How to Determine SEO Potential: A Comprehensive Guide

What Is SEO Potential?

SEO imaginable is simply a measurement of however overmuch integrated (unpaid) postulation a website could thrust from hunt results.

Two cardinal factors that power your website’s SEO imaginable are:

1. Competition: How hard it whitethorn beryllium for your tract to fertile good successful hunt results based connected the fig and prime of different pieces of contented connected that topic 
2. Search volume: The fig of radical searching for your taxable wrong a definite clip frame

Analyzing these factors helps find however overmuch postulation you tin expect from the hunt results with optimized content. And whether you should absorption connected SEO for your concern oregon look into different channels (like societal media oregon paid traffic). 

For example, accidental you person a niche business. Like antique publication restoration. And you privation to scope caller customers. 

But you aren’t definite if you should put your clip successful societal media selling oregon SEO.

So, you would analyse the SEO imaginable of the publication restoration niche. To find if SEO is simply a worthwhile strategy.

Here’s different example: Let’s accidental you already person a website. But you’re not getting postulation from integrated search. And you privation to cognize why.

Is it due to the fact that your website is optimized poorly? Or is it due to the fact that the niche has debased SEO potential?

Analyzing the SEO imaginable of a niche tin assistance springiness you answers to these questions. And usher your strategy moving forward. 

When evaluating a niche’s SEO potential, you ideally privation 1 with precocious postulation and debased competition. Niches with precocious levels of contention tin decidedly person precocious SEO potential, but they’ll necessitate much resources if you privation to spot success.

The Benefits of Analyzing Organic Traffic Potential

Analyzing the SEO imaginable of a niche helps you destruct the guesswork erstwhile it comes to contented instauration and website optimization.

By analyzing your niche’s SEO potential, you can:

1. Determine if SEO is simply a worthwhile strategy for your niche. So you cognize wherever to put your selling dollars.
2. Estimate the imaginable ROI of your SEO efforts. So you cognize what level of concern is suitable.
3. Identify the highest-impact SEO activities to amended your rankings. So you tin formulate an airtight SEO strategy.

How to Forecast SEO Potential successful 4 Simple Steps

We’ll locomotion you done ways to measure the SEO imaginable of a niche. Follow these steps if you already person a website oregon privation to commencement one.

(We’ll usage a fictitious illustration of a gluten-free cooky blog to amended exemplify this process.)

1. Make a List of Keywords You Already Rank For

To start, make a database of keywords you already fertile for.

Use Semrush’s Organic Research tool. Enter your URL, take a location, and click “Search.”

Scroll to the “Top Keywords” conception and click “View each # keywords.”

Export these keywords to a spreadsheet:

We’ll notation backmost to this spreadsheet successful the 3rd step. So support it for later.

2. Generate a List of Keywords

Next, you privation to make a database of arsenic galore applicable caller keywords arsenic possible. 

Here are immoderate ideas to assistance you make capable keywords to efficaciously analyse your niche:

Use the Keyword Magic Tool

Semrush’s Keyword Magic Tool tin assistance you make thousands of applicable keyword ideas. 

To start, participate your topic, take a location, and click “Search.” 

This brings up a immense database of keyword ideas.

And you tin usage antithetic filters to find the astir applicable keywords for your site.

Browse done these keywords and adhd applicable ones to a caller spreadsheet. Here’s the commencement of our illustration spreadsheet:

Search for your keywords and usage Google’s “Related searches” to travel up with adjacent much keyword ideas.

After searching your taxable successful Google, scroll down until you spot this:

You tin besides click connected a hunt and scroll down connected those results to bring up adjacent much related hunt ideas. 

For example, if we click “4 constituent gluten-free cocoa spot cookies” successful the supra representation and scroll down to the related searches, we spot adjacent much ideas for keywords:

Then, adhd applicable queries to your spreadsheet.

Perform Topic Research

Semrush’s Topic Research instrumentality generates related subtopics and ideas for creating contented astir those subtopics.

Enter your main topic, prime a location, and click “Get contented ideas.”

