6 Advanced Keyword Research Strategies for SEO Success

Gone are the days when inserting a few basic seed keywords into your content could magically boost your website traffic. To secure the true golden ticket to Google’s top rankings today, you’ll need to find keywords that are high in demand yet remain virtually untapped by your competitors. It’s time to think creatively and explore fresh and innovative approaches to discover untapped keyword gems, which will be the main focus of this article.

More specifically, we will explore six advanced keyword research tips that go far and beyond basic techniques, such as using a keyword research tool or simply observing autocomplete suggestions that pop up in Google’s search bar.

Let’s dive into them together!

Key Takeaways

Find relevant but uncommon keywords from partial competitors and SERPs

Instead of solely focusing on direct competitors, meaning those who sell the same products/services as you, you should instead consider partial competitors, or those who satisfy the same pain points as your business. To successfully identify your partial competitors and find previously unknown but relevant keywords (especially the keywords that your main competitors may be overlooking), your best bet is to explore organic results beyond the top 10 or even top 30 URLs.

Once you discover who your partial competitors are in the SERP, carefully explore the content on their websites. In essence, you’ll need to:

• Check which of their pages bring organic traffic and further analyze their content.
• Check their top keywords and how their pages are optimized for them (check titles, h1, and other elements).
• Check their backlink strategy, the pages that get the most links, their anchor texts, and backlink types.

To gain deeper insights, consider using SEO Competitor Checker. Simply enter the competitor’s domain into the search bar and select the region you want to analyze.

This will provide you with a few different insights, including a list of keywords used by the analyzed website to generate organic and paid search traffic. You’ll also discover which pages receive the highest volume of traffic and identify key organic and paid competitors. By repeating the same analysis with each competitor, you can get even more uncommon keyword ideas.

Let’s consider a scenario where you have a subscription-based fitness website that provides personalized workout plans and nutrition guidance. You decide to follow the first recommendation from this article, considering partial competitors and exploring results beyond the top 10. You realize that this is a much more effective method than analyzing the fitness app websites that you’ve already checked countless times before. 

During your analysis, you find plenty of partial competitors like gym membership websites, fitness ecommerce websites, as well as online fitness communities. When going through their sites, you pay attention to their blog posts, articles, and other content. You pay special attention to keywords that cover specific user needs, including queries centered around free home workouts, nutrition tips, and personalized fitness plans.

For example, when going through Gymshark’s blog, which is a British fitness apparel and accessories manufacturer, you may come across several topics that you haven’t covered in your content yet. Some of these topics might comprise prehab exercises, protein intake, or hybrid training. 

This data can be leveraged to produce different types of content on the topics listed above. For instance, you could create:

1. Video tutorials featuring qualified fitness experts who demonstrate a variety of prehab exercises to help viewers understand how to do them properly.
2. Blog posts that are a go-to resource for all things related to protein intake. One post, for example, could include well-researched information on the importance of protein for muscle growth, recovery, and overall health.
3. Podcast episodes that dive deep into the concept of hybrid training. You could use this medium to bring in fitness experts, trainers, and athletes to share their insights and experiences.

By optimizing the content types mentioned above with newly acquired keywords, you can attract a broader audience and establish yourself as an authoritative source in the fitness industry. 

Use GA4 to find keywords based on site searches

GA4 offers valuable insights into what queries your website users are looking for and also searches that did not present any results to users. You can use this data to identify potential content gaps on your website and then generate new pages or enhance existing ones to meet your visitors’ requirements. This advanced keyword research method helps with finding queries that are highly relevant for your website visitors, making the keywords found worth investing in.

To correctly use this tool to access site search data, follow these steps:

• Navigate to the “Engagement” section and click on “Pages and Screens.”

• To get a complete view of the data, set the timeframe to a longer period, such as six months or a year, depending on how much traffic the website has. This will enable you to capture a broader range of user search queries.

• Look for pages with titles that contain the phrase “You searched for [your keyword].” These are pages where users have utilized the site search bar to find specific information or products. You can export this data, clean the list, and analyze it further.

After settling on your list of keywords, pay attention to how often each keyword has been searched for–you will probably see some patterns there. Being aware of how often certain keywords are searched can help you organize your content creation process and focus on topics that are most relevant to your audience.

Unlock the full potential of Google Analytics 4 for SEO with our comprehensive guide designed to boost your website’s performance in SERPs.

