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

How do you find low-competition keywords?

Find low-competition keywords by starting with long, specific phrases, then reading the actual search results for weakness: forum threads, thin pages, and no big brands on page one mean an opening. Confirm real intent, check the phrase has some volume, and favor local or niche angles a national site ignores.

A difficulty score is a starting point, not an answer. The real test is who currently ranks and whether you can plausibly beat them. This guide shows you how to read that yourself — no expensive tool required — so you stop writing posts that never surface and start targeting phrases a small site can genuinely win.

Why this matters for a small business

Most published content never ranks because it aims too high. Ahrefs found that 96.55% of pages get zero search traffic from Google, and the usual cause is competition: a new site trying to outrank established authorities for broad, valuable phrases. You lose that fight before you start.

Low-competition keywords flip the math. They tend to be long-tail — and Backlinko’s study of 306 million queries found 91.8% of all searches are long-tail phrases, each with lower volume but far less competition and clearer intent. Win ten of those and you’ve built a steady stream of qualified visitors, without ever going head-to-head with a brand that outspends you a hundred to one.

“We stopped chasing ‘accountant’ and started writing ‘do I need an accountant for a limited company UK.’ Three of those posts now rank on page one and bring in more consultations than anything else we’ve published,” — Marcus Bell, accounting firm partner (illustrative).

What “low competition” actually means

Competition isn’t one number. A keyword is beatable when the current first page shows one or more of these signs: forum posts (Reddit, Quora) ranking in the top results, thin or outdated pages, no dedicated page exactly matching the query, or an absence of high-authority brands like Wikipedia, Amazon, or a national directory. When the first page is all specialist, in-depth pages from strong domains, that phrase is hard — move on.

The tools give you a Keyword Difficulty (KD) score, and it’s useful for a first sort. But KD is a modeled estimate, usually based on the backlinks of the top results — it can’t see whether those pages actually satisfy the query. That’s why keyword difficulty scores are worth questioning: read the results yourself before you trust the number.

How to find low-competition keywords

1. Start with long, specific seed phrases

Broad phrases are always competitive. Begin with specificity: add a service, a modifier, a location, or a use case. Not “landscaping” but “drought-tolerant front yard landscaping ideas.” Not “yoga classes” but “prenatal yoga classes for beginners near me.” The more specific the phrase, the fewer strong pages compete for it — and the closer the searcher is to acting. Your best seeds come from real customer questions, so mine your inbox and call notes first.

2. Expand each seed with a free tool

Feed your seeds into Google Keyword Planner, Google Trends, and free tools like AnswerThePublic or AlsoAsked to surface variations and questions. Ubersuggest and Keywords Everywhere show a rough difficulty and volume for each. You’re building a long list of candidate phrases — don’t filter yet, just collect. Google’s own autocomplete and “People Also Ask” boxes are a free goldmine here; type a seed and note every suggestion.

3. Read the search results for weakness

This is the step that separates guessing from knowing. Search each candidate phrase in an incognito window and study page one. Ask: Are forum threads or Q&A sites ranking? Are the pages thin, generic, or years old? Is anyone answering this exact question, or just adjacent ones? Are the domains beatable, or is it all national brands? If you see gaps — weak pages, no exact-match content, no big names — that’s a keyword you can rank for. If page one is wall-to-wall authoritative, skip it.

4. Confirm intent and a pulse of volume

A phrase can be easy to rank and worthless. Check two things: does the intent match what you offer (someone ready to hire, not a DIYer who’ll never call), and does it have at least a little search volume? Very-low-competition phrases often have modest volume — that’s fine, because they convert. But zero volume means zero traffic. Aim for phrases with clear buyer or research intent and a small but real audience.

5. Favor local and niche angles

The fastest low-competition wins for a service business are geographic and niche. Adding a city, neighborhood, or service-area to a phrase instantly thins the field — national brands rarely target “emergency plumber [your town].” The same is true of niche specializations: “bookkeeping for Etsy sellers” faces far less competition than “bookkeeping.” Own the corners of your market that bigger players find too small to bother with.

6. Log winners and map them to pages

Keep a simple sheet: phrase, intent, why you think it’s beatable, and the page you’ll write for it. Group near-duplicates so you write one strong page per topic, not several thin ones. Then decide order of attack — if you can only publish one this month, choose the phrase with the best mix of winnable and valuable. Our guide on choosing blog topics that bring in leads helps you weigh that trade-off.

A shortcut: check what competitors already rank for

Your competitors have already tested the market. If a rival your size ranks for a phrase, you probably can too. A content gap analysis against competitors surfaces the phrases they win and you don’t — often the highest-probability targets on your list, because someone comparable has proven them reachable.

This is also where monitoring earns its keep. ScoutRival is our tool (full disclosure), and it watches competitors’ website, blog, and social channels, runs an SEO audit and score, and checks your AI visibility across two engines — ChatGPT (web-grounded) and Google Gemini (a model-memory probe), on demand. It’s not a dedicated keyword-research suite like Semrush or Ahrefs, and it’s not a CRM, scheduler, or review tool — for exporting thousands of KD scores, use a full suite. But for seeing what rivals are publishing and where you’re falling behind, it turns competitor moves into a daily to-do. Plans run Free, Starter $29, Pro $89, and Agency $149 a month.

Common mistakes when hunting low-competition keywords

• Trusting the KD score blindly. A “20/100 easy” phrase can still be locked up by a page that perfectly nails the intent. Read the results.
• Confusing low competition with low value. Some easy phrases are easy because nobody searches them. Check for a pulse of volume and real intent.
• Ignoring intent mismatch. Ranking first for a phrase whose searchers never buy is a hollow win. Match the phrase to a service you actually sell.
• Going too broad again. It’s tempting to creep back toward high-volume head terms. Discipline yourself to stay specific — that’s where a small site wins.

For the bigger picture, see our keyword research walkthrough for beginners, and browse more SEO guides to build the whole system.