Google usage counts

When looking up multiple word terms the terms needs to be placed inside of double quotes eg "word1 word2" to return results that contain the exact phrase and not just pages that happen to contain all the words but not necessarily together

to see the difference it makes you can compare these 2 examples:

Without double quotes:

http://www.google.com/search?q=plastic+shoes

Results 1 - 10 of about 8,170,000 for plastic shoes

With double quotes:

http://www.google.com/search?q=%22plastic+shoes%22

Results 1 - 10 of about 94,300 for "plastic shoes"


Google search volumes

https://adwords.google.com/select/KeywordToolExternal

When using this tool to look up how often people search for a term you need to set the "match type" drop down box to "exact" instead of "broad" so that it returns searches for the specific term and not include counts for similar terms. It also makes sense to set "Results are tailored to" (link towards top of page) to "all countries and territories" for gtld's or to specific countries for cctld's.

You can select "Show Estimated Avg CPC" from the "Choose columns to display" drop down to see the bids on the terms, useful also for manually setting keywords on park landers etc.

Bear in mind that tools like this are far from perfect and should only really be used as only one part of the equation for determining domain quality.

good stuff thanks

Good Information.

Good names..

Hi, noticed a link to this thread on the bottom of all your posts safesys. I have a question that is totally related to this.

In terms of Google usage, your example 94,300 for "plastic shoes" - Can you tell me is this number good or bad? Would you think 94k, that's too competitive or am i grabbing the wrong end of the stick.

I can see the number but I don't understand its value.

there are too many variables for a simple threshold (eg value of the product/service, the likely type of interest, sustainability of the interest, region etc) and the tool should ideally be used as a part of an approach to determining demand/value rather than being the only metric.

Hi, thanks for the response.

I may be given the same response with this follow up question as well.

Google search volumes; what sort of numbers would you say are good. If something had say a global monthly search of say 1000. Is that enough to reg a name and build a minisite? Is it easier to pin a tail on this particular donkey?

it really does sound like the same question so I'd have to say the same answer. the other thing to factor in is the amount of competition for the keyword and if you think you have a means to get a good enough ranking to draw some of that search traffic to your site.

Thanks safesys, you the man

Can somebody explain this?:

No quotations:
Results 1 - 10 of about 175,000 for hipotecarias

with quotations:
Results 1 - 10 of about 1,710,000 for "hipotecarias".

TIA
Is there a tutorial or FAQ on Goggle results that explains such disparities?

I get closer results than that using google.com, but that's probably down to the regional targeting:

Results 1 - 10 of about 517,000 for hipotecarias
Results 1 - 10 of about 516,000 for "hipotecarias"

it looks like google includes results that ignore the spaces when there are no double quotes even for single word lookups - for example:

Results 1 - 10 of about 107,000,000 for usedcars

Results 1 - 10 of about 4,780,000 for "usedcars"
Results 1 - 10 of about 102,000,000 for "used cars"

Originally posted by safesys
I get closer results than that using google.com, but that's probably down to the regional targeting:

I don't get this part.
I am using an USA IP
hipotecarias it's a single word.

I'm using a UK ip and get a different count using that than calling the exact same url using a us proxy.

hipotecarias it's a single word.

I was just using "used car" to illustrate that google is performing some algorithmic functions with regards to terms that aren't in quotes. the extent of that algorithm could well extend beyond just breaking that term into space delimeted sections.

bottom line is google results can be strange - but to me, the most important thing has always been getting a feel for who is using a term and how rather than trying to come up with a magic-bullet formula based on just the count number (although a very low count is all the more telling given the algorithmic aspect).

Thanks
(I put more emphasis on the keyword tool and trends by far...than the Search Results and go one step forward going to the last page and seeing how many page 'results are simmilar.)

Hello all I wanted to see if yall could verify this for me. Im getting 1,220,000 searches a month with clothing bottoms. I am in the uk. Is this right? do you see it as well?