If you’ve ever wanted to know how many people are searching for a specific keyword on Google, then today’s your lucky day!

I’ll show you how to find the search volume for a keyword with Google Keyword Planner, Google Search Console, Ahrefs, Semrush, Ubersuggest and Keyword Surfer.

What is keyword search volume?

Keyword search volume refers to how many people type a particular keyword into a search engine and get results back in a defined country and timeframe. The more searches there are for a specific keyword, the higher the search volume.

How to find keyword search volume with Google Search Console

If you already have a website ranking in Google and have set up Google Search Console, you can find the search volume for a keyword or impressions.

Google Search Console is a free tool from Google that helps website owners and SEO experts track and manage their SEO efforts.

The tool allows them to see how well their site performs in Google and provides insights into which keywords they are ranking for.

Search Engine Land explains the difference between search volume and impressions; basically, Google loves to muddy the water and confuse us.

1. Go to Google Search Console.
2. Select the Search Results tab.
3. Then filter by the last 28 days and your country.

That’s it; that’s how to find keyword search volume or monthly impression with Google Search Console.

How to find search volume with Google Keyword Planner

Google Keyword Planner is a free planning tool for advertisers to help them identify the keywords and phrases to use in a Google Ads campaign.

But you can also use GKP for organic SEO purposes.

Once you set up a Google Ads account, you can view the search volume of the keywords you want.

1. Select Tools and Settings.
2. Select Keyword Planner.
3. Get Search Volume and Estimates.
4. Enter your keyword and press get started.
5. You’ll see the keyword and average monthly searches.
6. If the range is very broad, then filter by key cities in your country.

How to find search volume with Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the leading keyword research and SEO tools for SEO experts and digital marketing agencies.

Their keywords explorer tool provides access to over 7 billion keywords in 171 countries, which they update and improves monthly.

Here’s how to find keyword search volume with Ahrefs.

1. Go to keywords explorer.
2. Enter your keyword and country and press search.
3. You’ll also see the search volume trend for the last 12 months.
4. And the estimated traffic to the top pages if you scroll down the page.

How to find search volume with Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a free and paid-for SEO tool used for keyword research, website, competitor and backlink analysis by SEOs and marketers.

To find the search volume of a keyword with Ubersuggest, follow these steps:

1. Go to Ubersuggest.
2. Enter a keyword, select your country from the dropdown and press search.
3. The search volume and other metrics are displayed at the top of the screen.
4. Underneath is a graph showing historical search volume.

How to find search volume with Semrush

Semrush is a software tool that provides keyword research, SERP analysis, backlink and competitor analysis, and other digital marketing tools.

To find keyword search volume with Semrush, follow these steps:

1. Go to Keyword Overview.
2. Enter your keyword and country and press search.
3. You’ll see the search volume, volume by top countries.
4. And a SERP analysis of the top results for this keyword.

How to find search volume with Keyword Surfer

Keyword Surfer is a chrome extension that lets you see the search volume of a keyword right next to the query you’ve searched.

1. Install the Keyword Surfer extension.
2. Refresh your browser.
3. Type a keyword into Google, hit return, and display the search volume.

Wait a minute, the search volume is different with each tool!

For example, there were 210 searches last month for the search query “keyword research service” in the United Kingdom.

That’s according to Ubersuggest, which extracts their data from Google.

However, Google Keyword Planner shows between 10 and 100 searches for the same keyword.

Google Search Console displays 350 impressions (another term to express search volume).

Then if we look at another data source, Ahrefs, we can see the search volume in the UK is 70 searches per month.

Ahrefs search volume differs from GSC impressions, but in their study of 72,635 keywords, they are roughly accurate in 60% of cases.

So why does each tool report a different search volume?

Keyword Search Volume isn’t accurate

To quote Google:

“Average monthly searches (“Avg. monthly searches”) shows the average number of searches for this keyword and its close variants based on the month range as well as the location and Search Network settings you selected.”

Search volume data from Google Keyword Planner is grouped together, so …

What are the odds that 3 similar search queries all have the exact same monthly search volume?

People in the UK don’t spell “optimisation” with a z, i.e., “optimization“.

So logically, the search query “search engine optimization” should have less search volume by those searching in the UK because the UK has a smaller population than the USA.

Proof that Google group related search queries together, and you should be careful using Google as a data source for keyword research.

That’s because Google’s primary interest is to offer advertising tools to advertisers and not search engine marketers.

Identify traffic potential, not search volume

Guess what?

Search volume is not the right metric you should be identified.

Traffic potential, or as I call it, click forecasting, is a much better metric to identify if you want to grow your website traffic.

Take a look at the search volume for these 2 keywords.

• how to write a sales pitch has 50 searches a month
• how to write a newsletter has 250 searches a month

Now, if you were told you could only target one of these keywords, you’d go with the one with the higher search volume, wouldn’t you?

But look, the keyword with the smaller search volume has 5 times more traffic potential.

That’s because the “sales pitch” is a bigger topic than “newsletters”, and the top page for “how to write a sales pitch” is ranking for multiple keywords causing it to get more clicks.

My thoughts

You’ve heard the expression, “revenue for vanity, profit for sanity?”

Well, search volume is for vanity, and traffic potential is for sanity.

Each tool measures keyword search volume differently, and if you want to grow your traffic, you should decide what topics to target based on traffic potential.