Four Vital Considerations When Selecting "Money" Keywords for Keyword Research

Four Vital Considerations When Selecting "Money" Keywords for Keyword Research

Meta Description: Discover the best techniques for choosing high-value "money" keywords to enhance your keyword research strategy. Explore the four vital considerations—relevance, conversion potential, search volume, and rankability—to boost targeted traffic and improve SEO.


Introduction:

Keyword research is the cornerstone of every effective SEO plan when it comes to increasing organic traffic to your website. The keywords you target dictate your site’s visibility in search engine results, which ultimately determines how much traffic you attract. The more relevant your keywords are, the higher the likelihood that search engines will rank your pages, making your site discoverable to potential customers. Not all keywords are equally effective; targeting the wrong ones can result in a significant waste of time, effort, and resources.

In this post, we’ll cover four vital considerations when selecting "money" keywords for keyword research. These keywords are not only relevant to your audience but also have the potential to convert visitors into customers. Focusing on the right keywords allows you to enhance your SEO strategy, driving more traffic and increasing the overall success of your website.

What Are “Money” Keywords?

Before exploring the essential factors, it’s important to first understand what exactly money keywords mean.

Money keywords are high-intent search terms that indicate a user is ready to make a purchase, sign up, or take a profitable action. These differ from informational keywords like “what is email marketing” because money keywords show buyer intent—think “best email marketing service for small business.”


Why Money Keywords Matter

Not all traffic is created equal. Here's why money keywords are crucial:

  • They attract ready-to-buy users

  • They drive higher conversion rates

  • They help prioritize your content and PPC campaigns

  • They increase ROI from SEO efforts

Now that you understand their importance, let’s explore the four essential factors to consider when selecting these golden keywords.


1. Search Intent: Align with Buyer Mindset

Understanding the “Why” Behind the Search

Search intent reveals the underlying goal a user has when they enter a query. If you miss the intent, your content won’t convert—even if you rank #1.

There are generally four types of intent:

  • Informational: “What is a VPN?”

  • Navigational: “NordVPN login”

  • Transactional: “Buy VPN for PC”

  • Commercial investigation: “Best VPN for gaming”

Focus on Commercial and Transactional Intent

Most money keywords are commonly associated with purchase-driven or commercially focused searches.

  Look for terms like:
  • Buy

  • Discount

  • Best

  • Compare

  • Top

  • Deals

  • Near me (for local businesses)

Pro Tip

Use tools like Ahrefs, SEMRush, or Google Search to study the top-ranking pages. Are they product pages? Reviews? Sales pages? This reveals the dominant search intent.


2. Keyword Difficulty: Can You Rank?

The Truth About Competition

It’s tempting to chase after high-volume keywords, but many are dominated by big brandsFinding the right keyword means balancing its search volume with how competitive it is.

How to Assess Keyword Difficulty:

  • Use SEO tools: Ahrefs, Moz, and Ubersuggest show keyword difficulty scores (0–100).

  • Manual check: Google the keyword and review the top 10 results. Are they from major sites like Amazon, Forbes, or TechCrunch? It might be tough to break in.

  • Check backlink profiles: Strong backlinks on top-ranking pages usually mean higher difficulty.

Aim for "Low-Hanging Fruit" Keywords

If you're just starting out, it's best to target keywords that have:

  • Low to medium difficulty (KD under 30)

  • Decent search volume (at least 100–1,000 monthly searches)

  • Clear buyer intent


3. Commercial Value: Is It Profitable?

Not All Clicks Are Equal

A keyword’s profitability depends on more than just volume. Ask:

  • Would someone searching this be ready to buy?

  • Does this keyword align with a product or service I offer?

  • Are advertisers bidding on it in Google Ads?

High-Value Keyword Clues:

  • High cost-per-click (CPC) values

  • Presence of Google Shopping ads

  • Appearing in affiliate product reviews

Examples of High Commercial Value Keywords:

KeywordCPCIntent
“Best credit cards for cashback”$25+Commercial
“Buy ergonomic office chair”$15+Transactional
“Top SEO services USA”$20+Commercial

These keywords show intent and profit potential—ideal for monetizing your SEO strategy.


4. Relevance to Your Niche and Offerings

Don’t Chase Keywords That Don’t Fit

Even if a keyword is low competition and high CPC, it’s useless if it’s not relevant to your business.

Ask yourself:

  • Does this keyword solve a problem my product/service addresses?

  • Can I create content that naturally and authentically targets this term?

  • Will this attract the right audience?

Example:

If you sell email marketing software, targeting “free email templates for birthday” may bring traffic, but it might not convert. Instead, focus on “best email marketing software for small business” or “email automation tools for ecommerce.”

Top Tip:

Use the “content-to-offer” match test. If someone lands on your page from that keyword, is your offer the logical next step?


Best Practices for Integrating Money Keywords

After selecting your keywords, here's how to put them to work the right way:

On-Page Optimization Checklist:

✅ Use the primary money keyword in:

  • The title

  • The meta description

  • The URL slug

  • The first 100 words

  • At least one H2 heading

  • Organically weave the keywords into your content, targeting a density of 1–2%.

✅ Sprinkle in LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing) or secondary keywords, such as:

  • “High-converting keywords”

  • “SEO keywords with buyer intent”

  • “Keyword research for conversions”

✅ Include internal links to related content or product pages

✅ Use structured data (schema markup) for reviews, product pages, etc.


