Niche Inspector Review

It has been available since August 2007. Until recently, it has been possible to use Overture alongside the alternate database. In fact I was planning an article comparing the two, but now I will focus on what you need to do to get the new database working, as it is not yet covered in the otherwise comprehensive user manual.

Before I delve into the mechanics of changing the the database settings, I’d like to share my opinion of the new keyword search database. I have used them together for 3 or 4 weeks, and got into the habit of searching from Overture, then repeating the search from the alternate.

From memory, the overlap was about 60%, so the average search returning 100 search phrases from both databases would yield about 140 keywords in total. The alternate results ‘felt’ better - not scientific, I know, but I can no longer get the Overture data to do a proper comparison.

Remember, in the early stages of your project, you are looking for a niche that is good enough to work with. The alternate database provides enough information to allow you to do this. I will explain in another article how Niche Inspector will contribute to expanding your starting list of key phrases.

Switching Databases

This is likely to change very soon, as a new version of Niche Inspector is imminent to reflect the demise of Overture.

The procedure is very straightforward, and you only need do it once for new projects. If you continue to research saved projects that were researched with Overture, then you will need to switch the database after you load the project.

1. First: go to Niche Inspector settings.

2. Last: switch to alternate database.

Using Niche Inspector’s New Database

You might have already encountered a captcha dialogue when using Niche Inspector. Heavy use of the keyword research tool prompts Google to issue a captcha form whenever the number of hits to it’s database reaches a certain level.

With the new database, this has been extended slightly. From Myleena’s issue notes

The new CAPTCHA box now asks you to enter two words intead of a
string of characters. It may be a little bit harder to read but it’s
well worth it

The new two word box looks like:

Sometimes you get real words, sometimes made-up words, and sometimes numbers. Often with punctuation, and always with a line through. In practice, I’ve never typed a wrong one in yet, but it pays to take your time and type the words carefully, with a space between.

That’s it.

Anybody else have any views on the new Niche Inspector alternate database for keyword research?

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