Farewell to Yahoo!'s Overture keyword suggestion tool (the burial and a rant)
Welcome to another late-breaking edition of The Keyword Informer.
I'm glad you could attend this long awaited funeral of sorts (it’s been long overdue).
What's going on?
It was just over a year ago that the Overture keyword suggestion tool was showing signs of trouble when it disappeared for approximately four days. Just when everyone thought it was gone, Yahoo! representatives suddenly appeared in the forums and announced that the tool would remain available, but no longer maintained.
Apparently, Yahoo! decided to continue extending the life of this tool that has been battered and beaten up by hundreds of sites and desktop software tools that pilfer the currently stale data (I’ll explain that in a minute).
Sure – NicheBOT also gave results from the Overture tool at the request of its members that wanted it and I’m very much about “give the people what they want.” 
There have been recent signs that the server (computer) where the Overture tool is located has been struggling and to tool barely loads at all – let alone gives any results. From recent sightings, desktop keyword tools and sites using the Overture database have been literally forced to switch to other keyword sources. So…
Somebody has to give the Yahoo! Overture keyword suggestion tool a proper burial and NicheBOT is willing to step forward to do it and save any honor that may be left for this highly neglected data source.
As of
But let’s forget about that for a minute.
Today we shall pay tribute to a tool that was the first of its kind (and best of all, free) since back in the late 1990's given the fact that it is now extremely outdated and, as mentioned, heavily neglected.
If you ever made it to the "inventory.overture.com" URL where the actual tool is located, the search counts for the tool have not been updated since January 2007.
As I've consistently held in my explanation about where the different keyword data comes from, the Overture tool is a great idea generator and keyword generator – and that’s about it. So for that purpose, I guess it doesn’t really matter whether the search count has been outdated a year or even three years. 
It should never be taken serious or counted as accurate for the search count.
When you take into consideration my most recent article entitled 5 Free Powerful Ways to Conduct Online Market Research that has nothing to do with Keyword Research, current keyword databases should be heavily relied upon as accurate for search counts. (I explain why in the market research article above.) If any one keyword source can be relied upon to tell the tale of search volume for a particular keyword phrase, that would be the largest database on the planet – Google.
If you weren't aware, the more important flaws to understand about the Overture tool were that (1) it combined search counts for the plural and singular of each keyword phrase, thus leaving us no way to distinguish which word was more popular, and (2) the search counts were highly inflated and affected by automated bid management tools that used to check bid positions back before Overture's Pay-Per-Click engine was transitioned over to YSM or Yahoo Search Marketing.
All these apparent flaws with the Overture tool didn't stop the self-proclaimed gurus from recommending this tool in their informational products as a great market research tool. And as recent as late 2007, the tool was mentioned and relied upon in a mutli-thousand dollar per person workshop.
The standard discussion the gurus would normally spew about the Overture tool was as long as you discovered a search count of 10,000 from a certain keyword phrase or topic, you've got a ripe niche market for the picking (as if this was some magic number for EVERY niche market).
This kind of trash talk makes me livid when people spend their hard earned money only to be misled!
As discussed in my Market Research article (above), keyword research only shows what people search for, not what people buy and should not even be considered as a measure for finding profitable niche.
If you read my recent article about how to conduct proper market research, one of my trusted friends tells you straight out that keyword research is not a science, nor can it be at this current time. I also share in a direct forthright manner how exactly to conduct market research. (And it won’t cost you a dime.)
Every tool has its purpose – but when gurus (even self-proclaimed ones) just start dispensing and recommending ill-fated courses of action, it makes me sick, especially when people are paying for the information.
So what about those die hards that still won’t give up on the Overture tool – no matter what?
We’ve archived the tool just for those people that just don’t want to let the data source go.
One such NicheBOT user Rika says:
“I was very upset to hear that you are going to remove Overture entirely. For me that is really bad news. Although there are hiccups, I have still been able to use it. Often you only have to click the search button a second time to get perfect, usable results. This morning it is working fine. I still prefer it over Wordtracker. I have had very good results with Overture. Please, can’t you keep it up for those of us who still want to make use of it when possible?
Thanks
Rika”
For Rika and those die hards, we have kept the Yahoo! Overture (Not WordTracker or Keyword Discovery) keyword suggestion tool where it has always been in remembrance of a data source that was great when it first broke onto the scene back in the late 1990’s – but may it rest in peace!
