Not every keyword is equally valuable to a business.
Some keywords can bring thousands of visitors to your website and generate almost no business.
Others may have much less search volume but attract people who are actively looking for exactly what you sell.
Those are what I think of as money keywords.
I’ve worked in SEO for more than 20 years, and one of the biggest keyword-research mistakes I see is focusing too heavily on search volume.
A keyword with 10,000 searches per month can look impressive in an SEO report.
But if the people searching it aren’t potential customers, what is that traffic actually worth to your business?
I’d rather rank a business for a smaller group of highly relevant searches with strong commercial intent than attract thousands of visitors who will never become customers.
In this guide, I’ll show you how I identify money keywords, how I evaluate their business value and how I decide which searches deserve the most attention in an SEO strategy.
Quick Answer: What Are Money Keywords?
“Money keyword” is an SEO term I use for searches that are closely connected to a potential:
Sale
Lead
Consultation
Appointment
Booking
Quote
or other valuable business action.
Google doesn’t officially label queries as “money keywords.”
It’s simply a useful way to distinguish searches with strong potential business value from searches that are primarily informational.
For example:
SEO company San Diego
Personal injury lawyer San Diego
Financial advisor near me
Spray tan Encinitas
Hair transplant Los Angeles
Best Local SEO company
These searches suggest that someone may be looking for a provider or evaluating options.
Compare them with:
What is SEO?
How does a hair transplant work?
What is retirement planning?
What is a spray tan?
Those searches can still be valuable.
But they’re primarily informational and may occur much earlier in the customer journey.
That’s the basic idea behind money keywords:
Which searches are most closely connected to the actions that matter to the business?
Why Money Keywords Matter
SEO isn’t just about getting more traffic.
It’s about attracting the right traffic.
Imagine two pages.
One generates 5,000 organic visitors per month and no leads.
Another generates 100 visitors and five new customers.
Which page is more valuable?
From a business perspective, the answer is pretty obvious.
This is why I don’t judge an SEO campaign by traffic alone.
I want to understand:
Which searches attract potential customers?
Which pages attract commercial intent?
Which searches generate calls or form submissions?
Which services produce the most revenue?
Which keywords are worth competing for?
Which organic landing pages contribute to actual business?
A successful SEO strategy should connect search visibility with business goals.
Start With the Services That Actually Make Money
Before I open a keyword research tool, I want to understand the business.
What does the company actually sell?
Which services are most profitable?
Which services does the business want more customers for?
Which geographic markets matter?
Which type of customer is the business trying to attract?
Those questions give keyword research direction.
For an SEO company, important services might include:
SEO services
Local SEO
AI SEO
SEO consulting
Google Business Profile optimization
For a personal injury law firm:
Car accident representation
Motorcycle accident representation
Truck accidents
Pedestrian accidents
Wrongful death
For a med spa:
Skin tightening
Botox
Microneedling
Laser treatments
Once I know what matters to the business, I can investigate how potential customers search for those services.
That’s much more useful than downloading a giant keyword list and sorting it by search volume.
Start With Search Intent
The next thing I look at is search intent.
Search intent is what someone appears to be trying to accomplish with a search.
Consider:
What is SEO?
That person is probably looking for information.
Now compare it with:
SEO company San Diego
That person may be looking for a provider or comparing companies.
Both searches involve SEO.
But their potential commercial value is very different.
Many money keywords have strong commercial or transactional intent, although the value of a particular query depends on the business and the customer journey.
That’s why I don’t label a keyword valuable simply because it contains words such as “buy,” “hire” or “best.”
I look at the entire search.
If you want a deeper explanation of how I evaluate intent, read my guide to search intent in SEO.
Look for Commercial Searches
Commercial searches often happen when someone is evaluating options.
Examples might include:
Best SEO company San Diego
Top financial advisor San Diego
SEO company reviews
Local SEO pricing
Best hair transplant clinic Los Angeles
Best personal trainer near me
The person may not be ready to take action this second.
But they’re closer to a buying decision than someone simply asking for a definition.
