Jay | Last Updated: 2022-05-18T05:20:20 Finding the right keyword for your content is one of the most important aspects of search engine optimization.
If you get keyword research wrong, your whole SEO effort may be futile. This article provides a step-by-step guide to finding low-competitive, high-value keywords.
What are High Value, Low Competition Keywords?
Low competition keywords as the name suggests are keywords that have less competition for them from marketers, bloggers, and other users who want to use the keyword for their content. What this implies is that these keywords have a low difficulty level as very few people are using them for their content and as such, will be easy to rank for.
Low competitions and high-value keywords on the other hand are keywords that are not only easy to rank for but have a relatively high monthly search volume and are relevant to your target audience.
- High Monthly Search Volume: How many people are searching on Google with this keyword each month? This will determine the volume of traffic you’ll get if you ranked for a specific keyword.
- Relevant: Not all low-volume keywords are the same, the keyword you choose must be relevant to help you reach your target audience.
Why Do You Need Low Competition Keywords?
Low-competition keywords may be all you need for your marketing strategy for some sites. For others, these keywords are only the start and can help you build the foundation you need to break into a more competitive market.
Here are some reasons to use low competition keywords:
• They are considerably easier to rank for than keywords with high competition.
• Ranking for low competition keywords helps you generate traffic and potential conversions.
• They serve as a foundation upon which you can build as you progress to more competitive keywords.
• Some low-competition keywords have enough traffic to generate successful conversions that you and your client may not have anticipated.
Who Should Use High Value, Low Competition Keywords?
• A new business.
• A company that has a new website.
• A website with a low or non-existent domain rating.
• Content for a fiercely competitive industry, etc.
How To Find Low Competition Keywords
Finding high value, low competition keywords can be broken into three steps.
1. Brainstorm keyword ideas.
2. Generate keywords
3. Keywords Analysis
Here’s what to consider when searching for high-value, low-competition keywords.
• How difficult is it to rank this keyword?
• Is the topic interesting to my target audience?
• What is the volume of searches?
• Does the search intent match my objectives?
Step 1. Brainstorm Keyword Ideas
Consider what your target audience could type into Google and write down your ideas. You don’t have to predict specific terms; simply make a list of broad ideas.
If you sell bicycles, for instance, your keywords could include bicycle, tire, bicycle repair, etc.
Don’t second-guess yourself. Simply jot down whatever comes to mind. Once you have 5-10 ideas, move on to step two.
Step 2. Generate keywords
Now that you have a list of potential keywords, you can use them as a base to get more keyword suggestions. Several tools allow you to do this, including the following.
1. Google Keyword Planner
Google Keywords Planner is a free keyword research tool you can use to get low competition keyword suggestions. Keyword planner also gives you an estimated search volume for each keyword, which allows you to know how many people are searching with that specific keyword from different locations around the world.
• To access Google Keyword Planner, you’ll need to create a Google Adwords account.
• Once you’re able to access the tool, you’ll find two options:
- Discover new keywords: which allows you to generate more related keywords from your brainstormed list
- Result and Volume forecast: this tells you the monthly search volume for specific keywords.
Copy all relevant keywords to your list.
2. Google’s Auto-Suggest Feature
Google Autosuggest is another excellent way to generate low competition keywords for your list.
To do this, type each keyword in your brainstormed list into the Google search box and see the suggestions you get. Add any relevant keyword you find to your list.
3. Google Related Searches
You can come up with even more innovative keyword ideas that’ll help you rank higher by looking at the Related Searches section on Google. To do this, type in a specific keyword or topic, and click search. Once you’ve gotten the search results, scroll down to the bottom of Google to see what else is relevant. These are keywords with low competition that don’t usually show up in Keyword Planner.
4. Google Search ‘People Also Ask.’
The People Also Ask section is another place to get low competition keyword ideas on Google. These questions are Google’s way of informing you that, indeed, there is a lot of interest in these topics.
All you need to do is to search for a specific keyword or topic and scroll down a little to the People Also Ask section. Keep clicking on relevant questions to see more ideas.
Add all relevant suggestions to your keyword list.
5. Use A Keyword Research Tool
There are several premium tools that simplify the keyword research process including Ahrefs, SEMrush, Buzzsumo, KeywordTool.io, and more. These tools allow you to easily generate keyword ideas and check the difficulty level for specific keywords.
• Input a term into the keyword research like Ahrefs’ Keywords Explorer. You’ll get keyword suggestions with monthly search volumes, difficulty level, and other SEO data.
• You can also use these tools to validate the search volume for the keywords you curated from Google Related searches and others.
Copy and save relevant keywords that are valuable to you.
Step 3: Analyze Keywords
Now you have a list of potentially high-value, low competition keywords, but don’t rush to create content yet. You may have to analyze each keyword to ensure they are actually not difficult to rank for and are also relevant to you.
Most keyword research tools including Ahrefs and SEMrush allow you to check this.
You can use the Ahrefs keyword difficulty checker.
Type in each keyword from your list, select the country you’re targeting, and click Check Keyword Difficulty.
The tool will show you the keyword difficulty, the websites ranking top for the keyword, the monthly traffic they get from searches, and more.
Here’s what each difficulty score means:
• 0-14: Very easy to rank for.
• 15-29: Easy to rank for.
• 30-49: Possible to rank for.
• 50-69: Difficult to rank for.
• 70-84: Hard to rank for.
• 85-100 = Very hard to rank for.
Check the difficulty of all the keywords to get your final list of high-value, low-competition keywords.