Why you shouldn't overlook zero search volume keywords when doing keyword research
Landing a spot on the first page of Google for chosen keywords can be difficult. You’re literally competing with hundreds and thousands of businesses that may have been around longer, have more backlinks or content than you or have a bigger SEO marketing budget.
So, what’s a small business to do?
The key could be in zero search volume keywords.
What are zero search volume keywords?
When using a keyword research tool, you’ll see the estimated number of searches each keyword receives per month.
Generally, the keywords with the highest search volume are the most difficult to rank for because more websites are targeting them/using them. They tend to be very broad, like ‘dresses’ or ‘SEO services’.
Zero search volume keywords are just keywords that appear to have no searches and, thus, no competition.
They tend to be very long-tail and niche like ‘hot pink mini dress with frill sleeves’ or ‘SEO services for vet clinics melbourne’.
Given that 15% of the searches Google sees are entirely new each day, there are millions of zero search volume keywords being generated that aren’t being picked up by keyword research tools like Semrush, Ahrefs or Moz.
Why are zero search keywords so valuable?
We know that when you’re a small or new business, ranking for high search volume and competitive keywords can be extremely difficult and require a lot of time, money and patience.
While you shouldn’t ignore those highly searched-for keywords completely, it’s better to target less searched-for and less competitive keywords in the meantime to get faster results.
Also, generally, the more highly searched a keyword is, the less intent it reveals, making it more difficult to know what content on your website would actually help the searcher.
As an example, if someone searches for ‘copywriter’ (8,100 searches per month), do we actually know what they’re looking for? Are they looking to hire a copywriter? What type? Are they looking to become a copywriter? Do they want to know what a copywriter does?
But, if someone searches for ’10 ways to improve your copywriting’ (0 searches per month), we have a pretty good idea of what content they want to see AND what content we can add to our website to ensure we’re the first result.
And when you look at that zero volume search, you can also see that there are many different ways to type it out (e.g. ‘how to improve copywriting’, ways to improve copywriting, 10 ways to better copywriting’), so while that particular long-tail keyword has zero search volume; other variants may have more.
How to find zero search volume keywords
When searching for zero search volume keywords to target, I don’t recommend typing in the longest keyword you can think of.
Rather, choose a seed keyword or a keyword you know will have lots of searches and competition and filter it backwards.
Answer The Public is a fantastic way to find zero search volume keywords. It divides the keyword variations into “what”, “who”, “where”, “when”, “why”, “which”, “are”, “will”, and “how” questions and its visual display makes it easy to sort through them.
Other great tools to use include:
Google Search Console
Google Trends
Pinterest trends
On-site search
Tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, Moz or Ubersuggest.
Customer service enquiries
How to tell if a zero search volume keyword is worth targeting
Once you’ve found your keywords, the most important thing to do is to Google them.
After all, we still need to ensure that the intent behind the keywords matches what Google thinks it is. Otherwise, you could spend a lot of time creating specific content around a zero search volume keyword only to find out you’ve created the wrong type of content, e.g. rather than the search results showing informative blogs, Google is showing forums.
Also, you shouldn’t just target these keywords because they’re easy. Think about how they will be used in your customer journey. Will your target customer even be interested in the content you’re creating? Will it help you convert your audience? After all, we don’t want to be creating content for the sake of it.
How to make zero search volume keywords work for you
Keyword research is useless unless you know your customer inside out. What makes them tick? What keeps them up at night? And how can you be the business that helps them get what they want/solves their problem?
Creating blog content, landing pages and visual content will work for your business if you find the right zero-search volume keywords to target.
You’ll still need to create the right content for the intent of the keyword and ensure it contains valuable information. After all, just because not many people are searching for it doesn’t mean you can phone it in and do a half-arsed job. Treat this content as you would any other piece of content on your site.
If you’re worried about wasting time on zero search volume keywords, try finding commercially focused ones instead. This ensures the audience that finds this content has their hand in their wallet and is just looking for the last little push to make the conversion.
Remember, with zero search volume keywords, it’s not about making a big impact. It’s about making lots of small impacts, so you have a greater chance of ranking, and the byproduct of that is more traffic.
Whatever you decide to do, always ensure you have an SEO strategy or content strategy guiding you. Get in touch if you want to learn more about keyword research or want some content direction!
