📌 Overview
Search volume is one of the most closely watched numbers in keyword research. It is also one of the most misunderstood. If a local keyword such as a service plus a city name shows a number that seems far too high, or if the same keyword shows a different number in two places, you are not alone. This article explains why that happens and how to check the numbers for yourself.
Important: Search volume is an estimate, not an exact count. No keyword tool, including ours, can see every search made on Google. Use the numbers to compare keywords and spot opportunities, not as a precise forecast.
🤔 Why a Local Keyword Volume Can Look Too High
If a city-specific keyword shows a volume that does not feel realistic for that area, one of these factors is usually involved:
- Location scope: The volume may reflect a wider area, such as a whole country, rather than just the city in the keyword. A phrase that includes a city name can still be counted across a broader database if the location filter is not narrowed.
- Keyword variations grouped together: Search data providers often combine close variations, such as plurals, word order changes, and small wording differences. The number shown may represent the whole group rather than one exact phrase.
- Averaging over time: Monthly volume is usually an average over several months. A seasonal spike, a news event, or a heavy advertising period can raise the average.
- Competitive industries: Legal, medical, and home service searches are often repeated many times by the same people comparing providers, which can inflate totals.
- Modeled data: Volumes come from a mix of sources and statistical modeling. Estimates for small or local keywords can be less precise than for large national keywords.
🔄 Why the Numbers Differ Between Views
Many customers notice that the same keyword shows a different number in the main keyword research view than in a website's keyword list. This is expected, because the two views answer different questions.
- Keyword research view: Shows the estimated search demand for a keyword in the location and database you selected.
- Website keywords view: Shows keywords a specific website is estimated to rank for. It may include its own traffic estimates, ranking positions, and the volume recorded when that keyword data was last collected.
- Different update times: The two views may be refreshed on different schedules, so the volume shown may come from a different period.
- Different location settings: If one view is set to a country and another to a city or region, the numbers will not match.
- Traffic is not volume: A website's estimated traffic for a keyword depends on its ranking position and click rate. It is usually much lower than the keyword's total search volume.
✅ How to Check a Keyword's Volume Step by Step
- Open the keyword in the keyword research tool and confirm the location setting. Choose the most specific location available for your target market.
- Confirm the language and country database match your audience.
- Open the same keyword from the website keywords view and compare the location setting used there.
- Check for close variations of your keyword. Note whether a similar phrase has a different volume.
- Look at the monthly trend, if shown, to see whether one or two high months are raising the average.
- Compare the keyword against a few related local keywords. Use the relative differences to decide which are worth targeting.
🧪 How to Cross-Check With Other Sources
If a number still looks wrong, compare it against data you can verify directly:
- Google Search Console: Shows the actual impressions and clicks your own site receives for a query. This is the most reliable source for your own performance.
- Google Business Profile insights: Shows how many people found your local listing through search and maps.
- Google Ads Keyword Planner: Offers volume ranges that you can use as another reference point. Keep in mind it also groups close variants.
- Rank tracking: Tracking a keyword over time shows whether your visibility and traffic actually move with the estimates.
Differences between tools are normal. Each one uses different data sources and methods, so a fair comparison looks at the general size of the number (small, medium, or large) rather than the exact figure.
💡 Best Practices for Local Keywords
- Use volume as a relative measure. A keyword with a higher number than another is likely to have more demand, even if neither figure is exact.
- Do not rely on volume alone. Also consider search intent, keyword difficulty, and how well the keyword fits your services.
- Prefer the most specific location setting available when researching city-level keywords.
- Track real results in Google Search Console, since actual impressions and clicks matter more than estimates.
- Review keyword data again from time to time, since search demand changes through the year.
⚠️ When to Contact Support
Please reach out if you see any of the following:
- The same keyword shows very different volumes when the location, database, and date are identical in both views.
- A keyword shows no volume, or a volume that has not changed for a long time, when you expect fresh data.
- The location you selected does not appear to be applied to the results.
When you contact us, include the keyword, the location and database selected, where you viewed the number, and a screenshot. This helps us investigate faster.
💬 Need More Help?
If you need further assistance, open the chat widget in the bottom-right corner of the platform and type human teammate to be instantly connected with a member of our team.