When it comes to SEO, everyone is using the same methods to find keywords, which means that they are chasing the same search engine traffic.

It’s not really a bad strategy – coming up with a few ideas for your content and then going to Google Adwords to check out what the best keyword for that particular topic is and then creating your post or webpage around that keyword…

But, the problem with conducting keyword research in that way is that almost everybody is using that method and that includes the majority of your competitors.

Now, how great would it be if you could find those hidden gems that none of your competitors have even heard of?

Not possible, you say?

Well, it is. I’ve put together a list of 10 unique and effective ways of finding keyword gems that will propel you to the lead in the race for high rankings and traffic.

I have reviewed and compared dozens of keyword research tactics that most marketers are using these days and created the ultimate list of keyword research methods that you can use to help you find the low-competition, high-performing keywords.

But first, let’s talk about why keyword research is so important. Keyword research is an integral part of your content marketing and determines how your content ranks in the search engines.

It’s vital for these reasons:

• It helps you to eliminate assumptions as to what you think could be an interesting topic. Don’t just assume that a topic is interesting without first confirming that there are people who are actually searching for that topic.
• Keyword research helps you to communicate in a way that is understood by search engines. When it comes to interpreting content, search engines are getting more and more intelligent by the day (frankly, I find it quite scary just how smart Google has become…) but keywords are always going to be the primary way in which search engines understand what any piece of content is about so that they can show it to the people who search for those words.
• Conducting keyword research effectively also helps you to attract the right type of visitor to your site. There’s no point in trying to get lots of traffic if it’s not going to be relevant to your business. That’s just a waste of time and will only result in lots of people bouncing off your site and ultimately lowering your search engine rankings.
• Researching your keywords also helps you to understand your ideal customer a lot better. It gives you valuable insights as to their behavior when you analyze search volumes, search trends, and the competitiveness of the keywords.

I hope these four reasons are more than enough to convince you that keyword research is important (albeit a little tedious).

You will definitely see the benefits of doing it when your search results and rankings start to skyrocket. Now, on to the 10 unique tactics to help you find those hidden keyword gems.

10 Ways to Find Hidden Keyword Gems With Great Traffic Potential

1. Google Related Searches

When you conduct a Google search, at the bottom of the page you will see a ‘Related Searches’ section.

Some of those related searches will be closely related to your current keyword, but others will give you some amazing low-competition, long-tail terms that you can easily target.

2. Google Suggestions

This is a quick and easy method of finding keywords that are related to the words that you’re already targeting in your content, as well as, of pinpointing long tail keyword phrases.

Just type a potential keyword into Google’s search bar and the suggestions will automatically pop up below.

You can even take this functionality to a whole new level by using ‘Wildcards (_)’ to divide your keyword phrases so you can uncover even more hidden keywords. This is particularly good for your local SEO research.

3. Google Search Console

Also referred to as ‘Webmaster’s Tools’, Google Search Console is a great way of helping you to figure out the keywords that your site is ranking for already.

Click ‘Search Traffic’ on your dashboard, then click ‘Search Analytics’.

You will be presented with a screen where you can view the data that can be based on various factors such as impressions, clicks, click-through rate (CTR) and even ‘position’ ranking.

You may be wondering why on earth you should worry about the search traffic that you already have, with regards to keyword research?

The reason is that it helps you to plan your SEO strategies and to figure out which areas could use some improvements.

For instance, let’s say you’re getting search traffic for a keyword that you have never thought of. In such a case, it may be worthwhile to pursue further keyword opportunities to find long tail phrases that you can target in future content.

Or maybe the keywords that you’re trying to rank for aren’t bringing you any traffic (or they are ranked far away from page one where nobody is going to see them).

So, if those topics are of importance to you, you will be able to decide if it’s worth trying to turn their performance around or if it’s better to find similar keywords that you could target in place of those.

4. Adwords Keyword Planner

I may have made fun of this method of researching keyword opportunities in the intro, but this tactic is actually a big part of effective strategies because it gives direct insights from the great and powerful Google, and that is where you’re wanting to rank the content you write.

No matter which other tactics from this list you choose to employ, the Adwords Keyword Planner is the perfect tool that you can use to validate your results and to check the competition, search volume, and other statistics of your findings.

To find keywords using this tool, just go to the keyword planner inside your Adwords account. Click where it says ‘Search for new Keyword Using Phrase, Category, or Website’. Next, enter your basic keyword into the box and view your results.

There is also a section that says ‘Keywords to Include’ where you can add some question-related words such as what, where, when, how, why, who, should, can, etc.

These help in improving the quality of your results. The keyword ideas delivered to you by the planner won’t be generic words but more specific and long-tailed suggestions.

You can view these ideas for keywords when you click on ‘Get Ideas’ and then on the tab of the search labeled ‘Keyword Ideas’. You can even find potential keywords that are grouped according to their relevance.

