A Guide to Keyword Search Volume by an Expert in SEO

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I want to explain what search volume is and why it’s important for things like SEO, PPC, and content creation.

Search volume refers to the number of searches a specific keyword or phrase receives during a given time period, which is usually monthly.

Understanding search volume allows us to see how often people search for a term using search engines like Google, Bing and so on. Once armed with this information, you can see whether or not a keyword (and related keywords) are worth pursuing and plugging into your keyword planner. 

Once we look at a few metrics concerning a specific keyword,  we can use this data to gauge interest in an overall topic cluster and see how competitive a keyword might be for targeting.

Let’s dive in and get some more details on search volume, and how you can use it to get your blog off the ground.

So, What is Search Volume?

Search volume refers to the number of searches for a specific term over a specified time – most commonly on a monthly, or 30-day basis. 

It indicates how often people are searching for a given keyword or phrase using a search engine like Google, Bing and so on. 

Looking at search volume also helps me understand how competitive a keyword might be if I want to target it for SEO for my blog or a client’s blog or to go after the term with PPC. Generally speaking, the higher the search volume, the more searches that term receives each month and the greater the competition or difficulty to rank for that particular term. 

Ways to Check Search Volume: Top Tools

There are a few different tools I can use to research and check search volume data: First up let’s take a look at free ones. 

The Best Free Keyword Tools

Google Keyword Planner

This free tool provided by Google gives me estimated monthly search volumes for keywords. I can use it to look up terms and see approximately how often they are searched.

Keywords Everywhere

Keywords Everywhere is a free Chrome extension that allows you to see live search volume data and keyword difficulties directly within Google search. When you search for a term in Google, Keywords Everywhere will display estimated search volume and CPC data for that keyword in the search results.

This allows you to quickly see volume and difficulty scores for keywords without having to use separate tools. The extension integrates with Google, pulling search volume and competition data from multiple sources.

Keywords Everywhere is useful for on-the-fly keyword research to gauge volume and difficulty when searching naturally in Google. It provides easy access to key SEO metrics as you search.

Ubersuggest

Neil Patel’s marketing plan is on point. 

As an SEO expert in his own right, he also has a free keyword tool called Ubersuggest.

It allows users to generate keyword ideas and view search volume estimates.

Some key features of Ubersuggest:

• Keyword generator – Enter a root keyword and Ubersuggest will auto-generate hundreds of additional long-tail keyword ideas related to that topic. This helps expand your list of potential keywords to target.
• Search volume data – Ubersuggest shows estimated monthly search volumes for keywords provided by Google. This allows you to gauge search traffic potential.
• Keyword difficulty scores – The tool calculates a difficulty score from 0-100 for each keyword to help assess how hard it may be to rank for.
• Filters – You can filter keyword ideas by difficulty, volume, CPC, and more to drill down on keywords.
• Competitor analysis – Enter a competitor URL to see keyword ideas based on terms they are ranking for.
• SERP analysis – See live Google search results and suggestions for your keywords.

Overall, Ubersuggest is a handy free tool for generating keyword ideas supplemented with volume and difficulty data to inform your SEO and content strategy. The suggested keywords can help expand your list of what terms to potentially target.

The Best Paid Keyword Tools

SEMRush

SEMrush is a paid online visibility management and marketing analytics platform used for SEO, PPC, content marketing, and competitive research. Some key features include:

• Keyword research – Extensive keyword data including search volume, CPC, competition level, and keyword gaps. Helps identify opportunities.
• Competitive analysis – Track competitors’ organic and paid search performance to inform your strategy. See what keywords drive their traffic. 

•  Site audit – Check website crawlability, on-page optimizations, technical issues, and performance. Identify improvements.

•  Rank tracking – Monitor website rankings for important keywords to optimize for.

• Traffic analytics – See organic and paid traffic sources and volumes over time. Identify trends.

• Ad research – Research pay-per-click ads and display ads run by competitors. Analyze their ad copy and landing pages.

• Backlink analysis – See who is linking to your site and competitors. Assess link profiles.

