As you likely probably heard, Google added search engine volume to the external keyword research tool. This was a nice break for us search engine marketers, as we have been left in the dark for accurate numbers since the disappearance of Yahoo!’s Overture keyword tool. But just when we thought things couldn’t get any better, Google released yet another keyword research Tool entitled “Google Insights for Search.”

What’s great about this new keyword tool is that you can see a macro view of industries, seasonality, and regionality over a period of up to 4 years. I like to look at it as Google Trends on steroids.

In any regards, this new tool for me fills in the last piece of the pie. Not only do we know how much search volume there is for each keyword, But we also can find out what kinds of keywords people are using for each niche category, the cities they reside in, and the peak times they search for it.

A quick look at the category “electronics” in Minnesota, reveals the top keywords Minnesotans have used in the past 30 days. Of particular note, the peaks you see in the below graph are actually not weekends. As it probably comes to no surprise, this would be great to know for several reasons. First, you should keep your paid advertising campaigns running hot during these periods. Secondly, using this new keyword insight, hot popular products such as the “ipod touch” depicted will naturally rise to the top of the list which in turn could be used for in-store specials and discounts.

Other notable features worth mentioning here include downloadable reports, search traffic numbers (if you have a Google Account), and 3 ways to start your search session. If haven’t had time to check it out yet, i would recommend taking a couple of minutes and stopping by. I think you will find its well worth the time.

If you’re a search engine marketer, you’ll be glad to hear that Google recently updated its keyword tool to include traffic estimates. Although this may not appear ground breaking at first, estimating actual search engine traffic has been rather difficult since the disappearance of Yahoo’s overture keyword tool after their panama update.

Up until now, only semi-reliable tools have existed such as the ones offered by KeywordDiscovery, WordTracker, and Spyfu. With Google, search estimates are provided by keyword in a previous month format as well as average monthly search volume:

Implications

One video i caught on Robin Good’s site discussed that by using AOL’s organic search engine ranking data, search engine marketers can see exactly the kind of traffic they can receive by achieving a #1, #2, Etc position in Google. As the vlogger discussed, this will play an essential role in planning search engine optimization campaigns.

In addition to the above, I find that the above tool will provide useful for preemptive ROI analysis for paid search engine programs. As prospective clients will continually demand more analysis on how their hard earned dollars will be spent, this above tool can easily be used to estimate search volume and the associated PPC click costs to determine the “investment” portion of the equation. When combined with a predicted response and close rate, an initial ROI baseline can be determined.

As these are likely only a few new implications, I think its safe to say that this tool will become an essential component to any search engine marketer’s toolbox.