R.I.P. Google Keyword Tool. Long Live SEO!

Attendees sat stunned at #SMX East as Baris Gultekin, Group Product Manager, Google AdWords, Google, Inc. clarified that the ubiquitous AdWords Keyword Tool now only provides keywords Google deems "commercial." It's been obvious anyway by degraded results over the last few weeks. This represents a shift of seismic proportions to those who utilize the tool for demographic research purposes, in and outside of AdWords. Here's an overview of what we just lost and how to get the data anyway.


Google Backpedals

Google owns the largest first-hand sampling of query data in many parts of the world. Now, breaking rank with 15+ years of holistic search engine open-source tradition, Google has decided marketers should no longer have easy access to the long, or even mid tail data (search inventory), unless the keyword has demonstrated "commercial" characteristics historically.  Effectively, in tandem with the well-established user-herding "suggest" feature, this move consolidates Google's semantic semi-monopoly into fewer keyword SKUs.

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R.I.P. Google Keyword Tool. Long Live SEO!