How To Find Low Competition Keywords: A Long Tail Pro Guide

Written by Devin Sizemore

May 5, 2016

Updated January  31, 2020

Low Competition Keywords: Finding And Analyzing

Choosing the right keywords for your web marketing campaign is one of the things that will determine your business’s success or failure. Having targeted, keywords with low competition that draw in targeted traffic will play a key role in your success online. There is a lot to think about when it comes to keywords and becoming an expert is no easy task. However, if you take your time, you too can find online success and learn how to find low competition keywords. 

An Uphill Battle: Generic Keywords

Many small businesses and site owners find that marketing their site for general terms is an uphill battle. Attempting to rank in the search engines for generalized keywords is a common mistake that many people make. The search volume for any given keyword is only half of the puzzle.

Generalized keyword terms are hard to rank for due to the high level of competition. For instance, the term “pizza,” has over half a billion competing sites with six million searches.The front page of Google for the term “pizza,” is dominated by big brand names like “Pizza Hut,” “Domino’s,” and “Papa Johns.”

If you are using a Pay Per Click Campaign to advertise your small town pizza business you can expect it to be costly. The average cost per click for the term “pizza,” is a whooping $6. This will bankrupt you faster than you can make your first online pizza sale. Usually, campaigns like this are destined to fail because only a small percentage of the visitors will convert into a sale. If you’re hoping to rank nationally or globally for the search term ‘pizza’ – well, good luck with that. You could spend tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to rank for ‘pizza’ and never get anywhere.

An Alternative Answer: Find Low Competition Keywords

Low competition long-tail keywords are the ultimate alternative answer to generic, competitive keywords. While most of the long tail keywords that you find might not have huge volume, the competition is much lower. Less competition means you will most likely rank well on Google and other search engines more easily.

Why You Need Low Competition Keywords

Building a site with proper backlinks, domain authority, and dozens of SERPs takes time. In many instances, it can take more than six months to get the SEO results that you are looking for.

Though clients can understand why this happens, they can also become antsy if they don’t see some type of growth after a few months of working together. Using low competition keywords to get the initial growth started can be incredibly beneficial.

Think about it like this:

  • Low competition keywords are much more easy to rank with than keywords with higher competition levels.
  • Ranking on low competition keywords will create traffic and potential conversions.
  • Ranking on low competition keywords will help to improve long-tail rankings in the future.
  • Low competition keywords provide a base that can be built up from as you move into more competitive keywords.
  • Some low competition keywords are high volume enough to bring in profitable conversions that you and your client may not have expected.

For some sites, low competition keywords might be all that you need to use for your marketing plans. For others, these keywords are just the beginning and can provide the needed foundation to make your way into a more competitive area.

Brainstorming: How To Find Low Competition Keywords Of Value

BrainstormingWhen you first seek keywords out, there are a few tools that will help you brainstorm some low competition long-tail keywords. These tools are as follows:

  • Social Media hashtags are a great for determining current hot topics. With this tool, you can find out what your target audience is talking about and interested in right now. This allows you to appeal to your niche target market by enabling you to create relevant content. Creating relevant and keyword rich content that appeals to your audience can be lucrative.
  • Google Keyword Planner is an effective starting point to get a general idea of your niche market and keywords surrounding it. The only pitfall is that chances are your competitors also use this tool and get the same results you do. So, other tools may also be required to get ahead of your competitors.
  • Google Instant is a good way to preview profitable long-tail key terms that are being searched for and have active potential. With this tool you enter a keyword and Google will attempt to guess what you are searching for as you enter it. This guess is based on searches others searchers have made regarding your keyword terms. Looking into the guesses than Google Instant provides can provide you with low competition keywords that are very long tail (in some cases, they don’t even appear to have search volume).
  • Google Searches Related to is a way to follow up on Google Instant. With it you can generate even more unique ideas that could benefit your business. Once you have these results for a term scroll down to the bottom of Google to find other related suggestions. You will be surprised by the endless amount of possibilities. Again, these are after low competition keywords that don’t always show up in Keyword planner.
  • Competitor Keywords can be used to see how companies and sites in the same sector as yours are trying to make their way. Checking which pages have the best ranking in your area and then researching their top-performing keywords can be a good way to diversify your keywords. You can also use their lists to determine if your new keyword ideas are a logical next step or not.
  • SERPs can be used to reverse engineer low competition keywords in your sector. Start by typing in a primary keyword that you would be interested in ranking for, and then look at the related search terms that appear. Work through these until you get more specific long-tail keywords. Then, check what kinds of domains are trying to rank for these keywords and how difficult the keywords are. It takes time, but you can use your base instincts and SERP pages to find openings for your client and pages to make new rankings.

How Low Should You Go?

One thing to keep in mind when you are searching for low competition keywords is that simply being a low competition keyword isn’t enough to determine if it is the right keyword for your needs!

How low should you go when looking for keywords with low competition?

Figuring this out is actually less about the amount figuring what the lower limit should be for low competition keywords and more about looking into how those keywords will perform. Is there a high search volume?

If you can rank for them, will those conversions work out?

