How to Find Low Competition Keywords for Growth

Finding low-competition keywords isn't just about avoiding a fight; it's a strategic move. We're looking for search terms that people are actually using but that haven't been flooded by the huge, authoritative websites. This is your way in, letting you rank quicker and pull in a very specific, dedicated audience without having to shout over the established giants.

The Real Advantage of Targeting Niche Keywords

It’s a common mistake for new creators to chase keywords with massive search volumes. The thinking is "more searches, more views," but the reality is usually creating content that gets buried on page ten of Google. A much smarter and more sustainable strategy is to zero in on low-competition keywords.

Think of it like this: you can either try to be a tiny fish in an ocean or the big fish in a smaller pond. Instead of battling massive channels for a broad term like "fitness tips" (millions of searches, virtually impossible to rank for), you could target a specific phrase like "kettlebell workout for beginners over 50." It gets fewer searches, sure, but your chances of actually ranking for it are infinitely higher.

Why Niche Keywords Are Your Secret Weapon

Focusing on these underserved phrases gives you a serious edge, particularly when you're just starting out.

• You'll Rank Faster: It’s just so much more realistic to land on the first page of search results for a low-difficulty term. These early wins are crucial for building momentum and sending a signal to search algorithms that your content is worth showing people.
• You'll Build Authority: When you consistently answer very specific questions within your niche, you start to become the go-to expert. This topical authority is a powerful asset that helps you eventually rank for more competitive terms down the line.
• You'll Attract the Right Audience: Someone searching for a super-specific keyword has a very precise problem. If your content provides the exact solution, you'll see higher engagement, longer watch times, and a much more loyal group of subscribers.

This whole approach is becoming more and more vital. The UK Search Engines industry, for example, is projected to be worth £5.4 billion by 2025, according to market analysis from Ibisworld. All that growth means the battle for the top keywords is only getting fiercer, making a niche-focused strategy more important than ever.

Look at What Works: A great real-world example is YouTuber Ali Abdaal. He initially built his massive channel by targeting hyper-specific, low-competition keywords around medical school and productivity. Think "how to study for exams" and "best apps for medical students." By completely dominating those niche queries, he built a devoted audience and established his authority before he ever tried to tackle broader, more competitive topics.

Decoding the Metrics That Actually Matter

It’s easy to get mesmerised by keywords with massive search volumes. But let’s be honest, a huge number is completely useless if you have zero chance of ever ranking for it. The real skill lies in looking past the vanity metrics and understanding what truly signals an opportunity.

At the heart of this is Keyword Difficulty (KD), sometimes called SEO difficulty or competition score. It’s a single number, usually on a 0-100 scale, that gives you a solid estimate of how hard it'll be to crack the first page of search results for a specific term.

A high score means you're stepping into a digital battlefield against established giants with thousands of backlinks—a tough fight you're unlikely to win. A lower score, however, suggests the top results are a bit weaker, giving a smaller creator like you a genuine shot at breaking through.

What Is a Good Keyword Difficulty Score?

Every SEO tool, from Ahrefs to Semrush, calculates KD a bit differently, but they all boil down to similar factors, like the quality and quantity of backlinks pointing to the pages that already rank. When you're learning how to find low competition keywords, this score is your compass.

So, what number should you be aiming for? Well, it really depends on where you are in your journey.

• New Blogs or Channels (Domain Authority < 20): Stick to keywords with a KD score between 0-15. This is your sweet spot for gaining that crucial initial traction.
• Growing Sites (Domain Authority 20-40): You can start wading into slightly deeper waters, targeting keywords in the 16-30 KD range. You've built some credibility, so you can take on more of a challenge.
• Established Authorities (Domain Authority 40+): You're now in a position to go after keywords with a KD of 31 and above. Even so, it's always smart to mix in some lower-competition terms to keep the momentum going.

Think of it like boxing. A newcomer doesn't immediately jump into the ring with a heavyweight champion. You start by fighting opponents in your own weight class, build up your strength, and climb the ladder one win at a time.

A perfect example of this in action is YouTuber Vanessa Lau. When she first started her channel, she didn't go after a colossal term like "Instagram marketing tips." Instead, she focused on hyper-specific, low-KD phrases like "how to use Instagram Reels for business." This smart strategy allowed her to rank quickly, become a recognised authority in a small niche, and then gradually expand into more competitive topics as her channel's authority grew.

