It's somewhat of a sad digital time for the SEO community as one of the most popular Web-based tools for Internet professionals has retired.
The Google Keyword Tool, which likely suggested search terms and phrases for your own enterprise at some point in the past few years, has officially been replaced with Google's new Keyword Planner and there are a few things Web pros should probably know.
The Keyword Tool's removal is causing some mild angst within the SEO community. For example, Internet professionals will have to log in to an AdWords account to use the tool and lose out on match type data for search volume, device targeting data and will have no information on global versus local searches.
Fortunately, there are some positive aspects of the updated offering and a few new features worthy of note. SEO and SEMs can now retrieve keyword search volume data at the city level, can upload up to 10,000 keywords from their own list to get performance data and can even show search volumes by ad group, landing page and any other categorization established by the user.
So, it's sort of "good news, bad news," but in tandem with the release of Google's new paid and organic report, the Keyword Planner will likely begin playing a central role in SEO and SEM campaigns in the future.