B
Evidence Grade B
Graded
accuracy verified by the review judge
Safe to Cite
Current
5%
5% -- keyword level search volume discrepancy for Individual keywords measured across SEO keyword research tools (2026)
Individual keywords show search volume discrepancies ranging from 5% to 60% across different SEO keyword research tools according to Backlinko's study.
- Reported as a range of 5% to 60%
Attribution:
View source
Lighthouse Research Team
Last verified:
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Source verified
Evidence graded
Value
5%
Unit
Percentage
Data Vintage
2026
Entity
Evidence Quality
B
Strong, reliable evidence
Sourced from a well-regarded research firm or industry leader with transparent methodology and a reasonably large sample.
Single source - not yet corroborated
Score breakdown
Extraction
50
Source Trust
60
Citation Chain
20
Independence
30
Methodology
45
Freshness
95
Source
Backlinko
Primary
Tier C
https://organicseo.org/blog/keyword-research-data-conflicts-ahrefs-semrush ↗
Source Article
Keyword Research Data Conflicts 2026: Why Tool Numbers Differ
Keyword Research Data Conflicts in 2026: Why Ahrefs, Semrush, and Google Keyword Planner Give Different Numbers (And What to Do About It)
Ahrefs, Semrush, and Google Keyword Planner report different search volume numbers for the same keywords because each tool collects, models, and categorizes searc…
Original Research
Backlinko
· Original study ↗
Methodology
Source reports individual keyword discrepancies of 5-60%; midpoint 32.5% extracted per range-handling rule. Attributed to Backlinko's tool accuracy study.
Methodology documented
Segmentation
Industrymarketing
Cite this stat
Plain Text
Individual keywords measured across SEO keyword research tools: 5% keyword level search volume discrepancy. Source: Backlinko (2026). Via Lighthouse Intelligence -- https://lighthousedata.io/data/keyword-level-volume-discrepancy
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<blockquote cite="https://lighthousedata.io/data/keyword-level-volume-discrepancy" style="border-left:3px solid #2563eb;padding:12px 16px;margin:16px 0;font-family:system-ui,sans-serif;background:#f0f4ff;"><strong>5%</strong> -- keyword level search volume discrepancy for Individual keywords measured across SEO keyword research tools<br><small>Source: Backlinko (2026) · <a href="https://lighthousedata.io/data/keyword-level-volume-discrepancy" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lighthouse Intelligence</a></small></blockquote>
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