This is yet another great way of finding keyword opportunities.

5. Google Trends

This is a tool that shows you the level of interest in a particular topic over a period of time.

This can be extremely valuable when it comes to deciding whether a particular keyword is worth targeting or not. Google Trends also shows you some related searches that may not show up during a regular search.

As you’ve probably guessed, this is an untapped opportunity to find great keyword gems.

Just type in your search term, for example ‘search engine optimization‘ and then scroll down the page to the bottom to view the top related searches.

If you want even more insights, click the ‘Rising’ tab and you will see how the keyword is trending, whether it’s going up or down.

6. Google Books

This is a really unique keyword research tactic.

Google Books is a massive index of books that were written in the past 100 years. It’s a great way of finding potential keywords to target. You do this by going to Google Books, finding a book that is likely to be a great resource for your particular niche.

For instance, I would search for ‘internet marketing’ and find such books as ‘Your Ultimate Guide to Online Marketing Success’.

You will find great keyword opportunities from these books by mining the Google book descriptions for any relevant keywords or phrases, and also by scrolling down to the section on ‘Common terms and phrases’ at the bottom of the description page.

7. Yahoo Ads and Yahoo Search

This is a resource that is often overlooked when it comes to the search for keyword gems.

Simply go to the search bar and type in your broad keyword term. You will get a drop-down list of suggestions that you can then analyze to find some keywords that you can target.

Just as with Google, you will be able to see even more suggestions at the bottom of the page in the ‘Related Searches’ section.

Another place to look for those gems, before leaving Yahoo, is the sidebar where there are ads that are related to your search. Mine these for similar or related keywords.

Other people are paying money for those slots and they have already done a great deal of in-depth keyword research. Use that to your advantage.

8. Yahoo Answers

Yahoo Answers has data that covers over 7 years of questions and answers.

Their auto-fill feature will show you the topics that people talk about most. Begin there, next, you can scan some questions to find any underlying themes that you can then turn into valuable long tail keywords.

For example, in my ‘internet marketing’ search, I came across many questions about what internet marketing actually is, what tools are required to get started, and so on.

Test out the phrases and the questions using the keyword planner from Google to know if people are actually searching for those terms.

9. Bing Keyword Research Tool

While Google holds over 92% of all global search traffic and over 80% of all search traffic in the US, Bing still can provide a lot of hidden keyword opportunities and the best thing about this is that your competitors will probably have no idea what Bing is, let alone look for opportunities on that search engine.

The keyword research tool for Bing works in much the same way as the Google Adwords tool.

To discover keywords using Bing’s keyword research tool, all you have to do is to type in a broad search term and then choose a time frame. Bing will then suggest some related keywords and tell you how often they come up in user searches.

You’re able to export the list as an Excel file or a CSV so that you can use the impressions in finding potential keywords to target.

10. Udemy

This online education marketplace contains a wealth of keyword opportunities.

Udemy has over 32,000 courses and to find unique keywords, all you have to do is to find a category that is related to your niche and then view the top courses.

Just click ‘Browse’ and hover above the various categories to discover even more specific options.

You can find great keyword terms that people actually relate to by sorting out the search by how popular it is. You can filter your search even further depending on the type of audience you have.

For instance, there are options to sort the courses by price or by education level on the left-hand side of the page.

Now, to get the actual keywords, just click on any of the top courses in that list and in the course description, you will see plenty of keyword opportunities.

You will also be able to view the course curriculum to find other topics which are relevant to your niche that you can use to dive even further into your keyword research.

There is one more thing you can do here that most people aren’t aware of when it comes to finding great keyword opportunities and topics. Use Udemy’s predictive search which is quite similar to Google suggestions to view what other users are searching for.

In Conclusion

I know just how frustrating SEO can be, but it’s vital to remember that keywords are just a part of the whole equation for ranking content.

It’s actually more important to focus on writing great content than the actual keywords themselves because even if you get the keywords right, if your content isn’t readable or interesting, then you won’t be able to keep the visitors’ attention for long which will only result in low rankings.

So pick one or more keyword research methods above and familiarize yourself with them and soon you will be using keywords that your competitors don’t even know exist to get your content up to where people can see it in the search engines.

This process of using any of these left-field tactics for keyword research doesn’t have to be time-consuming.

Instead of trying to figure out the keywords you can optimize each time you post, you could do your research in one huge chunk and map out your strategy for at least 6 months to a year.

So pick your favorite method or methods and give them a go right now.

Feel free to post your comment below.  An email address is required but it will not be shared with anyone, put on any list, or used for any kind of marketing, just to alert you if there are any replies. Thanks and happy hunting!

PlanetBizOp.com

->Steven

Updated: Originally published July 15th 2018