This displays assorted contented ideas. If you click “Show more,” you’ll spot headlines, antithetic questions, and related searches for that subtopic. 

Go done and adhd immoderate applicable ones to your spreadsheet.

3. Combine and Clean Up Your Keyword Spreadsheets

Now you person 2 spreadsheets: 

1. One with the keywords you’ve brainstormed
2. Another with the keywords your tract already ranks for

Combine these spreadsheets and region duplicate keywords.

Duplicate keywords volition skew the investigation you’ll execute successful the adjacent step. 

For example, let's accidental you already fertile for respective high-volume keywords. And you (unintentionally) included these aforesaid keywords successful your brainstorming spreadsheet.

This tin inflate the postulation imaginable for your site. So, it’s important to marque definite each keyword connected your spreadsheet is unique. 

4. Analyze Your Keywords 

It’s clip to analyse your keywords to estimation your niche’s SEO potential. 

With your list, measure each keyword for its trouble and volume. We tin bash that with Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool. 

Start by pasting your finalized database of keywords into the input container and click “Search.” (You tin paste up to 100 keywords astatine once.)

Then, export the keywords to a spreadsheet.

Pay attraction to the keyword trouble and measurement columns.

Let’s spell implicit each file truthful you cognize what to look for.

Keyword Difficulty

Keyword difficulty (KD) indicates however casual (or hard) it volition beryllium to fertile for circumstantial keywords successful integrated hunt results. 

Keywords with a precocious KD people are typically harder to fertile for. Consider removing immoderate keywords from your spreadsheet with a trouble people greater than 49. As these could beryllium challenging to fertile for successful the hunt results. 

We don’t person immoderate keywords with a KD greater than 49 successful our gluten-free cooky example. So we don’t request to region any.

Volume

The measurement file tells you the mean fig of monthly searches for each keyword.

Ideally, you privation keywords with a precocious hunt volume. Keywords with higher hunt volumes are much apt to thrust important postulation to your website if you tin fertile good for them successful hunt results.

But support successful caput that keywords with debased listed hunt volumes tin inactive thrust immoderate traffic—and conversions. Like these ones, that person “0” measurement listed:

Keywords with a “0” successful the measurement file person little than 10 monthly searches per period successful your acceptable location. While they won’t thrust a precocious measurement of traffic, they tin inactive beryllium utile to target, particularly arsenic secondary keywords. So, you whitethorn privation to support these connected your spreadsheet. 

Next, full the measurement for your keywords. Our illustration full is 33,230. 

But remember: Volume is the estimated mean fig of monthly searches. Volume doesn’t adjacent postulation oregon clicks.

Why?

Because each hunt effect has a antithetic click-through rate (CTR) depending connected its position. This is the percent of searchers that click the effect erstwhile it’s shown to them successful hunt results. 

It varies betwixt searches, but it’s imaginable to estimation the benignant of CTR you tin expect based connected ranking position.

For example, the archetypal integrated effect has a CTR of 27.6%, according to probe by Backlinko.

This means astir 28 radical volition click connected the archetypal website for a query with 100 monthly searches.

We tin usage Backlinko’s mean CTRs to estimation the postulation imaginable for our keywords. Simply multiply the measurement file by the antithetic percentages. 

Here’s however that looks with the CTR for presumption one: 

Do this for positions one, two, and three. This way, you’ll amended recognize however overmuch postulation to expect successful antithetic ranking scenarios. 

For our fictitious example, we’d person an estimated 9,171 monthly visitors if we ranked successful presumption 1 for each our keywords. And 3,655 visitors if we ranked successful presumption three.

Review these antithetic postulation scenarios and comparison them to your SEO goals. 

Keep successful caput the supra estimates are for an perfect scenario. And determination are galore aspects of SEO that tin power however overmuch postulation you really receive. Like competition. Or different keywords you mightiness not people but extremity up ranking for. 

This forecast tin assistance springiness you a wide thought of however overmuch postulation you tin get if you fertile wrong the apical 3 positions successful Google for each your keywords. But you’ll request to instrumentality the close steps to optimize your contented to beryllium capable to fertile successful these positions.

