What Is Search Volume?

Date First Published: 1st December 2022

Topic: Web Design & Development

Subtopic: SEO

Article Type: Computer Terms & Definitions

Difficulty: Medium

Difficulty Level: 5/10

CONTENTS

What Is An Ideal Search Volume?
How To Find Out The Search Volume Of A Keyword?

Learn more about what search volume is in this article.

Search volume refers to the number of times that a specific keyword was searched for in a given period of time, such as every month. For example, if the keyword 'website builders for windows' had a monthly search volume of 3000, it means that 3000 searches for that keyword have been performed in a month. Those searches could have been performed by different people or a small number of people might have made that search lots of times over the month. If a keyword has a high search volume, it does not mean that it will bring websites lots of organic search traffic or increase organic click-through rate as search engines may simply display the answer in SERPs as a featured snippet.

Note:

Search volume is not the number of unique people that have searched for a keyword in a given period of time. It is the number of actual searches for a specific keyword.

What Is An Ideal Search Volume?

An ideal search volume for a specific keyword is about getting a balance between it rarely being searched for and it being searched hundreds of thousands or even millions of times a month. This is one of the reasons why it is recommended for smaller or newer sites to target long-tail keywords as fewer sites compete for these keywords, making it easier for them to rank higher. The things that should be considered when choosing keywords to use in content are:

Using keywords with a very low search volume may mean that people may not find the page in the SERP.
Using keywords with a very high search volume means that websites could be stuck at the bottom competing with large and high-authority sites.
The keywords should have a high enough search volume for people to find the page without too much competition.
Unless a website generates thousands of unique visitors a week and has lots of backlinks, it is not recommended to target keywords with a search volume of 100,000-1 million searches a month as it is very likely that those keywords will be far too competitive.
Keyword search volume can vary by the time of year or period. Evergreen keywords are consistently searched for, regardless of the time of year. For example, people might search 'website builders for windows' regardless of the time of year, but seasonal and time-sensitive keywords receive a decline in search volume after a season or an event is over, such as 'Christmas gifts 2022'.
Business websites with a large budget may be willing to spend more money on highly competitive keywords so that more people can see their paid ads at the top of the SERP.

The range of the search engine volume for a specific keyword per month is:

Lower than 50 - Very low search volume
50-500 - Low search volume
500-5000 - Low-medium search volume
5000-50,000 - Medium search volume
50,000-100,000 - Medium-high search volume
100,000-500,000 - High search volume
Over 500,000 - Very high search volume

How To Find Out The Search Volume Of A Keyword?

In order to find out the search volume of a keyword, you can use a free tool called WordStream. All you have to do is enter the keyword and then click on 'Find my Keywords'. Afterwards, it will return with a page of keywords along with the monthly search volume and the top of the bid range for the paid Google Ads.