Search engine optimization (SEO) has become much more competitive over the last decade, and the bar has risen, especially for new websites just starting.
If you are just starting out, it often makes sense to focus on low-competition keywords or keywords that will be easier to rank on the first page of search results.
A keyword is simply the words that a searcher enters into a search engine like Google to find answers to their questions. Competition, often described as keyword difficulty, is typically expressed as a number, and it attempts to quantify how hard it will be to appear highly for a given keyword.
Low-competition keywords generally get fewer searches but can still be very valuable if, for example, we are targeting very specific long-tail keywords with high purchase intent.
What is a Low Competition Keyword?
A low-competition keyword is one that fewer websites are competing for. Today, the websites competing for it likely have lower domain authority and page authority.
In SEO, you’ll often hear about keyword difficulty, a metric created by keyword research tools to quantify a keyword's competitiveness.
While the exact calculations vary from tool to tool, keyword difficulty is generally calculated by looking at the domain authority and page authority (the number of backlinks) of the websites currently ranking for a keyword.
Depending on your SEO tool, keyword difficulty or competition metrics will vary but are usually pretty similar. Most tools scale keyword difficulty from 0 to 100, with 100 being the most difficult keyword imaginable.
In my experience, a keyword difficulty score of less than 40 would be a very easy or low-competition keyword, and even a score below 65 would mean the keyword is relatively gettable. Anything above 65, I would classify as a higher-competition keyword.
What is kind of crazy is that “low competition keywords” is actually, well, a low competition keyword in and of itself:
In other words, a low-competition keyword is one where the existing search results do not have a substantial number of backlinks pointing to their web pages and/or to their domain as a whole. Again, the exact logic depends on which tool you are using, such as Positional, Ahrefs, or Semrush.
How to Find Low-Competition Keywords
There are several different approaches to finding low-competition keywords, some obvious ones, and a few strategies you might not have considered yet.
Filter within a Keyword Research Tool
If you’ve got a keyword research tool like Positional, Ahrefs, or Semrush, the filtering capabilities within these tools make it easy to find keywords that have less competition.
For example, in Positional’s Keyword Research toolset, you can filter on Competition, our metric for quantifying the competitiveness of a keyword:
In the example above, I started my keyword research process with a very broad keyword and then filtered down the keyword ideas or related keywords, using a filter to only show me keywords with a competition score below 40.
Tools like Ahrefs offer similar functionality, as seen below:
When starting your keyword research process, my general advice is to start very broadly within your topic space using short one- to three-word seed phrases. Then, allow the keyword research tool you are using to return related or similar keywords that include your seed phrase. Then, apply some filters on keyword difficulty or competition to narrow down your list of keywords to a smaller list of easier-to-get keywords.
Look at the Keywords Your Competitors Rank For
Whenever I start a keyword research process for a new website, the first place I typically look for keyword ideas is my competitors. And when I say competitors, I don’t just mean your direct business competitors but also indirect competitors who might be trying to reach a similar audience and that we compete against in search results.
For example, at Positional, we compete against companies like Ahrefs. And if I’m ever looking for keyword ideas, one of the first things I’ll do is pop Ahrefs’ website into our Keyword Tracking toolset to see what keywords they are ranking for:
You can then add a filter to show only low-competition keywords, as I’ve done above. Moreover, I’ve also sorted this list by traffic to prioritize the low-competition keywords, driving meaningful traffic back to Ahrefs’ website.
Another approach would be to do a keyword gap analysis, which is more of a shotgun-style approach to finding missing keywords you could attack.
For example, using Positional’s Competitor Research toolset, I can quickly view all of the keywords that Ahrefs ranks for that we don’t. One of my favorite filters to add to this toolset is a filter on competition, less than 40, and also a keyword on position less than 11:
I like this filter because it provides a list of easy keywords that my competitor is ranking well for and that I’m not currently ranking for. In other words, these keywords are low-hanging fruit.
Use Autocomplete Keywords
Have you ever been Googling, and that next word appeared for you?
For example, if I type “best gifts,” Google then suggests ten different search queries back to me:
These are called autocomplete keywords and can be a great source of inspiration. Autocomplete keywords are typically a little more long-tail or specific and are often lower competition, too.
For example, the keyword “best gifts” is actually pretty difficult, with a score of 77, but when you look at the autocomplete keywords, things actually get quite a bit easier:
Keywords like “best gifts for 2 year olds” and “best gifts for girlfriend” have low competition, with competition scores of 12 and 34, respectively.
Look at Related Searches
It might be old school, but don’t sleep on related searches.
