One of the most useful tools in the search marketer's arsenal, Google's Keyword Tool, not too long ago started reporting search volume data in number form instead of the ‘easy to glance at but hard to justify to my boss’ bar graph they’d been showing before. It was huge. It still is.

For way too long, Paid search and SEO have been run with a different set of metrics - with PPC being the ultimate direct response marketing and ‘natural’ SEO being an important, but less data-driven, marketing piece. SEO’s lack of standardized traffic volume numbers as opposed to paid’s easier reach into long tail keywords made it easy to justify a PPC dollar in, and a dollar out.

Not the first – but instantly the authoritative source.
This is certainly not the first keyword search volume tool - Overture’s keyword traffic estimator was a significant tool until Yahoo decided to do away with it, and the ISP-based keyword research tools that have appeared over the last several years have been great for putting a ballpark figure on search volumes - but the Keyword Tool provides an authoritative number straight from the proverbial horse’s mouth. The broad, phrase, and exact matching distinctions provides the ability to find exactly what you’re looking for.

Keyword targeting becomes much easier
Building the Keyword list has always been one of the biggest challenges of natural search marketers. Unlike paid – where the long tail effect allows search marketers to simply concentrate on finding the balancing point for each keyword where return exceeds investment – search marketers have often struggled with the challenge of prioritizing which keywords get their on-page and link building attention. While certainly any natural search marketer worth their salt makes it a point to update their keyword traffic estimates, it instantly became a lot less time-intensive with the release of the Keyword Tool.

Cyclical traffic trends won’t drive you in circles
The new Keyword Tool has two specific metrics that it reports – Approximate Search Volume for the Trailing Month and Approximate AVERAGE Search Volume. This makes it very easy to differentiate between a hot (but potentially transitory) keyword and a long term consistent winner. If you’re not tracking these rankings on a month to month basis for your most important terms – start now! It will be extraordinarily helpful in the budget meeting when you can show search trends specific to your business.

Paid and Natural Search Marketers Working Together
Being able to use a common language helps to eliminate the walls between paid and natural search marketers. Coordinating budgets and priorities becomes possible once you can compare apples to apples. We all have low-performing paid search campaigns whose budgets could be much better utilized on a high-performance natural keyword. For the search marketers who work on both sides of the ‘coin’ this is a tremendous time saver, as well as a way to manage their individual keyword metrics.