How to Optimize Your Website for Maximum SEO Potential

Once you find a niche with SEO potential, you privation to marque definite your website ranks arsenic highly arsenic imaginable for the keywords you’re targeting. 

Because, arsenic we saw successful the erstwhile section, you tin summation your CTR (and traffic) by ranking higher. 

Here are 3 ways to get started.

1. Audit Your Site

You tin springiness your website a amended accidental of ranking precocious by fixing immoderate tract errors.

Performing a tract audit alerts you to on-page and technical SEO errors and issues that mightiness interaction your rankings.

Like breached links. Or pages with HTTP issues.

To start, unfastened up the Semrush Site Audit instrumentality and click “+ Create project.” (If you don’t person an relationship yet, you’ll click the “Start Audit” fastener instead.)

You’ll past configure your Site Audit settings based connected things similar however galore pages you privation to crawl, which URLs to allow/disallow, and more.

Then click “Start Site Audit.”

After configuration, you’ll spot a study with antithetic insights. Look to the “Top Issues” country to spot issues that request your attraction close away. Click “View details” to larn much astir the issues.

Then click connected each mistake for much information. And get tips for fixing each mistake by clicking “Why and however to hole it.”

Fixing these errors ensures users person a large acquisition connected your site. And helps guarantee hunt engines tin navigate your tract to recognize your content. 

2. Build Quality Backlinks

Backlinks are links from different websites that constituent to your website.

Search engines presumption backlinks a spot similar votes of confidence. And having backlinks from high-quality websites tin assistance you fertile higher. Because hunt engines whitethorn comprehend your website arsenic much trustworthy.

High-quality, trustworthy websites tin besides fertile for much competitory hunt terms. So, it’s a bully thought to continually build prime backlinks implicit time.

One mode to physique backlinks is by checking which websites nexus to your competitors with our Backlink Gap tool. 

Enter your and your competitors' domains and click “Find prospects.”

This shows you which domains nexus to your competitors but not to you.

And if you click the drop-down menu, you tin spot the nonstop pages that nexus to your competitors.

Go done these until you find a leafage wherever you could perchance get a link.

For example, let’s spell backmost to our gluten-free cooky blog. 

Say we announcement a root leafage titled “10 champion gluten-free cooky recipes.” And it links to 1 of our competitors. 

We could scope retired to the website with 1 of our recipes. And inquire if they tin see it successful their list.

Over time, gathering backlinks tin assistance amended your rankings. Which tin summation integrated postulation to your site, maximizing your SEO potential.

3. Optimize Your Written Content

You request large contented to fertile precocious successful hunt results. But sometimes, it’s hard to cognize however to marque contented invaluable for your readers. 

Semrush’s SEO Writing Assistant removes the guesswork and tells you what your contented needs for the champion accidental astatine ranking high.

To start, click “+ Analyze caller text.” (If it’s your archetypal clip utilizing the SEO Writing Assistant, you’ll click “Analyze my text.”)

Enter your keyword(s) for the portion of contented you privation to analyse and click “Get recommendations.” 

You tin constitute your contented straight successful the editor, straight import from a URL, oregon paste successful an existing blog station to rewrite and improve. 

The SEO Writing Assistant volition people your substance based connected readability, SEO, originality, and code of voice. And springiness you tips to amended each area. 

These tips assistance guarantee your contented is decently optimized for readers and hunt engines. 

And if you get stuck, you tin usage the AI-powered Smart Writer to assistance you rephrase and constitute archetypal text.

Forecast Your SEO Potential with Semrush

Forecasting the SEO imaginable of a website oregon niche is casual erstwhile you person the close tools.

With Semrush’s Keyword Overview tool, you tin analyse each keyword you privation to people for difficulty, volume, and more.

And with tools similar Site Audit, Backlink Analytics, and the SEO Writing Assistant, you tin marque definite your tract has the champion accidental of ranking well.

Ready to start?

You tin effort each of these tools present with a escaped account.