Estimating traffic volumes

It is very important, particularly for natural or organic Search Engine Optimisation, (SEO), to try to find search terms that are relevant to your website and that are searched for the most.

A number of specialist keyword/traffic analysis services have been around for a while, probably the most well-known of these is Wordtracker. However, there is a much more direct way of getting traffic predictions from Google through their AdWords system - and it's free.

I expect Google would prefer you to create and activate real ads, and it might pay to do so, but it's not compulsory.

If you don't already have an AdWords account you will need to go through the process of registering which involves creating your first ad. At some point you will be prompted to choose some keywords. Typing in a single suggestion usually results in producing comprehensive list of related terms, and the 'traffic estimator' tool can then show all your chosen search terms in order of search volume.

Google AdWords - traffic estimator

This image shows chosen search keywords ordered by the potential volumes of traffic they could generate. This example shows that 'web design' and 'website design' are used a lot more frequently than 'web page design' which appears much further down the list.