Overture Keyword Tool Update
So after a reader’s comment that they were able to get Overture to work today, I checked it out, and lo and behold! It worked!
So I dug around a little bit to try something official and found something on Search Engine Journal. They had already gotten in touch with John Slade, Sr. Director, Global Product Management with Yahoo Search Marketing. Mr. Slade had this to say:
“First, I’d like to clarify that Yahoo! Search Marketing’s public keyword research tool (formerly known as the Overture’s Keyword Selector Tool- KST) continues to exist today and will continue to exist until we replace it with an improved product. Unfortunately, the responsiveness of this free tool is diminished due to the sheer volume of hits it receives each day, therefore browsers may time out and error pages may appear but it doesn’t mean that this tool has been removed.
Yahoo does have plans to offer a new public keyword research tool, which would be hosted through Yahoo! and available to our API partners. We plan on making this new tool available later this year.
Since the public tool is still available, there isn’t anything to formally announce. However, when we launched our new advertising platform last quarter, it featured an improved keyword research tool (which we refer to as “protected” since it’s only accessible to advertisers who are logged into our system) to help advertisers discover more relevant and valuable keywords that fit their individual needs. We’ve been getting really positive feedback about this tool and we plan to continue to enhance this tool as we learn how advertisers interact with it.”
So it would appear that the current tool is not being given any attention while they focus on their “protected” keyword tool, which is only accessible from a user account. The red-headed stepchild syndrome, so to speak.
This is a clever way to pull people into their network, certainly. My guess is that their new public keyword tool will be out later this year after they’re done with the overhaul of their advertising network.
Thanks for the heads-up in the comments Jason. You can find the Search Engine Journal post here:
http://www.searchenginejournal.com/?p=4344
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That’s certainly a good news and great relieve for all of us. I was worried about my keyword research programs (i.e. keyword elite) will be affected.
By having this new “protected” tool, I sure hope the speed and efficiency of the keyword queries are much quicker then they are now, especially with a much smaller population of active users.
Wedding Favors
Good news, but the past week has been bad for Yahoo’s (Overture) Keyword tool.
With a little bit of effort they could have maintained the quality of service from their free product and not lost so much potential business by bringing other players into the market.
I get much better conversions that result in better ROIs for ad campaigns run on Yahoo vs Google. I checked out the new keyword research tool today - it performs quite well.
Kishor
Cheap Watches
Well, finally…I have been frustrated over the Yahoo keyword research tool in the lack of response and freeze ups. Even though this tool is simple, I think we would all agree that it is very important unto us all. So having it back up and working is GREAT NEWS.
Thanks for the update on the Yahoo tool!
Audio Books for Everyone
Great Post!! Thanks for getting to the bottom of this issue!!
I hope that when Yahoo works on their new tool, that they will combine the Bid and Search Tool results together. Right now I use http://www.ResultsGenerator.com It shows both together and is handy!! But it’s also slow when Overture/Yahoo quits working!!
Keep Up the Great Work!!
Wade
I use the wordtracker new tool
I did a video to show people how to use it.
See you in Orlando
Ed
http://tubbynerd.com/2007/02/04/part-1-your-new-best-friend/
Well, I’ve been using ClickAdEqualizer for my keyword research. It’s not free though.
Laser Hair Removal
This certainly is good news as it had been quite difficult to search for appropriate keywords lately in the optomization field. The keyword tool had indeed been acting weird for the past few months.
travel nurse jobs
Thanks goodness the tool is still in circulation, I have come to depend on this, but during its downtime I have searches for other tools and find the Wordtracker to be quite good and quick too.
James
Coach tickets
I did a little run through on the entire Yahoo Overture tool scenario as it evolved last week…
http://www.nichebot.com/blog/53/yahoo-overture-keyword-suggestion-tool-lives/
As you can see, I’m not too fond of the Overture results for the reason stated. Nonetheless, we continue to carry the tool on both our paid and free platforms.
http://www.nichebotclassic.com/o/
…and the multi-geographical version which is THE only public tool on NicheBOT 2’s paid platform is here…
http://www.nichebot.com/v2/o/
Feel free to use them.
Also — just today, WordTracker agreed to extend our free results to 50 results (1/2 of their 100 tool). Difference is, a user can save the searches and count at NicheBOT Classic with a free user account.
