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Hello and welcome to SEO is not that hard.

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I'm your host, ed Dawson, the founder of the SEO intelligence platform, keywordfupoleasercom, where we help you discover the questions people ask online and learn how to optimize your content to build traffic and authority.

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I've been in SEO and online marketing for over 20 years and I'm here to share the wealth of knowledge, hints and tips I've amassed over that time. Hello and welcome back to SEO is not that hard. It's me here, ed Dawson, hosting as usual, and today I'm going to talk about why most SEO tools are flawed. Not all SEO tools and not everything about SEO tools is flawed, but there is one big major flaw with SEO tools and I've spoken about it before and I'm here speaking about it again, in probably a bit more detail than I have before. Now, obviously, I have an SEO tool keywords people use. I don't really call it an SEO tool, because it's really about how to help you generate content, content ideas, manage your content, optimize your content. So we're all about content as much as we are about kind of like SEO data. Obviously, lots of people that use keywords people use also use other sort of more data-heavy tools like Ahrefs and SEMrush. So it's really where this becomes a crossover between the two and where we often get certain questions. So this is hopefully trying to explain a few of those questions that we get and the answers that we've got for them. So where we are is you answers that we've got for them. So where we are is you know? We're in a tool, say you're in Ahrefs or SEMrush, one of those very sort of metric heavy tools, and you'll see a keyword with a search volume of 500, 5,000 or 50,000 or whatever the number is. Or you type in your competitor's domain and it'll spit out traffic figures like 30,000 monthly organic visitors or 50,000 organic multi-visitors. Many people instinctively treat these metrics as cold hard facts. But here's the problem these numbers are estimates, they're not exact data, and that can be really confusing if you haven't thought about how those tools arrive at those figures in the first place. And the key point here is that no SEO tool apart from Google's own platforms has any direct access to Google's real internal search data. Okay, this is key. So how do they get these estimates? Well, let's look into it. The big one and this is one that we get asked for a lot in keywords people use, people say how do I know what the search volume is. What's the keyword search volume? Where do I see volume data? And this is probably the one where people have the biggest misunderstandings of what actually happens. So when a tool like Ahrefs says you know, keyword X has 1,000 searches per month, here's the real, simplified version of what's happening in the background.

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These tools. They have a database of keywords and they will maintain a massive list of keywords, sometimes hundreds of millions of keywords they track. That sounds like a lot. We've got to remember that Google gets billions of searches every day and every day, 20% of them they have never seen before. Okay, so even if you've got hundreds of millions of keywords that are always tracking, it's still only a very small portion of the amount that's being tracked online. But they start with this database of keywords. This is where they they start when it comes to volume.

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Secondly, they then have partial data sources so they'll pull their data around keyword search from a number of external sources. So they'll use clickstream data, which comes from browser plugins or anonymous user panels. So this is where they get data on how people are browsing the web, from services that are sort of essentially watching people, how they browse, what they're doing, what they're searching for. They'll use scraped data from google ads, and that's not perfect in itself, because Google Ads itself often will only provide you with a broad range or it will lump queries together. It won't give you exact keyword data, but it is a data source and they'll use an unlimited statistical modeling. So this is especially for low-volume queries where they haven't really got any data. They'll sometimes try to make guesses using some kind of statistical monitoring.

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And the third one is that they use algorithms to estimate from these data sets, these partial data sources. They'll merge them all together and they'll kind of spit out what they give as a best guess at how many times a month a keyword might be searched. And obviously, due to this small sample sizes and seasonal fluctuations, this data is very rarely perfect. And then, finally, they will rounding on and add thresholds. So to make their user interfaces, you know, friendly, most tools will round the numbers up, so they'll show you 10, 20 or 100 for, as a placeholder for, any kind of number within those approximate ranges, and sometimes anything under a certain threshold they will label as zero, and that's where the zero volume keywords comes from.

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Now, why is this a problem? Okay, why have I got a problem with this? Well, it's because a keyword might actually get 50 searches a month and it could appear as zero in the total. Or a keyword that they're saying might get 10 000 um researchers might actually be getting 20 or 30,000. Okay, they're essentially having to make guesses and this means that you can end up ignoring lots of real great low volume opportunities, those so-called zero volume keywords that actually bring in traffic, or you might end up chasing high volume terms that don't convert. Okay, so it can kind of take your focus in onto the wrong metrics. So, a, these metrics aren't accurate and b, is it the right place to be focusing?

