June 3rd, 2010 by Susie

There are many search engine optimisation tools out there to help companies analyse how effective their keywords and website are working for them. Webmaster tools are one of the most popular SEO tools around for website monitoring, and it looks like it can now tell us a little bit more about what we might need to know, in order to improve the way our keywords work for us.

Earlier this year, Google introduced a new element to its Webmaster tools, which basically allows companies to see more detailed information and data regarding their most used keywords. It can inform you of things such as impressions and number of click throughs from particular keywords, which will then give the keywords a ranking. From the offset, this seems like a fantastic new tool, and one which will really help us pin down what our target audience – and the search engines – are thinking about us. However, as useful as this information is,  it appears there are already teething problems, and areas of concern, with this added feature, so perhaps we should look at it in more detail.

If you are a regular user of Google Analytics, then one of the first things you will notice is that the results from the webmaster tool are different to those of Google Analytics. Before there is blind panic amongst search marketers, this could actually be seen as a good thing; it is clearly obvious that both tools are simply using different criteria to monitor keyword effectiveness, and varied results when it comes to giving us the bigger picture.

The main concern with this new tool is the way in which it ranks keywords. Whereas most of us are used to having keywords ranked in order, so number one to number ten, for example, this new Google tool appears to rank them in a slightly more complex manner. It seems that Google has taken on board its vision of creating more personalised searches, and is tailoring these results in line with this. As opposed to just telling us which of our keywords work the best, it ranks our keywords against different user circumstances. This could be user trends or type of topic searched for, time of day which the user searches, and various other detailed facts or assumptions.

So, in case you are wondering how your results will be displayed, it is fairly simple really. Instead of keyword ‘A’ ranking as your third strongest, it could basically rank between two and eight, depending on various factors. Whilst this may seem confusing, it is just a more comprehensive way of measuring, and should be embraced. What companies should do is use this to their advantage, and aim to get the probability of their keyword ranking third, as high as possible. In theory, this makes for a more consistent approach to our keywords, rather than just a short term high ranking. It allows us to assess the relationship between our keywords and our users, which can only be a good thing.

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