How to Find Low Competitive Keywords & Actually Rank Faster

Alright, let's talk about finding low-competition keywords. Think of it like this: you're trying to find a side door into Google's exclusive party. Instead of getting in line with all the huge, authority websites, you’re looking for the search terms real people are using that the big guys have totally overlooked. This is how you start winning battles you can actually win, racking up traffic and authority with achievable goals first.

Why Low-Competition Keywords Are Your Secret Weapon

Let’s be real. You’ve probably heard "content is king" a million times. But what good is a killer article if it’s buried on page 10 of Google where no one will ever see it? This is where so many SEO strategies just fall flat. It's way too easy to get obsessed with some huge-volume keyword like "best marketing software," only to get crickets for all your hard work.

We're not going to do that.

Going after low-competition keywords isn't some beginner tactic; it's the smartest damn way to build momentum and pull in traffic that actually converts. Instead of trying to hit one impossible lottery jackpot, you're stacking up dozens of smaller, almost guaranteed wins.

A Smarter Way to Build Momentum

Every single time you rank for one of these less competitive keywords, you're sending a little love note to Google. You're basically telling the algorithm, "Hey, this site? It knows what it's talking about." These small victories stack up, creating a snowball effect over time.

Here's the secret sauce: targeting low-competition keywords gives your brand-new content a realistic shot at hitting Google's first page. This means you start getting traffic way sooner than you would by trying to go toe-to-toe with the Goliaths of your industry.

This whole approach is about playing smarter, not just grinding harder. You’re laying down a solid foundation of early wins that makes it way easier to rank for the tougher keywords later on. It’s a strategic stepping stone, not a compromise.

For example, a lot of SEO pros I know will tell you that focusing on keywords with a difficulty score under 30 can get a new site seeing real results in a few months, not years. That’s a total game-changer when you're fighting an uphill battle. You can dive deeper into this idea by finding keywords you can actually rank for on ProductiveBlogging.com.

The Reason This Strategy Is So Damn Effective

So why does this work so well for building real, lasting traffic? It all boils down to a few simple truths.

• You're up against way less resistance. You aren’t trying to outrank marketing behemoths like Forbes or HubSpot. A lot of the time, you're competing against random forums, blog posts from 2017, or sites with seriously weak content.
• You get super-targeted traffic. Low-competition keywords are usually way more specific. Think "best noise-cancelling headphones for an open office" instead of just "best headphones." That person is deep in the buying cycle, which means better conversion rates for you.
• You build topical authority faster. By ranking for a bunch of related, low-competition terms, you quickly prove to Google that your site is the go-to expert on that specific niche.

When you add it all up, these smaller victories create a way bigger impact—more traffic, more authority—than chasing some vanity keyword you’ll probably never rank for anyway. It’s all about building a solid base that can grow and grow.

Brainstorming Keywords Before You Touch Any Tools

Let me let you in on a little secret: the absolute best keyword ideas don’t come from a tool. They come from your brain and, more importantly, from the mouths of your customers. Before you even think about logging into Ahrefs or Semrush, you need to do the foundational work that 90% of people skip.

This is where you figure out what your audience is actually typing into Google. What are their 2 AM, can’t-sleep-because-of-this-problem searches? What slang or jargon do they use? Getting this right is what separates content that hits page one from content that just vanishes.

When you start with this human-first approach, the tools become your validation engine, not a blind guess generator. You'll be testing smart, intent-driven ideas you already know matter to your people.

Create Your Seed List

First things first, you need a "seed list." These are the big-picture topics, the main pillars of your world. They aren't the final keywords you'll target, but the broad categories that everything else will sprout from.

Let's say you run a company that sells ergonomic office furniture. Your seed list might look something like this:

• Standing desks
• Ergonomic chairs
• Home office setup
• Workplace wellness

Don't overthink it. Just jot down five to ten core concepts that define what you do. These are your launchpads for digging much, much deeper.

This step grounds your whole strategy in what you actually do. And it’s worth the five minutes it takes. The data backs it up: 53% of all website traffic comes from organic search, and a smart SEO strategy can produce an insane ROI of up to 748%. If you want to geek out on the numbers, check out these SEO statistics from Keyword.com.

Mine Your Customer Conversations

Okay, this is where you'll find the real gold. Your customers are handing you perfect keyword ideas every single day, and you're probably not even noticing. This is how you find the exact phrases and pain points that a keyword tool could only dream of finding.

Your sales calls, support tickets, and customer reviews are a direct pipeline into the mind of your target audience. They are telling you, in their own words, what they need and what they’re searching for.

