Keyword research and implementation must be the single most common SEO mistake. Expert SEOs still use keyword research tools that don’t aid in the development of a holistic content marketing strategy. For instance, I see that the Google Keyword Planner is still widely used for conducting the bulk of keyword research, with its three-tiered reference points for competition (high, medium, and low). When you consider how important link development is to rank, these criteria are just insufficient for planning a content marketing strategy around. Opportunities for higher rankings may be found through keyword research if a plan is developed that is in line with your website’s capability of ranking for such keywords.
To get the most out of your time and SEO efforts, we shouldn’t waste them on high-volume keywords or topics, but rather focus on those for which we have a legitimate shot at ranking. What if there was a way to ensure that the content you wrote will truly rank with minimal to no further link-building on your part? Is there a method that relies solely on extremely scientific keyword research to uncover subjects, sub-topics, and long-tail phrases that may be utilised to construct effective content marketing strategies and bring many visitors to the material you produce?
How to Find Keywords with High Traffic and Low Competition
Now that we know why it is so crucial to locate keywords with low competition, we can examine three of the best methods I use to do it.
Keep in mind that there is no universally accepted definition of “high-volume keywords.” You may notice that some of the topics you’re researching receive thousands of monthly searches, while others receive only hundreds. It’s essential to bear in mind that the subject and keyword we’re aiming for may attract a lot of infrequently-searched-for visitors; as a result, we’ll be diving into using this information to put together whole themes.
Search Engine Results Page (SERP) Reverse Engineering
You might approach keyword research with a specific topic in mind, or you can browse your rivals’ websites for inspiration. As for the former, that’s where we’re starting with this initial method. Using the Ahrefs Chrome addon, which provides statistics on DR, Referring Domains, & Keywords a URL ranks for, we saw that large brands like as Bankrate dominated the search engine results page (SERP) for general trust-related questions like “What is a trust?”
The Specificity of Keyword Software for Marketing
The use of data-filtering tools is another effective strategy for locating high-volume keywords with low competition. We may use the excellent filters provided by the Ahrefs Material explorer to zero in on low-hanging fruit content. To get going, just do a quick keyword search. Such as the term “garbage bag.” Now, all of the pages in the index that make use of your desired term will be shown. In this example, I’d like to eliminate almost 14,000 pages from the index. There are many options and filters available, but experimenting with the tool is half the pleasure. The first step is to eliminate the low-performing pages. To begin, I’ll restrict our view to just those pages that have achieved a ranking for more than 500 keywords in organic search results by selecting “From 500” as the filter. You can adjust your level of aggression in response to the outcomes.
Keyword Research Using Competitors’ HV/LCK Data
Finding keywords and blog topics used by rivals is among my favourite Holy Grail SEO tactics. Sites with high DR nevertheless have the potential to rank well for low-competition, high-volume keywords. In addition, as we saw with the Castle Wealth Management example, a well-written low-competition keyword target may win over sites with high DR.
Let’s continue with the financial illustration for now. Niche sites, industry sites, and broad news outlets like CNN all compete for users in this space. If I want to locate some high-traffic themes to write about, I’ll check out NerdWallet, one of the most popular financial advice sites. To analyse it, I load it into Ahrefs Site Explorer. There is a filter for Keyword Difficulty and a list of “Top pages,” or URLs that the programme informs me to rank for a large number of keywords.
