Searching for the right keywords to target can often feel like trying to find a needle in a haystack. With over 3.5 billion Google searches every single day, competition is fierce for high-traffic keywords in almost every industry.
But what if I told you there was low-hanging fruit just waiting to be picked?
These diamonds in the rough are known as low competition keywords – untapped keywords with tons of search volume just waiting for the right content to come along and start ranking.
In this article, we’ll look into everything you need to know about finding and leveraging these unsaturated keywords to win search engine real estate. Once you learn how to unleash the power of low hanging fruit keywords, you’ll be well on your way to SEO success and non-stop website traffic.
Key Takeaways:
- Low competition keywords balance decent search volume with low difficulty scores, offering easier SEO wins. Prioritize targeting them.
- Build a process for continuous discovery using tools like AHREFS, SEMrush, and Google Keyword Planner.
- Create content specifically designed to outrank existing results by offering more depth and insight.
- Tactically optimize pages on-site for SEO with title tags, meta descriptions, image alt text, etc.
- Construct an editorial calendar focused exclusively around low-hanging fruit keywords in your space.
- Monitor keyword performance over time, pivoting strategies if needed based on ranking changes and traffic lift.
- Expand your approach with advanced techniques like long tail variations, guest posting, and link building to compound authority.
- Avoid common pitfalls like over-optimizing content or choosing the wrong keywords altogether.
Understanding Low Competition Keywords
Before we get into keyword research tactics, let’s level-set: what exactly makes a keyword “low competition”?
What Constitutes a Low Competition Keyword?
There are a few factors that characterize a low competition keyword:
- Low search volume – While these keywords do have decent search volume, it’s not in the millions. Expect hundreds or low thousands of monthly searches.
- Low difficulty score – Keyword research tools assign a “difficulty” score based on factors like existing keyword density and domain authority of currently ranking pages. Low competition keywords have easier scores.
- Low number of ranking domains – If there are only 1-2 domains ranking on page one for a given keyword, it signals far less competition. Compare that to 20+ domains for something more popular.
In other words – low hanging fruit keywords slip under the radar with less websites targeting them, allowing you to swoop in and claim that search traffic more easily.
Examples Across Industries
What do these mystical creatures look like in the wild? Here are some examples of low competition keyword opportunities across 3 different industries:
Home Services:
- “gutter installation pricing”
- “how much does it cost to install gutters”
- “new gutter installation cost calculator”
Finance:
- “401k contribution calculator excel”
- “solo 401k contribution limits”
- “max allowable 401k contribution”
Software:
- “slack vs teams features comparison”
- “which is better slack or teams”
- “free slack alternative for small business”
As you can see, these keywords are specific, informational, and focus on answering common user questions. Now let’s talk about why you should be targeting them.
The Importance of Low Competition Keywords for SEO
Ranking for these under-the-radar keywords might seem like small wins compared to fighting for highly competitive search terms. But over time, they add up to huge returns that compound your overall SEO growth.
Why Every Website Should Leverage Them
Low competition keywords are valuable for websites both new and old. Here’s why:
Benefits for New Websites
Targeting less competitive keywords can help kickstart your SEO strategy. Since you’ll be going up against fewer established sites, it’s easier to start ranking within the first few months. This influx of organic traffic will signal to Google that your site provides value, catalyzing overall growth.
Benefits for Established Sites
But it’s not just new sites that can unleash low hanging fruit keywords. Established sites should also be tapping into these opportunities as part of an ongoing content expansion and traffic growth strategy. Keep building authority around your core topics while layering in related low competition keywords for compounding wins.
The Concrete Impact
Optimizing for these keywords delivers results you can actually measure:
- More organic traffic – Each new keyword drives a new stream of qualified visitors. This adds up fast.
- Faster page #1 rankings – Less competition means you can crack the top results in just a few months rather than years.
- Improved SEO health – Search engines reward sites that rapidly expand their keyword footprint with better overall rankings.
Let’s move on to the fun part – actually finding these hidden gems.
How to Identify Low-Hanging Fruit Keywords
Keyword research is part art, part science. Thankfully there are some amazing tools out there that will do a lot of the heavy lifting around identifying low competition opportunities.
Tools to Discover Keyword Goldmines
My top 3 favorite keyword research platforms are:
AHREFS offers one of the most powerful keyword research tools available today. I lean on it heavily for discovery and competitive analysis. Filter by low search volume and difficulty to uncover hidden gems.
Similarly robust capabilities, with some unique data points around PLA opportunities and local keyword demand. Use the keyword difficulty filter for low competition identification.
Google’s free internal tool gives great insight into exact monthly search volumes. Though lacking in some competitive metrics, it’s still invaluable for validating opportunities.
