RankDots combines several sources, each for the job it does best. Some suggest keywords, some put numbers on them, one measures your own site, and AI engines show what assistants say about you. This page lists them all, with what each is good for and where it falls short.
Why a mix
No single source is complete. Google Keyword Planner folds similar phrases together, so long phrasings disappear. Autocomplete shows what people type, but not how often. Search Console measures your site, but only the searches where you already appear. A plan built on one source inherits its blind spots, so RankDots uses each source for what it’s strong at and checks the results before they reach you. See How we check a keyword is real [link is coming].
Where keyword ideas come from
These sources suggest keywords. Their suggestions are checked for relevance to your business before they become part of your plan.
| Source | Good for | Weak spot |
| Your website and your “What you sell” answers | Starting from what you actually offer and who you sell to | Only as good as the answers: vague answers give vague ideas |
| Google Keyword Planner | Phrase variants from Google’s own data | Folds close variants together, so some long phrasings disappear |
| Google Autocomplete | The exact phrases people type, including long questions | No search volume of its own |
| Google Related Searches | Neighbouring phrases Google suggests for a search | No search volume of its own |
| Gemini | Phrases the way people ask an AI assistant | Suggestions to check, not evidence of demand |
Where the figures come from
Once a keyword is in your plan, its figures come from a smaller set of sources:
| Source | What it gives | Good for | Weak spot |
| Google Keyword Planner | Search volume, trend, competition, CPC | Google’s own data for your country | Google only; collected once, at project creation; N/A when Google has no data |
| Google search results | The Google Top 20 and SERP features | What really ranks for your country and language | A snapshot from project creation |
| RankDots’ own calculations | Keyword difficulty, search intent, weak spots, potential traffic, the grouping into pages and topic clusters | One method applied the same way to every keyword | Estimates and judgements, not measurements |
| Your Google Search Console | Clicks, impressions, CTR and Rank | Measured data about your own site | Only your site, only searches where you appeared, last 28 days, updated when you rescan |
Keyword Planner and Google’s results are collected once, when your project is created, for your project’s country and language. That keeps every keyword comparable, but it means the figures don’t follow later changes in Google. See What is search volume? and What is the Google top 20?.
Where your own data comes from
- Your website. When you create a project, an AI reads your site to work out your brand, what you sell, who you sell to and who you compete with. RankDots doesn’t crawl your site.
- Your Google Search Console. When you connect it, RankDots reads clicks, impressions, CTR and Rank for the last 28 days. This is the only measured data about your site; everything else is estimated. See What is measured and what is estimated.
Where AI Visibility data comes from
| Source | What it gives | Good for | Weak spot |
| AI engines: ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity | The answers to your prompts, and the Citation Sources each answer lists | What AI assistants actually say about your market | A sample: answers can change from one check to the next |
RankDots asks each engine your prompts on your schedule and stores every answer as it was given, with the pages it listed as Citation Sources [link is coming]. The figures are counted from those answers, so they describe the prompts you track, not everything people ask.
What this means for you
- Use estimates to decide, measurements to check. Volume, difficulty and potential traffic help you choose what to work on; Search Console tells you what happened.
- Expect differences from other tools. They use other sources and models. See Why our numbers differ from other tools.
- Missing something? If a keyword you know about isn’t in your plan, you can import it yourself.
Comments
0 comments
Article is closed for comments.