Well, less that we are looking for the wrong things, and more that I think we arent looking for all the right things. I see a focus on habitable zones and liquid water for instance, and those certainly seem like critical components for life to exist. But that is not by far the only anomaly in our solar system.

I'll try to be as clear as possible because people here actually work in the science. Some of what I say might be easily debunked by something in the community Im unaware of. Im actually excited about the prospect. But also, people here might actually see value in what Im saying, and possess the tools necessary to implement it.

It seems to me that almost just as important as liquid water would be the presence of a magnetosphere. Without one, the planet cannot protect against cosmic rays which shred DNA before life can proliferate. But in our solar system there are two planets with magnetospheres: Earth and Jupiter. I hypothesize that the existence of a large gas giant with a magnetosphere on the outer part of a system would be much more likely exist in a system that can sustain life. Or at least another terrestrial planet with an iron core. The problem here is I dont think magnetics are easy to detect at these distances. At the same time: gas giants are easier to detect than small terrestrial worlds.

We also know that Iron is a critical component to life, and that iron is formed in certain stages of star development and death. Our solar system exists in a "stellar nursery" where older stars have died leaving iron to be plentiful in the local matter. We should look primarily in similar places if we want to find life

I dont think the presence of the asteroid belt is incidental. It's possible that this is evidence of some event which malformed a planet, planetary destruction, or a result of Jupiter's magnetic influence, (or any of dozens of possibilities). Anything which could cause it could also be integral to life developing.

Tldr: I know science is about eliminating as many variables as possible, but I think we should be looking for more than just planets with water in the habitable zone. We should be looking for whole systems which resemble our own.