The day has finally come where not just search engine marketers are able to tout the ability to see the actual volume of traffic for any particular keyword phrase during the all important keyword discovery phase.

Google’s keyword tool now shows search volume.

Jason Baer makes a good point that this means digital agencies and online marketing consultants can’t rely solely on their “secret toolbelt” in order to charge clients for their services.  That means we now have to *gasp* provide valuable services to clients in order to help grow their business.

This is almost like any time Google tweaks their algorithm in order to combat the newest spamming technique.  Those who are spamming are affected, but those who have been playing by the rules will not only be fine…but may improve.

For those of us that have had the wellbeing of our clients in mind all along, this shouldn’t be seen as a negative by any means.  I’ve always been a fan of transparency and showing the client everything that’s being done in addition to the tools being used.  When they see all the work it takes to do what we do they quickly realize that they’re best off focusing on their business as opposed to trying to do everything themselves.  If they don’t realize this or think they can do online marketing on their own…they’re probably not the best client to keep.