The Critical Role of Search Intent

Even more important than a low KD score is Search Intent—the why behind someone's search. If you get this wrong, your content is dead on arrival, no matter how low the competition is. You have to give the searcher what they're actually looking for.

There are three main flavours of search intent you need to get familiar with:

• Informational: The user is looking for information. Keywords often include "how to," "what is," "guide," or "tutorial."
• Commercial Investigation: The user is weighing their options before making a decision. You'll see terms like "best," "review," "vs," or "comparison."
• Transactional: The user has their wallet out and is ready to buy. These keywords include "buy," "price," "discount," or specific brand and product names.

Matching your content to the dominant search intent is non-negotiable. If the top results for a keyword are all e-commerce product pages, your beautifully written "ultimate guide" blog post simply isn't going to cut it.

Putting It All Together: A Practical Framework

Understanding how these metrics—search volume, difficulty, and intent—work together is the key to finding winning keywords. This simple framework will help you evaluate every opportunity like a pro.

Keyword Metric Evaluation Framework

Metric	What It Measures	Why It's Important	Ideal Target for Low Competition
Search Volume	The average number of monthly searches for a keyword.	Indicates the potential audience size and traffic ceiling for a topic.	100+ monthly searches to ensure there's an existing audience.
Keyword Difficulty (KD)	The relative difficulty of ranking on page one, scored 0-100.	Helps you avoid keywords dominated by high-authority sites.	Below 20 for new channels; below 35 for growing channels.
Searcher Intent	The underlying goal of the person searching (learn, compare, buy).	Ensures your content format matches what searchers expect to find.	The intent must align perfectly with the type of content you plan to create.

By filtering your keyword ideas through this lens, you stop guessing and start making strategic, data-informed decisions.

Let's apply this to a real-world scenario. Imagine you have a cooking channel and are weighing up two potential video ideas.

Keyword A: "best air fryer"

• Search Volume: 150,000/month
• Keyword Difficulty: 75 (Very Hard)
• Search Intent: Commercial Investigation (reviews, comparisons)

Keyword B: "how to clean an air fryer basket"

• Search Volume: 8,000/month
• Keyword Difficulty: 12 (Easy)
• Search Intent: Informational (step-by-step guide)

At first glance, "best air fryer" looks like a goldmine with its staggering search volume. But that KD of 75 is a major red flag. You'd be competing against massive tech publications and retail giants. As a smaller creator, your chances of ranking are practically zero.

Now look at "how to clean an air fryer basket." The volume is much smaller, but the KD of 12 is a beautiful sight. It's well within reach. The intent is clearly informational, making it a perfect match for a practical "how-to" video.

For any creator focused on sustainable growth, this is the obvious winner. By prioritising winnable keywords over flashy ones, you'll consistently find the topics that will actually move the needle for your channel.

Your Toolkit for Finding Hidden Keyword Gems

Knowing what to look for is one thing, but having the right tools and a solid workflow to actually unearth those keywords is where the magic happens. You don't need a massive budget to get started, either. A smart mix of free resources and powerful paid tools will help you build a keyword list that sets your channel up for consistent, long-term growth.

Let's kick things off with the tools everyone has access to. Google itself is an absolute treasure trove of keyword ideas, as long as you know where to look. These methods are perfect for that initial brainstorming phase and for getting a real feel for what people are searching for right now.

• Google Autocomplete: Just start typing a broad topic into the search bar. The suggestions that pop up are popular, real-time searches that can instantly spark dozens of long-tail keyword ideas.
• 'People Also Ask' (PAA) Boxes: This section gives you the exact questions your audience is asking. Think of each question as a potential video idea. Better yet, clicking on one often reveals even more related queries.
• Related Searches: Scroll down to the bottom of the search results page. Google literally hands you a list of related terms, a goldmine for discovering different phrasings and sub-topics you might have missed.

These free methods are a fantastic starting point, but to really get the full picture and understand the competitive landscape, you need to bring in the heavy hitters.

A Professional Workflow Using Ahrefs or SEMrush

When you're ready to get serious, investing in a tool like Ahrefs or SEMrush is a total game-changer. They provide the hard data—like Keyword Difficulty (KD) and search volume—that turns a messy brainstorm list into a strategic content plan.

Let’s walk through what this looks like in practice. You’d start by plugging a broad "seed" keyword into their Keyword Explorer tool. From there, the real work begins in the filtering options.