SEMrush provides robust data for researching keywords, monitoring site performance, conducting competitor analysis, tracking rankings, and informing marketing campaigns. It offers an extensive feature set for enterprise-level online visibility management.

Ahrefs

My preferred paid keyword tool, Ahrefs saves me a tonne of time compared to some of the other tools. 

Ahrefs is a powerful SEO and marketing toolkit used for keyword research, backlink analysis, content research, rank tracking and website audits. Some key features include:

• Keyword Explorer – Keyword data including volumes, CPC, competition and search trends over time. Helps identify profitable keywords to target.
• Site Audit – Crawls a site to identify on-page issues, technical errors, performance metrics and areas for optimization.
• Rank Tracker – Track and monitor keyword rankings in search engines to improve positions.
• Backlink Checker – See who is linking to your site and competitors. Assess backlink profile strengths. 
• Content Explorer – Research what content is ranking for target keywords so you can create better content.
• Site Explorer – View high level metrics for any website like organic traffic, keywords driving traffic, backlinks and referring domains.
• Competitive Site Audit – Directly compare your site to competitors across metrics like links, keywords, traffic sources and more. 

Ahrefs provides robust SEO and marketing analytics for keyword and competitor research, auditing sites, tracking rankings, analyzing links and discovering content opportunities. It offers powerful data to strengthen digital visibility.

Moz

Moz is an SEO software suite that provides tools for keyword research, backlink analysis, rank tracking, site audits, and more. Here are some of the key features Moz offers:

• Keyword Explorer – Keyword research tool to find new keywords to target, analyze search volume, trends and competitiveness.
• Rank Tracking – Track website rankings for target keywords in Google and other search engines. Monitor changes over time.
• Link Explorer – See who is linking to your site and competitors. Analyze link profiles for SEO.
• Site Crawl – Crawl a site to identify technical SEO issues like broken links, metadata, indexing problems.
• Page Authority – Moz’s page authority metric shows ranking ability/trust of a page on 1-100 scale. Domain authority provides site-wide scores.
• SEO Toolbar – Browser add-on provides quick access to metrics like links and keywords for any site you visit.
• Site Audits – Audit site for issues and prioritized list of fixes to improve SEO and usability.

Moz helps you to carry out all manner of SEO strategies – optimizing on-page elements, conducting keyword research, tracking rankings, building links, analyzing the competition and monitoring site performance.

Understanding Search Volume Data

When I get search volume data for keywords, there are a few ways I can use it, but it is important to understand keywords and what you are looking at. 

– Keyword research – I look for high-volume keywords that align with my content to target for SEO and PPC campaigns. The higher the volume, the more potential traffic a term may drive.

– Estimate traffic potential – Search volume helps me estimate how much traffic a keyword could potentially bring to my site. Higher volumes indicate more interest.

– Understand user intent – The search volume of a keyword can tell me more about what users are looking for when they search that term. This helps me craft content.

– Competitor analysis – I can use search volumes to analyze the keywords my competitors are ranking for and what terms are driving traffic to their sites.

– Trend analysis – Looking at changes in search volume over time for a keyword allows me to spot upward and downward trends.

Tips for Using Search Volume Most Effectively for SEO

Here are some tips to make sure I use search volume data effectively:

– Don’t just look at high volume keywords – lower competition terms can also be useful to target.

– Look at patterns and changes over time, not just the monthly averages. 

– Combine search volume with CPC data and keyword difficulty for a complete analysis.

– Make sure to match keywords to my offerings – just because a term has high volume doesn’t mean it’s right for me.

– Use search volumes for both short-tail and long-tail keyword research.

Keyword Search Volume Limitations

When looking at search volume data, it’s important for me to understand that the numbers are not completely precise. Search volume is an estimated and aggregated metric that gives me a general idea of popularity.

However, the data can be imperfect for a few reasons. The numbers tend to be rounded and may not reflect exact monthly searches. I also need to keep in mind that low-competition keywords can still be very useful to target, even if they have lower search volumes.

Additionally, I find that search volume data can be skewed for very broad and very long-tail keywords, so I take those numbers with a grain of salt. While search volume is useful, it’s not a perfect indication of exactly how often a term is searched.

