1. Similarweb Knowledge Center
  2. Keyword Research
  3. How-Tos

Keyword Analysis

Toggle navigation

Uncover the traffic and performance metrics and insights for any keyword or keyword group using the Keyword Analysis tools.

Note: Keyword Analysis traffic insights are based on the actual traffic (i.e., anonymous behavioral data) generated by a particular keyword to any site on all search engines.

What is the Value?

Understanding search performance is paramount to a good digital marketing strategy. Using the Keyword Analysis tools you can:

  • Discover which websites are getting the most traffic share from each keyword.

  • Understand who is competing within the search realm and identify strategic partners for backlinks and content placements.

  • Monitor the traffic share over time in monthly or weekly granularity.

  • Spot sudden or consistent gains or losses of traffic share for a keyword or group of keywords.

  • Perform post-campaign analysis following specific events or dates (e.g., Elections, Black Friday, etc.), and see the traffic share split among competitors.

  • Optimize your SEO, PPC, and content campaigns, drive high-intent traffic to your business and increase your digital market share.

How to conduct keyword analysis:

There are several tools and metrics available to help you conduct keyword analysis.

Step 1: Understand the landscape for any keyword

Working within the Acquisition Channels module:

  1. From the sidebar menu, select either the SEO or Paid Search section. and find Keyword Analysis.

  2. Enter a Keyword or select a Keyword Group.

    Note: To create a new keyword group, click + New List.

  3. The Keyword Overview page offers a broad scope of metrics and insights related to the performance of the analyzed keyword(s).

    Tip: Use the filters at the top of the page to set the desired time frame and a country.

Step 2 - Analyze Keyword Competitors

Evaluate the performance of the analyzed keyword or the group of keywords in the Organic, Paid , and Mobile traffic channels.

  1. From the sidebar menu, navigate to Organic Traffic (only available under the SEO Acquisition channel), Paid Traffic (only available under the Paid Search Acquisition channel), or Mobile Traffic.

  2. Evaluate key metrics and insights: On each of the three pages, take a close look at the following insights:

    • The Search Volume metric reveals the popularity of a keyword.

    • Compare Search Volume to Search Visits to determine the real values of popular keywords for destination sites.

    • Take note of the CPC price estimation and assess the demand for a particular keyword.

    Traffic Distribution: See the keyword traffic performance over time. Toggle between the Traffic Trend and Traffic Share tabs:

    • Traffic Trend - Scale the graph to the maximum traffic point during the period being analyzed to highlight any gains and losses in traffic over time. This view helps to identify seasonality and time-specific trends for keywords.

    • Traffic Share - A traditional monthly/weekly/daily market share distribution of traffic from a given keyword or group to your competitive set.

      Note: For more information about these Traffic Distribution views, see FAQs.

    Traffic Breakdown: Discover which sites are dominating your most relevant keywords.

    • View the graph to reveal the traffic trends over time of the top 10 sites from your keyword or keyword group.

    • Look at the Domain column in the table to view a list of all the domains that receive traffic from a given keyword or group.

    • Analyze these sites further by referring to the Position Column to see the most recent SERP position of the website domain.

    • Look at the Destination URLs of where the traffic is being sent. Use this data to learn what landing pages are working best for a particular keyword.

Take inspiration from your search traffic competitors by analyzing new and engaging content ideas so you can create the most effective landing pages.

Key metrics & insights:

  • Search Volume: The average number of times per month a keyword is searched in Google (over the last 12 months).

  • Search Visits: Monthly average of completed search visits where a user clicks on a search result to get to a non-search engine page.

  • CPC - The estimated price that advertisers pay to buy the search word in Google Adwords in the selected country from the past 30 days.

  • Organic vs Paid: Distribution of organic traffic (visits to your website as a result of unpaid "organic" search results) versus paid traffic (visits to your website after you have paid for advertising promotions).

  • Traffic Share: Estimated percentage of traffic sent to each of the analyzed domains (or pages) compared to the total website's traffic.

  • Change: Month-over-month change in traffic volume by percentage (based on the selected time period). Sorting by Change is a great way to discover trending keywords, fast-growing companies, and new partners or prospects.

  • Position: URL’s organic position on Google's Search Engine Results Pages (SERP) (over the time period selected).

  • Destination URL: Traffic from the selected keyword is sent to this URL.

  • Website Industries: Industries best describing the website.

FAQs

What is the difference between Traffic Trend and Traffic Share in the Traffic Distribution graph?

  • Traffic Trend: This view takes into account the total traffic of the keyword - meaning we take the highest point of traffic for that keyword as 100% and normalize the rest of the chart to that point.

    If, for example, there is an increase in traffic in a certain month for the keyword, you’ll see this reflected in the Traffic Trend view. You’ll also see who gained the most traffic share from that increase. Use the traffic trend view to get a real sense of the seasonality of keywords and what may have been trending more recently.

  • Traffic Share: View the distribution of the traffic share to a keyword for up to 10 chosen domains within the selected time frame and country. The graph represents 100% of traffic for the keyword per month, so what you see in the graph is a monthly traffic share distribution.

    If there is a big spike or decrease in traffic to the keyword, the Traffic Share view won't reflect this. But, if you are focusing on the share of traffic of certain websites, you should be analyzing the Traffic Share view.

Additional Resources

Feature Location

Try it now! Get started with Keyword Analysis.

Was this article helpful?
18 out of 25 found this helpful