Commercial-intent searches can be especially valuable because they allow you to reach people while they’re comparing providers, prices, services or solutions.
Look for Transactional Searches
Transactional searches suggest someone may be ready to take an action.
For a service business, that action could be:
Calling
Booking
Requesting a quote
Scheduling a consultation
Hiring someone
or starting a service.
Examples could include:
Hire SEO company San Diego
Book spray tan Encinitas
Schedule financial consultation
Personal injury lawyer consultation
Hair transplant financing Los Angeles
These searches can have strong business value because the searcher isn’t merely learning about the topic.
They’re looking for a solution.
Identify Your Core Service Keywords
Next, identify the phrases that most directly describe your core services.
For an SEO business, examples could include:
SEO company San Diego
Local SEO San Diego
SEO consultant San Diego
SEO services San Diego
AI SEO San Diego
For a law firm:
Car accident lawyer San Diego
Personal injury attorney San Diego
Motorcycle accident lawyer San Diego
Wrongful death attorney San Diego
For a beauty business:
RF skin tightening San Diego
Botox San Diego
Microneedling San Diego
Skin tightening near me
These searches usually tell us much more than broad phrases such as:
marketing
law
skincare
The closer the search is to an actual service someone can purchase, the easier it becomes to evaluate its potential business value.
Find Local Money Keywords
For local businesses, geography can make a keyword particularly interesting.
Someone searching:
personal trainer
could have many different intentions and could be anywhere.
Someone searching:
personal trainer San Diego
has provided additional context.
They’ve told the search engine what they want and where they’re interested in finding it.
Local money keywords can include patterns such as:
Service + city
Service + neighborhood
Service + near me
Best service + city
Company type + city
For example:
SEO company San Diego
Spray tan La Jolla
Personal trainer Hillcrest
Financial advisor San Diego
Plumber near me
But don’t assume every keyword containing a city is automatically valuable.
The service still needs to matter to the business, and the geographic area needs to be a market the company can legitimately serve.
If you’re building a larger local keyword list, my Local Keyword Research guide walks through that process in more detail.
Don’t Ignore Long-Tail Money Keywords
Long-tail searches are generally longer and more specific.
They often have lower reported search volume.
That’s not necessarily a disadvantage.
Compare:
SEO
with:
SEO company for small business in San Diego
The second search gives us much more context.
The person has indicated that:
They need SEO.
They’re interested in a company.
They’re connected to a small business.
San Diego matters to the search.
That’s potentially a much more qualified visitor.
This is why I don’t automatically dismiss a keyword because a keyword tool reports only a small number of searches.
Sometimes specificity is exactly what makes the query valuable.
Search Volume Is Only One Metric
Search volume is useful.
I absolutely look at it.
But I don’t let it make the entire decision.
Suppose a keyword has:
10,000 searches per month
but almost everyone performing the search wants free information.
Now suppose another has:
150 searches per month
and many of those searchers are actively looking for the exact service your business provides.
Which would you rather rank #1 for?
Probably the second one.
This is why keyword research requires more than exporting data from a tool.
Search volume tells us about estimated demand.
It doesn’t automatically tell us business value.
Look at the Actual Google Results
Before prioritizing an important money keyword, I search it.
I want to see what Google currently shows.
Are the results:
Service pages?
Business homepages?
Directories?
Articles?
Comparison sites?
Google Maps?
Product pages?
Forums?
Videos?
The SERP can give us important clues about search intent.
For example, if I’m considering a commercial service page but Google overwhelmingly shows educational articles, I want to understand why before investing heavily in that keyword.
The keyword may not have the intent I assumed it had.
Use Google Search Console to Find Money Keywords You Already Rank For
Keyword research platforms are useful.
But one of my favorite sources of keyword data is Google Search Console.
Why?
Because Search Console shows queries Google already associates with your website.
I can look for searches that:
Already generate impressions
Already generate clicks
Are connected to important service pages
Have strong commercial intent
Are beginning to rank
or are sitting just outside the strongest positions.
This can reveal opportunities that aren’t obvious from traditional keyword tools.
