As many of you are by now aware, Overture’s “keyword suggestion tool” has gone dead this week after about a month of sporadic behavior. I seem to recall reading that this was part of Yahoo’s plan at the tail end of last year, but I can’t seem to dig up a reference to it anymore. It appears the “view bids” tool is still functioning at this time, but I’m unsure how long it will remain in service. If I understand correctly, this is part of Yahoo’s strategy involving the updates to their PPC service (which you may have heard of by its codename “Panama”).

However, when such a clear void is created with minimal warning, it can impact the entire industry. How many how-to e-books and videos developed over the years mention that tool or even link to it directly? I imagine a lot of editing and updating is taking place all over the web at the moment. I noticed particularly that Aaron Wall’s Keyword Suggestion Tool is down for repairs, as it relied heavily on Overture’s data.

But, there was a very nice surprise to accompany this bad news, as a couple of viable replacements popped up, almost immediately.

The folks over at KeyWordDiscovery.com have provided a similar free tool here:
http://www.keyworddiscovery.com/search.html

WordTracker.com has also stepped into the gap with a free tool here:
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/

Both solutions are clearly modeled after Overture’s, which for years was THE keyword tool. And of course, WordTracker and KeywordDiscovery are well-known, reputable software companies, and I believe they have the expertise it takes to provide a good alternative. Mind you, without access to all of Yahoo’s data, a lot more extrapolation has to occur to generate their numbers, but kudos for these two industry players. They’re giving the SEO industry what it wanted before it even had time to get upset over losing the old standard.

If you have any comparisons or contrasts between these new tools and the defunct Overture service, I’d love to hear about them in the comments section.