Moz did something right for once, and everyone is talking about it. Well, everyone in the SEO world is, at least. On May 3rd, Moz introduced a new keyword search tool to their product list, creatively titled “Keyword Explorer.” We took some time to explore what it had to offer, so you don’t have to!
Let me clarify now that Moz’s Keyword Explorer isn’t just a rip off of Google AdWords’ Keyword Planner. It does, however, include all of the information that Google AdWords provides you when searching for keywords – and then some.
Here’s what a page on the new Keyword Explorer (or KWE as Moz calls it) looks like when you first search for the term “digital marketing”:

This first page alone has already sparked my interest in learning more about the platform. With everything I could need, from keyword suggestions to SERP analysis, right there in front of me Moz has already won over my little, convenience loving, millennial heart.
First you get the same information that you would from Google, the search volume and keyword ranking difficulty, both in chart and number form at the very top of the page, making finding the main information you need quick and painless. But it doesn’t stop there! We get introduced to two new metrics, opportunity and potential.
Opportunity is basically a combination of the the keyword search volume, difficulty, and the SERP analysis that does all the work for you and let’s you know on a scale of 1 (low) to 100 (highest) what the chance of actually being clicked on out of the ranking organic search is (assuming that you’re part of the first 10 organic links).
Potential is similar, but it only combines the first two metrics, search volume and difficulty, and takes all of the guesswork out of deciding which keyword has the best high search volume but low competition ratio. The higher the better.
Another new metric that Moz introduces us to is “mentions”, which is just how many times the keyword was mentioned on a website page in the past week. I could see this being pretty useful if you’re looking to keep your SEO fresh and stay relevant with the content you post.
Finally, we have my personal favorite part of the tool – the SERP Analysis. It looks like this:

This piece of the tool allows you to see exactly what page one of Google currently looks like for the keyword that you’re searching, with organic results appearing with a blue bar to their side and PPC ads have gray bars. It also includes information about the page & domain authority, how many backlinks both the page and domain have, and even how many times the page has been shared on facebook! Having all of this information makes finding out if you should pursue a certain keyword or not easier than ever.
However, everything isn’t all rainbows and sunshine about the new tool. It does have a few cons to it. Mainly, the biggest con is that it isn’t free. It requires that you have a subscription to Moz’s services that are at least $149/month. Though, if you’re already a Moz subscriber, you get it free.
Another thing that we found is that it seems that your keyword searches are not unlimited. You get a set amount, which isn’t unusual for Moz, but it doesn’t list when your searches refresh, which is important information that SEO agencies would want to have on hand.
In all, the new Moz Keyword Explorer is a hit for us at BizTraffic and we can’t wait to learn more about the product and what it has to offer. Our only real complaint is – “Why didn’t they do this sooner?!”