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The next thing to think about is, obviously, you often see people talking about domain traffic estimates. So, like, they'll say, website x gets 30 000 visits a month from organic search, and you probably you should be wondering how do they know that? And the short answer is you know they don't. They're estimating and here's how they do that estimation. So, first of all, they take ranking positions and click-through rate models. So a tool will see a keyword a site ranks for, plus the position it's in one, two, three, etc. Okay, and it will then applies a generic click-through rate assumption. So it will say position one might be assumed to get around 30% of clicks, position three might get 10%, and so on further down. And they multiply that assumed click-through rate by the keyword's estimated monthly search volume to get an approximate traffic figure for each keyword. Then they just add it all up.

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Now this has problems. It has missing keywords. No tool can capture every single keyword that a site ranks for, especially long-tail or rare phrases. They're just looking at a slice. It might be a large slice but it's still incomplete. Thirdly, rounding and seasonal shifts. So if you have big traffic spikes in December, the average that they give might not reflect that. Or maybe you're ranking for trending terms that the tool hasn't fully processed yet, hasn't got onto those trends, and this gives you multiple versions of reality.

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So what you'll often see is big differences when you compare one seo tool traffic estimates to another. Each tool has different data sources and different ways of calculating, different algorithms they they put on top of it. So really you know if you you should have your site set up on some analytics data you own. So that's like google analytics, google search console or another analytics platform and there you actually have first party data. You know that this is your true traffic numbers, or very close to it. Okay, use these third party tools estimates that they're giving you.

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So if you're going to hate dress and it tells you a certain site is getting a certain amount of traffic, don't necessarily believe it. Look at what traffic it says it thinks you're getting, compare that to your real numbers and you'll see how far off it is, and then you can see that this is means that, obviously, how can you trust their other competitive? It can give you comparative references. You might be able to see, well, one site is clearly bigger than another based on the estimates. But those numbers will be off, okay, because again, they're just trying to work it out from a small data set as to what the actual numbers are, and so you can't take them as gospel now I just want to talk a little bit now about zero volume keywords and why they still drive traffic. Okay.

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So these are like classic scenarios. You check your analytics and you'll see a handful of clicks that have come from some obscure phrases. But if you go to Ahrefs, semrush, whatever, they will insist as zero monthly searches. So how is this possible? As I said earlier, they have their minimum reporting threshold. So if a keyword is below a certain threshold that they're guessing at like maybe five or 10 monthly searches, they might label it as zero. That they're guessing at like maybe five or ten monthly searches, they might label it as zero.

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Their data sampling you know that term probably isn't appearing often enough in clickstream data or anywhere else. They may seem to go undetected. So their tool sampling doesn't catch these zero volume but actually have real traffic keywords and they kind of ignore reality. And the reality is that users type all sorts of variations into google and even if only a few people a month search for something, it might still be relevant to your business and it can add up when you have lots of these smaller queries, especially as google's really good at working out synonyms now. So it will translate lots of zero volume keywords zero volume searches that may in themselves only have a very individually, have very small numbers, but cumulatively can be a hell of a lot of searches, and google is considering them all pretty much the same and is giving the same result, which will be to your website or any other website. That's ranking for those and if you rank for one, you're going to rank for all of them. So this is the reality that these tools miss.

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Okay, this is really really key when we look at things like people also ask data, because obviously at Keywords People Use, we really strongly look at people also ask data. We look at Google AutoComplete data which often, if you put those results into any of these tools, will come back zero volume keywords. But we know they're not zero volume because we know from the Google patents and the way Google has explained how these things work. They are based on the real questions people are asking, the real search terms people are putting in when they're doing the autocomplete that the real search people are using, ordered by the volume. So for a tool like hsrsm rush to say there's zero volume, it's pointless. It's not true. There is definitely volume there, otherwise Google wouldn't be suggesting them to us. So this is why you mustn't automatically dismiss keywords which are labelled as zero volume.

