Low competition keywords are the terms a newer or smaller site can realistically rank for without a big backlink profile, and finding them is a repeatable process: brainstorm from buyer language, filter by volume and difficulty in a keyword tool, then read page one yourself before you commit. This guide walks through the process step by step.
On This Page
It all starts with keyword research. Whether you are writing content, building links, or reorganizing your website pages, the keyword decides what the page can win. Pick well and even a young site can rank. Pick wrong and no amount of writing fixes it.
TLDR
- Low competition keywords come from buyer language: sales calls, customer emails, reviews, and the exact phrases people type when they are close to acting.
- Filter in a keyword tool: at least 100 searches a month (lower is fine in a small niche) and a difficulty score your site can realistically beat.
- Read page one before you commit. Weak, outdated, or off-intent results mean a real opening. A wall of strong, on-intent pages does not.
- Lead the page with the answer. Direct answers rank in Google and get cited by AI search tools.
What Low Competition Actually Means
Keyword competition is the strength of the pages already ranking, not a property of the phrase itself. A term is low competition when page one is beatable by a site like yours.
Difficulty scores from Semrush, Ahrefs, or Moz compress that into a number based on the authority and backlinks of the ranking pages. Useful as a filter. But the score cannot see thin content, stale pages, or results that miss what the searcher actually wants. Only your own read of page one catches those, which is why the last step of this process is manual.
Keep in mind that Google leans heavily on authority and usability signals when it ranks pages. A site with little authority wins by choosing terms where page one is weak enough that authority matters less. That is the whole game with low competition keywords.
One more manual signal: exact-match saturation. Search the term and count how many page-one results use the exact phrase in their title. Few exact matches usually means nobody has targeted the term directly, and that is the opening you want.
Tools for Finding Low Competition Keywords
You do not need a big stack. Three tools cover the whole process:
- Google Keyword Planner. Free, and fine for a first pass: search volume ranges plus a Low, Medium, or High competition rating. That rating is an ads metric, but it still works as an early signal.
- Semrush. Exact volumes, keyword difficulty scores, and filters that screen hundreds of candidates quickly. Run your finalists through it before you lock a target.
- AnswerThePublic. Question phrasings real people search, often the least contested terms in a niche.
More options, all free: our guide to the best free keyword research tools.
Start With Buyer Intent
A keyword is only worth winning if the person searching it is worth reaching. Someone searching “what is SEO” is browsing. Someone searching “SEO consultant for SaaS companies” is buying. High-intent searches beat high-volume ones: fewer searches, but the searcher is a buyer, not a browser.
This filter matters more now that Google’s AI Overviews answer many informational queries directly on the results page. An informational term can show healthy volume and send you almost nobody. A buyer term with a tenth of the volume can fill your pipeline. Check intent before difficulty, every time.
Use Long-Tail and Niche Phrasing
Long-tail keywords are specific, multi-word phrases. Each one gets searched less, but the competition is thinner and the searcher knows exactly what they want. “Email marketing” is a brawl. “Email marketing for financial advisors” is a conversation.
Build them by adding specifics to a seed term: an audience, an industry, a use case, a problem. Then re-check the volume and difficulty. Specificity trades volume for winnability, and that trade is usually worth it.
The best sources are niche forums, customer reviews, and your own sales conversations. The phrases people actually use beat the phrases a tool suggests.
Step by Step: How to Find Low Competition Keywords
Once you know what low competition looks like, finding it is repeatable. Work through these five steps:
- Choose your keyword research tool. Google Keyword Planner is free and beginner-friendly. Semrush or Ahrefs give you deeper difficulty data on paid plans.
- Brainstorm seed keywords. Start with your core topic, then list the phrases buyers actually use, pulled from sales calls, support emails, and customer reviews.
- Filter by volume and difficulty. A working floor is 100 searches a month, adjusted for your niche, and a difficulty score of 30 or lower for a newer site. Raise the ceiling as your authority grows. Validate finalists in Semrush before locking one.
- Refine with specifics. Add an audience, an industry, or a use case, then re-check the numbers. “Email marketing software” can sharpen into “email marketing software for financial advisors,” where competition drops and intent rises.
- Verify page one yourself. Search the term and study what ranks. Forums, outdated posts, and pages that miss the intent mean a real opening. Check the page type too: if page one is all product pages and you plan an article, the term is not winnable for you, whatever the score says.
Repeat this process on a schedule and you will always have a pipeline of low competition keywords worth writing to.
Write the Page to Get Cited
Ranking is not the only way a page wins a search anymore. AI search tools cite pages that answer the question directly, so structure yours to be quotable: the definition or the steps near the top, specific claims, and evidence a tool cannot find elsewhere.
Full playbook: how to get cited by ChatGPT.
Final Thoughts
Low competition keywords are not a loophole. They are a targeting discipline: buyer intent first, difficulty second, page one verified by eye.
Run the process monthly and you will never run out of winnable topics. The sites that struggle are the ones writing to terms nobody checked.