Sometimes, the only way to figure this out is to do some testing. At other times, using keyword tools to estimate your conversions and profits from these low competition keywords. Once you have put together a list of low competition keywords, take the time to analyze or test these keywords before you fully scale them.

With some analysis, you can figure out which low competition keywords are low competition because they don’t perform well and which are hidden gems. The hidden gems are the ones that you want to move forward with!

Analyzing the Results: The Best SEO Keyword Tools

How to find low competition keywordsFinding the best SEO Keyword tool to so you can distinguish between low competition and high competition keywords be a daunting task. However, there are some useful resources to help analyze and find keywords with low competition. Here is a list of the top tools for keyword discovery and analysis:

  1. LongtailPro is excellent for keyword competition analysis. While it is pricey, chances are this tool will end up paying for itself in a short amount of time.
  2. SEMrush can be toted as the best SEO Keyword tool on the market today. It has a variety of incredible features and will allow you to generate an in-depth audit of your website.
  3. KeywordTool.io is a low competition keyword finder. Especially, because it integrates Google Instant and Google Suggest in an easy to follow and understand manner.
  4. Buzzsumo is the ultimate keyword tool for content analysis. Using custom content reports this tool will let you know where your strengths and weaknesses are.
  5. UberSuggest has the benefit of being able to find those golden nugget keywords that seem so elusive. This tool will make a difference in your search and keyword analysis strategies. It doesn’t give you any indication of competitiveness, but on the other hand, it’s free!

Each tool is unique and special in its own way. All these tools have different benefits and pitfalls. Take the time to do your homework to find the tool that will work best for you. No matter which tool you decide to use, chances are it can boost your profits and pay for itself in a short amount of time.

Low Competition Keywords FAQ:

What Are Low Competition Keywords?

Low competition keywords are keywords that have fewer results and/or competition than the more general and generic keywords. Our earlier example, “pizza,” is a very generic and general keyword that would be considered high competition.

A low competition alternative for a pizza shop in your area might be “town name pizza deals.” 

Low competition keywords tend to have lower pay-per-click pricing and often can perform with higher conversion rates depending on the sector and how effective the marketing content is. Ideally, finding a low competition keyword with high volume will be your ultimate goal.

How Do I Find My Competitor’s Keywords?

You can start finding these competitive keywords by directly visiting your competitor’s sites and then checking out their blog and other content to see what they are trying to rank for. Using Google to filter through search results and related terms can help you to get some ideas of what other companies are using as well.

Alternatively, you can use an optimized tool like the Agency Plan on LongTailPro to find your competitor’s keywords. Through filters and specific competitor keyword tools, you will be able to get a great look into what is being used and working for businesses in the same sector.

What Is A Good Keyword Difficulty?

Keyword difficulty is a number that represents, generally, how difficult it will be to rank for a particular keyword. High difficulty numbers typically represent keywords that will be very hard to rank for while low numbers represent the opposite. Of course, there are some variables.

There isn’t a simple answer about what is a “good” difficulty because the difficulty changes depending on what type of site you are trying to rank. High-powered sites can rank even on keywords with a difficulty score over 60 while new sites will struggle with a score of just 20.

Focus on keywords that have a low keyword difficulty and a high volume for the best results when moving into low competition keywords.

Learning How To Find Low Competition Keywords Takes Time

Becoming a keyword expert is a process. It takes time and practice to grasp how to move from generic, competitive keywords into low competition keywords in the long tail that are easy to rank for. It is a skill you build through trial and error over time. Along the way there are many great tools to help you brainstorm idea such as Google Instant Search and Google’s Keyword Planner. You can even use social media hashtags across all platforms to know what your audience is looking for and talking about in the moment.

You can use both free and paid tools to develop site reports and competitor reports. As well as, find profitable, targeted keywords that are lower competition. Usually, if used right the paid tools are worth the investment. Remember, with web marketing you need to put in the effort, time, and appropriate energy, you will see results and yield profits.

Get your FREE 7 day trial with Long Tail Pro and start ranking today.

You May Also Like…

45 Comments

  1. Henri Bessette

    Learn a lot of very good tool , very good explain

    Reply
  2. Jason

    I guess for now, I just use SEMRush. Have not tried for other products and I will try for it. thanks.

    Reply
  3. Nick

    I use Long Tail pro all the time to find my keywords, it certainly does pay for itself. If I want to scatter some long tail keyword within my posts I sometimes make use of keywordshitter.com which is free.

    Reply
    • ajit patel

      Thank you so much for this amazing posts and please keep update like this excellent article. thank you for sharing such a great blog with us.

      Reply
  4. Victor

    Longtail pro does a good job of finding me some nice keywords.
    It makes blogging all the more fun

    Reply
  5. Jagdish Kashyap

    one of the best keyword researching tool that i am using Longtailpro 🙂

    Reply
  6. Long Tail Pro Team

    A good KC (keyword competitiveness score) is based on the KC of your website. You can use the Long Tail Pro cloud tool to access what the optimal score range is for your website.

