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Read our essential keyword research guides and get a better understanding of SEO.
Keyword Search Volume
Keyword Search Volume shows the number of times a keyword has been searched for per month, on average, in a specific location.
While this SEO metric may seem pretty straightforward, there are several things to consider before you evaluate the keywords you want to target.
For example, the search volume is shown as an average, so it’s important to check if your keyword has a consistent, trending or seasonal search volume, by analyzing the data month by month for the past 1-2 years.
Another factor to consider is that generic terms in an industry always have high search volume, but they are more competitive and more difficult to rank for.
On the other hand, long-tail keywords are made of three to five words and are more specific and descriptive than generic terms.
Long-tail keywords are also less competitive than generic keywords and make up a large majority of all searched performed on Google.
All websites should include long-tail keywords in their SEO strategy, since they will bring relevant traffic and are easier to rank for.
Keyword Difficulty Score
The Keyword Difficulty (or “Keyword Competition”) is a metric, which estimates how hard it would be to rank for a keyword in Google’s search results.
It’s measured on a scale from 0 to 100, the higher the score the harder it is to rank for the query.
Use this metric to compare keywords within your industry and prioritize those for which your website has a good chance of ranking for in the SERP.
Keep in mind that each SEO tool calculates the score differently, so for the same keyword you’ll get a somewhat different difficulty score depending on the tool that is used (Ahrefs, Semrush, MOZ, etc.).
Learn the pros and cons of each tool, so you can better interpret the data.