How to Find Keywords With Zero Competition

I originally titled this article “How I Accidently Found a 1000/mo Volume Keyword With Zero Competition”. While the title is true, I felt the need to elaborate more on the philosophy of keyword research rather than doing another case study (but I’ll still tell you how it happened).

Tip: Need help finding low competition niches? See all the niches I’ve explored for you in my #NicheThursday articles.

Why people struggle to find keywords

There are lots of keywords with low competition that are just waiting to be taken. There are only two reasons why people miss these keywords:

1. They aren’t experienced enough in keyword research
2. They aren’t familiar enough with their niche
3. Okay, maybe three reasons if they picked a really bad niche

Let’s take a look…

Developing skills

Learning to find keywords is a skill that can be developed. I love exploring Google autosuggest and it’s my primary tool right now for finding keywords.

Every time I find a keyword that has a common phrase in it, I add it to a row in my Google Sheet. Some of these phrases are “how much does x cost”. Here, x can be replaced with a variety of different products in different niches. As I become more familiar with these common phrases, I’m able to go into random niches and find low competition keywords in seconds. Nice!

Becoming familiar with your niche

Sometimes if you want to hit gold, you need to dig deeper. Aside from having the right skills, being familiar with your niche helps a lot. When you start in a new niche, you don’t know what you don’t know. And if you don’t know a particular topic exists, it will be harder to find questions people have about it.

Forums and Facebook groups are great to see what people are looking for. There are lots of questions that people ask in forums that can be good keywords. Too many people are trying to find keywords right away without understanding their niche. As you become more familiar with your niche, you’ll discover more and more keywords.

Research everything

Even if you are skilled in keyword research and familiar with your niche, there’s going to be keywords that you won’t find right away for whatever reason.

One of these reasons is because you don’t know everything. But another reason is that you aren’t curious enough. It’s so easy sometimes to ignore certain keywords because we think they are too simple.

The reality is, lots of people ask questions that other people consider “dumb” because they just don’t know. The most basic questions about your niche can bring in some of the largest search volume.

Here’s an example…

“how many wheels does a unicycle have” is one keyword. Most people know the answer to this is one wheel, yet this keyword receives 480 searches per month!

These keywords often have zero competition and can bring in lots of traffic. One such keyword I found with Google autosuggest brings in 750 hits per month.

And sometimes you just need to be more curious. I recently found a 1000/mo keyword also with zero competition by browsing for pictures on Unsplash. I realized there was something odd about the photos I was seeing and Googled it. Lo and behold, a 1000/mo keyword!

Tip: Zero search volume keywords can bring in money. See my case study on how I went from published to profit in 24 hours.

Conclusion

Keyword research is a skill set that you will get better at the more you practice. While keyword research tools can help, they shouldn’t be relied on. You still need to explore your niche and get dirty. Google everything, there’s a lot out there that will surprise you.