SpyFu Glossary


Terminology Explained

Different combinations of data offer new ways to solve a problem or measure a trend.  Since we offer so many ways to look at these combinations, this glossary should help explain what each one means.*


The definitions are divided into sections, grouped by where they are usually found:

  1. Domain Information Page (Top Graph Section)
  2. “View More” Statistics:
  • Domain-related phrases from Top Ad Competitors and Top Organic Competitors
  • Keyword-related phrases from a domain’s Paid Keywords and Organic Keywords, SpyFu Kombat, Keyword SmartSearch, and the Ad History group.


Domain Information Page (Top Graph Section)


Daily Adwords (PPC) Ad Budget:  By our estimates, this range covers the domain’s spending on PPC terms on any given day during the last month.

Avg. Ad Position/# Advertisers: There is more to the story than where a domain ranks on a keyword.  First, we calculate how a domain ranks-on average-for all of its keywords combined.  Then, we include the average number of advertisers that domain has had to compete against for that ranking.

This gives you a better idea of how aggressive this domain needs to be with its spending in order to attain those rankings.

Daily Organic (SEO) Traffic Value: Depending on where a domain ranks on an organic keyword, we assign it a value (SEO Value) just like how each paid keyword has a certain cost per click (CPC). And just like how we show you the site’s Daily Adwords ad Budget, its SEO counterpart is this Daily Organic Traffic Value-a rollup of all of its organic terms and their collective value that their clicks bring in.  (See “SEO Value” for more.)

Paid vs. Organic Clicks per Day: This is quick insight into a domain’s strategy and niche dominance.  There is no right answer of how a site should balance its spending, but it is powerful to understand where they direct their greatest efforts.

When the scales tip heavily toward organic clicks per day, the domain is likely not working a diverse, high click volume campaign in PPC.  And if you choose a focused PPC approach with an aim for higher rankings, you could run off course by emulating this domain too carefully.  Look at their average ad position/# of advertisers statistic to help determine their overall approach.

PPC Rank:   Of all domains that advertised on Google this past month, which generated the most clicks from paid keywords?  The PPC rank is where this domain placed in the standings.  It is helpful for comparing similar-niche domains against each other to assess the PPC giant in that group.

SEO Rank: Of the 17 million domains that we track on SpyFu, which have the biggest SEO presence?  Like with PPC rank, this shows where a domain places in the standings against all other domains when it comes to having the most organic results on the most valuable keywords.


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“View More” Statistics:  Domain’s Top Competitors (Organic and Paid)


Average Ad Competitors: This reflects the average number of competitors a domain has when spread out over its entire paid keyword list.

Average Ad Rank: A good reflection of a domain’s PPC power, this reflects where a domain ranks when we count its position on every paid keyword in its lineup.

Common Terms: If you see this stat, you are looking at one domain’s list of either organic or paid competitors.  The common terms shows you how many organic keywords “debtrelief.com” ranks on that “creditsolutions.com” does as well.  Or in the paid list, how many keywords do they both advertise on?  This is information from Kombat dropped into a domain competitor list.

Estimated Daily Budget: (Appears only when information is exported to Excel.)  How much a domain spends in PPC each day.  This is from activity spread out over the month, broken down into daily spending.

Highest (Organic) Rank: the highest position a domain has received on any of its keyword from its SEO efforts.  (This is included in the Top Ad Competitors section as Highest Rank.  This figure references the same organic ranking.)

Minimum/Maximum Daily Budget: When providing domain information, we show a budget range from low estimates to high estimates.  This is based on where the domain has been ranking on its keywords and how those keywords have been pulling in clicks.

When you export the information to Excel, we also show the Estimated Daily Budget as an average of these two.

Minimum/Maximum Total Clicks per Day: This is the number of clicks a domain receives across all of its paid keywords.  In Top Organic Competitors, we include this stat for reference, but it reflects paid data.

Top Ranked Terms: The number of keywords a domain has where it ranks in the number one position.

% Top Ranked Terms: This percentage gives you an overall idea of how well this domain leverages its keyword lists (paid and organic).  A 30% score means that of the domains paid keywords, 30% of them have resulted in a number one position for the site.

Total Ads: This shows how many different ad copy variations the domain uses across all of its keywords.

Ad Body/Ad Title/Ad URL: Ads that appear on Google show three elements.  The first line that appears (usually in blue on Google ads) is known as the headline or “ad title.”  The “ad body” is the copy that appears below it, and the ad points to a destination which we list here as the “ad URL.”

Ad Placement Timeline (Paid Keywords):   Visible with a Domain’s paid keywords. This is like having a peek at Ad History with the detailed stats in the same chart.

gloss_adplacement

Ad Placement Timeline (SpyFu Kombat): At SpyFu HQ, we also refer to this as Kombat History.  Done in the same fashion as Ad History and Domain History, the colors represent a view of how much activity that keyword got over the past 12 months from both/all domains you listed in Kombat.