Search Volume Tracking 

In addition to looking at monthly search volume, I make sure to track changes over time to spot trends and seasonal fluctuations. Using a tool like Google Trends allows me to analyze patterns rather than just looking at averages.

I look for upward momentum, spikes, and downward trends that may impact my targeting. Monitoring the volumes for my important keywords on an ongoing basis helps me see how volumes shift throughout the year.

I can use this temporal data to guide decisions around optimizing content, allocating budget, and promoting important topics during high-interest times. Tracking volume over the long term gives me a more dynamic view.

Leveraging Search Volume and Intent

I use search volume data in conjunction with intent to better understand user behavior and align my content. High search volume indicates interest in a topic, but drilling into the intent shows me what specific user needs are behind that interest.

For example, a high-volume keyword like ‘smart watch’ may generally indicate demand, but the intent may reveal users are searching for reviews, comprehensive guides, pricing, product comparisons, etc.

By layering intent on top of volume, I can craft content that serves user needs. I can also identify gaps where user intent is not being served by existing resources. Aligning my content to both volume and intent results in better optimization and user experience.

Myths About Search Volume

There are some common myths around search volume data that I’m mindful to avoid. One myth is that higher volume is inherently better, but this is not always true.

Lower competition keywords are useful too. Another myth is that volume directly correlates with revenue potential. 

However, high commercial intent is more indicative of revenue than sheer volume. There’s also the myth that sudden drops in volume for a keyword are necessarily bad. But seasonal fluctuations are normal.

By scrutinizing search volumes in context, instead of taking them at face value, I can make informed optimization decisions that serve users and search engines. 

Case Study: Analyzing Volumes to Redesign Website Content

Recently, I performed a search volume analysis when redesigning a website’s content and navigation. I first compiled a list of top-performing existing pages and researched keyword volumes using Ahrefs. 

I looked for high-volume, low-competition terms that drive traffic potential.

I also used Google Trends to understand seasonality patterns. Based on this research, I identified opportunities to expand coverage for high-interest keywords. I also found outdated content to prune. By combining current volumes with user intent research,

I shaped the site architecture and optimized page content. In the 3 months after the redesign, organic traffic increased by 22%. This demonstrates how properly researching and applying search volume data results in positive impacts.

No Search Volume? No Problem

Meet Glimpse: 

Glimpse is an AI assistant created by Anthropic to be helpful, harmless, and honest. It uses a technique called Constitutional AI to align its goals and values with being safe and beneficial to users. Glimpse aims to have thoughtful conversations, provide useful information, and avoid harmful, unethical, dangerous or illegal behavior.

Exploding Topics:

Exploding topics refers to search terms and keywords that are rapidly gaining popularity and search volume. These can be up-and-coming trends, current events driving spikes in interest, or new product releases seeing lots of searches. Identifying trending exploding topics can help with reacting quickly to changes in demand and interest from searchers. Tools like Google Trends can spot exploding keywords.

Google Trends:

Google Trends allows users to analyze search volume patterns over time. It provides graphs showing interest and popularity trends for entered keywords across months and years. Google Trends is useful for spotting seasonal fluctuations, and upcoming trends, and understanding when search volume peaks or declines. 

The comparison feature helps compare multiple terms side-by-side. Google Trends offers valuable temporal data to complement monthly search volumes.

To Sum Up

In summary, search volume is a valuable metric that shows how often a keyword is searched. Tools like Keyword Planner and paid platforms allow me to research volumes to inform decisions around SEO, PPC, and content.

By analyzing volumes properly and combining with other data, I can choose the right keywords to target and estimate potential traffic. Using search volume effectively is key for successful online marketing and SEO strategies.

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About the author:

Matt Hapgood is a father, surfer, and entrepreneur. He has worn many hats in his career, from being a removal guy in Vancouver to teaching elementary kids in the UK, as well as a parking valet in the French Alps. He’s the founder and main contributor to MattHapgood.com and is currently living in the Algarve, Portugal.

Follow him on Instagram here