Any way to figure out which keywords are close variants?

[Akash Mansukhani]

Hello,

Google Adwords API returns the same volume for the main keyword as well as close variants and misspellings. For e.g. It shows the search volume as 1,680,000,000 for "youtube", "yout ube" and "you tube". 

When you search for the same three words in Google Keyword Planner, it shows you that "youtube" is the real keyword and the others are close variants or misspellings.

Is there any way we can figure this out in the API?

Another, more relevant example is the two words "track errors" and "tracking errors". The same volume is shown for both in the API - but Google Keyword Tool tells us that "tracking error" is the real keyword and "track errors" is a close variant (see attached screenshot). This is an issue because "track errors" is a keyword from the bug tracking/IT world, while "tracking errors" is from the finance world. So if I am a bug tracking company, I might be wasting my ad spend on the wrong keyword.

Thanks for your time.

Akash

[Shwetha Vastrad (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Akash, 

I'm afraid its not possible to distinguish statistics for close variants or misspellings in the results obtained by TargetingIdeaService. When you get the search volume for a keyword, its close variants including the corrected keyword (if it is mispelt), singular forms, plural forms, acronyms, stemmings (such as floor and flooring), abbreviations, and accents are also considered. Ideally, these variants are very close to what Google search will suggest while you are trying to search for that specific word or phrase. I'll provide this feedback to the team. You could also check this post for an old forum discussion about a similar scenario. 

Regards,
Shwetha, AdWords API Team.

[Akash Mansukhani]

Thank you Shwetha.