Keyword Suggestions

In this guide, you’ll learn more about the Keyword Suggestions section in Keyword Explorer, including how to filter and group keyword suggestions. If you need help understanding any of the metrics used throughout Keyword Explorer, please see our keyword metrics guide.

Quick Links

• Getting Started with Keyword Suggestions
• Select a suggestion type
• Topic tree map
• Keyword relevancy
• Suggestion list - by topic
• Suggestion list - by keyword

• Add to Campaign

• Add to keyword list
• Columns customization
• Table filter options
• Export keyword suggestions

To get started with Keyword Suggestions:

1. Enter a keyword in the box provided
2. Select a market via the drop-down 
3. Click Analyze

After clicking Analyze, the tool will build a Topics Tree Map for you to explore based on your seed keyword. You also have the option to view the results, ungrouped, by keyword.

There are three filter options that can be applied to your suggestion results. These filters can help you further narrow down your keywords during your research.

The filter options include:

• Top suggestions — This filter shows you keyword suggestions from all other filter suggestion types, sorted by Relevancy.
• Questions – This filter shows you keyword suggestions that contain your keyword query and are in the form of a question. For example, “how to make cupcakes” or “what temperature to bake cupcakes.”
• Similar SERPs – This filter analyzes the top-ranking pages for your entered query and identifies other search terms or phrases commonly associated with those pages. It works by:
  1. Examining the search results for your initial query
  2. Identifying the top-ranking pages for that query
  3. Analyzing those pages to find other search terms they rank well for

For example, if you search for "cupcakes," this filter might discover that many top-ranking pages for "cupcakes" also rank well for related searches like "easy cupcake recipes" or "cupcake decorating ideas." This feature helps you uncover related search terms and potential content opportunities based on high-performing pages in your niche.

The Questions filter is great for finding popular queries that you could address with an informative blog post. Play around with these results to familiarize yourself with the different options and results.

The Topic Tree Map visualization groups keyword suggestions by topic and search intent. These topics are sized by total monthly search volume.

Hover over any topic in the tree map to see more information, including total volume for the topic, average Difficulty, how many keywords are in the topic, and examples of additional keywords.

Learn more about topics and keyword clustering

By default, the suggestions and groups listed are sorted by Relevancy. A higher Relevancy score indicates that the keyword meets the following criteria:

• It shows up in a higher number of sources
• It is lexically similar to the original seed keyword you entered

Maximum Relevancy is indicated by five blue dots.

When viewing keyword suggestions by topic, the list of suggestions will group suggested keywords. These groups will be created based on topic and sorted by maximum relevancy, then by total monthly volume of the group.

Keyword groups are collapsed by default, with the number of keywords in the group indicated in parentheses. Click the arrow to the left to expand the group and see the keywords nested within the keyword topic. 

Within the table of keyword topics, the following data will be available.

1. Topic – The overarching theme of the group of keywords. Click to expand and see the keywords nested within this topic.
2. Relevancy (Maximum) – The maximum Relevancy score of the keywords in this topic. By default, the suggestions are sorted by Relevancy. This means keywords that show up in the most sources and are lexically the closest to the original search term you entered. Maximum Relevancy is indicated by five blue dots. Expand the keyword group to see the Relevancy for each keyword in the group.
3. Monthly Volume (Total) – The total monthly volume for all the keywords in this group. This metric is an indication of the demand for a keyword. This is the number of searches for a keyword in any given month. Expand the keyword group to see the Monthly Volume for each keyword in the group.
4. Search Intent (Primary) – The primary Search Intent for this topic. Expand the topic to see the search intent for each keyword within this topic. Search intent indicates a user's primary goal when searching for a given keyword. Search engines use intent to inform the type of content served in the SERP. In Keyword Suggestions, Search Intent identifies the most likely intent for the listed keyword. Below are the four primary types of search intent you may see noted in this column:
   • Informational – The user is searching for specific information on a topic.
   • Navigational – The user is searching for an online location or page of a website.
   • Commercial — The user is searching to investigate or compare brands, products, or services. Commercial intent occurs before transactional intent.
   • Transactional – The user is searching for a product or service to purchase.
5. Difficulty (Average) – The average Difficulty score for the keywords in this group. A score from 0 (easy) to 100 (difficult) that estimates how difficult it would be for you to rank higher than the current competitors on the first page of search results. Click the refresh icon if a Difficulty score is not shown in the table. Expand the keyword group to see the Difficulty score for each keyword in the group.
6. SERP Analysis – Click Analyze SERP to be taken to SERP Analysis, where you can further investigate the search engine results page for this keyword. When a keyword group is collapsed, there will not be an option to Analyze SERP. Expand the group to see this option.
7. Last Updated – The date of the last refresh of the Monthly Volume, Search Intent, and Difficulty for this keyword. Click the refresh button to refresh the data for this keyword.