Think about the questions you get asked over and over. What problems are people trying to solve when they find you? Time to go digging in these places:

• Sales Calls: What objections always come up? For example, a prospect might say, "I need a way to manage my team's tasks without it being some super complicated system." Boom. That phrase is packed with keyword potential.
• Support Tickets: Go through your help desk history. Are people constantly asking, "how do I sync [your product] with Asana?" or "troubleshooting login problems"? These are high-intent, problem-solving keywords you can't afford to ignore.
• Customer Reviews & Surveys: Read every review—for your business and your competitors'. What do people love? What drives them nuts? Phrases like "wish it had better reporting features" or "the best solution for a small business" are awesome long-tail keyword starters.

After this, you'll have a raw, messy, and incredibly valuable list of real-world language. This list, combined with your seed topics, is the foundation for your entire research process and is a huge part of our own content optimization strategies. Now you’re ready to take these human insights and validate them with some hard data.

How to Ethically Spy on Your Competition

Let's talk about one of the smartest shortcuts in SEO. Why spend forever trying to reinvent the wheel when your competitors have already done most of the heavy lifting? It’s time to put on our ethical spy hats.

Forget just plugging a competitor's domain into a tool and calling it a day. That’s rookie stuff. We're going to dig way deeper to find the keywords they rank for almost by accident—these are the golden opportunities they aren't even paying full attention to.

This is a peek inside a tool like Ahrefs, where you can run a Content Gap analysis. It shows you exactly what keywords your competitors rank for that you don't, uncovering a goldmine of opportunities you've totally missed.

First, Find Your True SERP Competitors

Here's a quick reality check: your biggest business rival might not be your biggest SEO rival. You need to figure out who is actually showing up on the first page of Google for the terms you give a damn about. These are your SERP competitors.

Imagine you sell high-end, ergonomic office chairs. Another premium chair company is your direct business competitor, for sure. But when you Google “best chair for back pain,” you’ll probably find yourself up against a whole different crew:

• Health and wellness blogs
• Tech review sites
• Huge publications like Forbes or Wirecutter

These are the sites you need to be dissecting. They're the ones winning the traffic you want, even if they don't sell a single chair.

Uncovering the "Keyword Gaps"

Now for the fun part: finding keyword gaps. A keyword gap is when a competitor ranks for a valuable term, but their content isn't a perfect match for what the searcher really wants. Maybe they’re stuck on page two, or the keyword is just a footnote in a massive, unfocused article.

This is your low-hanging fruit. When a competitor ranks weakly for a keyword, it’s a flashing neon sign that Google is looking for better content on that topic, but it hasn't found it yet. Your job is to create that better content.

This exact strategy is one of the most reliable ways I know to uncover keywords you can actually rank for. Killer tools like Ahrefs, Semrush, or Surfer let you plug in a competitor’s URL and see every single keyword they get traffic from.

From there, you just need to filter the list. I usually look for keywords with a difficulty score below 30 and a decent search volume. This helps you pinpoint terms your competitors rank for but haven't really put any muscle into optimizing.

A Practical Workflow for Finding Their Weak Spots

Let's walk through a real-world example. Imagine you're launching a new project management tool specifically for small businesses.

1. Identify a SERP Competitor: You Google "best project management tool for freelancers" and notice a popular productivity blog ranks #8. The catch? Their article is a generic listicle from two years ago. This blog is your target.

2. Analyze Their Keywords: Take that blog's URL and pop it into a tool like Ahrefs' Site Explorer. Go straight to the "Organic Keywords" report.

3. Filter for Easy Wins: Now, it's time to slice and dice. Apply these filters:

   • Position: 11-20 (this uncovers what they're almost ranking for on page two).
   • Keyword Difficulty (KD): Under 25 (this keeps us squarely in the low-competition zone).
   • Volume: Over 200 (this makes sure the topic is actually worth your time).

The list you get back is pure gold. You might discover they rank #14 for "how to track billable hours for clients." A quick peek at their article reveals it only mentions this in passing.

That's your opening.

You can now create the definitive, most helpful guide specifically about tracking billable hours. Since you already know a weaker piece of content is sniffing page one, your focused, superior article has a fantastic shot at outranking it, and fast. This method turns simple competitor research into a strategic weapon. And if you want to keep tabs on these movements automatically, our guide on competitor rank tracking can show you how.

Digging for Keyword Gold Right Inside Google

Let's get one thing straight: the most powerful keyword research tool on the planet isn't some fancy, expensive software. It’s Google itself. And it's 100% free. This is where you roll up your sleeves and find the opportunities everyone else is too lazy to look for.

Most people see Google's search features as simple conveniences. For us, they're a direct line into the collective brain of our audience. These aren't just random suggestions; they are real-time, data-backed insights into what people are actually searching for, right now.

This diagram shows you the basic path from a spark of an idea to a validated keyword.