The screenshot above shows the initial results for a broad term in Ahrefs, but the real power is hiding in those filters on the left.

By applying filters like a maximum Keyword Difficulty of 20 and a minimum search volume of 100, you instantly slice through thousands of impossibly competitive terms to surface the hidden gems.

Here’s how you can dial in your search even further:

• Set a KD Maximum: If you have a newer channel, start with a max KD of 15 or 20. This is your single most important filter for finding keywords you can actually rank for.
• Filter by Search Volume: We're not chasing huge numbers, but setting a minimum volume of 100 or so ensures there’s at least some audience for the topic.
• Include/Exclude Terms: Get specific. Use the "Include" filter to hunt for questions (try including words like "how," "what," or "why") or use "Exclude" to weed out irrelevant terms (like brand names).

This structured approach transforms a chaotic list of ideas into a focused, actionable plan.

Must-Have Tools for YouTubers

For those of us creating videos, platform-specific tools are non-negotiable. General SEO tools are brilliant, but they don't always capture the unique nuances of YouTube search. This is where tools like TubeBuddy and VidIQ really shine, as they're built from the ground up for the YouTube ecosystem. Taking the time to explore the best YouTube keyword research tools can give you a serious leg up.

Both offer a "Keyword Explorer" feature that gives you a competition score designed specifically for YouTube. This score analyses things like the number of videos on a topic, the authority of the channels already ranking, and the search volume directly on the platform. If you see a "Very Good" or "Excellent" score, it's a strong signal you've found a topic with huge ranking potential.

Mini Case Study: A Creator's Filtering Process

Let’s look at a real-world example from a small cooking channel. The creator wanted to make content about sourdough baking but knew the main term "sourdough bread" was incredibly competitive.

1. Initial Idea: They typed "sourdough" into Ahrefs. The result? A KD of 78—way too high.
2. Applying Filters: They set a max KD of 20 and added an "Include" filter for the phrase "for beginners."
3. The Result: This simple tweak revealed gems like "how to feed sourdough starter for beginners" (KD 12, Vol 1.2k) and "easy sourdough recipe for beginners dutch oven" (KD 8, Vol 900).
4. YouTube Validation: They then plugged these phrases into TubeBuddy's Keyword Explorer, which gave both an "Excellent" score.

Just like that, the creator had two highly specific, low-competition video ideas with proven demand. By focusing on these winnable keywords, their video ranked in the top 5 within a month, bringing in a steady stream of views from a perfectly targeted audience.

This process highlights a critical strategy. In the UK, knowing how to find low-competition keywords is vital for businesses with limited resources. Strategic research shows that targeting keywords with a balanced combination of reasonable search volume and low keyword difficulty can boost website traffic by up to 20% and drive 15% more e-commerce sales within six months. You can discover more insights about these SEO strategy findings on digidataimarketing.com. Combining general SEO tools with platform-specific ones gives you the comprehensive data needed to make smart, growth-focused decisions.

Advanced Tactics to Outsmart Your Competition

Basic keyword research is a great starting point, but let’s be honest, it’s what everyone else is doing. To really get an edge, you have to dig deeper and go where your competitors aren't willing to look. It’s about moving beyond the tools and into the real world where your audience actually hangs out.

This means putting on your digital anthropologist hat. You're searching for the raw, unfiltered conversations and pain points that eventually become perfect, low-competition keywords—often before they even show up on any tool's radar.

Mine Communities for Untapped Keyword Gold

Your target audience is already gathered in online communities, asking questions, sharing frustrations, and speaking their own language. Places like Reddit, Quora, and niche forums are absolute goldmines for discovering the exact phrasing people use when they’re stuck. It’s natural, it’s conversational, and it’s usually far too specific to have any serious competition.

Think of it this way: someone might type "how to fix grainy video" into Google. That's a hugely competitive term. But on a filmmaking subreddit, they’re more likely to ask something like, "Why does my Sony A7III footage look so noisy in low light S-Log3?" That second phrase? That's a perfect, hyper-specific long-tail keyword just waiting for you to create a video about it.

