Every SEO guide tells you to "target low-competition keywords." Few of them explain how to actually find them — or what makes a keyword genuinely low-competition versus just low-volume.
The difference matters. A low-competition keyword with 1,000 monthly searches can drive more traffic than a high-competition keyword with 50,000 searches — because you'll actually rank for it.
Here's the method I use to find keywords that are both low-competition and worth targeting.
What Makes a Keyword "Low Competition"?
Low competition doesn't mean "nobody searches for it." It means the pages currently ranking for it are beatable. Specifically:
- The top results have low domain authority — If pages with DA 20-30 are ranking, a similar or slightly better site can compete.
- The top results have few backlinks — Pages with under 20-30 backlinks are vulnerable to being outranked by better content.
- The content is thin or outdated — If the top results are short, generic, or years old, there's room for better content.
- There's no exact-match content — Sometimes the top results rank because they partially cover the topic, but nobody has written a dedicated, comprehensive piece.
The only way to assess these factors is to look at the actual SERP — not just a difficulty number.
Step 1: Start With Seed Keywords You Already Know
Don't begin by guessing random keywords. Start with what you know:
- What questions do your customers or readers ask you?
- What topics does your existing content touch on without going deep?
- What specific problems does your product or service solve?
These seed keywords don't need to be perfect. They're starting points that you'll refine.
For example, if you run a marketing blog, your seeds might be "keyword research," "seo for beginners," or "content strategy."
Step 2: Expand Into Long-Tail Variations
Seed keywords are almost always too competitive. The magic happens when you expand them into longer, more specific variations.
Use these methods:
Add Modifiers
Take your seed keyword and add common modifiers:
- Intent modifiers: "how to," "best," "vs," "for beginners," "guide," "tools"
- Specificity modifiers: "for small business," "for bloggers," "for e-commerce," "in 2026"
- Question modifiers: "what is," "why does," "how does," "can you"
"Keyword research" is brutal to rank for. "Keyword research for new bloggers" is dramatically easier.
Use Google's Own Suggestions
Type your seed keyword into Google and look at:
- Autocomplete suggestions — Google shows you what people actually search for.
- People Also Ask — These are real questions with real search volume, and they're often less competitive than the parent keyword.
- Related Searches — At the bottom of the results page, Google shows related queries that are often more specific and less competitive.
Check Related Keywords in SEMScoop
When you search for a keyword in SEMScoop, it returns related keywords with their own difficulty scores and search volumes. This is one of the fastest ways to find lower-competition variations of a competitive keyword.
Step 3: Filter by Difficulty
Now you have a list of potential keywords. Time to filter.
Run each candidate through a keyword difficulty checker and look for:
- Difficulty under 30-40 (depending on your site's authority)
- Search volume over 200-500/month (enough to be worth creating content for)
- Meaningful CPC (indicates the traffic has commercial value)
This filter eliminates most candidates — and that's the point. You want a shortlist of keywords where you have a realistic chance of ranking.
Step 4: Analyse the SERP (This Is Where Most People Stop Too Early)
A low difficulty score is promising, but you need to verify it by looking at who's actually ranking. This is the step that separates effective keyword research from guesswork.
For each keyword on your shortlist, examine the top 10 results:
Check Domain Authority
Are the ranking pages from high-authority sites (DA 60+) or smaller niche sites (DA 20-40)? If you see several results from sites with authority similar to yours, that's a strong signal you can compete.
Count Backlinks
How many backlinks do the top results have? If most have under 30, the keyword is genuinely accessible. If the top results all have hundreds of backlinks, the difficulty score might be underestimating the real competition.
Evaluate Content Quality
Click through to the top results. Ask yourself:
- Is the content comprehensive or superficial?
- Is it up to date or several years old?
- Does it fully answer the search query?
- Could you write something meaningfully better?
If the current top results are thin, outdated, or only tangentially related to the keyword, you've found a genuine opportunity.
Look for SERP Feature Opportunities
Does the keyword trigger a Featured Snippet? If so, and the current snippet is weak, you can potentially claim it with better-formatted content. Featured snippets pull traffic from position-1 results, and they're often easier to win than a traditional #1 ranking.
Step 5: Validate With Search Intent
Before creating content, make sure your content type matches what Google wants to show.
Look at the current results. Are they:
- Blog posts / guides? → Write a blog post.
- Product pages / tools? → A blog post might not rank here.
- Listicles / comparisons? → Structure your content as a list.
- Videos? → Consider creating video content instead of (or alongside) a blog post.
If the SERP is all product pages and you want to write an informational blog post, this keyword probably won't work regardless of its difficulty score. Google has decided the intent is commercial, and it will rank commercial pages.
Real-World Example: Finding a Winnable Keyword
Let's walk through a real example.
Starting seed: "keyword research"
This keyword is extremely competitive — difficulty 80+, dominated by Ahrefs, Moz, Backlinko, and HubSpot. No chance for a smaller site.
Expanding with modifiers:
- "keyword research for beginners" — difficulty ~35, volume 2,400
- "keyword research for blog posts" — difficulty ~22, volume 800
- "keyword research for YouTube" — difficulty ~28, volume 1,900
- "keyword research without tools" — difficulty ~15, volume 400
"Keyword research for blog posts" looks promising: difficulty 22, volume 800. Checking the SERP, I see several results from mid-authority blogs (DA 25-40) with under 15 backlinks each. The top result is a 2-year-old article that's fairly generic.
This is a keyword I could realistically rank for by writing a detailed, practical guide specifically about researching keywords for blog content.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
Chasing Zero-Difficulty Keywords
If a keyword has near-zero difficulty and decent volume, something might be off. Check whether it triggers AI Overviews (which can steal clicks), whether the intent is ambiguous, or whether the volume data is accurate.
Ignoring Search Volume Entirely
Some SEO advice says to "ignore volume and focus on intent." That's half right. Intent matters enormously, but creating content for a keyword with 20 monthly searches is rarely a good use of your time unless those 20 searches are extremely high-value.
Only Targeting Informational Keywords
Informational keywords ("how to...," "what is...") are typically easier to rank for, but they're also harder to monetise. Balance your keyword mix with some commercial-intent keywords ("best...," "tool for...," "vs") that are closer to a conversion action.
Picking Keywords Without Checking the SERP
I can't stress this enough: the difficulty score is an estimate, the SERP is the truth. Always check who's actually ranking before committing to a keyword.
Putting It All Together
Finding low-competition keywords is a skill, not a secret. The process is straightforward:
- Start with seeds you know.
- Expand into long-tail variations.
- Filter by difficulty and volume.
- Verify by analysing the actual SERP.
- Validate that the search intent matches your content type.
The tools make steps 3 and 4 fast. SEMScoop's free keyword difficulty checker handles both in a single search — showing you the difficulty score, search volume, CPC, and a full breakdown of who's ranking and why.
The rest is about creating content that genuinely deserves to rank. Find the gap, fill it better than anyone else, and you'll get the traffic.