Very closely related keyword suggestions via search volume request

[mi...@ziprecruiter.com]

Hello - 

When using the AdWords Keyword Planner UI to grab search volume for keywords, I notice that sometimes Google returns volume back but not for the keyword that I requested. It seems to 'suggest' a better keyword. In other words, it's a very closely related keyword suggestion. I am looking to retrieve this type of suggestion via the API. Please see the screenshot attached below.

The keywords that I get from the targeting idea service API are too broad, no matter what I try. 

Is there a way to retrieve this type of suggestion using the AdWords API?

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Misha, 

TargetingIdeaService and TrafficEstimatorService are the two services that provide similar functionality via the API as that of the Keyword planner. Please check the linked guides which explains the actions that are required to obtain very similar results to the keyword planner. You will need to make sure that the targetingIdeaSelector is set with the same parameters as the UI to obtain similar results. Could you let me know the details where you found that the targetingIdeaService was returning too broad results? If you have a sample SOAP log that will help me get a better picture. 

If you haven't already, you could check our sample getKeywordIdeas (Java) which is using TargetingIdeaService. Samples in other languages can also be found here. 


Thanks,
Sreelakshmi, AdWords API Team

[mi...@ziprecruiter.com]

Hi Sreelakshmi

Note that my screenshot above is not from the keyword suggestion portion of the Keyword Planner. This is actually from the "traffic estimator" portion of the UI. However instead of giving me a traffic estimate for the keyword that I submitted, the UI is returning a slightly different version of that keyword. 

Our team is looking to retrieve that type of "suggestion" via the API. Is it possible?

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Misha,

The TargetingIdeaService corresponds to the operation of the Keyword planner which returns search volume data and trends. If you call the TargetingIdeaService with say a word which is having an incorrect spelling, you will be able to see that this service is correcting the spelling and returning the stats corresponding to the keyword with correct spelling. Ideally, the correction is very close to what google search will suggest while you are trying to search for that specific word or phrase. You could check here for an old forum discussion about the word with incorrect spelling.

You should see the suggestions like this to an extent while using the TargetingIdeaService, but it cannot be assured that the results from keyword planner and the API will be exactly the same.

[mi...@ziprecruiter.com]

Hello Sreelakshmi

I read the other forum discussion. From what we can tell, the TargetingIdeaService STATS call does not currently suggest the correctly spelled word, only stats for the correct spelling (which seems like a bug). 

So, using the example from the other forum, we cannot currently call any of the API services with 'srecording studio' and get back 'recording studio'. Or in our case we want to send "teacher jobs" and get back "teaching jobs". 

Let me know if I am misunderstanding something. If not, we'd like to +1 this feature request as well!

[Sreelakshmi Sasidharan (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Misha, 

That sounds right. I have made a note of your request and I will pass it on to the team. Thanks for sharing your feedback. 

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