A bar on the right-most side of the chart shows the most recent activity from that domain on the keyword, and the lower the bar, the highest (closest to number one) the domain ranked on that ad during that month.

In this example Netflix is red, RedBox is yellow, and Blockbuster is green.  For most of these keywords shown, you can determine that Netflix advertised the longest, the most consistently, and ranked the highest.

gloss_kombathist

Advertisers/Total Ads: The number of domains advertising on that keyword in Google for this month.  It is shows as “Advertisers” in the chart section of the keyword information page, and it is listed as “Total Ads” under the “view more” section of paid keywords, organic keywords, and Domain History.

Click Value: Just like with PPC, what would the market value of one organic click be?  This is our estimate.  We take into consideration that paid keywords are more valuable, so it is not just a copy of its cost per click.

Clicks per day (organic)-Based on how a domain ranks organically on a keyword, we adjust our estimation of how many clicks they get.  Ranking at #2 brings in more clicks than ranking at #17.

Clicks per day (paid) – Unlike its organic counterpart, this statistic does not change with each domain.  We show the low end of our estimate range for how many clicks ads on this keyword get each day.  (See also: “Max Clicks per Day” in SpyFu Kombat.)

Cost per Click: The amount that Google charges an advertiser every time someone clicks on their specific ad.

Cost per Day: Assuming you don’t max your budget you’ve set in Adwords, this is the amount you should expect to pay in one day for a given keyword.

Daily searches:  How many times a day do people search for this term in Google?

Extraction Time: This timestamp is down to the hour when we last collected data for a keyword.

KEI: (Keyword Effectiveness Index) KEI indicates the competitive environment of a keyword.  Although it is a complex calculation, a simplified explanation is that it combines demand for that keyword (searches) and the number of results available to satisfy those searches.  The idea is that while “lard candles” might have very little competition; don’t expect to make a killing on it if no one is searching for this term.  A keyword with high KEI has less competition than one with lower KEI.

Maximum Clicks per Day: In all other “view more” grids, we list the low end of the range for a keyword’s Clicks per Day.  In the SpyFu Kombat list view, we also show the high end of that clicks per day of that range.

Maximum/Minimum Cost per Click (CPC):  In SpyFu Kombat and Keyword SmartSearch, we list an average number from the range we see of a keyword’s cost per click.  In some other areas of the site, we instead show the ends of the spectrum, including the lowest estimated cost and the highest estimated cost for each click.

Missed clicks per day: This reflects the number of clicks the domain would gain in the number one organic position vs. its current position.  By boosting SEO efforts to reach the top result, we say that the domain could capture this many more clicks.  It helps to prioritize a site’s SEO concentration.

Missed SEO Value per Day: When we know how many clicks a domain is missing from not ranking at the #1 organic spot, and we also know how valuable those clicks are for specific organic keywords, we can calculate the Missed SEO Value per Day.  This provides a measure of how much value a domain stands to gain from ranking #1 on a particular keyword.

Position/Search Position: Also known as “rank,” this is where a domain was placed in the order of results.  We use these terms interchangeably for paid ads and for organic results.

Result Body/Result Link/Result Title: When Google returns a list of organic results for a keyword (search term), the listed results are previews of pages that it suggests for you.  The “result” title is usually in blue and provides the name of that page.  The “result body” is a snippet of content relevant to your search, and the “result” link is the URL of the page that you will go to once you select this result.

Run Date: We refresh our data monthly, and “run date” is how we tag that entire month.   Something with a run date of 2009/06/01 was collected sometime in June and published at the beginning of July.  (Also listed as Search Date)

Search Date: In Ad History, this coded date tells us which month to assign a particular ad in a domain’s activity history.  For more, see “Run Date.”

Search Results/Count: The number of pages that Google returns in response to this keyword’s search.

Search Volume: The average number of searches Google receives for this keyword on a daily basis.

SEO Value- Click value is specific to an organic keyword.  SEO Value takes a domain’s ranking on that keyword into consideration.  Ranking near #11 means fewer clicks than ranking on #2, so we decrease the expected number of times a domain would get any traffic from that keyword, so its value decreases.

Now you know how much ranking organically on a certain keyword means-in dollars-to a specific domain.  It provides a true reflection of your SEO efforts, keyword by keyword.  (See “Daily Organic Traffic Value” for information on rolling up the total SEO Value of all of a domain’s keywords.)

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*Some phrases are hidden on the site but appear once you download a report into CSV or Excel.   These phrases like “estimated average CPC change” exist to support a graph or track changes.  They will not be listed here.

We also left out definitions for stats on changes or percent of changes.  We can make some safe assumptions about SpyFu members, and one of them is that once you know the basic phrase like “average ad rank,” you can determine the meaning of related stats that that track changes to that rank.

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