if you know your value per customer and it brings in a positive ROI, you might as well keep running the campaign.

By: Rob

Rob — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 09:16:38 +0000

Hmmm. I guess so.. I’d have thought probably a little of each, with the majority consisting of the latter. I still can’t quite see the value, though..

To value a customer that much you’d have to eventually earn a decent return.. but how? Maybe a good squeeze page could get a few of them onto your list. Maybe use a free “branded” giveaway, or send them to a site full of related affiliate-linked products? But even with the “quality” discount for good CTR, how much could you ever afford to pay for broad clicks that might only convert 2% at best? Could any CPA offers justify those prices? I’m clutching at straws here, aren’t I?

Imho, broad PPC keywords are generally pure Evil. They don’t make money. Perhaps it’s just the competition among a small group who don’t know what they’re doing that bids up their prices, and whenever one goes broke and wises up, another steps in to fuel the lunacy. Maybe there isn’t that much overall competition (from those who know what they’re doing) because the ROI is so bad!

By: admin

admin — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 11:49:59 +0000

Well, there are probably two reasons, a) their value per customer is much higher than they pay per click, or b) they don’t know what they’re doing.

By: Rob

Rob — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 05:31:08 +0000

Imho, trying to get clicks on dilute keywords like “making money online” or “internet marketing tools” would be a waste of time and SEO money if your intent was to make a sale. The competition is ridiculous, the search traffic grossly overestimated, the CTR bad, and actual conversions to sales on such untargeted keywords would most likely be nil. The best thing to be said about trying to get good search results positions for these keywords is that you’d probably have lots of company for your misery, since no one else would be making any sales either.
As far as PPC goes, I can’t imagine why anyone would actually pay for clicks from these keywords either. The prices seem to be insane, especially if your goal isn’t to make a quick sale. It seems to me that there are lots of cheaper and much more effective ways to build a list. I’m just wondering why anyone would bother to compete for these keywords anyways.. Am I missing something?

By: admin

admin — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 11:30:41 +0000

Hi,

For sure, there are many factors to CTR.

You mean “internet marketing tools”? It has a life of its own and I stopped interfering even before this post. I think it was #2 at one time, probably will get back to similar positions sooner than later. Not much traffic from there anyway, and it doesn’t convert that well either (not that I’m trying much).

By: Fish

Fish — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:39:39 +0000

HI
Just wanted to point out that CTR is affected by more than just position. It is also affected by title tag and description, so someone may read those, and decide not the click through. That might not be the case for your particular page, but just wanted to make the general point.

BTW, right now you are at #15 for the same keyword phrase
as of July 25, 2010.

By: Tom McCool

Tom McCool — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 19:03:21 +0000

Thanks for the insight, I’ve just spetn 6 months getting to top spot on page one, to find I got a couple of click a day.

By: heat Pad

heat Pad — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 03:37:53 +0000

Thanks for the validation. I am a noob at IM and I’ve seen already that the numbers are off, way off. I had a number one spot as a goal that google claimed got about 90 clicks a day, but once I got there it was only about 1-2. I’ll check out the goog insights.

Thank you

By: Johio

Johio — Wed, 19 May 2010 21:56:39 +0000

Yep, I have definitely had that happen to me before. I’ve thought I scored big many times only to find out it wasn’t even close. Thanks for the tip on Insights for Search. I don’t think I have run across that before and if I have I forgot about it, so either way this post was very helpful. I retweeted it also.
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