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If your Google Search Console data shows impressions and clicks, you know it's real, regardless of what any third-party tool says. So what does all this mean for your SEO strategy? Okay, knowing now what we know about how these tools create data, create these estimates, plus what we know from first-party data, from our actual analytics tools, what can we help put this into our SEO strategy. So, first of all, always use first-party data first. So this is, wherever possible, rely on your actual Google Analytics, your GA4, your Search Console data or whatever analytics service you're using. Rely on that data because you know the source of that data, you know that's generated by people visiting your site, you know that it's first party data. Okay, that is real data to use. Secondly, always treat tool data as directional. Okay. So, seo tools they're great, can be great for spotting trends and doing competitor research. But if you look at your competitor's domain and see they're working for certain keywords, that's a strong directional cue.

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But don't ever assume the exact traffic numbers are a gospel truth okay, because they're not. And then look for patterns rather than absolute values. So instead of fixating on this keyword as a thousand monthly searches ask questions, like you know is it trending up or down over time? Is it significantly higher or lower than other keywords in the same group? Relative comparisons matter more than raw numbers, because those raw numbers are inaccurate. And test and validate. If a tool's data suggests a keyword has real strong potential, create or optimize content around that keyword and see what actually happens.

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Measure real clicks, conversions in your analytics. So just to go over it all again SEO tools and they're not worthless, far from it. They can be very, very useful. But just remember to watch out for the common pitfalls Over-reliance on any single metric. Don't build an entire strategy around a single search volume number. Look at it in context. Don't forget about long-tail queries, that zero volume phrase they are the hidden gems. Don't ignore first-party data. If you've got real numbers from Google Analytics or from Search Console, then that is the gold standard for your site. And don't set unrealistic expectations. Tools can't see internal data at Google. They're just making educated guesses and sometimes those guesses are way off. Ultimately, what you want to do is blend estimates with the real user data and your own expert judgment and that's how you get an effective SEO strategy that gets results's why keywords people use.

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We don't give volume data because we are specializing in looking at those low volume, zero click keywords and questions. Because we know and I know from experience, if you concentrate on those questions and you write content, create content around answering those questions that you will rank for so many more keywords than just the ones that you actually think about when you're writing, because you will pick up so many along the way. That's why we have our process of pulling together as many questions as we can and then clustering them into groups, using Google data to create those cluster groups as many questions as we can, and then clustering them into groups, using google data to cluster that, to create those cluster groups. So we know we're going to create pieces of content that answer huge numbers of questions. Okay, we'll rank for huge numbers of keywords and we do this enough times with enough pieces of content that we will build that authority that then starts to automatically rank you for those higher volume keywords, those shorter head keywords, which, if you try and write a piece of content just to hit those high volume keywords, it's really really really hard to do without having that base of content underneath. So if you create the base of content you naturally create as a byproduct of the content and you will start to rank for those higher volume keywords as part of it.

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So, anyway, that's it for today's episode um. I hope it's been useful. I hope it's explained how these tools get their data and why and where it can be useful, and also when and where it's not useful and where it's not the right thing to concentrate on um. But yeah, if you've got any questions or comments, then do let me know Any reviews looking for reviews at the moment? Go to ratethispodcastcom, slash SEO and there's links there for you to be able to easily leave a review and a rating in your favorite platform. Yeah, and that's it for now. So until next time, keep optimizing, stay curious and remember SEO is not that hard when you understand the basics. Thanks for listening. It means a lot to me.

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This is where I get to remind you where you can connect with me and my SEO tools and services. You can find links to all the links I mention here in the show notes. Just remember, with all these places where I use my name, the Ed is spelled with two Ds. You can find me on LinkedIn and Blue Sky. Just search for Ed Dawson. On both.

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You can record a voice question to get answered on the podcast. The link is in the show notes. You can try our SEO intelligence platform, keywords People Use, at keywordspeopleusecom, where we can help you discover the questions and keywords people are asking online. Post those questions and keywords into related groups so you know what content you need to build topical authority and finally connect your Google Search Console account for your sites so we can crawl and understand your actual content, find what keywords you rank for and then help you optimize continually. Refine your content, targeted, personalize advice. Keep your traffic growing. If you're interested in learning more about me personally or looking for dedicated consulting advice, then visit wwweddawsoncom. Bye for now and see you in the next episode of SEO is Not that Hard.