If the argument for looking at the Google Search Results Page (SERPs) more important now than ever today is the day to consider this in light of the evidence
If you have been following me for any amount of time I’ve been pushing Keyword Planner is dead
Millions and millions of uninformed are still using Keyword Planner as their go to tool for planning their SEO and strategies for organic search
Folks this has been dead for over 3 years now
Here is some evidence that has come out in tracking eye studies about what is happening in the SERPs
Lets say you find that magic keyword that Keyword Planner has revealed to you
What does it tell you other than how many searches and Cost per click for paid advertising
It does not tell you who is ranking on that page, who is the authority is if one exist
You only can tell if you look at the actual SERPs who your competition is
In addition does the SERPs have attention grabbing elements to steal your clicks like
Paid ads, local packs, carousel results, knowledge graphs and rich snippets
Google has added these elements to steal your clicks, you can’t find this in Keyword Planner
I was reading a study written by conducted by Mediative (that was tracking searchers’ eye movement and eventual clicks across different SERPs) showed that the way searchers interact with the SERP varies a great deal from query to query.
Here is the image results of how Google can steal your clicks
It’s getting harder and harder to rank and get decent click thru rates in the SERPs
Trying to rank these days in the search engine that is getting more than 70% of the searches these days is more complicated than looking for search counts in an outdated tool that everyone out there is promoting
Does your favorite keyword tool offer more info than search counts?
If it doesn’t it’s time to re-evaluate and find a tool that does better
Till next time
Ed Chiasson