Find Keywords by Search Volume and Know Which to Target
You pull up a keyword list, sort by search volume, and grab everything above 1,000 monthly searches. Feels logical. A few months later, none of those pages rank. You check the SERPs — they're locked up by Healthline, Forbes, and NerdWallet. The keyword had volume. It just had no opening for you.
That's the mistake almost everyone makes the first time: treating search volume as the only filter that matters. It isn't. It's the starting point. This guide walks through how to actually find keywords by search volume, and — more importantly — how to sort the ones worth targeting from the ones that will waste months of your time.
What Search Volume Actually Tells You
Search volume is the estimated number of times a keyword is searched per month, typically averaged over 12 months to smooth out seasonal swings.
If you want to understand the mechanics in more detail, Keyword Search Volume: What It Means and How to Use It covers the specifics. For now, the short version: volume tells you that demand exists. It does not tell you whether you can compete, what the searcher wants, or whether ranking for it would actually bring in revenue.
A keyword with 5,000 monthly searches that you can't rank for does less for your business than a keyword with 300 monthly searches that you own page one for.
Where to Find Keyword Search Volume
You have a few categories of tools here, each with tradeoffs.
Free Options
Google Keyword Planner — Built for advertisers, so it reports volume in ranges (like "1K–10K") rather than exact numbers unless you're running an active campaign. Good for direction, not precision.
Google Search Console — Shows you actual impressions and clicks for keywords your site already appears for. Excellent data, but useless for discovering new opportunities you haven't touched yet.
Ubersuggest (free tier) — Gives volume estimates and some difficulty data. Limited daily searches on the free plan.
Paid Options
Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz — The full-featured platforms. They all show keyword volume, keyword difficulty, SERP analysis, and competitor data. Ahrefs and Semrush are the most commonly used in professional SEO. Expect to pay $100–$250/month depending on the plan.
Keywords Everywhere — A browser extension that surfaces volume data as you search Google. Inexpensive and useful for quick research during normal browsing. Worth reading a Keywords Everywhere review before committing if you're deciding between lightweight tools and a full platform.
The tools don't agree perfectly on volume numbers — they're all estimates based on clickstream data and modeling. Don't treat any figure as gospel. Treat them as relative signals: high versus low, trending up versus trending down.
How to Filter Volume Into a Usable Target List
Once you have a keyword list with volume attached, here's the filtering process that actually works.
Step 1: Remove Keywords You Can't Compete For
Look at keyword difficulty (KD). Every tool calculates this differently, but in general it's estimating how hard it would be to rank on page one based on the authority of sites currently ranking there.
A new site or a site with thin domain authority should be targeting KD under 30–40. A site with solid backlink history and indexed content might be competitive up to 60. Anything above 70 usually means you're competing with established players who have hundreds of referring domains pointing at that specific page.
Don't let high-volume keywords distract you into targeting positions you can't reach in any reasonable timeframe.
Step 2: Check the Actual SERP
This takes 30 seconds and matters more than any tool metric. Search the keyword in Google. Look at what's ranking:
- Are the top results from major publications, government sites, or platforms with millions of backlinks?
- Is there a featured snippet, knowledge panel, or "People Also Ask" box taking up all the above-the-fold space?
- Are there any sites on page one that look similar to yours in size and authority?
If every result is from a site ten times your size and the SERP is packed with rich features, move on. Volume doesn't matter if there's no room.
If you see a few smaller or niche sites ranking, that's your signal the door is open.
Step 3: Match Search Intent
Volume says how many people searched. Intent says why they searched. Get this wrong and you can rank and still get zero conversions — or worse, rank briefly and then drop because your page doesn't satisfy what searchers actually want.
The four intents:
- Informational: They want to learn something ("how does X work")
- Navigational: They're looking for a specific site
- Commercial: They're researching before buying ("best X for Y")
- Transactional: They're ready to act ("buy X online")
Your page needs to match the intent of the keyword. Writing a product page for an informational keyword won't work. Writing a blog post for a transactional keyword misses the conversion.