Based on the valuable keyword data collected from your site searches, you can now conduct further keyword research using these search terms as seed keywords. Use SE Ranking’s Keyword Search Tool to generate a list of related keywords with your keyword data.

To do this, simply enter a seed keyword to get a list of keyword ideas, including question-based terms. Explore the data it offers, such as search volume, keyword difficulty, and search intent. 

To successfully produce SEO-friendly content around the keywords you identified, use SE Ranking’s Content Editor. This tool allows you to create content briefs, build unique outlines, perform optimization checks, as well as check grammar, punctuation, and readability scores. What’s more, our AI Writer gives you the opportunity to quickly generate different types of content in your own brand voice.

Use Google Search Console to find uncovered search queries

Google Search Console’s Performance Report provides a comprehensive overview of the keywords that your website is already ranking for. In the Queries section, you can find search queries that already have impressions and clicks, which means that users are searching for them, and your website is already being shown to them.

You may notice some queries with a higher number of clicks, indicating that you already rank well for them, so you can skip them. But you may also have search queries with tons of impressions but no clicks. This could be a signal that your current URLs aren’t very relevant. It’s recommended to create separate pages on which to target these keywords.  

FYI, here’s our separate guide explaining in-depth how to use GSC for SEO purposes.

For example, let’s say you have a webpage dedicated to a certain “brand review.” While evaluating the Queries section, you encounter impressions for the keyword “brand A vs brand B.” This highlights a great opportunity to create content specifically dedicated to that comparison. By paying special attention to this query, you can find effective ways to rank higher and draw in users who are looking to directly compare these two brands.

But if you decide to generate new content from scratch, specifically around the keywords you identified, it makes sense to check the search intent and competition level before getting into the writing process. This can be done with our SERP Checker, which can perform quite a few important tasks, including checking SERPs for any given keyword, identifying what helps your competitors achieve top positions, and ultimately providing a list of recommendations to help you develop a new page. This approach ensures that you reap generous rewards for your efforts and avoid wasting valuable resources.

Consider grouped zero search volume keywords

As part of your keyword research, you will most likely encounter some search queries with little to no search volume, typically between 0 and 10. At first glance, these keywords may appear to be unimportant and you may choose to ignore them in favor of more high-volume, competitive keywords. However, these seemingly inconsequential keywords may offer a lot of hidden opportunities, particularly when combined on a single page.

Imagine you run a food blog and are looking for new content opportunities for your website. Since there is a large Korean population in New York, it is safe to say that there is a growing interest in finding good Korean food in NYC. One of the best ways to capitalize on this interest is to target low search volume keywords related to the best Korean restaurants in NYC. So instead of focusing solely on broad keywords like “Korean restaurants” or “Korean cuisine,” you could create content optimized for keywords like “best Korean restaurants in NYC” with search volume = 10.“

While this single query has a low search volume, your article will be shown by Google in several related search queries and will probably get 10 times more traffic than its basic search volume. Plus, it’s less competitive, which essentially means that the query should be easy to quickly rank for.

You can combine at least 12 zero search volume keywords in your article, which collectively have the potential to drive traffic to your website.

SE Ranking provides a Keyword Grouper Tool that allows you to group similar search queries based on their SERP similarity. To use the tool, navigate to the More section, click on the Keyword Grouper, and select your preferred region and language. Set up the tool with your desired grouping accuracy and method, enter your keywords, and run the tool. The system will then search for matching results and group the keywords based on the same top 10 ranking pages.

Now that your keyword cluster has been set up, the next step is to create/optimize your website for those keyword groups. Although this step might seem complicated at first, it is actually much simpler than it appears. Remember that the “one search intent = one keyword cluster = one page” rule. You can also consider creating pillar pages with subclusters, but be sure to check the SERP first.

Use Google Trends for trending topics that might not have high search volume yet

Despite targeting keywords with seemingly no search volume as of today, there is still a chance that your content will attract substantial traffic in the coming days/weeks/months. To achieve this goal, you’ll need to find keywords and topics that show early signs of popularity and create content around these emerging trends before the competition becomes too intense. And a great place to discover untapped keyword opportunities is Google Trends. 

Firstly, by using Google Trends, you have the opportunity to identify seasonal keywords that regularly spike in audience interest at certain times of the year. For instance, the screenshot below shows the “sunscreen” keyword with traffic peaks at approximately the same time every year: late May and the beginning of June.

