One of the things that webmasters want to know is the keyword’s potential value. This offers them insight into whether their sites will benefit from targeting that particular keyword. Highly relevant keywords have a higher conversion rate.
While there is no exact way to show a keyword’s potential value, several factors can give you a rough estimate. In this article, we will look at ways of determining if a potential keyword has a potential value.
Importance of Understanding The Keyword Value
When considering a keyword’s value, we measure the money we will likely earn when people click on that keyword. If you can determine the keywords with the highest potential return on investment, you can create an actionable plan focusing on keywords that will bring the highest value.
You will understand the keywords that will perform well and be able to decide your future content decisions depending on the gains you have already made and what may perform well in the future.
Factors Affecting The Keyword Value
The value of a keyword can change depending on your site and goal. For instance, if your goal is to drive more traffic to your site, and you have the resources(team, time, and money) to create regular content, you may choose a keyword with a high search volume.
On the other hand, if your goal is to increase conversion, but you don’t have the resources to create regular content, you may choose a longtail keyword tailored to your niche. The goal is to rank higher for the most valuable keywords for your site.
How To Calculate The Potential Keyword Value
Here are the steps to follow when determining the potential value of a keyword:
Check the Suggested Bid
The amount that sites bid on a keyword can help show its potential value. For instance, if sites are paying $3.5 for the keyword “seo agency in Salt Lake City”, it can be an indication that the keyword has a value of $3.5 per click.
But you still need to dig deeper into the keyword. Find out how many companies are bidding for the keyword. If many companies compete for it, it shows it has a solid commercial intent. If a keyword has a commercial intent, it can be monetized.
Average Monthly Searches
The number of monthly keyword searches can also show if it has commercial value. For instance, if the keyword has thousands of searches, it can show it is highly popular.
Potential Click-through Rate
You can now find out the potential ability to rank for the keyword by considering its click-through rate (CTR) and the number of clicks/impressions. Generally, the CTP for the top positions on SERP are as follows:
- 1st position: 30% CTR
- 2nd Position:15% CTR
- 3rd Position:10% CTR
In other words, 30% of the people who come across the first result are likely to click on it. This reduces to 15% and 10% for the second and 3rd position respectively. If you are on the second or third page, hardly anyone will click on your site.
Estimating The Keyword Value
This now takes us back to the previous point. If we can tell the search volume of a keyword, we can estimate the CTR depending on the keyword’s position. If a keyword in the first position has 1000 monthly searches, it has 300 CTR(30% X1000) in a month. Therefore, 300 is the number of traffic a keyword in the top position will rank for the keyword.
Assuming that companies are bidding $3.5 for the keyword, the potential cost is $ 1050(300*3.5). This is the cost companies will pay to rank for the first position on this keyword. On the same note, if you rank in the first position for that keyword, this is the potential value the keyword will likely bring to your site.
Run a Trial PPC Campaign
Another method you can use to determine a keyword’s value is a trial PPC run. It can help you to determine the keyword value faster, especially where there is no traffic. When using Google AdWords, you can customize your campaign only to show web pages where a user has entered the exact match.
With time, it’s now possible to track the number of impressions and conversion rates to show you the value of the keyword.
Accounting for Variables
Remember that while these methods can hint at the keyword value, they only offer best guesses. You can’t have a good picture of their value until you use the keywords in your SEO campaigns.
Users have unpredictable behaviors, and there are constant changes to technology that affect a keyword’s value. For instance, features such as featured snippets, instant answers, and a people-also-ask section can affect the CTR of a keyword.
Google also keeps changing how it does its ranking. This often translates into more volatile changes in position. Therefore, you should account for these fluctuations when considering the keyword value. For instance, you can check the keyword value of a group of keywords instead of an individual keyword.
Final Thoughts
By understanding a keyword value, you can easily determine if a keyword is worth targeting. By following the above steps, it’s possible to get a rough idea of the value of a keyword.
Remember that even if you don’t see immediate results in your campaigns, you don’t have to give up. SEO is a complicated game that requires a lot of research, planning and creating before you can see results.
