Every day, hundreds of thousands of internet users send queries to search engines. Most of these queries are standard in nature. Search engines record how often users apply specific keyword phrases, taking into account word forms. Only a small fraction of these queries end up in the top results, with the rest ranking much lower in this hierarchical list.
Top queries receive millions of searches per month (tens and hundreds of millions globally for Google). Meanwhile, the least popular queries may be searched only a few times a month, even as they are still taken into consideration by search engines. Typically, these queries relate to niche professional fields.
Based on the parameter of “frequency,” specialists have identified three main groups of queries:
- High-frequency queries: These are queries searched at least 3,000 times per month.
- Medium-frequency queries: These are queries searched 1,000 to 3,000 times per month.
- Low-frequency queries: These are queries searched fewer than 1,000 times per month.
These values are not stable and can change due to various factors (growth in internet users, popularity of specific search engines, etc.). Beginners in optimization should remember that frequency alone cannot accurately determine the cost of ranking in the top 10. The primary determinant is the competitiveness of the keyword phrase.