What is Search Volume?
Search volume is a metric that shows how many times a particular keyword is searched for each month. The search volume metric is used to evaluate the popularity of a keyword and is measured using search engine optimization and keyword analytics tools like Google Keyword Planner.
The search volume is an essential metric in keyword research. It is used to identify the demand for a keyword and understand the potential audience reach for the topic. Many keyword research tools display the average monthly search volume within a specific region or country.
Most often, seed keywords and short-tail keywords have high search volume and are very competitive to rank for. Unless you are a well-established site, you should try to target keywords with high search volume and low difficulty.
How Search Volume is Measured
Different tools have different methods of evaluating the search volume. They also use data from multiple sources, so it is normal for different tools to give you a different search volume for the same keyword.
The search volume is typically reported monthly. In many cases, most tools add the total search volume for the year together and then divide it by 12 to get the monthly average search volume.
While this often gives a reasonable estimation of the search volume for evergreen keywords, it does not consider the fluctuations common with seasonal keywords.
For example, a keyword like “Christmas gift ideas” would have a higher search volume in November and December and a lower search volume in March and April. However, many keyword research tools do not account for this and show the same search volume for the keyword throughout the year.
Keyword research tools also have different methods of gathering, handling, and presenting their data. For example, Google Keyword Planner merges keywords with similar meanings together and returns a single search volume for those keywords. This makes it impossible to know the search volume of the individual keywords.
Importance of the Search Volume Metric
The search volume metric helps determine how much traffic to expect for a keyword. It is typically a significant metric for bloggers researching content to create. Many bloggers, particularly those who do not have a high website authority, prefer to target keywords with high search volume and low difficulty.
However, while deciding on a keyword to target, you should note that a high search volume does not necessarily mean you will receive a lot of traffic, even if you rank for the keyword.
For example, zero-click searches have become the norm lately. In this case, while the keyword would have a high search volume, the sites ranking for those keywords will have low traffic. Then, many of these searches also display pay-per-click (PPC) ads that take visitors away from your content.
Search Volume Best Practices
Search volume is a crucial metric for bloggers looking to rank on search results pages and get traffic to their site. These best practices will allow you to get the most out of it.
1 Don’t Rely on the Search Volume Alone
The search volume gives you an idea of how much visitors search for the keyword. However, it does not estimate how many clicks go to the organic results on the search results pages.
These queries sometimes lead to zero-click searches, especially when Google displays the answer directly on the search results page. Then, there is also competition for clicks from other results types, including image and video results and pay-per-click ads on the results page.
In all, the search volume is just one of the metrics you should look at before deciding what keyword to target. It should not be the only one.
2 Consider the Keyword Difficulty
Bloggers typically review multiple metrics when deciding on the keywords to target. The keyword difficulty is one such metric.
While most bloggers would want to rank for a keyword with a high search volume, such keywords will be hard or even impossible to rank for, especially for a site with a low authority. So, it is good practice to compare the keyword difficulty with the search volume to arrive at the desired keywords to target.
The keyword difficulty range you compete at ultimately depends on your website authority. If your website authority is low, go for keywords with high search volume and low keyword difficulty. Otherwise, you may compete for more difficult keywords.
3 Understand How the Search Volume is Evaluated
It is crucial to dig into your keyword research tool and understand how it calculates your search volume metric. Many SEO tools, for example, use the annual average to evaluate the search volume. That is, they sum up the entire search volume for a year and divide it by 12.
While this works for evergreen keywords, it doesn’t perfectly reflect how visitors search for seasonal and trending keywords that become popular during specific periods and have super-low or nonexistent traffic during others.
Many keyword research tools have documentation that addresses how they evaluate their search volume metric. You should review the documentation to understand it. This will be helpful when deciding on what keyword to rank for.