Do you remember the Google Wonder Wheel? I used to love it because it helped me to look at long-tail keywords and other keyword suggestions for my many websites. So imagine my surprise when I looked for it this morning only to notice that it had completely disappeared!
It was awesome for drilling down into very topic relevant themes for search engine optimization displaying relevant search times in this great little spoke design (see image below).
After some online research I can now tell you why the Google Wonder Wheel search engine tool has gone and it doesn’t look like it will be coming back.
On one of the Google help forums, an employee has stated the following:
Wonder wheel has been problematic for some time now (maintenance of the system is a headache). The idea is a great one, so we’re looking into ways to improve the main idea while creating an even better user experience. Hang in there, the ability to explore the space of related searches is a good one, and we’re hoping to be back with a real improvement sometime soon.
Alternatives to Google Wonder Wheel
I use a number of different keyword tools for research methods and can recommend Google’s own Keyword Tool which can be found inside the Adwords admin interface. Another good tool for checking on competition and rankings is Market Samurai which you can check out on their website on www.marketsamurai.com. They offer a free trial version which you can try before you buy.
Want to Know More?
For more information on the disappearance of the Google Wonder Wheel check out this article on the superb Search Engine Land website:
http://searchengineland.com/real-reason-google-wonder-wheel-died-89364