This visualizes how we can take a broad concept and systematically narrow it down to a low-competition keyword that’s ready to be targeted. Now, let’s get into the nitty-gritty of how Google can do the heavy lifting for us.

Before we bust out the credit card for paid tools, let's explore the powerful, free methods available right within Google. You can uncover a surprising number of low-competition keywords without spending a dime.

Your Free Keyword Discovery Toolkit

This table breaks down my go-to free methods. Think of this as your starter pack for unearthing hidden gems.

These simple, manual checks are your foundation. They give you a real-world pulse on what people are looking for, which is something no third-party tool can ever perfectly replicate.

How to Master Google Autocomplete

You use this feature every single day without even thinking about it. You start typing "best coffee maker…" and Google instantly suggests "…for cold brew" or "…under $100." That's not magic; it's a prediction based on what millions of other people have already searched.

This is your first stop for fantastic long-tail keywords.

Start by typing in one of your main seed keywords and just see what Google suggests. Get creative by adding question words like "how," "what," or "why." For example, typing "how to setup home office…" will give you a totally different set of ideas than just the core phrase.

The real prize here is finding the longer, more specific phrases. A term like "home office setup for small space" is pure gold. It points to a very specific problem, which means the person searching has crazy high intent.

How to Decode "People Also Ask" Boxes

The "People Also Ask" (PAA) box is an absolute goldmine. It's Google literally handing you a cheat sheet and saying, "Hey, smarty-pants, people who searched for this were also curious about these exact questions."

This is how you find keywords that are perfect for blog post subheadings or even entire articles. For example, a search for "how to choose a standing desk" might pop a PAA box with these questions:

• Is it worth getting a standing desk?
• What is the proper height for a standing desk?
• How long should you stand at a standing desk each day?
• Do standing desks help you lose weight?

Every single one of these is a keyword opportunity. The best part? When you click on one, the list often expands with even more related questions. It's not crazy to walk away with 5 to 10 solid content ideas from just one PAA box.

My Takeaway: The questions in PAA boxes are direct proof of user intent. If you can answer them clearly and directly in your content, you're sending a massive signal to Google that your page is a top-tier result.

How to Scour the Related Searches

Finally, once you've picked through the PAA box, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the SERP. You'll find the "Related Searches" section. Think of this as Google showing you the other trails people explore when they're on a research mission.

If your original search was "ergonomic chair," the related searches might look something like this:

• ergonomic chair for back pain
• best budget ergonomic office chair
• ergonomic chair vs gaming chair
• Herman Miller alternative

This area is awesome for finding commercially-focused keywords and comparison terms that are often way less competitive than the main topic. It helps you see the bigger picture and stumble upon related niches you never even thought of.

How to Know If You Can Actually Rank

Alright, you've done the homework. You've got a list of potential keywords that look solid, you’ve peeked at the competition, and you're feeling good. But here’s the million-dollar question: can you actually rank for any of them?

Finding a keyword is just step one. Knowing if you have a legit shot at hitting page one is where the real work—and the real magic—happens. Think of this as your final, critical reality check before you write a single word.

Ditch the Keyword Difficulty Score (Sort Of)

Every SEO tool, from Ahrefs to Semrush, has some version of a "Keyword Difficulty" (KD) or "SEO Difficulty" score. It’s that neat little number from 1 to 100 that’s supposed to tell you how tough it'll be to rank.

Here's my hot take: that number is a great starting point, but it's a terrible finishing point.

Relying only on a KD score is like trying to pick a winning sports team by looking at just one player's stats. It gives you a piece of the puzzle, but it absolutely does not show you the whole picture. The real truth is hiding in plain sight on the first page of Google, and that's where we need to look.

Become a SERP Detective

This is, without a doubt, my favorite part of the whole process. Grab one of your most promising keywords, pop it into a Google incognito window, and let's go hunting. What we're looking for are signs of weakness—cracks in the armor of the pages currently holding those top spots.

Who is actually on page one? Is it a wall of household names like Wikipedia, Forbes, and a bunch of e-commerce giants? Or do you see a mix of smaller blogs, forum threads, and maybe a few articles that look like they haven't been updated since MySpace was cool? The answer tells you everything.

Your goal isn't just to find a keyword with a low difficulty score. Your goal is to find a SERP you can realistically break into. A KD of 15 doesn't mean squat if the entire first page is dominated by sites with a Domain Authority of 90+.

This manual check is what separates a truly low-competition keyword from a cleverly disguised trap. A smart SEO knows how to perform a keyword gap analysis not just with tools, but with their own eyes by looking at what’s already working for others—and what isn’t.

Green Flags: The SERP Is an Easy Target

As you scan the results, you're on the lookout for "green flags." These are clear signals that Google is actively searching for better content and that you have a fantastic opportunity to deliver it.

