If you want your blog to be discovered and gain traffic, targeting low competition keywords is a smart strategy. Low competition keywords are search phrases that aren’t heavily targeted by other websites and blogs. This makes it easier for your content to rank higher in search engines for these terms. Here’s a step-by-step guide to finding great low competition keywords for your blog:
Brainstorm Relevant Keywords
First, start with a brainstorming session for keywords. Make a list of keywords related to your blog’s niche and topics. Think about words and phrases that come to mind when you think about your content. This will give you a starting point for keyword research.
Sit down with a notebook or use a mind mapping tool and write down all the keywords you can think of related to your blog niche and content topics. Don’t censor or limit yourself at this stage, just write down everything that comes to mind. Look at categories on your blog, popular posts, topics you want to cover, and themes related to your industry. Include common industry terms, product names, broad category names, and any phrases you think readers may search for.
Once you have a big unfiltered list, start grouping similar keywords together. Look for common themes and subjects that emerge. Now you can begin prioritizing keywords and doing some basic keyword research to validate terms. But this initial brainstorm session will give you tons of potential keywords to explore further.
Use Keyword Research Tools
Next, take those keywords and plug them into keyword research tools like Google Keyword Planner, SEMrush, or Moz Keyword Explorer. These tools will provide suggestions for long-tail keyword variations you can target. Look for keywords with low monthly search volume and low competition.
The best way to use keyword research tools is to start with seed keywords from your brainstorm list. Input a seed keyword like “food blog” and the tools will provide a list of suggested long-tail variations like “easy dessert recipes for food blog” or “food photography tips for blog”. Look through these suggestions for keyword phrases with less than 1,000 monthly searches and low competition scores.
Pay attention to the trend graphs in the tools too. Sometimes a keyword will be low competition now but trending upward in searches. Keywords with growing search volume can be smart choices to target early before competition rises.
Once you have a list of potential keywords, do a quick validation search for each in Google to see what types of results come up. Are they dominated by authoritative sites? Or do you see a mix of good opportunity sites ranking? This will help you further narrow down low competition keywords.
Search for Common Questions
Think about common questions your target audience may have related to your content. Search forums, Quora, Reddit, and other Q&A sites to find questions real people are asking. The phrases in these questions can often make for great low competition keywords to target.
One of the best ways to uncover keyword opportunities is to simply look at the types of questions people are asking online related to your blog’s niche. Go to forums, Reddit, Quora and other Q&A sites and search for questions around your topics. Analyze the key phrases that real users are asking about. For example, for a parenting blog you may see questions like “what snacks are safe for a 2 year old?” or “how to get baby to sleep through the night?”
These types of conversational long-tail question keywords are usually less competitive. People are searching to have a specific question answered, not just browsing general content. So optimizing blog posts around these question keywords can draw in targeted organic traffic. Sometimes just including the question phrase in your meta title can lead to rankings.
You can also search Google for keyword phrases site:quora.com or site:reddit.com to uncover more questions around your niche. Analyze the results for question keyword opportunities that could work for your blog content.