When viewing keyword suggestions by keyword, the list of suggestions will include the following information.

1. Keyword – The suggested keyword based on your seed keyword.
2. Relevancy – By default, the suggestions are sorted by Relevancy. This means keywords that show up in the most sources and are lexically the closest to the original search term you entered. Maximum Relevancy is indicated by five blue dots.
3. Monthly Volume – An indication of the demand for a keyword. This is the number of searches for a keyword in any given month.
4. Search Intent – Search intent indicates a user's primary goal when searching for a given keyword. Search engines use intent to inform the type of content served in the SERP. In Keyword Suggestions, Search Intent identifies the most likely intent for the listed keyword. Below are the four primary types of search intent you may see noted in this column:
   • Informational – The user is searching for specific information on a topic.
   • Navigational – The user is searching for an online location or page of a website.
   • Commercial — The user is searching to investigate or compare brands, products, or services. Commercial intent occurs before transactional intent.
   • Transactional – The user is searching for a product or service to purchase.
5. Difficulty – A score from 0 (easy) to 100 (difficult) that estimates how difficult it would be for you to rank higher than the current competitors on the first page of search results. Click the refresh icon if a Difficulty score is not shown in the table. 
6. SERP Analysis – Click Analyze SERP to be taken to SERP Analysis, where you can further investigate the search engine results page for this keyword. 
7. Last Updated – The date of the last refresh of the Monthly Volume, Search Intent, and Difficulty for this keyword. Click the refresh button to refresh the data for this keyword.

Once you’ve identified keywords you’d like to track over time, you can follow these steps to add them directly to your Campaign:

1. Select the keywords you want to track using the checkboxes on the left
2. Click Add to Campaign at the top of the table
3. Select the Campaign you’d like to add these keywords to using the drop-down
4. Click Add to Campaign

If a keyword is already being tracked in a Campaign, it will be marked with a Tracked label in the suggestions list. 

Click the Tracked label to see which Campaigns are tracking this keyword. You can then click the Campaign name to be taken to that Campaign.

If you’d like to add keywords to a list for further research, you can follow these steps to add keywords to a Keyword List, follow these steps:

1. Select the keywords you want to track using the checkboxes on the left
2. Click Add to keyword list at the top of the table
3. Open the drop-down provided and select the keyword list you’d like to add these keywords to, or select Create a new keyword list
4. Click Add to List

Customize your view of the suggestions list by selecting the Columns button at the top of the table. This will open a window in which you can select which columns you’d like displayed in the table. Toggle the buttons to the left to remove or add columns to your view.

The Filters option at the top of the table allows you to add advanced filtering to the results in the table. There are three filter options available, and the second box will update based on the filter type selected. 

Keyword — Use this filter to indicate whether the results should include particular terms from the keyword suggestions provided. This will allow you to keep your suggestions laser-focused on the terms you care most about. The Keyword filter offers the following options.

• Contains — Specifies that only keywords, including the term entered in the filter, should be displayed.
• Equals —Specifies that keywords that exactly match the term entered in the filter should be displayed.
• Is tracked – Specifies to only show keywords that are currently being tracked in a Moz Pro Campaign.
• Is not tracked – Specifies to only show keywords that are not currently being tracked in a Moz Pro Campaign.

Topic —  Use this filter to indicate whether the topics shown should include particular terms. This will allow you to keep your topic clustering focused on the terms and groups you care most about. The Topic filter offers the following options.

• Contains — Specifies that only topics, including the term entered in the filter, should be displayed.
• Does Not Contain — Specifies that only topics that don’t include the term entered should be displayed.
• Equals — Specifies that Topics that exactly match the term entered in the filter should be displayed.

Relevancy — Use this filter only to see keywords with a specific Relevancy score. The Relevancy filter offers the following options.

• Equals – Specifies that only keywords with the selected Relevancy score will be displayed.
• Is any of – Specifies that only keywords with the selected Relevancy scores will be displayed. This option allows you to select multiple Relevancy scores at once.

Monthly Volume – Use this filter to specify a monthly volume range for the results displayed. The Monthly Volume filter offers the following options.

• Is greater than – Specifies that only keywords with a search volume higher than the value entered should be displayed.
• Is less than – Specifies that only keywords with a search volume less than the value entered should be displayed.

Monthly Volume Range – Use this filter to specify a monthly volume range for the results displayed. The Monthly Volume filter offers the following options.

• Is – Specifies that only keywords with the selected volume range should be displayed.
• Is not – Specifies that only keywords that don’t have the selected volume range should be displayed.
• Is any of – Specifies that only keywords with the selected volume ranges should be displayed. This filter options allows you to select multiple volume ranges at once.