Between these 3 platforms, you’ll have all the data needed to assess keyword potential.
Analyzing Viability and ROI
The process I use for evaluating keywords is:
- Cross-reference data between tools to validate search volume and competition scores.
- Estimate Cost Per Click (CPC) using Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush to determine potential ad revenue.
- Calculate potential organic traffic value by taking estimated CPC x monthly searches. Higher is better.
For example, the home services keyword “new gutter installation cost calculator” shows 700 monthly searches across tools. The avg. CPC is $2. That’s $1,400 in value per month. For a relatively easy-to-rank keyword, the ROI here makes it a great low hanging fruit candidate.
Rinse and repeat this evaluation process, and you’ll have a prioritized list of keywords faster than you can say SEO.
Now comes the execution. Let’s get into strategies for actually targeting these words to win rankings.
Crafting Content to Dominate Low Competition Keywords
You discovered a handful of prime keyword targets with decent volume. Traffic riches, here you come!
Creating content designed specifically to capture those terms takes some strategic planning. You need to nail both relevance and optimization.
Cornerstones for Creating Rank-Worthy Content
When crafting content, there are 3 cornerstones I focus on to outrank any existing pages:
1. Truly Answer the User’s Query
Don’t just cram an exact keyword match into some barely relevant article. Actually provide useful information that fully answers the underlying question and intent.
2. Optimize SEO Elements Without Overdoing It
Find a healthy balance between natural phrasing and strategic placement of your targets in places like H2s, image alt text, meta descriptions, and the post URL.
3. Engaging Readability and Depth
At least hit 1,500+ words of real value-add. Include visuals, lots of headers, and a scannable format. This quality and depth shows search engines you know your stuff.
Check all 3 boxes above, and you’ll have no problem outranking existing lightweight results to snag that featured snippet.
The Power of Cornering Your Market
Let’s say you run an ecommerce store selling smart home products. One of your low competition targets is “best wifi light switches for alexa”.
Rather than a 300-word gloss-over article, what if you published a comprehensive 2,500-word guide to every Alexa compatible light switch on the market?
You structure sections by product category, feature detailed comparison tables, provide pros and cons… essentially creating a one-stop-shop that demolishes any competing content in its wake.
This single piece of skyscraper content instantly makes you the authority on wifi light switches. By truly cornering the market on a keyword, you make it exponentially harder for anyone to outrank you. This is the power of prioritizing quality on low competition keywords.
Now let’s look at how to optimize all of this amazing content for search engines.
On-Page SEO Techniques to Win Featured Snippets
You followed the content cornerstones and created an absolute masterpiece targeting your dream keyword. Traffic riches, here you come!
Not so fast.
Without optimizing for the way search engines actually crawl and interpret your content, it could easily get buried under competitors. Proper on-page SEO is what translates your epic content into victory.
Tactical Optimization Across Pages
Walk through this technical SEO checklist on every piece of content:
1. Keyword-Focused Title Tag
Include your primary keyword and key secondary phrases in a title tag under 60 characters.
2. Targeted H1 and H2 Tags
Feature exact-match keywords and LSI synonyms in strategic headings throughout your content.
3. Image File Names and Alt Text
Name images something like “best-wifi-light-switches.png” and populate descriptive alt text focused on your keywords.
4. Meta Description
Craft a compelling description featuring primary and secondary keywords to entice searchers.
5. Internal Links
Link out to related content on your own site using anchor text around your targets.
6. URL Slug
Incorporate keywords into the actual page URL when possible.
This creates a web of signals emphasizing relevance to search engines.
Earning High-Value Real Estate
Now let’s discuss arguably the most coveted SERP feature: snippets.
These highlighted summaries showcase an excerpt from the page deemed most relevant to the user query. As you can imagine, they result in sky-high click-through rates thanks to prominent positioning.
Craft content specifically designed to earn this snippet real estate:
- Use Q&A style headers like “How much does it cost to install new gutters?” to match user questions.
- Format content in a scannable style with bullets, numbers, tables, etc. Breaking up text helps snippets grab representative excerpts.
- Include quick answers first, followed by more detailed sections for those wanting additional information.
Do this successfully, and you’ll quickly claim ownership over even the most hotly contested keywords right from under your competitors’ noses.
Now let’s pull these strategies together into a complete game plan.
Building a Keyword-Driven Content Strategy
Finding keywords is one thing. Creating consistently high-performing content across those targets at scale is a whole different ball game.
You need a documented plan in place – a content strategy.
Constructing a Keyword-Centered Editorial Calendar
Pull together all of your keyword research into a central dashboard or spreadsheet. Then build out an editorial calendar focused specifically around low competition words you want to target over time.