Here’s how to do it effectively:

• Find the right hangouts: Start by searching for subreddits or forums related to your niche. Think r/skincareaddiction for beauty creators or r/homebrewing for DIY enthusiasts.
• Hunt for questions: Keep an eye out for post titles that start with "How do I…," "What's the best way to…," or "I'm struggling with…" These are direct cries for help.
• Read the comments: The real magic is often in the discussion threads. You’ll find follow-up questions and related problems that can give you a whole cluster of video ideas from just one post.

Master the Alphabet Soup Technique

This is a deceptively simple trick that can instantly expand a single idea into dozens of long-tail keyword variations. It’s all about using Google’s Autocomplete feature to do the heavy lifting for you.

Let’s say your core topic is "air fryer recipes." You’d head to Google and type:

• "air fryer recipes a..."
• "air fryer recipes b..."
• "air fryer recipes c..."

As you type, Google will start suggesting popular searches like "air fryer recipes asparagus," "air fryer recipes bacon," and "air fryer recipes chicken wings." It’s a fast, free, and incredibly effective way to build a massive list of specific, intent-driven topics you might have never thought of otherwise.

A Quick Tip: Always use an Incognito or Private browser window when you do this. It stops your personal search history from skewing the autocomplete suggestions, giving you a much cleaner set of results.

Turn Competitor Weaknesses into Your Strengths

Smart competitor analysis isn't just about finding their most popular keywords—it's about finding what they’re doing poorly. You’re looking for chinks in their armour, specifically keywords they rank for but with content that is outdated, thin, or just plain unhelpful.

This takes a bit of manual detective work. Once you've identified a competitor, use a tool like Ahrefs to see what keywords they rank for. Then, start looking through their content for weak spots.

Ask yourself these questions:

• Is their video three years old and completely out of date?
• Is their article a measly 500 words that barely scratches the surface?
• Are the comments filled with unanswered questions from confused viewers?

If you can answer "yes" to any of these, you’ve just found a golden opportunity. You can swoop in and create a more comprehensive, up-to-date, and genuinely useful piece of content targeting that exact keyword. The goal isn't just to make content, it's to make better content where a clear gap exists. Understanding the principles of how to make viral videos can also give you a creative edge here, helping you structure your content for maximum impact.

This visual shows how you can systemise this process, moving from broad ideas to validated topics ready for production.

This cycle of generating ideas, filtering them down, and validating them is crucial. It ensures you’re not just finding keywords, but finding the right ones that will actually move the needle.

Analyse SERP Features for Hidden Gaps

Finally, don’t forget to actually look at the search engine results page (SERP). It’s packed with clues about what kind of content Google wants to show people for a specific query.

For instance, if you search for a keyword and the results page is dominated by a video carousel, 'People Also Ask' boxes, and image packs, that’s a massive signal from Google. It’s telling you that a well-optimised video or a highly structured Q&A-style post has a fantastic chance of ranking, even if the traditional "keyword difficulty" score is high.

This is especially true in the UK market. Recent data shows that a staggering 98.7% of UK Google searches now display these enhanced SERP features, from AI Overviews to local business packs. This fundamental shift means that optimising for conversational, question-based keywords gives your content a much better shot at being featured in these prominent spots, letting you leapfrog the old-school organic results. You can read more about how SERP features dominate UK search results on studio36digital.co.uk. By spotting these gaps, you can tailor your content format to fit exactly what the algorithm is rewarding right now.

How to Validate Keywords Before You Create Content

Finding a keyword with a low difficulty score and decent search volume feels amazing. It’s like striking gold. But before you dive into scripting and filming for hours, there’s one last sanity check you need to run: validation.

Honestly, this is the step that separates creators who consistently grow from those who pour effort into videos that nobody ends up watching. Think of it as your final quality control. You're double-checking that the numbers on your screen match up with reality and that a real audience actually cares about this topic. Skipping this is a classic mistake, and it often leads to creating content that completely flops, even when the metrics looked promising.

Perform a Manual SERP Analysis

Your first move should always be a manual check of the search engine results page (SERP). Put your keyword research tool aside for a moment and just Google the term yourself. What you see there gives you raw, unfiltered clues about your actual chances of ranking.

You're essentially looking for weaknesses in the competition. A SERP dominated by massive, high-authority websites is a huge red flag, even if a tool told you the keyword difficulty was low.

