What To Do With Low Search Volume Keywords

Understanding the significance of keywords and what to do with low search volume keywords can provide multiple new ways to enhance your SEO performance and gain an advantage in a competitive and ever-changing industry.

Keyword research is a fundamental part of an SEO strategy, and you’ll often see SEO targeting terms based on a range of factors.  Most notable among these factors are search volume, keyword difficulty, intent and traffic potential.

Whilst focusing on the factors mentioned above may be a logical approach to take when looking to grow your keyword reach, it is equally important to ensure you know what to do with low search volume keywords and why you should still target them. In fact, it is often the case that these lower search volume keywords can provide a number of benefits, unlocking new opportunities for your business as discussed later in this article.

Our SEO team at Embryo understands the importance of targeting the right keywords when it comes to creating a well-rounded SEO strategy. If you’d like to learn more about the theory behind this, please get in touch with us by phone at 0161 327 2635 or email [email protected].

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What Are Low Search Volume Keywords?

Firstly, let’s take a look at what exactly is a low search volume keyword. Low search volume keywords tend to be more specific and long-tail compared to other broader terms. With this in mind, a more specific and niche keyword is also likely to result in a lower number of searches each month, making it a low-search volume keyword.

For example, the broad term “sunglasses” has an estimated search volume of 96k according to Ahrefs. Contrastingly, the term “best sunglasses for a square face” has a search volume of 90. Here you can see that the low search volume keyword is very specific and will be a lot easier to rank for than the broad example term, “sunglasses”. 

Now that we’ve covered what a low search volume keyword is, let’s take a look at how they benefit your SEO campaign.

What Should You Do With Low Search Volume Keywords?

After gathering your low search volume keywords, you should look to group them based on how related they are. 

Once you’ve grouped your keywords, Google them to see what the search intent is for each keyword in the SERPs. This will help to determine what type of content needs to be created to rank. 

Once you have the data, you can then get started with your content creation.

6 Reasons You Should Target Low Search Volume Keywords

1. Build Brand Awareness and Trust in a Particular Niche

Targeting low search volume keywords is a great way to build brand awareness and become a trusted authority on a particular niche in your industry. 

Attempting to rank for high-volume keywords is likely to be more competitive, especially if you are aiming for broader terms. Targeting lower search volume terms that are less competitive will therefore naturally increase your chances of ranking on the first page of Google for that term.

Ranking on the first page of Google will then help bring customers to your site and educate them on the topic you are covering. In turn, this will help you to build trust and your brand awareness amongst a new group of customers that you wouldn’t have reached if you had focussed solely on targeting high search volume keywords.

2. Target Users At Different Stages Of The Buying Journey

Focusing on low search volume keywords can also allow you to target users in different stages of the buying journey.

Using our example from before,  if we Google the high search volume keyword “sunglasses” we can see that the ranking pages are categories that are selling a range of sunglasses. This is because the term “sunglasses” has a transactional intent and Google understands that users who search this query are looking to buy.

Whereas, when we search the term “best sunglasses for a square face” it brings back results that are aimed at educating readers about the product. The search intent for this keyword is known as commercial intent. This is because Google understands that the user is interested in buying sunglasses, but they aren’t ready to purchase just yet.

3. Fewer Competition

Low search volume keywords tend to have less competition when compared to high search volume keywords. This is because many sites in your industry are more likely to target broader terms as they tend to have a transactional intent and higher search volume, resulting in more traffic potential and therefore more conversions.

As such, targeting less competitive, lower search volume terms with high-quality content is a great way to build topical authority and rank well for the less popular search queries that your competitors aren’t targeting.

4. Untapped Traffic

According to Google, 15% of all searches have never been searched before. Therefore, targeting keywords with zero search volume that have the potential to be helpful in the future could lead to an opportunity to target new, untapped traffic.

Targeting these types of keywords can allow you to answer very specific customer queries that your competitors aren’t likely to be targeting, which could lead to more qualified leads & traffic.

5. Target “Buying” Keywords to Increase ROI

Targeting “buying” keywords can be a great way to increase your conversions as you know that users who are searching these queries are almost ready to purchase as they have clear commercial intent 

Examples of “buying” keywords can include “review”, “compare”, and “best” and because they tend to be very specific, it also means they are likely to have low search volume.

“Buying” keywords will allow you to target customers who are further down the marketing funnel and would like to know more information about your product before making a purchase.

6. Acquire Backlinks Through Great Content

Building high-quality, relevant backlinks is a great way to improve your site’s authority and increase your chances of ranking for a range of competitive search terms. 

Acquiring backlinks for your website is hard and can involve a significant amount of manual outreach.  Much of the time it involves approaching another site owner in your niche and asking them if they’d be interested in including a link to your content.

To increase your chances of gaining backlinks in this way you’ll need to ensure you can provide value to the person you are contacting. Targeting low search volume keywords that are less competitive is a great way to produce content that ranks well and brings in traffic, which will give your email prospect even more reason to link back to you.

Maximise The Potential of Low Search Volume Keywords

From this article, you would’ve gained a solid understanding of what low search volume keywords are, what to do with them and the benefits that can be obtained from targeting them.

If you want to gain a deeper understanding of what to do with low search volume keywords and why you should be using them, then get in touch with us by phone at 0161 327 2635 or email [email protected].

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