When ought to key phrases with low search quantity be chosen?
In the SEO world, it is common to strive for the "low hanging fruit". Ranking for these terms will help you rank for larger terms later, at least that's the standard belief.
Do you think this is true?
There may be some truth to this, but there are many reasons for using low search volume keywords whether your website is brand new or seasoned.
In this guide, I'll explain why low-volume keywords are critical to search engine optimization and show you how to find them.
Reasons for Targeting Low Volume Keywords
There are many scenarios in which you might want to target keywords with low search volume. Let's take a look at six of my top reasons.
1. When user intent is high
User intent relates to the reason someone searches for a particular phrase on Google. For example, when someone searches for "the best tennis shoes" versus "tennis shoes," each of these keywords has a different intent.
Someone looking for the best tennis shoes is probably looking for tennis shoe reviews. If we put that into Google, the results turn out to be true.
Most of the results that Google returns are reviews of the best tennis shoes because that's what people want. This tells us that most of the people looking for that phrase end up clicking reviews.
If we change the search to "tennis shoes", the results are dramatically different. Now we are not getting results for reviews of shoes, but results from places where you can buy shoes and different brands.
What does that mean?
This means that the keyword "best tennis shoes" has an information-based search intent. This could mean that the person is interested in buying shoes but has not yet fully decided on a brand or location to buy them from.
You may want to read reviews, surf the web, and do a little shopping before making a final decision.
When someone is looking for "tennis shoes" it is clear that they are ready to buy and they know what they want. This is seen as transactional intent – which means they want to make a purchase.
When we're writing a review of the best tennis grips and trying to find people to do the research instead of buying, we may want to pick the following keywords.
The keyword "best tennis grips for sweaty hands" is a very specific keyword. Although there are only 140 searches per month on average, it could still be a worthwhile long-tail keyword because it is very targeted and the search intent is spot on.
2. When the search difficulty is low
Search difficulty relates to how difficult it will be for you to rate a particular keyword. One of the main reasons people target low keywords is because they can quickly rank them with little effort.
If you go back to the previous image, you can see that "Best Tennis Grips" has a search volume of 320 with a difficulty level of 41. This means that ranking the keyword may be difficult and will require more backlinks and higher authority.
The keyword below "Best Tennis Grips for Sweaty Hands" is much easier to rate as it only has a search difficulty of 18. However, as you can see, it has a lower search volume.
One of the basic principles of SEO is to find as many low-competition keywords as possible and include them in your content as naturally as possible. That way, you can spread yourself across a lot of different keywords, but they have little competition. This is a quick way to rank, get traffic to your website, and increase your domain eligibility to find more competitive keywords.
3. If it is a long-tail keyword that contains a high volume keyword
Check out the list of keywords above. These all have a low search volume. If you look at the one highlighted with a rectangle, you will find that it has nine words in it, making it a "long-tail keyword". Long-tail keywords are phrases that contain more than four words and often have a high-volume keyword in the middle.
This is the case in this example.
While "what is the best tennis racket for advanced players" may only get 20 searches per month, the keyword "best tennis racket" gets 8,100 searches per month. As a result, you may want to target these long tail keywords and position a whole piece of content around them to eventually get the high volume keyword.
If you're starting out with a newer website or trying to expand an existing one, target these types of keywords that contain the high search volume keyword as they will give you the opportunity to get both without going all-in have to go to the highly competitive set. The same applies to keywords with high search volume and low competition.
4. If you are covering a niche topic
If we continue with the tennis example, tennis is considered a niche topic. It's something that doesn't interest everyone, but those who enjoy it will want to know as much about the sport as possible. They are very interested and will spend a lot of money buying products to make them better at them.
Therefore, it is beneficial to find keywords that have a low search volume, even if they don't generate a lot of traffic. Google puts a lot more emphasis on completeness of a website and rewards those who cover topics in full.
A good example of this was a 2021 update that targeted affiliate websites with "thin content". Thin content refers to parts that don't add much value or personality to the products or services they are promoting.
Affiliate marketing websites are notorious for this.
Let's say you have a website and advertise tennis rackets on Amazon. Some affiliate sites simply copy everything in the Amazon product description onto their site and put an affiliate link on it.
According to Google, this is not possible. They refer to it as "scratchy content" and while they don't punish you for it, they reward websites that offer insights and interesting anecdotes in addition to product specs.
How does this relate to low search volume keywords and niche topics?
Targeting low volume keywords isn't always about traffic. The goal of your website should be mastery of topics and expertise. Google is paying a lot more attention to this these days. You can't just be the best keyword researcher and expect to get ranked right away.
Google wants you to actually understand the topic and be excited about it. As a result, you can cover large topics by looking for low-volume keywords that provide well-rounded content for the reader. This shows that you not only understand SEO, but also understand the topic you are covering.
5. When it has a low cost per click (CPC)
The cost per click is the average cost an advertiser pays to get someone to click their Google ad. If certain low-volume keywords are also low-cost-per-click, you may want to target them as you can easily beat the competition and get to the top of the SERP even if it's only 50 people per month.
Keywords with a high CPC are more competitive and cost more to get a click. For example, if you are targeting a keyword with a $ 4.00 CPC, you likely need to be on a budget and willing to pay more than that per click if you want to get to the first page.
These costs can add up quickly and do not mean a conversion. You are paying more than $ 4.00 to get someone to click your website. The rest is up to you.
By searching for keywords with a low search volume, there is less competition and less cost to get someone to your website.
6. For link building purposes
We all know that link building is an important part of the SEO puzzle, and that acquiring as many high quality backlinks as possible is crucial if you expect to ever rank up for anything. One way that many people acquire backlinks is by contacting them manually.
You reach out to website owners in your niche to see if they are interested in either including a link to your content on their website or fixing a broken link by replacing it with your great content.
For this to work, you need great content with traffic that shows the website owner that you are worth their time.
A great way to do this is to find a number of low search volume keywords that are relevant to your niche but may not be the most competitive. This way, you create content that is currently relevant and interesting to the person you are reaching. This increases the likelihood that they will include a link on their website.
Low volume keyword FAQs
How do I determine the search volume for keywords?
Ubersuggest is a great tool and is pictured in many pictures above. All you have to do is enter a phrase and the tool will provide relevant keywords as well as their search volume.
What is a good keyword search volume?
There really is no set volume as the goal is to find a keyword with the least possible competition from high search volume. If you can do this, you will have an easier time ranking in less time.
How do I find keywords with high search and low competition?
It's not easy to find keywords with low search volume and high traffic. If it were easy, thousands of people wouldn't be competing against each other and we could all rank based on the keywords we wanted. Use Google Trends, do research with tools like Ahrefs, and spy on your competition by finding out which keywords they are ranking for.
How do I get the search volume for keywords?
Finding the search volume for a keyword is as simple as typing it into one of the various tools. You can use Ubersuggest, Ahrefs, SEMRush, and even Google Keyword Planner. All of these tools show the search volume. Note that these are estimates, so results may vary from tool to tool.
Conclusion
Finding keywords that are low in search volume is a great way to get traffic to your website, whether you're just starting out or making sure your website is currently relevant. The SEO puzzle is made up of many pieces and we are always trying to figure out how to stay one step ahead of our competition.
If you're having trouble figuring out keyword research and SEO, we can help. Keep these tips in mind as you research and come up with the next list of the keywords that you want to target.
Do you think that low volume keywords can help you rank for higher volume keywords? Let me know why in the comments.
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