A high key value is an important metric that measures how valuable and useful a keyword or keyphrase is in search engine optimization (SEO). Keywords and keyphrases are the words and multi-word phrases that people type into search engines like Google when looking for information online. The “value” of a keyword refers to how likely that keyword is to drive traffic, generate leads, and help achieve other marketing goals.
How is key value determined?
There are a few main factors that determine how high or low a keyword’s value is:
- Search volume – How often is this keyword searched for each month? More searches = higher value.
- Competition – How many other sites and pages are targeting this same keyword? More competition = lower value.
- Commercial intent – Are people searching with the intent to find/buy a product or service? Higher intent = higher value.
- Relevance – Does the keyword align closely with your content, products, and services? Higher relevance = higher value
- Trends – Is search volume for the keyword increasing or decreasing over time? Growing trends = higher value.
Keyword research tools analyze these factors to generate a key value score for each keyword. This score helps you prioritize which keywords to focus on in your SEO campaigns.
What makes a “high value” keyword?
In general, a high value keyword will have most or all of these characteristics:
- High search volume – Thousands or tens of thousands of monthly searches
- Low-medium competition – Not many other pages targeting the term
- High commercial intent – People want to buy something related to the keyword
- Strong relevance – Directly describes your content and offerings
- Positive trends – Monthly search volume is increasing
Here’s an example of a high value keyword in action:
“best digital camera under $200”
- High volume – 9,000 monthly searches
- Medium competition – Only 2 major competitors targeting it
- Strong buyer intent – Users want to purchase a digital camera
- Very relevant for a camera retail site
- Increasing search volume over past year
This would be a prime keyword for a camera site to target in their content and SEO. It has high value based on its search volume, commercial intent, competitiveness, rising popularity, and relevance.
What is a low value keyword?
On the other end of the spectrum, a low value keyword generally has these traits:
- Low search volume – Less than 1,000 monthly searches
- High competition – Many sites targeting the term
- Weak commercial intent – People not looking to make a purchase
- Low relevance – Doesn’t describe your offerings well
- Declining search volume – Monthly searches decreasing over time
Here’s an example:
“interesting facts about shoes”
- Low volume – 800 monthly searches
- High competition – Hundreds of sites targeting this broad term
- Weak buyer intent – People just searching out of curiosity
- Not very relevant for most sites
- Declining search popularity over past 2 years
This keyword would have very little SEO value for most websites. The low volume, high competition, lack of commercial intent, and declining interest make it a low value keyword.
What is a medium value keyword?
As you may have guessed, a medium value keyword falls somewhere in between high and low value. It has some strengths but also some weaknesses in these areas:
- Moderate search volume – 2,000-5,000 monthly searches
- Medium competition – A handful of other sites targeting it
- Decent commercial intent – Some people wanting to make a purchase
- Moderately relevant – Broadly related to your offerings
- Stable search volume – Not rising or falling significantly
For example:
“finance blogs”
- 2,500 monthly searches
- Medium competition from ~10 finance sites
- Some commercial intent to find financial products
- Relevant to a personal finance site
- Slightly increasing search volume over past year
This keyword has potential value for niche sites like a personal finance blog, but lower value for unrelated websites. It falls into the medium value range.
How high of a value do you need?
When determining what constitutes a high value keyword for your purposes, take these factors into account:
- Your industry – Some niches have more high volume keywords than others
- Your business model – Ecommerce sites often target more transactional keywords than informational sites
- Your goals – Do you prioritize traffic, leads, branding, etc?
- Your resources – Larger SEO budgets can target more keywords
For a small informational blog, a “high value” keyword may only have 1,000 monthly searches. But an online retailer may consider 5,000 searches as medium or low value.
Set your criteria based on your unique situation and goals. Aim to identify enough keywords in that top tier to build a robust content strategy and SEO plan.
How can you find high value keywords?
Here are some tips for researching and discovering your most valuable keyword opportunities:
- Use multiple keyword research tools – Get data from Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, Ahrefs, Moz, etc.
- Look beyond exact match keywords – Consider long-tail variations too
- Review your existing site traffic and best-performing content
- Leverage keyword gap analysis tools to find missing targets
- Check Google Autocomplete and Related Searches for new ideas
- Analyze your competitors’ keywords and traffic sources
- Read industry reports on rising search trends
- Talk to people in your target customer personas
- Monitor keyword performance and adjust as needed
Combining extensive keyword research with ongoing performance tracking will help you build a strong list of high value keywords to drive results.
Keyword Research Table
Here is an example keyword research table showing monthly search volume, competition, trends, and value score for sample keywords:
| Keyword | Monthly Searches | Competition | Search Trends | Value Score |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| best digital camera under $200 | 9,000 | Medium | Growing | 78 |
| interesting facts about shoes | 800 | High | Declining | 23 |
| finance blogs | 2,500 | Medium | Increasing | 65 |
This table provides an organized view of each keyword’s metrics and SEO value. You can create similar tables to compare keywords during your research process.
Conclusion
A high value keyword is vital for SEO success. It has strong search volume, commercial intent, and relevance to drive web traffic, leads, and sales. While the exact criteria vary by niche, high value keywords generally have:
- Thousands of monthly searches
- Low-medium competition
- High commercial intent
- Strong relevance to your offerings
- Increasing monthly search volume
Conduct thorough keyword research, track ongoing performance, and adjust your priorities to continually focus on the most valuable SEO keywords for your business.