How to Find Low-Competition Keywords That You Can Actually Rank For

TL;DR

To learn how to find low competition keywords, stop treating keyword difficulty as a verdict. Use it to build a shortlist, then check each query against the live search results, your site’s authority, search intent, business value, and production capacity. You need a focused publishing queue, not thousands of supposedly easy keywords.

What Are Low-Competition Keywords—and Are They the Same as Low-Difficulty Keywords?

Low-competition keywords are queries your site can realistically rank for. Low-difficulty keywords are queries a tool considers less competitive based on its own formula.

That formula may assess backlinks, domain strength, page authority, or similar proxies. It cannot fully judge your topical credibility, content quality, or ability to satisfy the searcher.

A low score can still lead to a results page dominated by established specialists. A higher score may reveal outdated, thin, or poorly matched pages. Use difficulty to screen candidates, never to approve them automatically.

Why keyword difficulty scores disagree

SEO platforms use different backlink indexes, authority models, formulas, locations, update schedules, and search-result snapshots. Their scores are not directly interchangeable.

Our Ahrefs value analysis and Moz Pro review explain why tool selection requires more than comparing headline metrics. If you're choosing between two of these tools, our Ahrefs vs KWFinder comparison breaks down the trade-offs.

Compare related keywords within the same platform. Relative differences across one topic are more useful than isolated scores from several tools. For a quick score on a short list of terms, try our free keyword difficulty checker.

Why long-tail does not automatically mean easy

A long query can remain highly competitive when authoritative sites dominate the results or when Google favors a format you cannot credibly produce.

Query length also says little about demand or commercial value. Assess ranking feasibility, intent, audience relevance, and content format separately.

How to Find Low-Competition Keywords: A Six-Step Framework

Use this process to qualify opportunities:

1. Choose a relevant seed.
2. Expand it with intent-revealing modifiers.
3. Apply loose filters.
4. Inspect the live results.
5. Assess business value and effort.
6. Prioritize the strongest options.

For broader planning principles, use this practical SEO content strategy framework.

1. Start with a seed tied to your product and audience

Choose seeds based on customer problems, product capabilities, use cases, integrations, objections, and buying questions.

For an inventory management product, useful seeds might include:

• Inventory forecasting
• Low-stock alerts
• Shopify inventory synchronization
• Multi-location inventory
• Inventory spreadsheet alternatives
• Overselling prevention

Reject a seed if you cannot connect the likely visitor to your audience, expertise, or product. Irrelevant traffic is not an opportunity.

2. Expand with intent-revealing modifiers

Add modifiers that show who is searching and what they need. For example:

• Questions: “how to prevent inventory stockouts”
• Comparisons: “inventory management software vs spreadsheet”
• Alternatives: “alternatives to manual inventory tracking”
• Use cases: “inventory management for subscription boxes”
• Integrations: “inventory management integration for Shopify”
• Industries: “inventory management for small manufacturers”
• Problems: “how to stop overselling across sales channels”

These patterns reveal intent. Randomly adding words to make a query longer does not.

3. Apply loose filters before manual review

Use difficulty, estimated volume, word count, and intent filters to reduce your list—not make the final decision.

Keep more competitive terms when they have strong business value or weak search results. Retain zero-volume terms when Search Console, customer conversations, or specialist communities show genuine demand.

Your shortlist should be small enough to inspect manually.

## How to Find Low-Competition Keywords for Free

You can find low competition keywords free by combining Google’s search features, first-party data, and customer language.

Start with a relevant seed, collect recurring modifiers, group similar ideas, and validate serious candidates in the live results. Google Keyword Planner can provide directional demand data, but it is designed primarily for advertising.

Mine Google’s search features

Search your seed and review:

• Autocomplete suggestions
• Related searches
• People Also Ask questions
• Recurring terms in ranking titles
• Search refinements and filters

These features show how people phrase their needs, but they do not prove that a query is easy.

Use People Also Ask to find follow-up questions and missing subtopics. Closely related questions will often belong on one comprehensive page rather than separate articles.

Use first-party and community evidence

Google Search Console can expose queries that third-party tools overlook. Look for pages receiving impressions for terms they address only partially.

You can also review:

• Internal site searches
• Sales-call notes
• Support tickets
• Customer onboarding questions
• Industry forums
• Specialist communities

Repeated language provides evidence of demand. A narrow integration query from support tickets may have more business value than a broad, loosely relevant term.

What free tools cannot decide for you

No tool can determine with certainty whether your site will outrank the current results. It also cannot decide whether you can produce the expected format, support the topic credibly, or connect the visitor to your business.

Tools accelerate collection and filtering. You still need to qualify each opportunity.

Validate Every Candidate With a Manual SERP Check

Search each query in the target country, language, and device context before approving it. A short review can prevent you from committing resources to an unsuitable topic.

Compare domain and page-level strength

Check whether the results come from brands with stronger authority and extensive topical coverage. A uniformly strong results page is a warning even when a tool reports low difficulty.

Then assess individual pages for relevance, depth, originality, backlinks, and intent match. A large brand may rank with a weak page, while a smaller domain may have a highly focused page that is difficult to displace.

Check search intent and result-type consistency

Identify the dominant result type:

• Guide
• Listicle
• Comparison
• Product or category page
• Interactive tool
• Video
• Forum discussion

If product pages dominate, a tutorial may not satisfy the expected intent. Consistent results suggest a settled format. Mixed results may indicate ambiguity or an opportunity to answer the query more precisely.

