Search volumes are annual averages
Posted: Tue Feb 11, 2025 5:24 am
you should be able to find the organic search volume through the number of impressions shown in Google Search Console. If you were to compare that to the number provided by Google Keyword Planner, you’d find that these numbers match up only half the time. Of course, you can say that those numbers show different data because Google Search Console will give you the exact number of impressions for a given month, while Google Keyword Planner will give you the averages for the last year. But even if you go the extra mile and calculate those averages for the last year in Google Search Console and compare them with the now comparable data from Google Keyword Planner, you will find that the latter significantly overestimates search volumes in half of the cases and it does so for several reasons. First, Google Keyword Planner groups keywords with similar meanings together and shows their cumulative search volumes. Second, impressions in Google Search Console are often directly linked to local searches for a popular keyword, so they show lower values.
As you might expect, since search volumes are annual bosnia and herzegovina phone number data averages, in some cases they do not accurately reflect actual search volumes for that particular month, as keywords may be trending up or down, or may be a completely seasonal keyword.
Search volumes don’t account for actual clicks: It’s said on the Internet that of all searches performed, only one in three is followed by a click to a landing page, leaving the other ⅔ of searches performed clickless. This is partly because paid advertisers are still a part of search traffic, especially for commercial searches. In other cases, search engine users simply don’t find a result worth clicking on because they expect the visible search results to not solve their query. One of the last predominant reasons why some searches don’t receive clicks is because they find what they’re looking for directly in the search results, thanks to Google’s rich snippets.
SERP Share: Regardless of your actual position in the organic search results, you are competing with other players, which means you can only get a fraction of the actual clicks to your website. Naturally, the higher your position in Google's organic search results, the higher the chances of a potential customer landing on your website instead of someone else's.
Based on this information about organic keyword search volumes, there are several best practices you can take advantage of:
Apply context to understand search volume: Don’t make organic traffic projections based on search volume alone, but use this data to understand the full picture. The best way to create realistic expectations about traffic is to consider things like whether this keyword is seasonal or trending down or up, and what the paid search share is in the SERPs.
Look through the lens of potential organic traffic: The above precautions feed directly into estimating your organic traffic potential. If you have search queries where a third of the SERPs are occupied by paid ads or are answered directly within the SERPs using rich snippets, this makes them much less attractive as you are likely to get less traffic from them.
As you might expect, since search volumes are annual bosnia and herzegovina phone number data averages, in some cases they do not accurately reflect actual search volumes for that particular month, as keywords may be trending up or down, or may be a completely seasonal keyword.
Search volumes don’t account for actual clicks: It’s said on the Internet that of all searches performed, only one in three is followed by a click to a landing page, leaving the other ⅔ of searches performed clickless. This is partly because paid advertisers are still a part of search traffic, especially for commercial searches. In other cases, search engine users simply don’t find a result worth clicking on because they expect the visible search results to not solve their query. One of the last predominant reasons why some searches don’t receive clicks is because they find what they’re looking for directly in the search results, thanks to Google’s rich snippets.
SERP Share: Regardless of your actual position in the organic search results, you are competing with other players, which means you can only get a fraction of the actual clicks to your website. Naturally, the higher your position in Google's organic search results, the higher the chances of a potential customer landing on your website instead of someone else's.
Based on this information about organic keyword search volumes, there are several best practices you can take advantage of:
Apply context to understand search volume: Don’t make organic traffic projections based on search volume alone, but use this data to understand the full picture. The best way to create realistic expectations about traffic is to consider things like whether this keyword is seasonal or trending down or up, and what the paid search share is in the SERPs.
Look through the lens of potential organic traffic: The above precautions feed directly into estimating your organic traffic potential. If you have search queries where a third of the SERPs are occupied by paid ads or are answered directly within the SERPs using rich snippets, this makes them much less attractive as you are likely to get less traffic from them.