At the bottom of the search engine results page (SERP), Google displays keywords that people also search for:
These are often somewhat similar to the autocomplete keywords, but you will notice some differences. I’ve found that these related keywords that people also search for are usually a little bit easier to rank for or more specific than what might be a head term or a broad phrase.
Checkout People Also Ask
You might have seen Google’s People Also Ask (PAA) SERP feature:
PAA boxes attempt to address more specific and close questions to the query they’ve searched.
Optimizing for PAA boxes within your content pieces is always a good idea. But you can also use these PAA boxes to inspire you about what long-tail keywords might exist within your topic space.
Often, these PAA boxes suggest keywords or topics with zero or low search volume, which means that, given their specificity, they won’t always drive that much traffic. Still, they are typically fairly easy to rank for if you address them head-on with specific content.
Find Opportunities in GSC
It is kind of a hack, but you can use Google Search Console (GSC) to find keywords that your pages currently rank for, albeit not that well. These keywords might be extremely long-tail or low-competition
In GSC, using the Performance > Search results tab, you can filter to see the search queries or keywords your website ranks for. You can also see which search queries might be driving a lot of impressions, but very few clicks.
The trick is to try to identify search queries for which your website is currently ranking but for which you don’t actually have a webpage created to serve. In other words, one of your other webpages is ranking for a keyword, but not that well, and your existing website isn’t optimized for that keyword today.
For example, our website is ranking for the keyword “canonicalization seo,” but we don’t actually have a webpage dedicated to ranking for this keyword today:
Google wants to rank something from our website for this phrase, but we need to give Google something more dedicated to this specific keyword.
In this case, “canonicalization seo” is a relatively easy keyword, and we could rank for it quickly with a dedicated webpage:
Use Other Platforms for Inspiration
These days, folks are using many platforms beyond Google to discover information online and get answers to their questions, including platforms like TikTok, Reddit, and Quora.
According to Adobe, 40% of Americans use TikTok as a search engine. And platforms like Reddit have soared in popularity over the last few years.
You can use these platforms for inspiration and keyword research. For example, Aakash Shah of Wyndly, walked us through his process for using TikTok for keyword research on the Optimize podcast.
In short, Aakash and his team create a lot of video content for TikTok, and when they see a video do well on that platform, they then go and create a blog post on the same topic for their blog, regardless of what a keyword research toolset might say in terms of search volume.
These platforms are great for discovering new keywords that might not register within a keyword research toolset today. As a result, these new and emerging keywords are often much lower competition as they are missed by other SEOs simply using a keyword research toolset.
Should We Ignore Higher Competition Keywords?
A question that I always get asked is: should we simply ignore higher competition keywords?
It depends, like most things in SEO.
If you are just getting started with SEO, I think reserving some budget and capacity for targeting higher-competition keywords is OK. These keywords are typically very evergreen and might be important from a topical authority point of view. I’ve found that if you create really unique and helpful content, it is possible to break through the competition and actually rank.
For example, the keyword “guest blogging” is a really competitive search term:
But we’ve been able to break through and actually ranked really well for this keyword, despite our website having a very low domain authority today:
We were able to get to the first page of the search because the content we created was incredibly unique, based on my personal experience, and offered unique value when compared to the other top-ranking search results.
If your website is a little further along and you’ve already got strong topical and domain authority, laying in webpages targeting higher competition makes complete sense. I wouldn’t fear a keyword just because it is higher competition. You just need to go into it with the expectation that it will take longer to rank, the bar for content quality is a lot higher, and you might need to build some backlinks to it.
Tools to Use
We’ve mentioned a handful of tools throughout this article. Just to recap, you can use these tools to find low-competition keywords:
- Positional: An all-in-one SEO tool that includes a number of tools for keyword research.
- Semrush: The most popular SEO tool on the market. It provides a lot of functionality. (https://www.semrush.com/)
- Ahrefs: Arguably the most popular tool for keyword research. (https://ahrefs.com/)
- AlsoAsked: A point solution tool dedicated to finding and analyzing People Also Ask questions. (https://alsoasked.com/)
- Google’s Keyword Planner: A free tool provided by Google, although fairly limited, depending on how granular you want to get with long-tail keywords. (https://ads.google.com/intl/en_us/home/tools/keyword-planner/)
Final Thoughts
Low-competition keywords can be a great place to start if you are just getting started with SEO.
There are lots of ways to find these keywords, including using a keyword research tool and filtering down using keyword difficulty metrics to uncover less competitive phrases. And don’t be afraid to get a little creative in your search. SERP features like PAA can provide unique long-tail keyword ideas, and other platforms like TikTok can be used for inspiration to find new and emerging keywords that aren’t that competitive just yet.
As your website grows and you build topical and domain authority, you can attack more competitive keywords and rank for them over time.
