One site on record lists “citations” among the searches that send it the most visitors, by traffic estimates. It is searched about 673K times a month on Google, worldwide (Google Ads, Sept 2026), at about $3.41 a click in search ads: a month of its searches would cost about $2.3M as search ads. Each site checked on the backlink value checker adds its top five search keywords, so this list grows as sites are checked.
Keyword intelligence
673KGoogle monthly search volume−18% on Sept 2025
−11%Last 3 months vs 3 beforesteady
69/100Demand scoremoderate
78/100Keyword difficulty (US)hard
InformationalSearch intentwants to learn
$3.41Google Ads cost per clicktop-of-page bids $0.41–$3.91
Demand is down on the year, now levelling off: Google searches for “citations” fell 18% (823K to 673K) from Oct 2025 to Sept 2026; the last three months averaged 497K, 11% below the three before.
Across 3 years, searches peak in October (about 823K) and are lowest in July (about 479.5K), a 1.7× swing: time content to be indexed before October.
The two sources differ about 21 times for Sept 2026: Google Ads counts 673K searches, the traffic estimates 32.3K. Read each for its trend, not as an exact count.
Google monthly search volume (Google Ads, worldwide)
823K
823K
673K
673K
673K
823K
823K
673K
550K
450K
550K
823K
823K
673K
673K
673K
550K
673K
673K
550K
450K
368K
450K
673K
Third-party estimated keyword demand (right axis)
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32.3K
Google monthly search volume: Google Ads, worldwide, read 6 Nov 2026. Third-party estimated keyword demand is a separate source, many times apart in size, so it has its own axis at the right: read the two lines for their trends.
3Ranking competition
78/100Keyword difficulty (US)hard
22/100Ranking easehard
438Linking sites per top-ten pageaverage, US
On Google's page:AI OverviewPeople also askProduct considerationsRelated searchesImages
Keyword difficulty is 78 of 100 for US results: hard on the vendor's scale.
The top ten pages have about 438 linking sites each on average (US results, third-party link index).
4Intent and related searches
Informational: wants to learn The searcher's goal, as a third-party keyword database classifies it (US).
Keywords the listed sites also get visits from, the most shared first: linked by the same sites' traffic, not by meaning.
5Opportunity
69/100 · Demand score, moderate
How much searching there is and what advertisers pay for it.
Searches
97
673K a month · weight 40%
Year
43
−18% since Sept 2025 · weight 20%
Momentum
39
last 3 months −11% on the 3 before · weight 20%
Commercial
68
$3.41 a click (Google Ads) · weight 20%
22/100 · Ranking ease, hard
How open Google's first page is: 100 minus its difficulty and strength.
Keyword difficulty
22
78 of 100 (US) · weight 50%
What to do with it
Strong demand but a hard first page (ease 22): aim at its related searches first and build links before the head term.
A business score needs your own figures (conversion, deal value) and is not made here. Scores are fixed formulas over the figures shown; they are not Google's.
6Sources
Google monthly search volume, Google Ads cost per click, bids and paid competition: Google Ads, worldwide, read 6 Nov 2026.
Third-party estimated keyword demand, cost per click and each site's visits (est.): third-party traffic estimates, Sept 2026.
Keyword difficulty, intent, SERP features, top-ten links: a third-party keyword database, United States, read 6 Nov 2026.
Tiles, findings, scores and actions are worked out from the figures on this page by fixed rules.
Listed A–Z. A top search keyword is one of the searches that bring a site the most visitors, by estimate. It is not a position in Google, and the order here is not a ranking. Visits (est.): the traffic estimate's own figure for the keyword on that site, which behaves like visits a month, not an amount of money (2026-09-29: it had been shown in dollars). Ad value is what advertisers pay for the keyword — its searches × cost per click — not how hard it is to rank for. This page is kept out of search results until 15 sites share the keyword.
Searches, cost per click and ad value above: Google Ads, worldwide. Sites and their visits: third-party traffic estimates, Sept 2026. The traffic estimates' own searches figure for the keyword is in the section below; the two sources often differ several times over.
What a link is worth