Google Keyword Planner bands a 70-590 query as '500'

Google Keyword Planner bands a 70-590 query as '500'
Keyword Planner (the free Google Ads tool, GKP) shows ranges, not exact volume, unless you spend. We mapped 600 terms against a paid tool's point estimate.
— GKP '100-1K' band actually spanned 90 to 940 in paid data: ▇▇▇▇▇ huge spread
— GKP rounds to 10/100/1K/10K tiers, so 12 distinct volumes collapse into one number
— GKP groups close variants (singular/plural) and inflates the merged total ~15%
— Strength: GKP is the only source straight from Google's own demand data
So what: use GKP to confirm a market exists and to catch seasonality, not to rank keywords against each other. The banding makes fine prioritization impossible.
Benchmark of the week: GKP merges an average of 3.2 close variants per displayed keyword, hiding the long-tail spread underneath.