Arva Assistant, Keyword research and the AI connector prioritize phrases for the area named in your query. Without one, they use your saved business-profile areas, then your local-business service areas. Keep named areas in the business profile separated by semicolons or new lines. Broader researched phrases follow local matches.
Existing local phrases can come from the website's stored Search Console queries or indexable page titles and headings. These use no extra research lookup. Their source is labelled. If fresh metrics for that exact phrase are already cached in the selected country, they are reused; otherwise volume, difficulty and CPC stay unknown. A broad phrase's volume is never copied onto a local phrase. Search Console impressions are not keyword search volumes.
The volume column names the actual market: US-wide volume means estimated monthly searches across the United States, not Bergen County alone. Other countries are labelled the same way. A dash or Unknown is missing data, not zero demand. If there are no known local phrases, only broader matches may be available. Review intent and service area before saving; word matches do not confirm an opportunity.
The full fresh or cached research response is checked against your topic and saved website words before display limits. A new research search can use one lookup even if all its results are filtered out. The result shows actual usage. Only genuinely empty Suggestions or Related research tries Ideas automatically; adding existing local phrases starts no extra paid search or AI work.
Check volume and difficulty for selected phrases
In Keyword research or an Arva Assistant keyword card, select the unchecked phrases and choose Check volume & difficulty. The existing dialog shows the selected country, the phrases, recent free cached results, the maximum number of Keyword volume & difficulty data checks and what remains, including top-ups. Choose Confirm check only after reviewing that cost. This is a different allowance from keyword research lookups; no AI credits are used.
Only exact selected phrases without fresh data are requested. Recent metrics are reused for 30 days and no-data results for seven days. Only phrases with returned data count. A failed provider request releases the reservation. A repeated completed check uses cached data; an expired preview or increased cost needs a new preview. Select fewer phrases if the maximum exceeds what remains.
The figures are country-wide: US-wide volume describes the exact phrase across the United States, not a county-only estimate. A dash, Unknown or Volume and difficulty unavailable means missing data, not zero demand. Checking does not save, map or track keywords, start another research search or change an old stored Assistant card. Save the keywords separately if you want them in your list.
Connected assistants use check_keyword_metrics to preview the same cost first, then check with that preview only after your approval. The preview is tied to your account and website and expires after 15 minutes.
When asking Arva Assistant which page should target a keyword, paste the exact saved phrase, including punctuation. Arva reads stored metrics and matches whole words in your latest crawled page titles, headings and addresses without another lookup. Matches are candidates, not verified search intent. Crowded questions can leave out optional samples and summaries; if the facts still cannot fit, Arva asks for a shorter question before calling AI. Your saved work stays unchanged.
Asking Arva Assistant what to fix first brings in the first finding from your saved audit work order, with its explanation and your platform’s steps. A question opened from a particular finding keeps that finding instead. This only explains the saved evidence; it does not run a new audit or change your website. Keyword volumes cover the selected country even when figures are unavailable; unknown figures stay unknown. An unavailable metric was checked but returned no figures. Exact metric checks use keyword-data allowance; research lookups find ideas. Check the allowance preview before requesting new data. Keyword research waits for the website’s country settings before a search can start. Content briefs use your business or product name, not the assistant platform’s name.
Saved areas can be separated by semicolons or new lines, or written as a comma list such as Austin, Dallas, Houston. A town with its state, such as Austin, TX, stays one area. Saved areas apply only when you research the website’s own country.
Run a search
- Open a website and choose Keyword research in its menu, under Plan & track.
- Choose Keyword research at the top of the page, next to Saved keywords, Search Console queries and Rank tracking.
- Type a Seed keyword, a starting phrase such as "dental implants".
- Check the Country. It starts at the website's own country, marked "(this website)".
- Pick a Research type:
- Suggestions: searches that contain your keyword.
- Related: what people also search for around it.
- Ideas: other keywords on the same topic.
- Choose Find keywords.
Read and save the results
In the Arva SEO Chrome extension, choose Sign in to Arva SEO, sign in through the secure app window and approve the connection. Back in the panel, choose a website. A paid workspace plan unlocks keyword research there; free local page checks need no account. Suggest topics from this website reads saved website evidence without a paid lookup. Edit the topic and choose Research keywords to use the same workspace research allowance and relevance checks as the app. Results include estimated monthly searches and difficulty for the website country. Refresh plan after changing a subscription. Disconnect removes this browser connection; it expires after 12 hours. You can also remove it any time under Your account, Connected apps. Closing Chrome also clears the locally stored connection. Signing up alone does not unlock paid research.
Service-area matches are listed first, with country-wide volume (for example US-wide volume) (searches a month), KD (keyword difficulty), CPC (what advertisers pay per click) and Intent. Tick the keywords worth going after and choose Save … selected (the button counts what you ticked). They then appear under Saved keywords, where you can group them, give each one a page in Keyword map and track its Google position in Rank tracking. If you researched another country, the keywords you save get their volume and difficulty for the website's own country.
When a search finds nothing
Long, specific phrases often find nothing in Suggestions, because it only lists searches that contain every word of your keyword. Related lists what Google shows as related searches for that exact keyword, which is often nothing for a rarely searched one. Ideas matches by topic, so it usually finds keywords when the other two don't.
- Ideas is searched for you. When Suggestions or Related finds nothing, Arva SEO searches Ideas for the same keyword and country, switches the Research type to Ideas and says so above the results, for example: "No searches contain all of “garage door seo agency”, so here are keywords on the same topic (Ideas)." If Ideas finds nothing either, the page says so.
- Shorter keywords are offered. When Suggestions finds fewer than 5 keywords for a phrase of three or more words, up to 3 shorter versions appear as buttons, made only by dropping words (for example "garage door seo" and "garage door" from "garage door seo agency"). Choose one to search it.
How lookups are counted
- Each new search uses one research lookup from your plan's monthly allowance, however many keywords it returns. Keyword research lookups, under the search, shows how many you've used. This is separate from Keyword volume & difficulty data, which counts new keyword metrics. Both meters use the same workspace allowances shown in Plan & billing.
- Repeating a search from the last 30 days is free: the results say "from a search in the last 30 days (no lookup used)".
- A search with no results uses no lookup. The same empty search is remembered for 7 days, so a keyword that starts getting searches shows up soon.
- The Ideas search that follows an empty Suggestions or Related search is one more search: it uses a lookup only if it finds keywords, and is free when the same Ideas search ran in the last 30 days. With no lookups left it isn't run, and the page shows how to get more.
- A shorter keyword you choose is a new search, counted like any other.
- When the month's lookups run out, the page shows how to get more.
- Viewers can see saved keywords but can't run research.
From your AI assistant
With Arva SEO connected to Claude or ChatGPT, ask it for keyword ideas for a website. It runs the same search and uses the same lookups, and can save the keywords you choose. When Suggestions or Related finds nothing, it searches Ideas for the same keyword and tells you it did, and it lists shorter keywords to try when Suggestions finds little.