The tool should be live on the front page of NicheBOT Class by tomorrow morning on the main page:
http://www.nichebotclassic.com
Anywho — just thought I’d pass that along.
Best,
Jim
It’s a fabulous tool that we’ve all come to count on for much of our basic search. I am glad to hear it is still ticking!
Jonas
Amarillo Signs and Murals
Amazing! I don’t know if y’all could tell, but the speed behind the loading and searches are quick now, especially compared to last year. They must have either upgraded the infrastructure heavily… OR… less and less people are using the tool due to it being down for a while, especially with great tools out there porvided by WordTracker and Digital Point.
Unique Wedding Favors
What good is overture when you can use wordtracker? Their stats rock.
Judaism
Is the “Max Bid Tool” Gone? I used it two nights ago and yesterday I went there and this was the page I found:
“Gone. …is no longer available on this server and there is no forwarding address. Please remove all references to this resource.”
I also noticed it was off of Yahoos! website as well.
Does any one know what happened to this? Any suggestions for alternative solutions?
Weird.
Garrett Todd
Music On Hold
It has been hit or miss for me to find the tool operating.
Ship Your Golf Clubs
Brad,
I am not as optimistic as some regarding this issue. I’ve seen my income drop significantly as Yahoo implements their new PPC strategy. Perry Marshall sent out a very timely email a few days ago describing his thoughts. I must say that I agree with Perry. Yahoo. says that they are making the system better however it appears to me that they are not consulting the end user. I call them and get absolutely no help whatsoever. I just hope that the people who are spending thousands and millions of dollars per month with them will stand up and say enough is enough. At this stage, I am just really disappointed in the entire Yahoo conversion. But what can you do, between Google and Yahoo, can you say MONOPOLY..hmm.
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I couldn’t figure out what was going on with wordtracker. I should have realized all I had to do was check in with you for the real scoop. Thanks once again for your help.
UncleBobStuff
Happy to see the tool is up and running. But what happened to the BID tool and is that going to be up again anytime soon?
Also…I just read the link in Jim Morriss’ comments above. And that blog brings up the question of how realiable is overture? And is it worth just paying for a service?
Herbal Kiosk
How accurate is Overture ?
the numbers are so different from wordtracker I find.
I wonder if they don’t play around with the numbers to get you into paying them for those keywords…
Did anyone get any letters in the mail about the overture updates? I think they’ve done a good job keeping their high end customers updated.
BlendCafe
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Hi… Can anyone tell me … Where is wordtarcker Bids gone?
It was always a bit dubious for accuracy however it was a benchmark you could use. Time to move on I guess. Keyword Discovery’s tool seems to plug the gap.
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html
Ben
small business marketing
To the question above,
Overture is based only on Yahoo’s search data while WordTracker is based on a combination of all the major search engines includign Yahoo’s results. I usually get Overture’s results and multiple it by around 3x to get a more accurate result.
Bridal Shower Favors
I seen an ALL in one solution… free keyword tool that lists results not just from overture but adwords, google, keyword discovery… and about 20 more.
I think it is much more useful than overture alone.
http://tools.seobook.com/general/keyword/
I havn’t quite got a handle on which tool is better on any given day.
http://www.MyGifts-Online.com
Wow, a whole month since the last post to this blog. What’s up with that?
I believe the keyword tool is working again
Gas Monitors and Gas Detectors”
I believe the keyword tool is working again
Gas Monitors and Gas Detectors
Wow, I must admit it is emotional. I have an emotional response to it and stopped what I was doing and totally focussed all my attention on it.
seo services
Anything would be an improvement over the old overture keyword generator. It’s never available anymore- hardly worth trying to use
Bay Area Painting Contractor
Thanks Brad for the post.
Lets hope Overture leave the Keyword Selector Tool (inventory.overture.com) up and running for a long time yet.
Regarding Garrett’s comment above; I did a search on google for overture’s bid tool (site:overture.com “bid tool”) an found link to the tool for most markets (e.g.. UK, FR, DE etc.) but the US links don’t work. Anyone know of an equivalent tool out their?
Regards
Dermot
http://www.TrainingAndHealthForDogs.com
I will happy when they get this replaced. Most of the time it is down and will not load
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Great Blog