I am getting millions back through TargetingIdeas API rather than hundreds. Location set to one city

[Pimmy]

Hi Everyone,

I am getting millions back for the SEARC_VOLUME rather than the expected hundreds:

Keyword with text 'used ford focus fc42f77b', average monthly search volume 5755414

Am I interpreting the response wrong? Can anyone please help me out? Thanks very much for taking the time to read.

I have added the Search parameters thus:

        $locationParameter = new LocationSearchParameter();

        $buckingham = new Location();

        $buckingham->setId(1006579);

        $locationParameter->setLocations([$buckingham]);

        $searchParameters[] = $locationParameter;

        //dd($searchParameters);

        // Create network search parameter (optional).

        $networkSetting = new NetworkSetting();

        $networkSetting->setTargetGoogleSearch(true);

        $networkSetting->setTargetSearchNetwork(false);

        $networkSetting->setTargetContentNetwork(false);

        $networkSetting->setTargetPartnerSearchNetwork(false);

        $networkSearchParameter = new NetworkSearchParameter();

        $networkSearchParameter->setNetworkSetting($networkSetting);

        $searchParameters[] = $networkSearchParameter;

[Peter Oliquino (AdWords API Team)]

Hi,

The Count that you are getting should be a valid estimate returned by the TargetingIdeaService. If you want, you may retry your request using the Keyword Planner and apply the same filters to see if there are any significant discrepancies between the two. In the event that both the TargetingIdeaService and the Keyword Planner return similar results, then, that should be the correct estimates returned for your keyword.

Best regards,

Peter

AdWords API Team

[Pimmy]

Hi Peter, 

Thank you for replying, I had already checked the values coming back from the Keyword Planner. Those are in the hundreds... not millions. In fact the location I put in does not even have millions of people living in it, more like thousands.

That's why I am so puzzled about  the discrepancy and the number the TargetingIdeaService is giving me back.

Kind regards,

Pim

[Peter Oliquino (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Pim,

Could you provide the complete SOAP request and response of your TargetingIdeaService call and also the complete Keyword Planner screenshot so I can take a closer look at the issue? You may reply to me via the Reply privately to author option.

Thanks and regards,

Peter

AdWords API Team

[Milind Sankeshware (AdWords API Team)]

Hi Pim,

I am Peter's colleague and will be following up on this thread as he is unavailable today. Thanks for sharing the details. Could you please confirm if you are running the TargetingIdeaService API call against a test account? If yes, please note that this service gives dummy data when run against a test account. You will need to run this service against a production client account via the API. In this case, that could be the reason to get the search value in millions. Could you please try to run the call against the production account? I ran a test with the keyword "Used Ford Focus", and the API result was 10 for the search value. I also checked in Keyword planner option in AdWords UI for same keyword, the result were matching with API search value. 

Please retry and let me know if you have further questions.

Thanks,
Milind, AdWords API Team.