Suppose an important service page is already receiving impressions for several valuable keyword variations.
That tells me something important:
Google already sees some relevance between that page and those searches.
Instead of automatically creating another URL, I may be better off improving the page that’s already gaining visibility.
Look for Striking-Distance Money Keywords
Some of my favorite SEO opportunities are valuable searches already close to strong visibility.
These are often called striking-distance keywords.
For example, suppose an important commercial search is sitting around:
Position 8
Position 11
Position 14
Position 18
I want to investigate that opportunity before automatically starting from zero with something else.
The page already has some visibility.
Now I want to understand what’s holding it back.
I may investigate:
Search intent
Page quality
Page purpose
Internal linking
External links
Technical issues
Competition
and whether the correct URL is ranking.
Sometimes improving an existing page that’s already close can be a better opportunity than chasing an entirely new keyword.
Don’t Automatically Create a New Page
This is important.
Finding a valuable keyword does not automatically mean you need a new URL.
First, check whether your site already has a relevant page.
Then look at Google Search Console.
Is an existing URL already receiving impressions for the search?
Does that page satisfy the intent?
Could it be improved?
Does another page compete with it?
Would a new page serve a genuinely different purpose?
If the existing page already has relevance, history, rankings or backlinks, improving it may be the smarter move.
Analyze Competitor Keywords Carefully
Competitor research can uncover useful opportunities.
SEO tools may show:
Which keywords competitors rank for
Which pages receive estimated traffic
Which service searches they appear for
Which informational topics support their commercial pages
and where your website has gaps.
But I don’t blindly copy competitor keyword lists.
A competitor may rank for thousands of searches that have little value to your particular business.
Instead, I ask:
Which of their service keywords matter to us?
Which commercial searches are we missing?
Which geographic markets matter?
Which pages appear to attract strong buying intent?
Where are competitors genuinely stronger?
Where might we have an opportunity to create something better?
Competitor research should help you understand the landscape.
It shouldn’t dictate your strategy.
Map Each Money Keyword to the Right Page
Finding a valuable search isn’t enough.
You also need to determine which URL should rank for it.
That’s where keyword mapping comes in.
Suppose a business offers:
Local SEO
National SEO
AI SEO
Google Business Profile optimization
Those services may involve different customer needs and search intents.
They may deserve different pages.
But I also don’t want to create a new page for every slight variation of the same search.
Ideally, each important search intent has a clear primary destination.
Closely related keyword variations can often belong together.
Supporting informational content can then connect to the appropriate commercial pages.
I explain my full process in my keyword mapping guide.
Don’t Confuse Traffic Keywords With Revenue Keywords
This is one of the biggest lessons I want business owners to understand.
Traffic is not the same thing as revenue.
An informational article may attract thousands of visitors.
That can be valuable.
It may build awareness, earn links, demonstrate expertise or introduce potential customers to your business.
But high traffic doesn’t automatically make that keyword more valuable than a commercial search with only 100 searches per month.
Suppose:
Keyword A: 5,000 searches per month and no leads
Keyword B: 150 searches per month and five new customers
Which keyword would you rather rank for?
This is why I care about qualified traffic, not simply more traffic.
If your rankings and traffic look good but business isn’t following, my guide to ranking for the wrong keywords explains what I would investigate.
The Best Money Keywords Are Proven by Real Leads
Keyword research gives me a hypothesis.
Real business data helps confirm it.
If the tracking allows it, I want to know which organic landing pages and search opportunities are associated with:
Calls
Form submissions
Consultations
Appointments
Bookings
Sales
and qualified leads.
A keyword may look commercially valuable based on its wording.
But actual conversion data is even more useful.
Over time, you may discover that a relatively small group of landing pages and search themes consistently produces your strongest leads.
Those are opportunities I want to protect and strengthen.
This is also why conversion tracking matters.
If you only measure rankings and traffic, you’re missing an important part of the SEO story.
Can You Track Revenue Back to Individual Keywords?
This has become harder than it once was.
