Starting the SEO project should begin with targeting keywords for the website. This is a basic activity yet can be a problem. Keyword research metrics are a lot and need deep analysis. That is why you cannot mess up the research by focusing on the wrong metrics.
Some practitioners might think that search volume is all the important things. In fact, there are some other metrics that will influence the decision on choosing the target keywords. In this article, we will discuss the essential keyword research metrics to help you conduct a good analysis.
What Is Keyword Research Metrics?
To begin with, let’s make sure that you know what is keyword research metrics. While keyword research is a process of finding the right keywords to target that match users' search, then keyword research metrics are the data that need to be considered before choosing the right ones.
With the number of metrics, you need to understand your SEO goals at the beginning. It is intended to avoid analysis paralysis because you are overwhelmed with the amount of data. Thus, every SEO project might have a different priority on the keyword research metrics.
Search Volume
The first keyword research metric is the search volume. It is indeed important to look at how many people are searching using that keyword. Ignoring the volume can harm your site and SEO project. If the main focus of the project is to get higher traffic, then this metric should be your consideration.
The search volume data is presented monthly to show the popularity of the keywords. Many people intended to target high-volume keywords with the hope that it can bring more traffics. However, that won’t work all the time. Thus, you need to have a working strategy for your SEO.
The demand for different kinds of keywords will be different. For example, the general keyword or short-tail keyword will most probably have a high demand. While the long-tail keywords commonly have fewer searches.
Well, you cannot target keywords with no search at all right? If you have defined the SEO goals, then it will need additional traffic and ranking.
Search Volume Over Time
Not only is the most recent search volume that is important, but also the changes over time. Knowing this data will help you predict how much traffic you will get and where your site will rank.
You have to make sure that the keyword has the potential to drive traffic for the next 12 months. This metric should be your decision-making and you have to calculate it carefully. Commonly, SEO experts will calculate the last 12 months' data and then compare it to the latest volume data.
The ups and downs are normal as long as you see a positive average. So, here you need to find a keyword research tool that can project the search volume data changes over time.
If it appears to be an increase, then it would be worth targeting.
Keyword Difficulty
The next keyword research metric is the difficulty or the keyword competition. It shows how difficult the keywords can rank in the SERP. The keyword competition is essential to look at since you have to evaluate the possibility.
The higher the competition, the harder you will rank. The high search volume keywords commonly have high difficulty as well. So, you cannot just look at the volume and ignore the competition.
The ideal characteristic of target keywords is one that has enough volume and low difficulty. You can try targeting long-tail keywords which commonly have pretty low competition.
CPC
The cost-per-click of the keywords is also important for your paid marketing campaign. If you cannot choose the right keywords based on the CPC, It will affect your budget. It will be beneficial when you run ads to rank high on the SERP.
You can find the data about CPC in the Google Keyword Planner or your favorite keyword research tool. High CPC data indicate that there are large advertisers who target to bet the organic results.
AdWords Competition
If you use Google Keyword Planner, it provides a competition metric for AdWords. If you run ads, then looking at this metric is a must. It refers to the number of advertisers that appear on each keyword on Google
Even if this metric is not directly affected your SEO, it is still important to take it into consideration for your ads.
Keyword Research Tool
To get keyword ideas and data, you will need an SEO keyword research tool. You can use the one provided by Google such as Google Trends and Google Keyword Planner. However, those tools serve different data and somehow incomplete insight.
It would be better if you can have an effective SEO tool that supports multiple SEO activities including keyword research. Sequence Stats can be a perfect fit for your SEO needs. It enables you to do multiple SEO starting from keyword tracking, keyword research, competitor monitoring, SEO team management, and others.
In terms of keyword research, Sequence Stats Keyword Ideas can facilitate you with a comprehensive research tool that enables you to get 1000 ideas and data about the above keyword research metrics. Here is an example of keyword ideas in Sequence Stats:
Picture 1: keyword ideas result page
Once you have tracked the keywords in Sequence Stats, the system will also be able to show you the Keyword metrics insight in the rank dashboard.
Picture 2: Keyword metrics in the rank dashboard
Our developer team is working on a public keyword research tool where everyone can conduct keyword research for free completed with those important keyword metrics above. Stay tuned for the official launch.
Conclusion
In conclusion, the keywords metric is varied. To define your top priority, you need to know the SEO goals first. When you target ranking, then it is better to choose the low competition keywords. But, when you target traffic you need to choose long-tail keywords that have enough demand and low competition.
The above metrics are essential to look up since they define your strategy. You also need to do a thorough analysis of the data. Thus, you have to use an effective SEO tool such as Sequence Stats to help you gather insightful data.
You can explore Sequence Stats now after you register yourself for a free trial. Go escalate your SEO with the all-in-one SEO tool.