Google’s New Search-Based Keyword Tool Tells You What Keywords You’re Missing

Google released a new keyword tool tonight, named the Search-Based Keyword Tool. This tool goes beyond what the other Google tools provide and tells you what keywords you are currently missing out on based on search query data from your site’s content.

I spoke with Google’s Baris Gultekin, Business Product Manager about the tool. Baris explained that the value in this tool is that it gives advertisers a look at keywords that they are currently not advertising for, that might bring in a positive ROI. For example, a site that sells watches can use this tool to find a popular model or brand that they are currently not advertising for.

Beyond the advertisers point of view, you can use this as a nice competitive analysis tool. You can see data about which keywords are relevant to any site on the Internet — so, if you are getting into a new line of business and want keyword data, just plug in the site’s domain and click go.

Let me take you through some screen captures of the tool.

The above screen shot is of the the main screen. By default, when you login, you should see in the middle drop down menu, any site within your AdWords profile. You can then use this tool as the normal keyword tool or just search to see what keywords you are missing out on, i.e., not advertising for. When you click “find keywords,” the next page would come up.

This screen will show you all keywords that are relevant to the site that you might want to consider advertising for. If you are logged in, it will show you only the keywords that you are currently not advertising for. In addition, it will show you the Ad/Search Share column, which I will explain a bit later. If you are not logged in or you are not the owner of the site, Google will show you all keywords relevant to that site and won’t hide any of the keywords they might be advertising for already. Why? Well, that can be a competitive issue that Google does not want to reveal. In addition, if you are not the owner of the site, you will be limited to 100 results, sorted by keyword search volume.

Clicking on the magnifying glass will take you to insights for search for that keyword phrase. The Ad/Search Share tells the advertiser what percentage of time you’re showing up in search ad spot and the organic spots. That data alone seems incredibly valuable to me. This data will not show for sites that you are not the advertiser for. The other columns, like search volume, competition, and suggested bid are already available in other tools, so I won’t explain those.

The tool also gives you the ability to show keywords by category. So, if you want to see the top keywords within the Digital Cameras product category, you can see it. Notice in the screen capture below, Ad/Search Share and Extracted From columns are blank.

In short, Google is giving this tool to anyone to use, specifically advertisers, just in time for the holiday season, so that they can obtain more keywords that might convert for them and potentially earn more money. At the same time, Google hopes that this tool increases ad spend and earns them more money.