{"id":137116,"date":"2021-12-01T13:52:55","date_gmt":"2021-12-01T18:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/?p=137116"},"modified":"2023-05-15T05:18:29","modified_gmt":"2023-05-15T10:18:29","slug":"keyword-search-volume","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ahrefs.com\/blog\/keyword-search-volume\/","title":{"rendered":"Keyword Search Volume: 5 Things You Need to Know to Avoid SEO Mistakes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
Search volume is probably the most frequently used metric in SEO. It helps us gauge the popularity of various keywords and predict the search traffic we may get from ranking for them.<\/div>\n\n\n\n

But all too often, inexperienced SEOs take the keyword search volume metric at its face value, which leads to poor marketing decisions and waste of valuable business resources.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this post, we\u2019re going to take a closer look at the search volume metric, explain what it is, where it comes from, and how it may sometimes lead you astray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is keyword search volume?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Keyword search volume is an SEO metric that tells you how many times per month, on average, a certain keyword is searched for in a specific location. More often than not, search volume refers to the number of searches in Google, but this metric can also refer to other search engines<\/a> too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One important distinction to point out is that search volume reflects the number of actual searches of a keyword rather than the number of unique people searching for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, if a keyword has a monthly search volume of 100, those searches could have been performed by 100 different people, or it could have been just 10 people making 10 searches each.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That small clarification is only the tip of the iceberg of all the things that people often get wrong when analyzing the search volume of a keyword.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So let\u2019s discuss five more things you need to know in order to make better use of this metric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Search volume numbers are annual averages<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Most SEO tools report search volume as an annual average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not a big deal for search queries that have a relatively consistent search demand throughout the year. But it can be quite misleading for seasonal search queries or hot trends.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s compare the search volume trends of the following two keywords: \u201ccontent marketing\u201d and \u201cNFT.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"'Content<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The keyword \u201ccontent marketing\u201d has been hovering between 12k and 17k searches a month in the course of the year. So its annual average of 16k is a reasonable prediction of the search volume that it is likely to get in the months to come.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"'NFT'<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an entirely different story for the keyword \u201cNFT,\u201d though. In the course of one year, it went from practically nothing to a whopping 2.3 million searches in March. Then it dropped to 374k in June and went up to 952k in August.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, it is quite hard to predict how its search volume is going to fluctuate in the coming months and where it will eventually settle once the craze over NFTs subsides.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What I want to illustrate with these two examples is that search volumes can be quite volatile<\/strong>. And the 12-month average number that SEO tools report may not perfectly match the monthly search volume of that keyword by the time you rank for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Not all searches result in clicks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The fact that people search for something doesn\u2019t necessarily mean they\u2019re going to click on any of the search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Google\u2019s goal is to satisfy its users right there and then without having them \u201cwaste time\u201d clicking on any of the search results. According to a recent study<\/a>, two-thirds of Google searches in 2020 ended without a click.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two-thirds of Google searches in 2020 ended without a click. <\/div><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For example, the keyword \u201celon musk age\u201d gets 37k searches per month (on average). But the number of clicks on the search results (according to Ahrefs) is just 6.3k.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"'Elon<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That happens because Google gives an instant answer to that question, dissuading users from clicking on any of the search results:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"'Elon<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

So if a search query has a large search volume, it doesn\u2019t necessarily mean that it will bring you lots of search traffic. Google may simply display the answer right in its search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

3. Advertisers may steal your clicks<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s one other thing that may steal those precious clicks away from you: Google Ads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of today, Google displays up to four paid search listings above the organic search results. And if you trace the visual history of these paid placements<\/a>, it becomes painfully obvious Google is trying to make those ads nearly indistinguishable from the organic search results.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also tends to embellish those ads with images and sitelinks to maximize the real estate they occupy and push the organic search results further down below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In other words, ranking at the top for some popular keyword no longer guarantees that you\u2019re going to get lots of clicks from it.<\/p>\n

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\ud83d\uddbc\ufe0f\ud83d\uddbc\ufe0f\ud83d\uddbc\ufe0f pic.twitter.com\/BbAfwwwjVk<\/a><\/p>\n\u2014 Tim Soulo \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@timsoulo) June 29, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote>\n