I'm using the Ruby API to access the TargetingIdeaService and getting some
peculiar results. The aim of the program I'm trying to write is to take a
very large database of keywords (we're talking millons) and, using Hadoop
MapReduce, query each and every keyword to get the following information:
- Ad share
- Competition
- Search share
- Search volume
I've written a wrapper around the Ruby client library to make it a little
easier to use for this purpose. Typical calls look like this:
AskKeywordIdeas::Api.stats ["car insurance"]
AskKeywordIdeas::Api.stats ["car insurance"], location: "US"
And they build up a TargetingIdeaServiceSelector using Ruby hashes and
arrays under the hood, creating a format that the Ruby client library will
accept. It then uses the "get" method to look for keyword STATS, not IDEAS.
Also, results are processed to be returned in a more idiomatic Ruby
fashion. Here's what a typical result looks like:
{"car insurance"=>
{:targeted_monthly_searches=>
[{:year=>2012, :month=>7},
{:year=>2012, :month=>6, :count=>673000},
{:year=>2012, :month=>5, :count=>673000},
{:year=>2012, :month=>4, :count=>673000},
{:year=>2012, :month=>3, :count=>673000},
{:year=>2012, :month=>2, :count=>823000},
{:year=>2012, :month=>1, :count=>823000},
{:year=>2011, :month=>12, :count=>550000},
{:year=>2011, :month=>11, :count=>673000},
{:year=>2011, :month=>10, :count=>823000},
{:year=>2011, :month=>9, :count=>823000},
{:year=>2011, :month=>8, :count=>823000}],
:extracted_from_webpage=>nil,
:category_products_and_services=>[10012, 11854, 10550, 10102],
:search_share=>nil,
:idea_type=>"KEYWORD",
:ngram_group=>nil,
:search_volume=>1000000,
:ad_share=>nil,
:competition=>0.976}}
So if you send an array with multiple keywords in it, you will get a hash
indexed by the keyword in return (which makes it far easier to process on
our end).
The first problem is that sometimes some data isn't returned. In the above
example you'll notice that ad_share and search_share are both nil. This
means that no value was sent back from the API. I'm curious as to why this
is? For some keywords, none of the four desired fields are returned at all.
An example of this is "price comparison broad band". The result hash for
that looks like this:
{"price comparison broad band"=>
{:targeted_monthly_searches=>
[{:year=>2012, :month=>7},
{:year=>2012, :month=>6},
{:year=>2012, :month=>5},
{:year=>2012, :month=>4},
{:year=>2012, :month=>3},
{:year=>2012, :month=>2},
{:year=>2012, :month=>1},
{:year=>2011, :month=>12},
{:year=>2011, :month=>11},
{:year=>2011, :month=>10},
{:year=>2011, :month=>9},
{:year=>2011, :month=>8}],
:extracted_from_webpage=>nil,
:category_products_and_services=>nil,
:search_share=>nil,
:idea_type=>"KEYWORD",
:ngram_group=>nil,
:search_volume=>nil,
:ad_share=>nil,
:competition=>nil}}
How come this happens?
My second query is to do with location search. The example I'm going to use
is a Portugese one. The keyword: "capitulos de mascaras" returns the
following hash when queried without specifying a location:
{"capitulos de mascaras"=>
{:targeted_monthly_searches=>
[{:year=>2012, :month=>7},
{:year=>2012, :month=>6, :count=>480},
{:year=>2012, :month=>5, :count=>480},
{:year=>2012, :month=>4, :count=>320},
{:year=>2012, :month=>3, :count=>0},
{:year=>2012, :month=>2},
{:year=>2012, :month=>1},
{:year=>2011, :month=>12},
{:year=>2011, :month=>11},
{:year=>2011, :month=>10},
{:year=>2011, :month=>9},
{:year=>2011, :month=>8}],
:extracted_from_webpage=>nil,
:category_products_and_services=>[10047, 10005, 10358, 10061],
:search_share=>nil,
:idea_type=>"KEYWORD",
:ngram_group=>nil,
:search_volume=>140,
:ad_share=>nil,
:competition=>0.008}}
However, when a location is included like so:
AskKeywordIdeas::Api.stats ["capitulos de mascaras"], location: "PT"
Which under the hood translates that to this search parameter:
{
:xsi_type => "LocationSearchParameter",
:locations => [{ :id => '2620' }]
}
And I have double checked that this is both correct and exactly is what is
fed into the Ruby client library. The following hash is returned:
{"capitulos de mascaras"=>
{:targeted_monthly_searches=>
[{:year=>2012, :month=>7},
{:year=>2012, :month=>6},
{:year=>2012, :month=>5},
{:year=>2012, :month=>4},
{:year=>2012, :month=>3},
{:year=>2012, :month=>2},
{:year=>2012, :month=>1},
{:year=>2011, :month=>12},
{:year=>2011, :month=>11},
{:year=>2011, :month=>10},
{:year=>2011, :month=>9},
{:year=>2011, :month=>8}],
:extracted_from_webpage=>nil,
:category_products_and_services=>[10047, 10005, 10358, 10061],
:search_share=>nil,
:idea_type=>"KEYWORD",
:ngram_group=>nil,
:search_volume=>nil,
:ad_share=>nil,
:competition=>nil}}
One would expect a Portugese phrase to have not-nil competition and other
values when searched with the Portugal location. Furthermore, when using a
LanguageSearchParameter specifying the correct code for Portugal, the
following hash is returned:
{"capitulos de mascaras"=>
{:targeted_monthly_searches=>
[{:year=>2012, :month=>7},
{:year=>2012, :month=>6, :count=>480},
{:year=>2012, :month=>5, :count=>480},
{:year=>2012, :month=>4, :count=>320},
{:year=>2012, :month=>3, :count=>0},
{:year=>2012, :month=>2},
{:year=>2012, :month=>1},
{:year=>2011, :month=>12},
{:year=>2011, :month=>11},
{:year=>2011, :month=>10},
{:year=>2011, :month=>9},
{:year=>2011, :month=>8}],
:extracted_from_webpage=>nil,
:category_products_and_services=>[10047, 10005, 10358, 10061],
:search_share=>nil,
:idea_type=>"KEYWORD",
:ngram_group=>nil,
:search_volume=>140,
:ad_share=>nil,
:competition=>0.008}}
Which looks more or less the same as the hash that returned from the query
that didn't specify either a language or a location. So my question is what
am I doing wrong? Also, does Google do language detection for me? It would
appear that it does but it would be nice to have that confirmed one way or
the other.
Sorry for all the hashes and things but I've been puzzling over this for a
while and want to be as clear as possible :)
Thanks,
Sam.
PS: All of these are examples are from API calls made with production
details and should, in theory, be reproducible (unless the account the
query came from makes a difference?).
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