Small Keywords Can Be Worth It — If the CPC Says So

Should you bother with small keywords? The honest answer is: it depends on the keyword’s ROI, and ROI has three parts — search volume, the keyword’s own value, and ranking difficulty. Volume alone decides nothing. Here is how to read the value side of that equation.

(Figures and case details in this article are as reported in the source material and have not been independently verified.)

1. Why big keywords were recommended first

The earlier advice to chase bigger keywords came from a simple comparison: with roughly the same time invested in building a site, a small keyword usually brings less traffic than a big one. That is true as far as traffic goes. But traffic is only the volume term. A keyword’s commercial value can flip the conclusion.

2. CPC is the ready-made value meter

Semrush shows a CPC column for every keyword. Take “coloring pages”: Semrush reports a CPC of USD 1.75. Understand what that number really means: it is what advertisers are willing to pay for one ad click on that keyword. It is not what you will earn per click if you rank for it — you only earn when an advertiser’s relevant ad actually shows on your site, and Google takes its cut. But as a relative measure, CPC tells you exactly how much money each keyword is “worth” in the ad market.

3. Sort by CPC and the money keywords surface

Using “coloring pages” as the seed: set KD below 29, then sort the list by CPC descending. The standout was “squarespace change page background color” at USD 17.1 — about three times the runner-up at USD 5.47. Why so high? Squarespace is a website-building platform that charges users directly (reportedly tens of millions in monthly traffic), so it can afford to bid aggressively on Google ads. High CPC usually signals a niche that sits close to money and can charge users directly.

4. Then correct for CPC’s blind spots

Two honest corrections before you get excited. First, CPC is Semrush’s estimate — the advertiser may not actually be bidding on that exact keyword. Second, that USD 17.1 keyword is barely related to the “coloring pages” seed, and its monthly volume is only 20 — far too small to build a site around. So the practical filter recipe becomes three conditions together: KD below 29, sorted by CPC descending, plus a volume floor (600 in the example). What survives is a list of keywords with real volume and genuinely valuable clicks — and that list can directly guide what your site should build next.

5. The one-line version

Whether a small keyword is worth doing = search volume x keyword value (CPC) x difficulty. Small is fine when the CPC is fat.

Series: Overseas Website Building