September 2, 2020 •Zach Treon
In this article we will define DJ Score and show you how it can be used alongside or in replacement of Search Volume.
Search engines like Google and Bing have their own tools that provide search volume numbers based on how many searches their users perform in their search engine. These can often be difficult to use and the number can vary greatly depending on the tool. Additionally, Google has now hidden their Keyword Planner tool behind the creation of a Google Ads account.
All of this to say, the search engines have control of this data and are making it harder to get. While it is still helpful context, we no longer believe it should be the single most important metric to drive your SEO strategy.
This is why we have created a new metric, DJ Score.
What Is Search Volume?
Search volume is a measure of the total number of searches that are performed through search engines, expressed as the average monthly volume during the previous 12-month period.
What Is DJ Score?
A 1-100 rank of the power of the keyword or question in the network of consumer behavior for the starting query. The DJ Score is calculated based on how connected the keyword question is in the network, how close it is to the initial phrase, and the estimated volume. DemandJump focuses on the search results that have the highest relevance, so anything 75 or below will be automatically filtered out.
Why Is DJ Score Important?
DJ Score is important because it not only takes into account the volume of a single term, but also how important the term is in the larger ecosystem. Search engines have gotten better over time at using Natural Language Processing to better understand search intent.
Google has outlined the importance of creating quality content to help you rank organically. This means keyword stuffing is a thing of the past and you now need to know the bigger picture of what the content is about.
This is where DJ Score comes into play. We have created this metric to help you understand the network of content needed to help you rank well in this new world of SEO.
How Do I Use DJ Score?
To get the most out of DJ Score, you should run a Consumer Insight report on the term you are targeting for your pillar page.
For example, let’s say we are writing a pillar page we want to rank for ‘Baseball Teams’. The first step would be running a Consumer Insight report for ‘Baseball Teams’. Among the results we may see keywords such as ‘best baseball teams’ or ‘baseball team hats’. In addition to these types of keywords, we will likely also see results of top teams such as ‘Chicago Cubs’ or ‘New York Yankees’.
This is a result of Google and Bing getting smarter over time and starting to learn that when searching for ‘Baseball Teams’ there is a high likelihood that you are looking for the name of a particular team.
DJ Score takes the guesswork out of what content you should create. Simply sort by DJ Score, then start chipping away.
How Do I Use Search Volume?
Search Volume can be used alongside DJ Score to help you decide between two terms with a similar DJ Score. If you have 10 terms between 95 and 100, but only time to write about 5, then Search Volume is a great tiebreaker to decide where to start.
