Google Announce: Keyword Planner Limited for Lower Adwords Spenders

Google have shocked and concerned Adwords specialists by announcing that:

Advertisers with lower monthly spend may see a limited data view in the Keyword Planner Click To Tweet

And:

“These changes will ensure that AdWords advertisers are able to get the data they need to optimize their accounts.”

This is a huge change, announced casually on their forum. It was sandwiched between a couple of bland reassurances that most advertisers would not be affected. Community members were sceptical. Cyrus Shepard politely pointed out that the changes would mean less data. Another responder pointed out that it would be near impossible to create client proposals or promote Adwords without accurate keyword data. So far, Google have not clarified what they mean by ‘lower spend’ and what the threshold is for lower data. Representative Cassie H said she could not share that information at this time.

Bizarrely, one person referred to the Keyword Planner as a ‘free gift’ and implied we should be more grateful for it. Personally, i’ve always seen it as a useful tool that Google provide in order that we spend money with them. It’s as much a ‘free gift’ as a fashion retailer’s style app or an startup’s browser extension. In some ways it’s more like your employer providing you with a ballpoint pen and a computer. Basic tools that allow you to do your job effectively.

For the undefined ‘lower spender’, ranges for keywords will now be:

• 0
• 1–100
• 100–1K
• 1K–10K
• 10K–100K
• 100K–1M
• 1M+

There are rumours that limits will also be applied if you conduct too many keyword searches – and that this might affect tools that use the Google API. There has been speculation that the goal is to increase spend, eliminate SEOs who still use the tool, prioritise brands, and push the Google Analytics 360 packages.

We’ll update as more news comes in.

Update:

The Forum discussion rages on with responses ranging from considered to more… hyperbolic.

However Google’s response has been short on facts and not very helpful. Community manager Cassie H has responded again with:

The problem is that keyword data between 10-100 is demonstrably not helpful.

It hasn’t affected our clients or data but it’s an interesting issue.