Bonus: Tools to Help Find Money Keywords

  • Google Keyword Planner – Free and useful for CPC data

  • Ahrefs Keywords Explorer – Great for KD, traffic potential, and SERP analysis

  • Ubersuggest – Budget-friendly with competitive metrics

  • SEMRush – Advanced features like keyword gaps and competitive analysis

  • AnswerThePublic – Helps brainstorm intent-based long-tails


1. Relevance: Ensuring Your Keywords Align with Your Niche

One of the most critical factors when selecting keywords is relevance. Your keywords should directly align with the theme of your website, ensuring that they attract visitors who are actively looking for the products or services you offer. For example, if your website focuses on golf, targeting keywords unrelated to golf, like "fitness" or "tech gadgets," would not be effective.

Why is relevance so important?

  • SEO rankings are driven by the goal of delivering the most valuable and relevant content to users.  When your keywords don’t match your site’s content, search engines may struggle to rank it well.

  • User Experience: Relevant keywords help attract users who are genuinely interested in your content, improving engagement and reducing bounce rates.

  • Conversions: Focusing on niche-specific keywords helps draw in users who are primed to engage—be it subscribing, buying, or reaching out.

2. Probability of Conversion: Focusing on Action-Oriented Keywords

The next vital consideration when selecting keywords is their probability of conversion. This refers to the likelihood that users who search for those keywords will take a desired action once they land on your site. For example, someone searching for "how to start a blog" might be more inclined to download a guide or sign up for a course compared to someone searching for a more general term like "blogging."

Long-tail keywords, which are phrases made up of three or more words, often result in higher conversion rates due to their increased specificity. Long-tail keywords frequently indicate a higher stage of the searcher's decision-making or purchasing process. Here are a few examples:

  • Short-tail keyword: "buy shoes"

  • Long-tail keyword: "buy running shoes for women"

Your chances of converting are increased because long-tail searchers are typically further along in the purchasing process.

How to identify high-conversion keywords:

  • Clarify the goal: Ascertain the main reason for the client's search inquiry. Are they looking to gather information, buy something, or find a solution to an issue? This can help you identify the keywords that have the highest chance of generating conversions.

  • Use Keyword Modifiers: Keywords with words like "buy," "order," "best," or "review" often show that the user is ready to act.

3. Search Volume: Finding the Right Balance

While targeting highly relevant and conversion-friendly keywords is essential, you also need to ensure that those keywords have enough search volume to drive traffic. Finding the ideal balance between search volume and keyword competition is essential for success. Choosing keywords with too low a volume might not be worth your time, while highly competitive keywords might be too difficult to rank for, especially for new or small websites.

How to determine a keyword's search volume:

  • Google Keyword Planner: This free tool from Google allows you to search for keywords and see their average monthly search volume. You’ll discover fresh keyword suggestions you likely hadn’t considered.

  • Use Long-Tail Keywords: These often have lower search volumes but also face less competition, providing a great opportunity for new websites to rank more easily.

Tip: Select keywords that have low to medium competition and attract a decent to high number of searches. These can give you the best of both worlds—good traffic potential and a reasonable chance of ranking.


4. Rankability: Ensuring You Can Compete

The final consideration when selecting your "money" keywords is rankability. Even if a keyword is highly relevant, conversion-focused, and has decent search volume, it’s essential to evaluate whether you can realistically rank for it. If the keyword is already dominated by established, authoritative websites, your chances of reaching the top search result pages (SERPs) will be slim, especially if you're just starting out.

How to assess keyword rankability:

  • Search for the Keyword on Google: A simple way to gauge competition is to search for the keyword and observe the number of results. If the search results show tens of thousands or even millions of pages, ranking for that keyword could be difficult.

  • Analyze Competitors: Look at the top-ranking websites. Are they authoritative sites with high domain authority? If so, consider targeting less competitive keywords or long-tail variations.

The fewer the number of competing pages, the higher your chances of ranking at the top. A good rule of thumb is to aim for keywords with fewer than 30,000 competitors.


FAQs:

Q1: How do I know if a keyword is relevant to my niche?

A: Relevance is determined by how closely a keyword matches the main topics and themes of your website. Make sure it aligns with the content you offer to attract the right audience.

Q2: What exactly are long-tail keywords, and why do they matter so much?

A: Long-tail keywords are more specific search phrases, usually consisting of three or more words. Their value lies in typically offering lower competition and delivering better conversion rates than shorter, more generic keywords.

Q3: What’s the best way to check the search volume of my keywords?

A: You can use tools like Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to determine the search volume of your targeted keywords. These tools provide insights into how many people are searching for a particular term each month.

Q4: How do I determine if I can rank for a keyword?

A: Check the competition for the keyword by doing a quick Google search. If there are fewer than 30,000 competing pages and the top-ranking pages are not dominated by high-authority sites, you likely have a good chance of ranking.


Key Takeaways:

  • Relevance is key—make sure your keywords align closely with your site’s content and target audience.

  • Focus on keywords with a high probability of conversion, particularly long-tail keywords.

  • Target keywords with adequate search volume to ensure sufficient traffic potential.

  • Assess rankability by checking the level of competition and the chances of outranking established sites.


Conclusion:

Effective SEO starts with solid, well-executed keyword research.  By considering relevance, probability of conversion, search volume, and rankability, you can identify the best "money" keywords that will drive targeted traffic to your site. Although it requires time and effort, investing in quality keyword research will yield long-term results by helping you rank higher in search results, attract more visitors, and ultimately convert them into loyal customers.


Call to Action (CTA):

Ready to supercharge your SEO strategy? Start conducting thorough keyword research today! If you need help with selecting the best keywords for your business, feel free to contact us. Partner with us to elevate your website to new heights!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog