Caught myself chasing 5000 organic keywords that nobody actually types into Google

I pulled our search console data last night and found 60% of our top 100 ranking terms had exactly zero clicks in 6 months. Turns out we optimized for phrases we thought people used, not what they actually search for in real life. When did you stop assuming your keyword research reflects real user behavior and start checking the actual query data?

2 comments

2 Comments

leo2381mo ago

Guess we were all just writing love letters to robots, not people.

wrenwilson1mo ago

Used to think I had a good handle on what people were searching for because I read a bunch of SEO blogs and used keyword tools. Then I actually looked at the real queries in Search Console and realized my brain had just made up a whole narrative about user intent that had nothing to do with reality. Like you, most of our so-called valuable keywords had zero searches or were things nobody would ever type into a box. It was humbling to admit I'd been guessing instead of looking. Now I start with the actual data every time and let that guide the content, not my assumptions about what sounds smart. Changed everything about how I write.