• User-Generated Content (UGC) is ranking high: See results from forums like Reddit or Quora in the top 10? This is a huge green light. It means Google can't find a definitive, high-quality article on the topic, so it's settling for community chatter. You can easily beat that.
• Low-Authority Sites are on page one: Are there other blogs or small business sites with a low Domain Authority (DA) or Domain Rating (DR) ranking? If a site with a DR of 25 is sitting on page one and yours is 30, you're in the game.
• Outdated or Thin Content: Click into the top-ranking articles. Is the content from 2019? Is it a short, 500-word piece that barely scratches the surface? That’s basically an open invitation from Google to create something better.
• Imperfect Title Match: Look closely at the page titles. Do they perfectly match the keyword you searched? If the top results are about a slightly different topic, you can swoop in with a hyper-focused article that perfectly nails the searcher's intent.

Spotting just two or three of these green flags for a keyword is a fantastic sign. You've likely struck gold.

Red Flags: The SERP Is a Fortress

On the flip side, some SERPs are just not worth the fight, no matter how juicy the search volume looks. These are the red flags telling you to walk away and pick a different battle.

• Dominated by Massive Authority Sites: If the first page is a solid wall of sites like Forbes, HubSpot, Wikipedia, Healthline, or major news outlets, just move on. You're not going to outrank them right now.
• SERP is full of E-commerce Giants: Searching for "best running shoes"? If you see Nike, Adidas, Amazon, and Zappos, that's a transactional SERP. Google knows people want to buy, not read a blog post. Unless you're a major retailer, you can't compete.
• Perfectly Optimized, High-Quality Content: Do all the top results feature long-form, in-depth articles that are beautifully formatted and perfectly answer the user's question? That's a sign of a mature, highly competitive SERP. It’s not impossible, but it’s definitely not "low-competition."

This manual validation might feel like extra work, but I promise it will save you hundreds of hours. It stops you from pouring your soul into content that never stood a chance. This is the final check that turns a good keyword idea into a strategic, traffic-driving plan.

Answering Your Top Keyword Questions

Alright, let's rapid-fire some of the questions that always pop up when you're deep in the keyword research trenches. Think of this as your personal FAQ to clear up any confusion and get you moving.

How Long Does It Take to Rank for a Low-Competition Keyword?

This is the big one, and the honest-to-goodness answer is: it depends. The good news? We're usually talking weeks or a few months, not years.

If you've done your homework and found a keyword where the search results are full of "green flags"—like forums, Quora, and outdated blogs—you can sometimes see movement in as little as 30-60 days. The main factors are your site's existing authority and how fast Google indexes your new content. But the whole point of this strategy is to snag those quicker wins and build that sweet, sweet momentum.

What Is a Good Search Volume to Aim For?

This is a classic question, but there’s no magic number. A "good" search volume is totally relative to your niche. For a super-specialized B2B blog, a keyword with 100-200 monthly searches can be pure gold, especially if the intent to buy is sky-high.

Don't get fixated on huge numbers. It's far better to be #1 for a keyword getting 150 searches a month than to be on page five for a term with 50,000 searches. One gets you actual clicks and business; the other gets you zilch.

My advice? Don't automatically write off a keyword because a tool says the volume is low. These tools are notoriously bad at estimating the total traffic a page can get from all the related secondary keywords it will naturally rank for.

A page optimized for one primary keyword almost always ends up ranking for dozens of long-tail variations. For example, your article on "best office chair for short person" might also start pulling in traffic for "ergonomic chair for petite user" or "what to look for in a chair if you are short." All those little streams add up to a river of traffic.

How Many Keywords Should I Target Per Page?

Let's clear this up right now: focus on one primary keyword per page. That's it. Your article needs a single, clear focus to have the best shot at ranking.

But that doesn't mean you ignore all the other great related terms you found. You strategically weave in relevant secondary keywords and long-tail phrases throughout your content, especially in your subheadings (your H2s and H3s). This is how you build topical authority and cast a wider net.

For example, if your main target is "how to find low competitive keywords," you could sprinkle in secondary terms like:

• "easiest keywords to rank for"
• "serp analysis for keyword difficulty"
• "find keywords my competitors miss"

Nailing this helps Google understand the full context and depth of your page. Plus, when you start getting clicks from these related terms, that higher click-through rate signals to Google that your page is a fantastic result, which can boost your rankings across the board. If you want to get better at this, check out our guide on how to improve click-through rates. It’s a critical piece of the puzzle that too many people ignore.

Ready to stop guessing and start ranking? Audit Raven connects to your Google Analytics and Search Console to show you exactly which pages are bleeding traffic and what content gaps are costing you rankings. Get a clear, AI-powered roadmap to higher rankings at https://auditraven.com/.