Here’s a quick checklist I run through every time:

• Domain Authority: Who’s on page one? Are they huge names like Forbes or the BBC, or are you seeing smaller blogs and YouTube channels similar to yours? Spotting other independent creators in the mix is a fantastic sign.
• Content Quality: Go ahead and click on the top 3-5 results. Is the content genuinely helpful and well-made? Or is it a bit thin, outdated, or just poorly presented? Outdated information is a golden opportunity for you to swoop in with something fresh.
• User-Generated Content: Do you see forums like Reddit or Quora ranking on the first page? This is one of the strongest signals you can get. It usually means there's a serious lack of dedicated, high-quality content, leaving a gap that you can easily fill.

Case Study: The Power of SERP Analysis
YouTuber Cathrin Manning often talks about her process. She once found a keyword with great metrics but saw that the top videos were all several years old. She simply created an updated, more thorough video on the same topic. Unsurprisingly, it quickly outranked the older content because it served the audience's current needs far better.

Gauge Community Interest

Next, take your keyword idea to the places where your audience actually hangs out online. A quick search on platforms like YouTube, Reddit, or relevant Facebook groups will tell you if people are actively talking about this right now. You're looking for proof of real conversation and genuine interest.

On YouTube, try searching for your keyword and then filtering the results by "Upload Date." This little trick shows you if other creators are making videos on this topic now. If you find recent videos with good views, that's great validation—it means there's an active audience. If you see nothing recent, it could be a dud... or, more excitingly, an undiscovered gem.

This is also a brilliant way to uncover some fresh YouTube video ideas for beginners by seeing what questions people are asking today.

Run a Quick Content Test

Finally, if you're still on the fence about a topic, why not run a small, low-effort "content test"? The idea is to dip your toe in the water and gauge interest before you commit to a full-blown video. This approach saves you from wasting precious time on ideas that don't have proven demand.

Here’s how you can do it:

• Create a simple poll on your YouTube Community tab or Twitter.
• Post a quick, one-minute video about the topic on TikTok or YouTube Shorts.
• Ask a direct question in a relevant Facebook group or on an Instagram story.

The engagement you get—the comments, questions, and likes—is direct, unfiltered feedback. If your little test gets a strong response, you can move forward with the big video, confident that you’re making something people are actually excited to see.

Frequently Asked Questions About Keyword Research

Even with the best tools and a solid strategy, a few questions always seem to come up when you're deep in the keyword research trenches. Let's tackle some of the most common ones I hear from creators.

Think of this as a final sanity check to make sure you're on the right track before you hit record.

How Many Keywords Should One Video Target?

This is a classic, but the answer isn't as complicated as you might think. For any single video, you should laser-focus on one primary keyword. This is your North Star. It guides your title, your script's main talking points, and the core problem you're solving for your audience.

That said, you should also weave in two to four secondary keywords naturally throughout your video and description. These aren't meant to be awkwardly stuffed in; they should be conversational phrases or related sub-topics that add depth to your main point.

For instance, if your main target is "how to feed sourdough starter for beginners," your supporting keywords might be:

• sourdough starter feeding schedule
• what does a healthy starter look like
• discarding sourdough starter

This helps the algorithm see the bigger picture, giving your video a chance to rank for a whole cluster of related searches, not just one.

Is a Keyword with Zero Search Volume Ever Worth It?

It sounds completely backwards, but yes, sometimes a "zero volume" keyword is a hidden gem. This happens all the time. Keyword tools are often slow to catch brand-new trends or simply can't measure the demand for hyper-specific, long-tail questions.

You'll often spot these opportunities on platforms like Reddit or Quora, where people are asking very specific questions.

If you can find evidence of real people asking a question in a community forum, that's your proof of demand. A keyword tool showing a search volume of '0' or '10' doesn't change that. In fact, it's often a sign you've found an untapped opportunity to be the only answer.

This is the exact strategy that helped YouTuber Vanessa Lau gain traction early on. She focused on answering ultra-specific business questions that established creators weren't bothering with, and it allowed her to build authority from the ground up by serving a small but hungry audience.

How Often Should I Be Doing Keyword Research?

Keyword research isn't something you do once and then forget about. To keep your content pipeline flowing with fresh, relevant ideas, you need to make it a regular habit.

I find that a deep-dive research session once per quarter works best for most creators. The goal of this session is to find and validate enough low-competition ideas to map out your next 12 weeks of content. This kind of planning keeps you ahead of the game, so you're never left scrambling for an idea the night before you need to film. It ensures every single video serves a strategic, data-driven purpose.

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