Search Intent – Use this filter to indicate whether the results should include keywords with a specific Search Intent associated with them. The Search Intent filter offers the following options.

• Contains – Specifies that keywords with the selected search intent(s) should be displayed. 
• Does not contain – Specifies that only keywords without the selected search intent(s) should be displayed. 
• Is exactly – Specifies that only keywords with the selected search intent(s) should be displayed. If multiple search intents are selected with this filter, only keywords that have all selected search intents associated with them will be displayed.

Difficulty – Use this filter to specify a Difficulty range for the results displayed. The Difficulty filter offers the following options.

• Is greater than – Specifies that only keywords with a Difficulty score higher than the value entered should be displayed.
• Is less than – Specifies that only keywords with a Difficulty score less than the value entered should be displayed.
• Is empty – Specifies that only keywords without a Difficulty score should be displayed. You may request a Difficulty score by clicking the refresh icon.
• Is not empty – Specifies that only keywords with a Difficulty score should be displayed.
• Is low – Specifies that only keywords with a low Difficulty score (1-39) should be displayed. A low Difficulty score will be indicated with a green ring.
• Is moderate – Specifies that only keywords with a moderate Difficulty score (40-60) should be displayed. A moderate Difficulty score will be indicated with a yellow/orange ring.
• Is high – Specifies that only keywords with a high Difficulty score (61-100) should be displayed. A high Difficulty score will be indicated with a red ring.

Last Updated — Use this filter to identify keywords with a Difficulty and Monthly Volume refreshed within a specific date range. The Last Updated filter offers the following options.

• Is — Specifies that only keywords with the chosen refresh date will be displayed.
• Is not — Specifies that only keywords not refreshed on the chosen date will be displayed.  
• Is after — Specifies that only keywords refreshed after the chosen date will be displayed.
• Is on or after — Specifies that only keywords refreshed on or after the chosen date will be displayed.
• Is before — Specifies that only keywords refreshed before the chosen date will be displayed.
• Is on or before — Specifies that only keywords refreshed on or before the chosen date will be displayed.
• Is empty — Specifies that only keywords that have not been refreshed will be displayed.
• Is not empty — Specifies that only keywords that have been refreshed will be displayed.

You can add multiple filters to your results using this feature and can specify how the filters should be applied. For example, you can apply the following filters to the results:

• Only show keywords that contain the word “vanilla”
• And only show keywords with a relevancy score of 4 or 5
• And only show keywords with a search volume between 900 and 10,000 searches per month

You can export Keyword Suggestions to CSV or Excel using the Export button on the top right.

Within each export of Keyword Suggestions, the following data will be included.

Keyword suggestions by topics export:

1. Topic — The overarching theme of the group of keywords. 
2. Keyword – The keyword suggestion based on the original query.
3. Tracked – Indicates whether this keyword is currently being tracked in a Moz Pro Campaign within your account. TRUE means it is being tracked, and FALSE means it is not currently tracked.
4. Campaigns – The Campaigns in which this keyword is currently being tracked.
5. Relevancy — Keywords that show up in the most sources and are lexically the closest to the original search term entered have a higher Relevancy score. In the CSV export, a score of 1 is considered 100% relevant. The smaller the Relevancy score, the less relevant the keyword is to your original query.
6. Monthly Volume — The search volume for this keyword suggestion.
7. Min Monthly Volume – The lower end of the monthly volume range for this keyword.
8. Max Monthly Volume – The higher end of the monthly volume range for this keyword.
9. Search Intent – Search intent indicates a user's primary goal when searching for a given keyword.
10. Difficulty – The difficulty score for this keyword.
11. Last updated – The date the stats for this keyword were last refreshed.

Keyword suggestions by keyword export:

1. Keyword – The keyword suggestion based on the original query.
2. Tracked – Indicates whether this keyword is currently being tracked in a Moz Pro Campaign within your account. TRUE means it is being tracked, and FALSE means it is not currently tracked.
3. Campaigns – The Campaigns in which this keyword is currently being tracked.
4. Relevancy — Keywords that show up in the most sources and are lexically the closest to the original search term entered have a higher Relevancy score. In the CSV export, a score of 1 is considered 100% relevant. The smaller the Relevancy score, the less relevant the keyword is to your original query.
5. Monthly Volume — The search volume for this keyword suggestion.
6. Min Monthly Volume – The lower end of the monthly volume range for this keyword.
7. Max Monthly Volume – The higher end of the monthly volume range for this keyword.
8. Search Intent – Search intent indicates a user's primary goal when searching for a given keyword.
9. Difficulty – The difficulty score for this keyword.
10. Last updated – The date the stats for this keyword were last refreshed.