Analytics platforms don’t always provide a clean keyword-to-sale trail for organic search.
Google Search Console provides query and landing-page data, while analytics and CRM systems can help show what visitors do after arriving.
I often have to evaluate multiple data sources together.
For example:
Which queries generate impressions?
Which pages receive organic traffic?
Which landing pages produce conversions?
Which services generate the strongest leads?
What are customers actually asking for?
You may not always be able to say:
“This exact keyword produced exactly $12,000.”
But you can still build a much better picture of which search themes, landing pages and commercial intents are contributing to business.
How I Prioritize Money Keywords
Once I’ve built a list of potential commercial searches, I don’t treat them all equally.
I evaluate several factors together.
Business Value
Does this keyword relate to an important or profitable service?
Search Intent
Is the person learning, comparing providers or preparing to take action?
Relevance
Does the business genuinely provide what this person wants?
Current Visibility
Are we already ranking?
Are we close to page one or another important position?
Competition
What types of websites currently rank, and what might it realistically take to compete?
Geography
Does location affect whether this search can produce a customer?
Conversion Potential
Could this person realistically become a qualified lead or customer?
Existing Page Strength
Do we already have an established page that can be improved?
Strategic Importance
Would stronger visibility for this search help a service or market the business actively wants to grow?
I don’t believe one keyword metric can answer all of those questions.
Keyword research is part data and part strategy.
A Simple Money Keyword Scoring System
You don’t need an elaborate formula to prioritize opportunities.
You can create a simple spreadsheet and score each keyword from 1–5 for factors such as:
Business value
Commercial intent
Relevance
Conversion potential
Current ranking opportunity
Geographic fit
Then look at the overall picture.
A keyword doesn’t automatically win because it has the highest volume.
For example:
| Keyword | Business value | Intent | Conversion potential | Current opportunity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| What is SEO? | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
| SEO company San Diego | 5 | 5 | 5 | 4 |
| SEO consultant San Diego | 5 | 5 | 5 | 3 |
| How does SEO work? | 2 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
These numbers aren’t Google’s scores.
They’re simply a practical way to force yourself to evaluate business value alongside SEO opportunity.
Don’t Ignore Informational Keywords
Calling certain searches “money keywords” doesn’t mean informational searches are bad.
A strong informational strategy can:
Introduce people to your brand
Answer customer questions
Demonstrate experience
Earn links
Support important services
Help prospects make decisions
and create visibility earlier in the customer journey.
The difference is that I don’t pretend every informational ranking has the same direct commercial value.
Each page should have a job.
Some pages generate leads.
Some build trust.
Some answer questions.
Some support important commercial topics.
A good SEO strategy can use all of them intentionally.
Do Money Keywords Still Matter With AI Search?
Yes, although I think the broader concept of commercial intent is more important than the phrase “money keyword.”
People still need products, services and professional help.
They still compare providers, research pricing and look for businesses that can solve a problem.
The way they express those needs may change as search becomes more conversational, but the business question remains:
Which searches and questions indicate that someone may realistically become a customer?
That’s what I’m trying to identify when I look for money keywords.
Common Money Keyword Mistakes
Choosing Keywords Only Because They Have High Search Volume
Volume can be useful, but it shouldn’t make the decision for you.
A smaller commercial keyword may be worth far more to the business.
Ignoring Search Intent
A keyword can sound relevant while attracting the wrong type of visitor.
Look at what Google actually displays for the search.
Targeting Keywords That Don’t Match Your Services
Don’t chase traffic for something the business doesn’t really offer.
Trying to Rank One Page for Every Service
Distinct services with different intents may deserve dedicated pages.
Creating a Page for Every Keyword Variation
The opposite problem is creating nearly identical pages for slightly different wording.
That can create unnecessary overlap.
Ignoring Existing Rankings
Check Search Console before creating another URL.
You may already have a page worth improving.
Ignoring Geographic Value
A local service business may not benefit equally from visitors everywhere.
Ignoring Conversion Data
A ranking isn’t valuable simply because it appears in an SEO report.
Try to understand what happens after people arrive.
