Why Is Google Trying to Hide Keyword Data?
February 17, 2015
Sarvesh Bagla
Did you see Rand Fishkin talking about Google’s Keyword Planner hiding data?
Here’s a screen grab from his post.
He also goes on to suggest that placing complete faith in Google’s Keyword Planner could lead marketers astray in believing the tool’s response to queries. (We prefer to think more along the lines of a debilitating existential crisis. Same difference).
However, when you head over to Google Suggest and type in exactly the same query, you get a host of other suggestions to follow through with, indicating that greater search volumes DO exist.
Now, the news here isn’t that you can use wildcards on Google. In fact, wildcard searches have been around for a while.
While Rand goes on to show how to use wildcards to find more search volumes and phrases, we have a more pressing question on our minds.
Why the discrepancy?
We have a few options to consider here.
- Google’s pushing people away from long-tail keywords and towards keywords that drive more clicks and competition.
- Google’s right in thinking that if marketers want access to deeper-level data, then they need to pay for it.
- Does any of this really matter?
What’s your take on the situation?