Google AdWords Keyword Planner Modifying Your Keywords

Sep 12, 2016 - 8:23 am 15 by
Filed Under Google Ads

Wrenches2 AdWords Google 640

If you try the Google Keyword Planner tool today you might run into a surprise where the tool is not always showing you the data for the exact keyword phrase or word you plugged into the tool. So if you enter in [search engine optimization] Google will show you at the top the phrase [seo] instead.

I received a bunch of notifications about this over the weekend. Here is one on Twitter from Jack Stonehouse who wrote "odd happenings with the keyword planner, seems to be showing the most searched for variant." He shared this screen shot:

click for full size

RankRanger posted a deep dive on this today going through this change. They said "Google's keyword research tool is now altering search queries, presenting results that don't exactly match the initial phrase. As a result, Keyword Planner is at times showing results that not only don't match the query exactly, but seriously deviate from the possible intent behind it." I recommend you check out their blog post to understand how serious this can be for some keywords.

I do not see any feedback from Google on this yet but we are on the case.

This has come after Google restricted access to the keyword planner tool to many and truth is, they expanded that restricted access over the past week or so.

Update: This supposedly started back in July but now they are being more "transparent" about it.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google June Core Update Done, Local Ranking Update, AI Mode Updates & AI Calling Businesses

Jul 18, 2025 - 8:01 am
Google Maps

New Google Business Profile Check Edit Status

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Login Service Pages Are Hard To Rank In Search

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google

Google AI Overviews For Movie Queries

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Rolling Out Smart Bidding Exploration To Some Advertisers

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:21 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Sitelinks With Light Gray Underlines

Jul 18, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google Tests "Helpful" Button In Google Reviews