All digital marketers know that the search volume of any keyword is the most important factor for appropriate keyword research. There are plenty of benefits, especially for SEO purposes.
For instance, a high search volume is a great signal to target that keyword in your SEO campaigns. If you find untapped opportunities with high search volume but low competition, it will make your day. And it often happens with emerging topics.
It also helps in search ad campaigns. Higher search volume means more potential traffic thus leading to more instant leads and conversions.
For instance, if you’re a consultant or run an e-commerce or local business like a laundromat or a car dealership, looking to target high-intent keywords for SEO, higher search volume keywords can significantly boost your ROI.
Additionally, it indicates demand and potential. For instance, if “project management software” has 10K searches in the USA or any specific region, it means there’s a demand for it in that area.
Thus, it’s important to estimate the search volume of keywords.
It’s true that no matter which tool you use—whether it’s paid tools like Ahrefs, SEMrush, or free ones like Google Keyword Planner, Bing Keyword Research Tool, Surfer extension, or Google Search Console—none can provide the exact search volume for any keyword.
This is largely because search engines now show personalized results, making it difficult to pinpoint the exact search volume, especially on Google.
Additionally, some keywords are seasonal; for instance, if there are no searches for a keyword in August, there could be millions on Black Friday in November. However, if you follow the strategies discussed below, you can still get a great estimate that will be close to those keywords’ actual search volume.
There are plenty of tools and strategies available to gauge keyword search volume, but I’ll discuss 10 strategies that most SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and SEA (Search Engine Advertising) experts are familiar with.
Here are 10 different methods to check search volume and forecasts.
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Use Google’s Free Keywords Search Volume Checker:
Google helps people find the right keywords for their business. Google Keyword Planner provides you with the best-estimated search volume in the given region. It’s because it’s Google’s tool and Google is the place where most people search for any term around the globe.
Here is how to check Google keyword search volume with the Planner.
- Go to the Planner.
- Click on “Go to Keyword Planner“
- Click on search volume and forecasts
- Add your queries
- Click get results
It will provide you with average monthly searches in your selected region. You can choose your desired city, state, or country to check the average search volume.
For instance, when I searched for the search volume of the keyword “search volume,” Google Keyword Planner suggested its monthly search volume to be between 1K to 10K.
When you look at the relevant keyword ideas, which number around 400, it indicates that the keyword likely has a volume toward the upper end of that range. In other words, you can expect the monthly search volume for this keyword to be closer to 10K.
Use Bing Keyword Research Tool:
If you want to focus Bing for your SEO efforts or Ads campaigns, Bing offers a free Keyword Research tool in the Bing Webmasters.
Bing Webmasters is pretty similar to Google Search Console.
It gives you the exact search volume of the keyword for Bing search.
Here is how to use it:
- Go to Bing Webmasters
- Open the Keyword Research tool from the Menu Bar
- Type your keyword and search
Bing will give provide you with the data of your desired keywords and search queries.
For instance, I searched for the search term ‘couches‘, and here are the results.
The keyword “couches” has 259.6K monthly impressions in the USA and 322.6K globally on Bing.
Similarly, you can find search volume data for any keyword you’re targeting. Since a significant portion of Bing users are based in the USA, targeting American clients on Bing can yield promising results for businesses looking to boost visibility in this market.
Use Ahrefs Keyword Search Volume Checker:
Ahrefs is another best SEO tool to find the search volume of keywords.
Here is how to use Ahrefs to find an accurate search volume of any keyword. We found the search volume of the keyword ‘web design’.
- Login to your Ahrefs account.
- Navigate to the Keywords Explorer tool from the main dashboard.
- Type in the keyword “web design” or any other keyword you want to find the monthly search volume for in the search bar, and select the search engine you want to analyze (e.g., Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.).
- After hitting search, you’ll see a variety of metrics. Look for the Search Volume metric, which shows the estimated number of monthly searches for “web design.” You can see in the image it’s 263K globally and 57K in the USA.
Similarly, you will find the estimated monthly search volume for your desired keywords. However, keep in mind that these estimates may not always be accurate due to various factors such as search trends, seasonal variations, and changes in user behavior.
Use Semrush Keyword Research Tool:
It’s easy to find the search volume of any keyword with Semrush. For instance, found the search volume of the keyword ‘SEO in digital marketing‘.
- Log into the SEMrush account.
- From the dashboard, go to the Keyword Overview tool. It’s available under the ‘Keyword Research’ label.
- Type your desired keyword. For instance, I searched for “SEO in digital marketing”.
- After you hit search, you’ll see a variety of metrics. Look for the Search Volume section, which indicates that there are 590 searches in the USA and 11.2K global searches for this keyword.
Similarly, you can find the estimated monthly search volume of your target keywords using SEMrush. As mentioned earlier, the accuracy of any keyword research tool depends on various factors, including the specific keyword, current search trends, and user behavior. Therefore, while these tools provide estimates, they are often very close to the actual search volume results.
Find Search Volume With Moz Tool:
To find the search volume of a keyword using Moz, follow these steps:
- Log into your Moz account.
- Navigate to the Keyword Explorer tool from the main dashboard.
- Type in the keyword you want to analyze, such as “best CRM,” and click on the search icon.
- After the results load, you’ll see various metrics for your keyword. Look for the Monthly Search Volume section, which provides an estimate of how many searches the keyword receives each month.
This is how you can find the monthly search volume of any keyword with a Moz account.
Find Estimated Search Volume with Storybase:
Storybase is another best-paid tool that can help you estimate the search volume.
It’s also easy to use.
- Go to your Storybase account.
- Open Keyword Explorer
- Put your keyword
- Get the insights
When I searched for ‘dog sitter’, the estimated search volume of the keyword was 40,500 in the USA, according to StoryBase.
In my opinion, Storybase is a good alternative to Ahrefs and Semrush. But it’s also expensive like its competitors.
You Can Use Keyword Surfer Extension:
It’s another free keyword research tool. It’s easy to use. But many times, it overestimates the search volume.
Here is how to check Google keyword search volume with the Keyword Surfer Chrome extension.
- Install Keyword Surfer
- It will automatically integrate with your Google
- Search any keyword on Google
- It will provide you with the estimated monthly traffic of the keyword
Once you add Keyword Surfer to your Chrome, it will provide you with the search volume of all the keywords. These relevant keywords can be used as LSI keywords to optimize your articles.
GSC Tells You the Search Volume Of Keywords You Rank For:
If you already for a keyword, you can use Google Search Console (GSC) to find the search volume for Google keywords.
While Google has stated that the search volume shown in GSC may not be exact due to various factors, the impressions are still a reliable indicator of keyword volume.
If you’re ranking between 1 and 3, your impressions will give you a good estimate of its search volume.
For instance, one of the projects I work on ranks at position 5 for the keyword ‘AMD vs. Intel market share’, and its estimated search volume these days is around 500, according to impressions data.
Keyword forecasts with Google Trends:
Google Trends is a valuable free tool that helps researchers analyze keyword search volume trends over time. When combined with other keyword research tools mentioned above, it provides deeper insights into when you can maximize traffic.
Here is how to forecast the search volume of any search query.
- Go to Google Trends
- Type any search query or topic
- Hit enter
- The graph will give you an idea of search volume changes
For instance, some keywords might have a huge search volume for a while, but if you check on Google Trends, you might realize that the volume hype was seasonal or news-based. Google Trends makes many things clear to make wise decisions.