Chasing Competitors Instead of Customers
Your competitor’s biggest keyword isn’t automatically the keyword that’s best for your business.
My Money Keyword Research Process
When I’m identifying high-value keywords for a business, my process generally looks like this:
- Identify the services that matter most to the business.
- Identify the customers and geographic markets that matter.
- Research how people search for those services.
- Separate informational opportunities from stronger commercial intent.
- Look for local and long-tail variations.
- Study the actual Google results.
- Review Google Search Console for existing visibility.
- Identify commercially valuable striking-distance queries.
- Review competitor visibility for useful gaps.
- Determine which existing pages already serve those searches.
- Map important search intents to the correct URLs.
- Prioritize opportunities based on business value, intent, relevance, competition and conversion potential.
- Track visibility and leads.
- Adjust priorities using real performance data.
Notice that search volume is part of the process, not the entire process.
Money Keywords Connect SEO to Business Growth
The best keyword isn’t necessarily the one with the biggest number next to it.
It’s the one that helps connect your business with the right potential customer.
That’s why I care about:
Intent
Relevance
Services
Location
Existing rankings
Competition
Conversions
and business value.
A keyword with 100 searches per month can be incredibly valuable if the people performing those searches are exactly the people your business wants to reach.
That’s the difference between ranking for keywords and building an SEO strategy designed to support growth.
Frequently Asked Questions About Money Keywords
What is a money keyword in SEO?
“Money keyword” is an informal SEO term for a search closely connected to a potential purchase, lead, consultation, booking or other valuable business action. These searches often have stronger commercial or transactional intent.
How do I find money keywords for my business?
Start with the products or services that matter most to your business. Then research how potential customers search for them. Evaluate intent, geographic relevance, Google results, Search Console data, existing rankings, competition and conversion potential.
Are high-volume keywords always the best keywords?
No. High search volume doesn’t automatically equal high business value. A lower-volume commercial search can produce more revenue than a high-volume informational search.
What is the difference between a money keyword and an informational keyword?
A money keyword is closely connected to a potential business action, while an informational keyword primarily reflects a desire to learn. Both can be valuable, but they serve different roles in an SEO strategy.
Are local keywords money keywords?
They can be. Searches combining a service with a city, neighborhood or “near me” modifier can indicate strong local commercial intent. However, location alone doesn’t automatically make a keyword valuable.
Should I target long-tail money keywords?
Yes, when they’re relevant. Specific long-tail searches can have lower volume but stronger intent because the searcher has provided more detail about what they need.
Can Google Search Console help me find money keywords?
Yes. Search Console can reveal commercially relevant queries for which your website already receives impressions and clicks. It can also uncover valuable terms already close to stronger rankings.
What is a striking-distance keyword?
It’s an informal SEO term for a keyword for which a page already ranks reasonably close to stronger visibility, often around the bottom of page one or page two. These searches can be useful optimization opportunities because Google already associates the page with the query.
Should every money keyword have its own page?
No. Closely related keyword variations that share substantially the same search intent can often belong to one primary page. Create separate pages when the intent, service or user need is genuinely distinct.
How do I know whether a money keyword actually generates customers?
Use the best data available to connect organic landing pages and search themes with calls, forms, bookings, sales or other conversions. Exact keyword-to-revenue attribution isn’t always available, so you may need to combine Search Console, analytics and business data.
Do money keywords still matter with AI search?
Yes. Search behavior may become more conversational, but commercial intent remains. People still look for products, services, providers and solutions.
Want to Find the Keywords That Can Actually Grow Your Business?
If your website ranks for plenty of keywords but those rankings aren’t producing meaningful business—or you’re unsure which searches deserve your attention—I can help.
I’ve worked in SEO for more than 20 years, helping businesses identify valuable search opportunities, connect them to the right pages and improve visibility for searches that matter.
If you’re looking for help with your SEO strategy, learn more about working directly with my San Diego SEO company or request a free SEO analysis.
Get found. Get trusted. Get chosen.
— Jen Ruhman
San Diego SEO Expert