How can you find popular search terms and keywords a website already ranks for?

Finding popular search terms and checking which keywords a website already ranks for are two different tasks. To find popular terms, start with a topic keyword and use keyword tools to compare search volume, search intent, and difficulty. To check existing rankings, use Google Search Console for your own website or Semrush’s ranking reports to research a specific website. A keyword list may not include every keyword a website ranks for, and the list alone cannot establish which term is the most popular within an entire topic.

Check existing rankings first: separate your own website from competitors’ websites

If your website already receives search impressions, you can use Search Console to review queries, clicks, impressions, and average position. A 2021 Semrush tutorial explains how to find these figures: open the search results report under “Performance.” This is an average position, not a position your website holds in every search. Start by selecting terms relevant to your business for further research. If a new website has no rankings yet, start by exploring topics instead.

To research a specific website, another Semrush tutorial dated 2021 explains how to use Organic Rankings: enter a website, select a country, and view the Positions report. The report includes ranking keywords, their corresponding URLs, ranking positions, and monthly search volumes. To research an individual page, use its corresponding URL in the report to investigate further. These steps come from older tutorials; the interface labels may not be exactly the same today.

Also, Ctrl+F or Command+F can only find text on a page; it cannot tell you which keywords that page ranks for in search engines.

Find popular terms: expand your candidate list, then compare search volumes

For a topic such as “Mac Repair,” switching tools is not the only way to find more candidate keywords; you can also try different research methods. A 2024 Semrush tutorial introduces two approaches:

• Keyword Magic Tool: Enter a topic keyword to view related terms and topic groups. Compare search volume, search intent, and difficulty, and try different match types to broaden your research.
• Topic Research: Review related topics, search volumes, popular headlines, and questions, then follow related searches to find more content ideas. Popular headlines and questions are useful for brainstorming content, but should not be treated as a list ranked by search volume.

“Virus removal” and “Malware removal” can also serve as separate starting points for research, after which you can combine relevant results. Even if you already have a list of long-tail keywords, you can keep expanding it. But a hunch alone does not establish that you have missed terms with higher search volumes. Concerns about missing these terms, as expressed in public discussions, reflect personal experience and cannot be used to verify a tool’s accuracy.

Use competitors to fill gaps, but do not focus only on the highest search volumes

A 2023 Semrush tutorial recommends reviewing the keywords your main competitors already rank for to expand your own list and identify terms that can be grouped under the same topic. This can also help you check whether focusing your research on just a few seed keywords has caused you to miss other relevant terms.

When filtering keywords, a 2024 awoo article recommends considering search volume, competition, search intent, and the target audience together, while also using long-tail keywords. Record this information as you organize your list rather than keeping only the terms with the highest search volumes. High search volume is worth noting, but whether a term fits your services and whether your content can answer users’ questions also matter when choosing topics.

At Procrustes, we turn the questions that genuinely matter to clients into articles, with ongoing content planning, writing, and updates.