    Reply
  7. Ervin

    Longtail pro is one of the best tools for finding low competitive keywords with a high search volume.
    It makes ranking quick and easy!
    Thanks, Longtail pro

    Reply
  8. Dansish

    These list is very helpful for beginners.
    Longtailpro is the best to find long-tail keywords.
    SEMrush keyword difficulty checker is best key-difficulty checker.
    And you are right “Each tool is unique”.

    Reply
  9. Manzoor Ahmad

    Longtail pro is one of the best tool for long keyword searching. Thanks for the review

    Reply
  10. Sean

    I guess for now, I just use semrush. Have not tried for other products and I will try for it. thanks.
    Updated:
    Long-tail pro is awesome for finding low competition keywords which you can rank easily.

    Reply
  11. Notcy

    Long Tail is for a reason amongst my 3 favorite tools for SEO.

    Reply
  12. vinayashree v jadhav

    Will try this longtail pro trail version and buy the premium version next month thank you for posting this main topic on the low competition keywords

    Reply
  13. Muks

    Longtail pro is the best keyword research tool i ve ever used. It makes keyword research very easy. I was able to find hundreds of low competition keywords in a very short time, very easy to rank keywords i mean, golden keywords. Anyway if you are a newbie and looking for an easy keyword research tool then i highly recommend longtail pro!

    Reply
  14. 100000+ Long Tail Keywords

    Thank you for sharing such in-depth and great information! Some other thoughts…
    Web surfers who use these keywords when conducting searches are not looking for free information, but are searching with an expectation to buy. Most commercial-intent keywords are also considered long-tail keywords which are basically three or more words specific to a particular product, service or website. It is also important to note that although most commercial-intent keywords are of the long-tail variety, long-tail keywords are not necessarily commercial. Thankfully, there is a free service that detects whether or not a keyword or keyword phrase is commercial.

    Reply
  15. Jim

    Long Tail pro has to be up there with the must haves for SEO as I use it all the time to find those low hanging fruits

    Reply
    • mark

      A decent KC (watchword intensity score) depends on the KC of your site. You can utilize the Long Tail Pro cloud apparatus to get to what the ideal score extend is for your site.

      Reply
  16. Joshua Rosato

    I began using LongTailPro after reading good things about it on AuthorityHacker.

    LTP is a great tool if you are new to keyword research or don’t want to shell out the money for a more advanced tool such as Ahrefs.

    Thanks for the great tool and blog content.

    Reply
    • Long Tail Pro Team

      Thanks Joshua, really glad to hear your a fan of LTP.

      Reply
  17. Abdullaha

    thx for sharing information about long-tail keywords .
    i want to ask one question, if you have found a long-tail keyword , what is the best way to use it on a web-page?

    for example

    1 option ) big nike red shoes
    2 option ) big nike red shoes comfortable , free shipping worldwide- 0800 111 111

    which method is good and why

    thx

    Reply
  18. Prashil Pazare

    Thank you for sharing this information to us about seo tools and long tail keyword.

    Reply
  19. Shirley

    Hello, I have tried finding low competition keywords after reading your articles and, guess what? My site is now ranking. Thanks a million

    Reply
    • Long Tail Pro Team

      That’s great 🙂 keep up the good work.

      Reply
  20. manya more

    Thank you…….Longtail pro is the best tool for long keyword searching.

    Reply
  21. Ogunyinka francis

    LTP is one of the best way of finding long tail keyword with low competition. This has bought about an increase in my blog traffic.

    Reply
  22. Kartik Prajapati

    Great information. Finding keywords depends on the audience you want to gain or the content or niche of your website.

    Reply
  23. Mubashar

    Very nice and interesting information

    Reply
  24. Jackson

    Thank You so much for sharing the experience It really values for me to start doing seo on new content creation for getting traffic fast.

    Reply
  25. sagar saigal

    that’s really nice. it ‘s lots of help

    Reply
  26. Favour Orobor

    I’m really having problems targeting low competitive keywords. To me it’s like pushing a heavy rock. I really hope I learn this here.

    Reply
  27. wp3o

    good tools for find key words. i found my keyword .thanks..

    Reply
  28. Valas Opsi

    Thank you for sharing knowledge, it is very helpful for me who is still a beginner. Nice tools.

    Reply
  29. Dear Business

    Thanks for the informative post.
    Does longtailpro generate search keywords or PPC keyword?

    Thanks
    Abu

    Reply
  30. TheCXGuy

    Longtail pro is one of the best tools for finding low competitive keywords with a high search volume.

    Reply
  31. Shyam sasane

    I am facing the difficulty in how to identify the long tail keyword.. Please can you suggest me…

    Reply
  32. Afjalvora

    This is very helpful for me thank you for sharing.

    Reply
  33. Amine Ch

    Thank you for these useful information, I’m using Ubersuggest and it’s quite good

    Reply
  34. ashu Gambhir

    One words i can say AMAZING.

    It’s easy now to find low competition keyword.

    Thank’s

    Reply
  35. IT Training Institute

    Interesting share to get best-targeted keywords for particular domain or category.

    Reply
  36. Adam

    Which Tools is better to find low competition keywords.

    Reply

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

en_USEnglish