Thank you for attending this burial of the Overture keyword suggestion tool and please leave your thoughts and sentiments below.
Best of success,
Jim Morris, Founder
NicheBOT – Finds exactly what people search for
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28 Comments on Farewell to Yahoo!'s Overture keyword suggestion tool (the burial and a rant) »
Alex Newell @ 11:49 am:
Great funeral, where's the wake?
And please get a life anybody that seriously wants to use this out of date, misleading so called keyword research tool.
Thank You Jim!
Alex
Sasikumar R Nair @ 12:43 pm:
A fit burial. For the last 1 year or so, its been more like a rolling wheel coming to a stop(living out its momentum). Yahoo have been doing precious nothing towards maintaining it. Thats an open secret. And as they themselves admit, its a tool thats available but no more maintained. Well whats the use of a tool like that at least for keyword research which is best if its current?
Vitallywell @ 1:26 pm:
So long ole friend. You were my first. I will always remember what we had.
D.C. Wartenberger @ 1:26 pm:
excellent furneral speech and I couldn't agree more.
Some "Gurus" need to re-write certain reports and
blueprints now
Superp!
Dougi
Kevin @ 1:59 pm:
Perfect, usable results? Does Rika know the Overture data is over a year old, making the results far from perfect? Who would build their business on outdated data that may not even be close to accurate? Imagine paying to have a product created in a niche that Overture says gets 30,000 searches a month, only to discover AFTER investing time and money that said niche now only gets 5,000 searches, or less even.
Talk about a recipe for failure.
Matthew @ 2:15 pm:
Thanks for the update - it looks like you'll need to update your intro/tutorial videos from on, because they integrate Overture throughout, and that way you can include Google Cruncher too.
Nancy @ 2:15 pm:
I personally was dishartened to find Overture However, the new tools coming out appear to be gaining some ground in the right direction. Great information–thanks for sharing!
Wendy Owen @ 2:39 pm:
Hi Jim. thanks for another great article.
People continue to use the Overture tool because they're comfortable with it. Most people dislike change even when they know there's something better.
We've just got to let go and move on!
Wendy
rob lear @ 2:45 pm:
REST (120,567 overture results)
IN (45,678 overture results)
PEACE (89,644 overture results)
OVERTURE (345,345 overture results)
* Great niche markets above. LOL
I was going to use the real overture stats results but, of course it was not working, HA ! HA! HA!
R.I.P overture, hope it does not return from the dead like a gearge romero movie mumbling singular and plural groans in USA speak and german.
Ian C @ 3:02 pm:
Beautiful service Jim!
I wish I'd brought a hankerchief though.
Seriously, the fact that you have given the Overture tool a send off whilst keeping it available for those who choose to use it shows your integrity in my eyes.
I would only use it for nostalgic reasons now really. I rememebr a time - in the 90's - when it was pretty much all we had. Now, it is not time well spent if good keyword research is your aim.
Even before it's demise these past 12 months, there are better tools available now - not least NicheBot, of course - which provide more substantial, pertinent results.
RIP from me!
Ian
CB Profit Machine @ 6:16 pm:
Yes Jim, someone needed to say it. Sadly there are many products that still use this tool, or mention it, and most newbies won't know why they can't access it. I knew about it going down but was unaware it wasn't being updated since last year.
So Thanks
Get Paid for Every Visitor to your site! @ 6:24 pm:
I am so sad I don't know if I can go on. Sniff, sniff.
I look at it's death as a new era for the more powerful and more precise tools of today.
RIP
Ted
Claude Fullinfaw @ 6:28 pm:
Hi Jim
I really looked forward to each and every email from you and listen to the saved broadcast often. I have learnt so much from you and the site at Nichebot is invaluable to me.
I have managed to scale back my PPC programs now and am only doing atricle marketing using your service.
Once again thanks so much. God Bless
Claude Fullinfaw- Brisbane
www.Blogging4TheFuture.com
The NicheBOT Guy @ 7:41 pm:
Thanks for the comments all!
Rob — great niche assessment.
Ian — here's a handkerchief — you can use mine.
Matthew — we'll definitely be updating the tutorials and especially the tour videos.
Now will someone at Yahoo finally just pull the plug.