Step 4: Estimate the Traffic Opportunity Honestly
Most keywords don't deliver their full monthly search volume as traffic even when you rank #1. A rough rule of thumb: position 1 captures around 25–30% of clicks on average. Position 3 is around 10%. Position 5 is around 5%.
So a keyword with 500 monthly searches, where you realistically target position 3, nets you maybe 50 visitors/month. That may be worth it if those visitors convert at a high rate. It's not worth it if they're completely top-of-funnel with no path to revenue.
Do this math before building the content, not after.
The Volume Tiers Worth Knowing
Here's a practical breakdown of how to think about volume ranges:
| Volume Range | What It Means |
|---|---|
| 10–100/month | Very specific, often low competition. Can be valuable for conversion-focused pages. |
| 100–1,000/month | The sweet spot for most small to mid-sized sites. Enough traffic to matter, enough specificity to compete. |
| 1,000–10,000/month | Worthwhile if you have the authority. Check difficulty carefully. |
| 10,000+/month | Reserved for established, high-authority sites. These are rarely worth targeting unless you're already competitive. |
Long-tail keywords (usually three words or more, lower volume) tend to be easier to rank for, show clearer intent, and convert better. A keyword with 200 monthly searches and clear commercial intent often outperforms a 5,000/month keyword that's too broad to convert.
Finding the Gaps Your Competitors Are Filling
The most productive way to find keywords isn't brainstorming from scratch — it's looking at what competitors rank for that you don't. Enter a competitor's domain into Ahrefs or Semrush, pull their organic keyword list, filter for keywords where they rank in positions 1–10 and your site doesn't appear at all. Those are your gaps.
If you want to skip the manual competitor analysis, tools like Rankfill do this mapping automatically — identifying every keyword opportunity competitors are capturing that your site is missing, with estimated traffic potential attached.
For a broader set of tools that can help with gap analysis specifically, these Keywords Everywhere alternatives are worth reviewing depending on your budget and workflow.
Turning Keyword Data Into a Decision
Once you have volume, difficulty, intent, and SERP data, the decision becomes straightforward:
- Target it now: Low to moderate difficulty, intent matches what you can create, SERP has openings, volume is meaningful for your goals
- Monitor it: You want to target it but need more authority first — build supporting content and revisit
- Skip it: Dominated SERP, volume doesn't justify the effort, or the intent doesn't fit your business
After you publish and start building content around your targets, tracking what actually moves is a separate discipline. Keyword reporting covers how to monitor which of your targeted keywords are actually gaining ground — because finding keywords is only half the equation.
FAQ
What's a good search volume to target? There's no universal number. A keyword with 100 monthly searches can be worth more than one with 5,000 if the intent is specific, the difficulty is low, and your conversion rate is high. Focus on the combination of volume, difficulty, and intent — not volume alone.
Why do different tools show different volume numbers? They're all estimates. Each tool uses different data sources (clickstream data, Google Keyword Planner data, third-party panels) and different modeling methods. Treat the numbers as directional signals, not precise facts.
Should I target keywords with zero search volume? Sometimes, yes. New topics, emerging products, or very specific long-tail phrases may show zero volume in tools but still get searched. If the keyword exactly matches what your buyer would type and competition is nil, it can be worth creating the content.
My pages aren't ranking even for keywords with low difficulty. Why? A few common reasons: the page is too new and hasn't been indexed or crawled enough, the content doesn't match the searcher's intent well, or the site lacks the authority signals even for "easy" keywords. This breakdown of why organic keywords aren't ranking covers the most common causes.
How long does it take to rank for a targeted keyword? Typically three to six months for new content on an established site, longer for new domains. Exact timelines depend on how frequently Google crawls your site, how competitive the keyword actually is, and how well your content satisfies intent.
Can I just use Google Search Console for keyword research? Search Console tells you what you already rank for. It won't show you keywords your site has never appeared for. Use it to optimize existing content, not to discover new opportunities.