Look for weak results you can improve on

Potential weaknesses include:

• Thin or generic content
• Outdated information
• Irrelevant results
• Poor format matches
• Missing subquestions
• Broken examples

Do not dismiss forum results automatically. Searchers may prefer firsthand experience or varied opinions for some queries.

Check freshness and SERP volatility

Review publication and update dates. If your tools provide historical results, check whether the same URLs rank consistently.

Changing results may signal an opportunity, but they can also indicate uncertain intent. Make sure your planned page has a clear angle and format.

Balance Ranking Feasibility, Demand, and Business Value

Search volume should not control your decision. A popular keyword has little value when the audience is wrong, the results are unwinnable, or visitors have no logical next step.

Account for production needs too, including expert input, original examples, visuals, templates, tools, and ongoing updates.

Use a simple four-factor opportunity score

Evaluate each candidate using:

1. Realistic ranking potential
2. Evidence of demand
3. Business fit
4. Production effort

If your site has limited authority, emphasize ranking potential and business fit over estimated search volume. Use the score to compare options, not to create false precision.

When a low-volume keyword is worth targeting

Prioritize specific integration, comparison, use-case, and problem-led queries when they attract qualified visitors.

Combine close variants when one page can satisfy them. An integration guide, for example, might cover setup, compatibility, troubleshooting, and limitations without splitting the topic across competing URLs.

When to reject an apparently easy keyword

Reject a keyword when it has:

• Little audience relevance
• No credible conversion path
• A format you cannot produce well
• Heavy overlap with an existing page
• Results dominated by stronger specialists

An easy keyword that attracts the wrong visitor is still a poor investment.

Use Competitor Keywords to Find Gaps, Not Copy Their Strategy

Review competitor pages, use search operators, compare overlapping Search Console queries, or run keyword-gap reports. Separate direct commercial competitors from sites that compete only in search.

Look for neglected audiences, outdated pages, missing use cases, weak intent coverage, and poorly executed formats.

Choose the right competitors for each topic

Prioritize sites with similar audiences, authority, products, and publishing formats. Their results offer more relevant evidence than those of a major global brand.

Include recurring search competitors even when they sell something different. Publishers, marketplaces, forums, and software companies can compete for the same results.

Qualify every gap against your own site

A competitor’s ranking does not prove that you can rank. Apply the same checks for search results, business fit, and production effort.

Favor opportunities that strengthen your topical coverage and connect naturally to your expertise.

Cluster Opportunities Without Causing Keyword Cannibalization

Closely related variants should usually share a page when they express the same intent and require the same format. Separate them when the expected page type, audience stage, or underlying need differs.

Use SERP overlap to decide whether keywords belong together

Search both queries and compare the ranking URLs. Strong overlap suggests that Google treats them as variations of the same intent.

Wording alone is not enough. Similar-sounding queries may favor different formats, such as product comparisons and tutorials.

Map one primary opportunity to one destination URL

Assign each primary opportunity to one destination URL. Add close variants, relevant entities, and supporting questions to the same brief.

If an existing page already serves the intent, update it rather than publishing a competing article.

Turn Qualified Keywords Into a Publish-and-Learn Workflow

Once a keyword passes your checks:

1. Assign it to a cluster.
2. Create the brief.
3. Draft and review the article.
4. Add internal links.
5. Publish it.
6. Confirm indexing.
7. Track rankings and conversions.

For WordPress, Webflow, or Shopify teams, seosorted.ai’s AI SEO content workflow helps move validated topics through planning, writing, publishing, and tracking. Automation should support editorial judgment, not indiscriminate publishing.

What is the 80/20 rule for SEO?

The SEO 80/20 rule means focusing on the actions most likely to produce meaningful results: opportunity selection, intent alignment, useful content, internal linking, publishing, and iteration.

Once a candidate passes your checks, publish and learn from its performance.

Can a beginner do SEO?

Yes. Start with narrow queries connected to your expertise and use a consistent qualification checklist.

Search Console and ranking outcomes will show which topics your site can compete for. Use that evidence to refine your process.

Common tool question: Is Ubersuggest free to use?

Ubersuggest may provide limited free access, but its plans and restrictions can change. Check the current terms before relying on it.

Whether you use a free or paid plan, validate its metrics against the live results.

Measure results and refine the model

Track performance by topic cluster, including impressions, rankings, clicks, engagement, and conversions.

Use the findings to improve your assumptions about difficulty, formats, and business fit. The right SEO reporting tools should guide decisions rather than merely generate dashboards.

FAQ

How do you find your competitors’ keywords?

Review their ranking pages, use targeted Google searches, compare overlapping Search Console queries, or run a keyword-gap report. Treat the results as ideas that still require qualification.

Can a beginner do SEO?

Yes. Target focused topics, inspect the current results, publish useful content, and learn from performance data. You do not need to master every SEO concept before starting.

Is Ubersuggest free to use?

It may offer limited free features, while broader access can require payment. Verify its current plans and limits directly.

What is the 80/20 rule for SEO?

It means prioritizing the small set of activities most likely to influence results, including topic selection, intent matching, useful content, internal linking, and ongoing improvement.

Build a Defensible SEO Publishing Queue

Use seosorted.ai to turn validated keyword opportunities into planned, published, and tracked content without removing strategic judgment from your workflow.

Related reading

• Free tool: Free Backlink Checker
• Glossary: Backlink
• Glossary: Keyword Difficulty
• Glossary: Impressions