Keyword Lists

In this guide, you’ll learn how to create a Keyword List in Keyword Explorer as well as how to manage, update, and filter your lists. 

Quick Links

• Getting Started with Keyword Lists
• Creating a Keyword List using a CSV
• Search and add selected Keyword Suggestions to a list
• Adding long-tail keywords
• Managing your Keyword Lists
• Refreshing your keyword lists
• Data in your Keyword List
• Applying filters and sorting
• Add keywords to a Campaign
• Create a Content Brief
• Analyze the SERP for a keyword
• Export your Keyword List to CSV

Keyword Lists in Keyword Explorer allow you to create and store lists of keywords you’re considering targeting, build keyword topic clusters, and identify trends within your targeted keywords.

To create a Keyword List in Keyword Explorer, follow these steps:

1. Click Keyword Research (or the magnifying glass if your menu is condensed) from the left-hand navigation menu
2. Click Keyword Lists
3. Scroll to the bottom of your list of existing keyword lists
4. Click Add New List
5. Enter your List Name
6. Add your keywords to the box provided, separated by commas, or press Shift+Enter after each
7. Select your target market
8. Click Create List

If you’d prefer to upload your Keyword List using a CSV, you can do so using the upload CSV option in the Create Keyword List box. 

All you need to do is enter your keywords starting in the first column and row of your spreadsheet. Make sure to list the keywords one per cell, all the way down column A. This method defaults to US search volume data unless a country is selected from the drop-down menu.

You can also add keywords to your lists as you run searches in Keyword Explorer using these steps:

1. Search your keyword in Keyword Suggestions
2. Select the desired keywords from the suggestions list using the check box on the right-hand side
3. Click Save to keyword list
4. Select an existing Keyword List or +Create New List

Your target keywords can be made up of multiple words. Typically, single-word keywords are called head keywords, and keywords made up of multiple words are called the long tail. For example, mouse is a keyword, as is optical mouse and best optical mouse. You can enter head keywords and long-tail keywords into Keyword Explorer, comma-separated, to analyze metrics and hone your list of target keywords.

Learn more about long-tail keywords

All your Keyword Lists can be viewed here: https://app.moz.com/pro/keyword-explorer/lists/keywords 

From this view, you can compare Keyword Lists, open them up for closer inspection, and create new Keyword Lists.

Click the three dots on the top right of the Keyword List to rename or delete it.

You’ll also see a breakdown of high-level metrics that include the Total Keywords, the Total Volume, and the Average Difficulty Score.

Just below the title of each Keyword List, you will see the date the data in that list was last updated. 

In order to get the most up-to-date metrics, you will need to refresh your Keyword List. 

To refresh your Keyword List, follow these steps:

1. Open your list
2. Select all the keywords using the top check box on the left (or select the individual keywords you’d like to refresh)
3. Click Update metrics

The 2 primary sections of your Keyword List are the summary and the list of keywords.

Summary module

The summary module offers an overview of the data in your keyword list, which includes the following information:

1. Keywords - The total number of keywords currently in this keyword list.
2. Avg Difficulty - The average Difficulty score for the keywords in this list.
3. Total Volume - The total Volume of the keywords in this list. It is calculated by adding the monthly volumes for all keywords in the list.
4. Keywords Available - The number of keywords you can still add to this keyword list based on your subscription level

Keywords

The keywords section (or keyword list) is where you will see data for each keyword included in your list. 

1. Keyword - The keyword you’ve added to your list. The market selected for this keyword will be noted below the keyword (for example, en-us or en-ca). If you are currently tracking this keyword in a Campaign, you will see a Tracked tag beside the keyword. Click on the Tracked tag to see which Campaigns these keywords have been added to for ongoing rank tracking.
2. Monthly Volume - The number of searches for that keyword for any given month - this is an indication of demand for that keyword.
3. Difficulty - Shows you how hard it would be to rank in the top 10 positions in the SERP for this keyword.
4. Organic CTR - An estimated relative click-through rate for organic web results for this keyword.
5. Priority - Combines all our other metrics to create a single, sortable number you can use to effectively prioritize keywords.
6. Search Intent - The primary intent associated with this keyword. Search intent indicates a user's primary goal when searching for a given keyword. Search engines use intent to inform the type of content served in the SERP. Below are the four primary types of search intent you may see noted in this column:

• Informational – The user is searching for specific information on a topic.
• Navigational – The user is searching for an online location or a website page.
• Commercial — The user is searching to investigate or compare brands, products, or services. Commercial intent occurs before transactional intent.
• Transactional – The user is searching for a product or service to purchase.

