By definition, ‘Search volume is the average number of times a specific search query is entered on a search engine per month.’ When working to build and fine tune search engine optimization (SEO), we look at a series of metrics. The quality of each individual metric affects the overall value as a whole, each piece contributing its own importance. There are some amazing keyword research tools available to all of us that can make a major difference in the success of your business and optimization.

The metric referred to as search volume is used to determine the popularity of a keyword or set of keywords. This helps to anticipate the amount of incoming traffic from ranking for the given set of phrases. It is essential to do keyword research when focusing on SEO and search volume. If you strive to acquire new customers and increase your online visibility, it is crucial to do your research and use the tools and expertise available when it comes to keyword and search volume. 

There are a multitude of different decisions to consider when looking to increase search volume and how it can affect your business and website traffic.

We can ask ourselves a few important questions to get started.

What is a keyword? Keywords offer guidance to search engines, such as Googlebot, to assure that the webpage is indexed accurately and can appear in front of the user providing a relevant, useful result. Search engines are able to group together keywords to provide the most accurate results. This is classified as on page SEO. 

What will a user expect from a search engine when they type a specific phrase? The more knowledge you have within your market and demographic, the more success you will have in obtaining search volume. Focusing on keyword research and keyword volume is essential in ranking for competitive search engine phrases.  A single page can rank for thousands of phrases when the content is relevant. There are many helpful SEO tools to make sure the keywords you are using are driving traffic and continuing to further engagement to the targeted page and audience. The key to search volume is not to focus on simply using the keywords with the highest volume, but instead to focus on the value it will bring to your business, hone in on providing relevant results that will increase sales, and to be realistic with short term and long term ranking goals.

Ultimately, the expectations of each business and brand and page will vary throughout the process. When running diagnostics on search volume, we can look as broad or specific as we chose. Starting from a global scale over years of searches, or narrowing it down to a single, local zip code over the last month. There are a wide range of tools we have available to us provide access this data at all price points, even free. These research tools offer a huge upper hand in making sure your relevant content and website gets the attention it deserves, you will not regret investing time into your keyword search volume.