Search Engine Results Data Mining
Wouldn't you be interested in finding out exactly how many Google users are querying search terms you particularly covet for lead generation? For example, "San Francisco real estate", "your company name", or your own name (ego-searching). Even better, find out what these users who search for your focus keywords are clicking on, and detail where the users are coming from.
I understand why Google won't divulge these results data because it may be possible to reverse engineer the secrets to their algorithm with a large enough data sampling, and invite possible Google gaming. However, disclosing search engine data results is a killer app because it simply demonstrates which keywords work to draw traffic... I'm surprised one of the numerous smaller search engines hasn't provided this data in order to draw more traffic and be more competitive with Google. Divulging this data would only be statistical and wouldn't impact on the privacy of user's search history if done correctly.
Well, I just found out that last August, 2006, AOL did publish their search results database online for research purposes containing twenty million search keywords from over 650,000 users over a 3-month period. Privacy advocates rightfully caught on that many of the users could easily be identified based on their search queries, which included searches for their own names and social security numbers. AOL pulled the database, but the damage was done and the database today remains the most mine-able artifact for search engine optimization and pay per click analysis (note: AOL also used the Google search engine at the time of the survey).
For example, the database offers empirical proof on the power of the top of page 1 search results... about 69% of users who click on a result click on the first four citations. Two AOL researchers also authored a search pattern report based on the database.
AOLStalker.com provides a search interface into the database. The search results for "San Francisco Real Estate" notes only 6 AOL users searched using this keyword or variation of it between March 3 and June 2, 2006... not many, but it does show where they clicked. In addition, the site updates almost by the second, a list of actual keywords being input by other users in real time... perusing the list, one cannot deny the fascination with online porn.
AOLPsycho.com is a community whose members analyze the character and life situations of certain interesting AOL users based on their unusual or funny set of keyword queries. Here is a sample analysis of a Luddite/ascetic AOL user.
Conclusion: although the search results data are dated, it's informative to check how many AOL users were querying the keywords you target for lead generation between March and June 2006 via AOLStalker.
Technorati Tags: AOL, Google, search engine, data mining, search keywords, aolstalker, aolpsycho
Hi Pat,
Yahoo used to publish this data but their keyword research tool does not work anymore.
Try Wordtracker's (leading keyword research company) free keyword research tool to check search inventory.
http://freekeywords.wordtracker.com/
Best,
Ola
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