Whether you’re a developer building the next big SEO tool, or a marketer aiming to improve campaign performance, you must know that relying exclusively on Google’s search volume can lead to missed opportunities and suboptimal decisions.

At DataForSEO, we understand how frustrating that can be. That’s why we’ve developed a new metric that refines Google’s search volume data based on Bing and clickstream sources – the DataForSEO Search Volume available via Keyword Data API and DataForSEO Labs API. This innovation will empower you with a more precise and reliable search volume.

In this blog post, we’ll explain what’s wrong with Google search volume, the most common alternative approaches to get this data, and how you can leverage DataForSEO’s ready-made solution to enhance your SEO tools and refine your marketing strategies.

Contents
Search Volume Explained
The Problem with Google Search Volume Data
How Bing Handles Search Volume and How It Can Fine-Tune Google Stats
Google Keyword Planner Search Volume and Clickstream Data
DataForSEO Search Volume: a Ready-Made Solution for Precise Insights
Conclusion

Search Volume Explained

Search volume is a key metric that shows you how many times a particular query is entered into search engines like Google or Bing within a given timeframe, typically a month. But it’s more than a mere number – it’s a window to people’s interests and needs. For SEOs and marketers, search volume is also a measure of demand for specific topics, products, or services, and a way to estimate the potential traffic a website can get by ranking for a certain query in search results.

To get the most out of search volume data, it’s essential to consider the bigger picture, not just look at one month at a time. Search volume distribution over a longer period, such as twelve months or more, can reveal keyword seasonality, popularity spikes, and long-term trends. For example, interest in “Christmas decorations” predictably spikes around November and December year-to-year, while searches for news related to “flood in dubai” peak only once for the last twelve and even twenty-four months. Recognizing these patterns allows you to connect with your audience at just the right moment and with the right content.

Think about the surge in searches related to “at home” activities during 2020. Companies that quickly caught onto this trend and optimized content for relevant keywords not only increased their online visibility but also captured a larger slice of the market when it mattered most. This is a great example of how paying attention to search volume data can have a substantial impact on your business’s reach and success.

In short, search volume is not just a metric, but a strategic tool that can guide all your SEO and marketing efforts. By knowing which keywords are in demand and when, you can inform your keyword research, PPC campaign optimization, traffic forecasting, and content strategies.

Considering how important search volume is for SEO, marketing, and ultimately, all businesses, it comes as no surprise that everyone wants to gain search volume details at the finest accuracy possible. However, when you try obtaining search volume data from Google, accuracy may seem like a very distant dream.

The Problem with Google Search Volume Data

As the most popular search engine, Google has a wealth of information on what people are searching for, and when it comes to searches on their platform, Google definitely holds all the cards. But here’s the catch: Google isn’t exactly generous about sharing detailed numbers. Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Search volume ranges. If your Google Keyword Planner (GKP) account doesn’t have active campaigns, you’ll only get broad search volume ranges, not precise numbers.
• Combined keywords. GKP lumps together groups of similar keywords and shows combined search volumes for them.
• Corrected spelling. If you intentionally misspell a keyword to see its search volume, GKP will autocorrect it and return data for the correct spelling only.
• Limited values. Google uses around 80 search volume values logarithmically proportioned and repeated across all keywords, so you can often see the same numbers for different searches.
• Lack of granularity. It is impossible to access data for different devices, daily or hourly breakdowns, or search volume beyond the past 12 months.
• Restricted keywords. Google may hide data on certain keywords if they fall into a category restricted by Google Ads policies, such as health, financial services, or gambling-related keywords.

As you can see, despite being the most authoritative source for search volume, Google’s data doesn’t always offer the clarity and precision that the SEO and marketing industry need. So, what’s the solution?

Completely ditching Google Ads data isn’t practical, as it’s still the only credible source for getting a glimpse into the search behavior on Google. The smartest strategy is to refine GKP stats with search volume data from other sources. In the following parts, we’ll show you the most popular, accurate and easy approaches to distill and improve GKP data on searches.

How Bing Handles Search Volume and How It Can Fine-Tune Google Stats

When it comes to search volume data, Bing offers a level of granularity that Google doesn’t. 

For example, Bing Ads shows separate search volumes for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices and gives you accurate numbers rounded to the nearest ten searches. Unlike Google, Bing does not lump together search volumes for similar terms. Each keyword has a specific search volume, so you can easily identify the top-performing keyword in a group of related terms. While this data is surely great for Bing optimization, it can also be a game-changer for your Google strategies.

Think about it: with Google Ads, you have a combined search volume for several terms, and it’s hard to tell which one is actually driving the most traffic or which might be easier to rank for. By bringing Bing’s precise search volume data into the game, you can refine Google’s stats and obtain exact numbers.

Let’s say you want to target these keywords, and Google shows a combined search volume of 65,000 searches per month for all of them:

• “Buy running shoes online”
• “Purchase running shoes online”
• “Order running shoes online”

Now, if we look at Bing Ads data for the same keywords, it becomes clear that “Buy running shoes online” is the most popular term:

• “Buy running shoes online”: 6,500 searches
• “Purchase running shoes online”: 2,500 searches
• “Order running shoes online”: 1,000 searches

Taking this a level up, you could analyze a large dataset of several thousand terms, and find an average Bing-to-Google search volume ratio. Let’s assume it’s 0.1 or 10%. 