Stephanie Rolfe @ 8:01 pm:
About time! As an Internet Marketing newbie, I am getting so sick of reading guru PDFs (many I actually paid for) that recommend Overture as their main keyword search tool. Maybe now those gurus will wake up and update their materials with some integrity! They're ALL need to take a look at what they're selling to us newbies and update the relevancy of what they're charging outrageous amounts of money for. Thank you Jim, needed that vent, Stephanie Rolfe CNC
Nelson Tan @ 8:22 pm:
Let Microsoft buy over and bury it…
1920x1080p @ 12:17 am:
Overture, it was great to use you..
I always couldn't get my head around why most of the times you gave results the multiple kewords we in alphabetically order and not in the order people were typing.
Mally
James Martell @ 12:57 am:
Jim,
I am not sure why they didn't kill the tool long ago. I am very glad YOU did.
It was a great tool for its time. I used it a lot.
RIP from me too!
James
Jack @ 7:05 am:
Yes Pasteur Jim, Amen!
It's like an advisor you go to when you need help but they are never home!
P.S. My condolences to the family!
Ryan Wegman @ 4:04 pm:
Words of wisdom and a dignifying eulogy. I am new to this keyword research and I have no use for a tool that is not giving me proper data.
The fact that people are charging for out dated info really chaps my @$%#%.
Jim you are awesome keep up the great work and hopefully with a bit of practice I will be half as good as you.
Robert Vavra @ 7:23 pm:
Thanks for giving us this straight-forward information and historical perspective, Jim. I'm new to internet marketing and have encountered several on-line tutorials and eBooks that recommended the use of Overture tool. I wasn't sure if I was doing something wrong when I tried to access the tool.
Paul @ 10:51 pm:
Hey Jim,
I gotta say, that actually brought tears to my eyes
You have to admit, like you said, Ovy was great for
a quick idea or two!
Thanks!
Chris Garvey @ 7:46 pm:
Well It's About Time,
One of the many things that p*ss me off about so called gurus is that for the past 3 or 4 months I've been getting certain 'advice' or ebooks (supposedly 'new') that STILL recommend using this tool. As you said, it's not been updated for 14 months now. If you do a search on it (when it's working) you'll see the results blatantly state 'from Jan 07'. Boy they were serious when they said they wouldn't be updating or maintaining it. These results are pretty much useless it seems to me.
rrkbhat @ 9:55 pm:
Hi Jim,
I'm curious to know why Yahoo allowed first of its kind and a popular tool like Overture to die?
Is it a poor strategy on the part of Yahoo?
Affiliate Marketing Introduction @ 11:50 am:
Sad about yhe overture keyword suggestion tool.
To give it the credit it is due, for a long time this was a very useful tool. A lot of other software partially based their search results on this tool
The news is that Yahoo seeks to replace this with another tool.
Don't know how true this is because it has been a year now and nadha
The NicheBOT Guy @ 5:51 pm:
Rrkbhat,
The reason Yahoo let the tool die out is because
they transferred everything over to their Yahoo
Search Marketing division while the Pay-Per-Click
engine they purchased (Overture) was phased
out.
Yahoo Search Marketing didn't make the mistake of
allowing their keyword tool out to the public and
now requires a Yahoo Search Marketing account in
order to use that tool.
So it's not really a matter of a poor strategy move
on their part — it was really a poor strategy on
the part of Overture back in the days when they
released the tool to the public. It should have
stayed protected behind a login requiring an account.
Yahoo Search Marketing has now rectified that and
ultimately, this shows that Keyword Research is now
at a premium.
Hope that explains it for ya…
Best,
Jim
Best diet pill that works @ 1:43 pm:
Hey Jim,
Thanks for been the officiating priest at the official ceremony
Truly for those of us just starting out some not too long ago, the Overture tool really provided the platform upon which we launched our online business.
But I made lots, and lots of mistakes. I over relied on everything it says.
Hmmm …. but stopped using it since 2006 when it shows sign slow death. And it has finally been killed. Bye the good old boy - OVERTURE
Pamela Egan @ 2:08 pm:
Have there been any recent updates regarding the Yahoo keyword-research tool? I stopped fooling around with it about a year ago when I concluded the numbers were inflated to the point of losing any value they may have once had.
However, I continue to come across occasional rumblings that the Y keyword tool is either back, or will return in a new-and-improved grand reappearance.
I've been using the free wordtracker tool lately, and have been keeping an eye out for a second potential source of keyword data.
Will this tool make a return, and do you have any ideas or suggestions about an alternative to WT that might provide a second-opinion, so to speak?