Wordtracker Review

Wordtracker is the most popular keyword analysis tool being used today. Wordtracker allows users to assess keyword traffic and keyword competition.

How does Wordtracker work?

Wordtracker bases a keyword’s traffic on the number of searches over the last two months within the Dogpile/Metacrawler search engines.

Keyword competition is based on finding the number of exact phrase matches within a particular search engine. The free version of Wordtracker finds this number using AltaVista. Paid versions of Wordtracker allow users to choose Google, MSN, Yahoo, etc.

Wordtracker plugs these two values into a formula. This formula is called the KEI or Keyword Effectiveness Index. The number outputted by this formula will determine whether a keyword should be used for optimization. A number close to zero indicates a very poor keyword. A number over 100 indicates a good keyword. Numbers over 400 are considered excellent.

The KEI formula is P squared divided by C. P is the popularity number and C is the competition number.

I know that for most people this is not new information.

What are the problems with Wordtracker?

I have written elsewhere on the problems with keyword analysis tools.

I will discuss the problems with the popularity number and competition number in brief.

As mentioned, the popularity number is gleaned from Dogpile/Metacrawler usage. These meta-search engines attract a fairly limited audience. It is not representative of the larger user community. However, because the big search engines do not reveal any user data, one must take what one can get. The Dogpile/Metacrawler numbers are the best we have. With this in mind, the traffic numbers returned by Wordtracker tend to be conservative.

Wordtracker data does not provide any sense of seasonality. Thinking of creating a site geared towards Valentine’s Day? Unless the search for keywords took place back in February, March and April, there will be no adequate data. The two month limitation is indeed limiting, though Overture’s data is no better as it only provides data for the last month.

Even if keywords are not seasonal a two month snapshot is subject to change. A search for “paisley socks” done in November might reveal different data than a search done in March.

Are Wordtracker traffic numbers REALLY based on a two month period?

Digital Point offers a Keyword Suggestion Tool that uses Wordtracker data. The Wordtracker data is labeled as “count/day”. However the numbers are the exact same numbers generated when using Wordtracker directly. Wordtracker clearly states that the data is gleaned from the past two month period. On the Digital Point Forum, the following exchange occurred:

How can your wordtracker values say “per day” when wordtrackers ACTUAL results are almost the same value and say “per 60 days”? Which is right, you or wordtracker, because you both cannot be right.

Oooooohhhh… that. The numbers were intentionally shifted based on a conversation with Wordtracker. The goal was to get the numbers relatively similar (between Overture and Wordtracker).

I want a straight answer about what the Wordtracker popularity number really represents. Per day or per two month period are very, very different.

I wrote in the article referenced above:

The question is not how MUCH competition but how DIFFICULT is the competition. I can run a race with one million turtles. That’s a lot of competition. However, it is not very difficult competition. I can run a race with one cheetah. The competition is small but extremely difficult. There exists a need for a competition difficulty quotient.

No tool truly assesses the qualitative nature of the competition. Competition is only quantified. Having a quantified picture of the competition is only 20% of the total equation. To use another racing analogy: There are typically 8-10 runners in the 100 meter dash. Does the amount of competition really tell you anything? Knowing WHO the runners are, knowing their past performance, knowing how they train, is a far better assessment.

Do I need to pay to get the most out of Wordtracker?

A paid subscription to Wordtracker gains users two things: access to exact phrase match data from particular search engines and a KEI figure based on that competition value. I can figure up the competition data on my own without having to pay. I can then figure up the KEI on my own. However, I think that most ratio kind of results whether KEI ratios or plain Results/Searches ratios are dubious at best. The only thing worthwhile is the popularity count which Wordtracker offers for free.