7. SERP Analysis - Click the list in this column to be taken to the SERP Analysis for this keyword in the Explore By Keyword section of Keyword Explorer.
8. Last Updated - The date the data for this keyword was last updated. Click the Refresh icon to gather fresh data.

You can further sort, filter, and segment your keyword list using various filters.

The filter options in Keyword Lists include:

• Keyword — Use this filter to indicate whether the results should include particular terms from the keyword suggestions provided. This will allow you to keep your suggestions laser-focused on the terms you care most about. 
• Monthly Volume – Use this filter to specify a monthly volume range for the results displayed. 
• Monthly Volume Range – Use this filter to specify a monthly volume range for the results displayed. 
• Difficulty – Use this filter to specify a Difficulty range for the results displayed. 
• Organic CTR - Use this filter to specify the Organic CTR for the results displayed.
• Priority - Use this filter to specify the Priority score for the results displayed.
• Search Intent – Use this filter to indicate whether the results should include keywords with a specific Search Intent associated with them.
• Last Updated — Use this filter to identify keywords with a Difficulty and Monthly Volume refreshed within a specific date range. The Last Updated filter offers the following options.

You can also click the header of any column to sort your table.

From within your Keyword Lists, you can add keywords directly to your Moz Pro Campaigns to track over time. 

To add keywords to your Campaign:

1. Select the keywords you want to track using the checkboxes on the left.
2. Click Track in Campaign.
3. Select the Campaign you’d like to add these keywords to and confirm by clicking Add to Campaign.

You can also streamline your content creation workflow from right within your keyword list by creating a content brief based on the keywords in your list.

To generate a Content Brief:

1. Select the keywords you’d like to target with your content using the checkboxes on the left.
2. Click Create Content Brief.
3. Enter your domain (optional).
4. Select the type of content you’re creating using the dropdown.
5. Click Create Brief.

You’ll then be redirected to the AI Content Brief tool, where you can export a PDF or DOCX.

Learn more about AI Content Brief

If you’d like to dig into the SERP for any keyword in your list, you can click Analyze SERP in the right column.

This will redirect you to the Explore by Keyword section of Keyword Explorer, where you can view the SERP for your keyword. This will allow you to see who is ranking, what SERP features are included, and whether an AI Overview is present in the SERP.

Learn more about Explore by Keyword and SERP Analysis

If you ever need to export your Keyword List, you can do so via the link on the top right. 

The following data will be included in the CSV export.

1. Keyword - Notes the keywords in your keyword list at the time of export.
2. Locale - The designated country for the keyword in column A.
3. Monthly Volume - The single number search volume for this keyword.
4. Min Monthly Volume - The lower end of the search volume range for this keyword. Search volume indicates the demand for a keyword by estimating the number of times it is searched per month. 
5. Max Monthly Volume - The higher end of the search volume range for this keyword. Search volume indicates the demand for a keyword by estimating the number of times it is searched per month. 
6. Difficulty - The Difficulty score for this keyword shows you how tough it would be to rank in the top 10 spots for that keyword.
7. Organic CTR - The Organic CTR for this keyword is an estimated relative click-through rate for organic web results in the SERP for this term.
8. Priority - The Priority score for this keyword, which combines all our other metrics to create a single, sortable number you can use to effectively prioritize keywords.
9. Search Intent - The primary intent associated with this keyword. Search intent indicates a user's primary goal when searching for a given keyword.
10. Last Updated - The date this keyword was last analyzed.