• Keyword A: 1,000/10,000 = 0.1
• Keyword B: 2,000/18,000 = 0.11
• Keyword C: 500/5,000 = 0.1

To estimate Google search volume values, divide Bing search volume by the Bing-to-Google ratio, which is 0.1 in our example.

• “Buy running shoes online”: 6,500 / 0.1 = 65,000 estimated searches on Google.
• “Purchase running shoes online”: 2,500 / 0.1 = 25,000 estimated searches on Google.
• “Order running shoes online”: 1,000 / 0.1 = 10,000 estimated searches on Google.

Sure enough, the ratio won’t be perfectly consistent across all keywords, and the values you will get are an approximation. However, when precise Google data isn’t available for some terms, this method still allows you to effectively “unbundle” Google’s combined search volumes and get a much clearer picture. Following the same principle, you can also obtain more accurate traffic estimation data for Google keywords.

Don’t hesitate to test this method and refine your approach by comparing terms from Google Ads and Bing Ads using DataForSEO APIs. You can learn more about this in our earlier blog post.

Google Keyword Planner Search Volume and Clickstream Data

Another effective way to enhance the precision of Google’s search volume is to combine it with clickstream data. This technique is used by many SEO tools, including Ahrefs.

Clickstream data is anonymized records of real-world search behavior, gathered through various plugins, extensions, browsers, and other programs. This data is then purchased by aggregators, refined, and sold to third parties. However, it’s important to note that working with raw clickstream data can be challenging.

Ahrefs also warns, “…raw Clickstream can’t be considered as a reliable source of data, even if you find all re-sellers and buy all clickstream data that is available.” The thing is, clickstream datasets capture only a small portion of keyword searches, which makes matching Google Keyword Planner stats with clickstream data a rather sophisticated process. Typically, it involves using machine learning and advanced algorithms to scale data and obtain more accurate estimates. Besides that, purchasing clickstream datasets requires a hefty investment, making it inaccessible for many smaller keyword research tools and independent SEO consultants.

For a closer look at clickstream data and the DataForSEO APIs where it’s readily available, check out our earlier blog post.

To sum up, blending clickstream data with GKP stats can significantly increase the precision of search volume values, but it is a complicated and costly process. Fortunately, DataForSEO has developed a solution that delivers powerful insights without any complexities or hefty price tags.

DataForSEO Search Volume: a Ready-Made Solution for Precise Insights

Understanding the limitations of traditional Google Ads search volume, DataForSEO decided to create a more accurate and actionable solution. As a result, we developed a new powerful metric that offers a more realistic view of keyword searches: the DataForSEO Search Volume. It’s available via Keyword Data API and DataForSEO Labs API.

When working on this new metric, we aimed to equip SEO professionals and software developers on any budget with precise and accessible data. Now, you can differentiate between closely related keywords and even obtain stats for terms that Keyword Planner tends to hide.

To produce more accurate search volume estimations, we leverage Bing search volume and clickstream data. Our refinement process involves taking search volume (SV) from Google Ads, collecting all key queries within that SV group, and then either using Bing SV or the number of events in clickstream to refine Google’s stats.

We are using clickstream data that is completely GDPR compliant and fully anonymous, collected from billions of real-world searches. It allows us to create statistical models that yield highly specific search volume estimates.

One of the advantages of using the clickstream method is its support for all locations and languages available in DataForSEO Labs API. On the other hand, using Bing search volume for Google Ads data refinement offers greater precision, as it’s based on a more comprehensive sample of searches. Both approaches ensure you get highly granular and location-specific search volume data.

How to Access the DataForSEO Search Volume Metric

Whether you’re looking to enhance keyword targeting, improve PPC campaign performance, or better understand search behaviors, the new DataForSEO Search Volume insights will deliver all the details you need.

➤ In Keyword Data API, you can access refined Google search volume via a separate DataForSEO Search Volume endpoint. It works similarly to the Live Google Ads Search Volume endpoint, providing search volume normalized with Bing or clickstream data for up to 1000 keywords in a single request.

You can select the source for the refinement algorithm by toggling the use_clickstream parameter in the request between clickstream (when set to true) or Bing SV (when set to false).

➤ In DataForSEO Labs API, you can find the DataForSEO Search Volume in the following Google endpoints:

• Related Keywords
• Keyword Suggestions
• Ranked Keywords
• Keyword Ideas
• Keywords For Categories
• Domain Intersection
• Page Intersection
• Historical Search Volum
• Top Searches
• Keywords For Site

In the responses of these endpoints, DataForSEO Search Volume is represented by two objects: 

• keyword_info_normalized_with_clickstream
• keyword_info_normalized_with_bing

Note that to obtain data for these objects, you should set include_clickstream_data in your POST request to true. With this parameter enabled, you will be charged double the price for the request.

Don’t hesitate to visit our documentation for more details.

Conclusion

Search volume data is critical for successful SEO and marketing strategies, but relying solely on Google Keyword Planner has its limitations. Google’s search volume data often lacks the granularity and accuracy that SEO and marketing professionals need to make informed decisions. By refining Google’s search volume data with Bing and clickstream insights, DataForSEO now offers a more precise and actionable alternative. Our new DataForSEO Search Volume metric will help you bypass the common pitfalls of traditional search volume data, providing detailed and reliable insights. Explore the capabilities of DataForSEO Search Volume further and see the difference it can make for your business.

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