When planning an SEO strategy, one of the most important questions is not simply which words describe your business, but which words are people actually searching for. You may have the perfect phrase to capture your services, but if nobody types it into Google, it’s not going to bring visitors to your website.
This is where search volume comes in. Search volume refers to how many times a particular keyword or phrase is entered into a search engine over a given period. The higher the volume, the more people are looking for that term. But raw popularity is only part of the equation- you also need to consider how many other websites are competing for the same word too.
Take the example of “sports psychology” versus “performance psychology”, which is a real world example I worked on with a client recently.
On the surface, both describe a similar area of practice in the same industry. But data shows that in the UK, “sports psychology” has been searched far more frequently over the past year. At the same time, when you compare the number of sites optimised for each phrase, the balance between competition and demand becomes less clear. This is why data-driven analysis matters: it reveals the difference between what you think people are searching for and what they actually are.
The key lesson here is that SEO success depends on striking the right balance between popularity and competition. Sometimes the most obvious keyword is worth pursuing because of its sheer search volume. But other times a slightly less common term provides a better chance to rank because fewer competitors are targeting it.
In practice, the best approach is usually to target both high-volume keywords and their close alternatives. And then over time your analytics will show which terms bring the right visitors to your site, helping you refine your SEO strategy for maximum success.
And of course, these are all things I do for all my own clients, all the time.
Key Takeaways:
- Don’t rely on gut instinct – always check actual search data.
- Balance keyword popularity against the the level of competition.
- Use both primary and secondary terms, then refine based on the data.