Not sure how to structure one? Here’s a simple template:
| Focus Keyword | Content Type | Content Pillar | Target Publish Date | Author |
| best wifi light switches for alexa | Comparison Post | Smart Home | March 2021 | John D. |
Prioritizing keywords when planning content sets you up for search success.
Integrating with Your Broader Strategy
From here, incorporate these keyword-driven articles into your overall digital marketing plan:
- Promote new content across social media, email lists, and paid channels.
- Monitor rankings and traffic to demonstrate content impact.
- Build links to new pages around your anchor keywords to accelerate growth.
- Refresh evergreen posts by updating numbers, stats, and new product info.
Rinse and repeat across more low competition keywords for compounding wins.
But how do you actually know your strategy is working? Time to get into tracking.
Monitoring and Improving Your Keyword Strategy
You built a slick keyword-driven content calendar. Wrote epic guides. Optimized all the on-page elements. Now it’s go time!
But not so fast.
The real work actually starts after you hit publish. Now you need to monitor those pages to validate your keyword strategy is actually effective.
Tracking Performance and Impact
Pull up your list of focus keywords and set up monitoring for each across platforms like Google Analytics, Search Console, and rank tracking software.
Pay attention to metrics like:
- Ranking improvements – Rising page position in SERPs.
- Organic traffic – More visitors from search engines to your content.
- Click-through rate for rankings and snippets.
- Bounce rate – Higher means poor content quality.
- Conversions like email sign-ups or purchases from blog traffic.
Analyzing and Pivoting Strategies
If over time you see positive trajectory across these metrics – great! It validates your keyword research and content is resonating.
However if traffic remains flat, rankings stagnant, or conversions low – that signals it’s time to reassess.
Common scenarios where pivots help:
- The keyword is too competitive. Time to find a new, easier target.
- Your content isn’t high quality or convincing enough. Overhaul it or create a new piece focusing specifically on the term.
- The keyword doesn’t actually convert into business outcomes. Find a more commercial term.
Rinse and repeat testing new approaches until you unlock what works. SEO is never “one and done”.
Now that we’ve covered core strategies, let’s get into some advanced tactics to take your keyword approach to the next level.
Going Pro: Advanced SEO Techniques
You’re a master at discovering and targeting low competition keywords. Your content is ranking and traffic is pouring in. Success!
…Not quite. Here’s where high performers separate themselves even further from the pack.
Unlocking Deeper Market Penetration
Let’s revisit our hypothetical smart home ecommerce site. So far you’re dominating “best wifi light switches for alexa” and related keywords.
To drive exponential growth, leverage tools like LSI Graph inside SEMrush to uncover a new world of untapped long tail variants around your core terms:
- “wifi light switch toggle button”
- “touch screen home light switches”
- “voice controlled led light strips”
- “alexa compatible wall plug dimmer”
Mine these hidden gems, rinse and repeat the targeting process, and rapidly expand your keyword footprint.
Skyrocketing Domain Authority
Emerging sites can only gain so much traction on their own domain authority. The next level? Strategic guest posting and link building.
Find websites already ranking for your keywords and identify ones accepting contributor posts. Pitch guest articles around your target themes, securing contextualized backlinks in the process.
Do this continuously and you’ll compound authority to unlock far greater search visibility.
Just be careful not to take shortcuts. Let’s talk common mistakes to avoid derailing all your hard work.
Pitfalls to Avoid on Your Keyword Journey
You’re picking low hanging fruit keywords left and right. Crafting masterful content. And strategically building links. SEO greatness awaits!
Not so fast.
These common missteps can halt your keyword ascent:
Choosing the Wrong Keywords
Not all low competition keywords are created equal. Avoid these faulty targets:
- No actual search volume – Some tools exaggerate or pull outdated monthly search data. Always verify demand.
- Highly localized intent – If a keyword is geo-specific, it likely won’t convert or rank for you.
- Too vague – Broad terms invite lots of competition. Precision is key.
Over-Optimization and Cannibalization
In your quest for keyword dominance, be careful not to:
- Over-stuff pages with keywords, creating a spammy experience.
- Publish very similar content that gets flagged as duplicate or cannibalizes itself.
Stay intentional to accelerate growth safely and sustainably.
Wrapping Up: Consistency Conquers All
As with most things in marketing, creating a thriving keyword strategy that unleashes low hanging fruit requires consistency over time. But the long-term payoff is well worth the effort.
Choose your targets wisely. Craft content deliberately. Monitor and adapt based on performance. Listen to signals and keep evolving your approach. Do this long enough, and soon you’ll be the one dominating search results pages while your competitors clamor for crumbs.
So get out there and start claiming some low competition keyword fruit – before someone else beats you to the bunch!