Google Keyword Ranking Tool Tweaks, Now Using ‘Green Bar, Text-based Descriptions’ for Competition Data

Google has made some changes to its Google's Keyword Ranking tool. Now, instead of using the traditional bars to provide competition data, Google started using text as the description.

"Up until now, this tool used small green bars to display the competitiveness of keywords. The more green in the bar, the more competitive the term was. Now the Google tool is only showing text based descriptions of competitiveness - Low, Medium or High," reports o George Fox from Blue Fountain Media (via SEL).

The new competitive labeling is as follows:

Low - Competitiveness number under .33
Medium - Competitiveness number between .33 and .66
High - Competitiveness number over .67

"While the competitiveness has been replaced by text in the web-version, Google has maintained the granularity as-to how this ranking was assigned."

"In the previous version of the tool, users could download a report to get the exact number that made up the green bar. So in the new version, users that require more information can still download the report to a spreadsheet and get the same information."

It should be known that the competitiveness score is directly related to AdWords, not organic search. Google defines the metric as:

"This column shows the number of advertisers worldwide bidding on each keyword relative to all keywords across Google. The shaded bar represents a general low-to-high quantitative guide to help you determine how competitive ad placement is for a particular keyword."