Understanding seasonal keyword trends unlocks the following revenue opportunities for businesses:

• Seasonal fluctuations. Optimize your ad campaigns and SEO activities around these. For instance, if you’re a travel agency, focus your SEO and PPC activities on promoting vacation packages during holiday seasons when people are more likely to plan trips.
• Seasonal preferences. Align your offerings and content with these. For example, an e-commerce clothing retailer can create marketing campaigns featuring seasonal fashion trends and holiday-themed collections to resonate with shoppers during festive periods.
• International growth. Times like these are great for identifying new opportunities in diverse regions. For example, a fitness equipment brand may find that home workout gear becomes trending during certain seasons (e.g., before summer) in specific regions. With this data in mind, they can customize product offerings and implement localized marketing strategies. This information can help them enter new markets and target health-conscious consumers interested in their products.

To make the most of these opportunities, you have two options:

1. Start preparing any new and relevant content in advance. This will align its release with the peak of the season.
2. Update/optimize existing pages on your website with seasonal keywords.

Apart from seasonal keywords, Google Trends provides a wealth of useful data in terms of emerging keyword trends. To access it, navigate the “Trending Now” feature and explore the Realtime Search Trends section. Here, you’ll find a list of popular queries in real-time for your selected region. 

Clicking on each search term will reveal a chart that shows whether the news interest is increasing or decreasing.

By keeping a watchful eye on current trends, you can discover burning topics for articles or social media posts and attract a massive traffic flow to your website. 

For instance, using this approach, we created an article about Google’s SGE when the trend around this topic was just emerging. As time went on, discussions around Google’s SGE have become more prominent, which has resulted in a significant increase in organic traffic to our blog.

Look for new keyword ideas on forums like Reddit and Quora

In addition to gaining expert answers to a wide range of questions, you can also use popular discussion platforms like Reddit and Quora to find fresh and relevant keywords. These platforms provide valuable insights directly from the perspective of your target audience. To illustrate the point, let’s discuss this keyword research strategy in detail so that you’ll be able to generate long-tail keywords and increase engagement on your website.

To embark on your keyword discovery journey on Reddit and Quora, follow these steps:

• Identify Relevant Threads: Focus on Reddit and Quora topics that are related to your business’s area of expertise. Don’t be afraid to dig into related topics too, as they may provide great keyword ideas.
• Observe and Engage: Dedicate some time to understanding the solutions your audience is looking for and what topics interest them at the moment.
• Extract Keywords: This is where the keyword research becomes exciting. Take note of recurring keywords, phrases, and questions that can be transformed into valuable long-tail keywords. 

Consider forum questions as potential keyword opportunities for your content. For instance, let’s say you’re looking for fresh content ideas for your health blog. You encounter a question on Quora like, “What can a person do to strengthen their immune system?” This seemingly simple question can serve as an excellent long-tail keyword because it has tons of potential. We’ll explain why below.

To gain a deeper understanding of its impact, let’s analyze this keyword using a set of essential SEO metrics through SE Ranking’s Keyword Research tool. The data reveals that this keyword has approximately 20 monthly searches and boasts a relatively low difficulty score of 45, making it a compelling option to focus your content on.

But let’s not stop here. How about we perform a more extensive keyword analysis? To find the most profitable terms for your blog, explore the list of similar, related, and question-based keywords that you can potentially add to your site’s semantic core.

Click on the View Detailed Report button under any group of search terms that pique your interest to gain additional SEO data on each of the offered options.

To expand your keyword list even further, don’t forget to explore the Related Questions section by delving into the right-hand menu on Quora.

Alternatively, you can reverse-engineer questions and look for related long-tail keywords. For this, simply enter a seed keyword into the search box on either Quora, Reddit, or any other forum. Let’s use the term “gaining muscle” as an example here.

Next, convert the discovered questions into seed phrases. Based on the list of questions offered for our entered search term, these phrases might be:

• build muscle 
• muscle growth

Now it’s time to go to the Keyword Research Tool to fetch long-tail ideas around those keywords.

Finally, with a keyword list based on the current pain points your target audience is experiencing, you’ll be able to craft content that directly addresses their questions and concerns. Ensure that every piece of content is tailored to target a distinct keyword to prevent keyword cannibalization. Otherwise, you risk competing against yourself in SERPs and minimizing the impact of your content efforts.

By the way, make sure to check out our separate guide on how to use Quora for marketing to gain more insights about generating fresh content ideas and finding untapped keyword opportunities.

Closing thoughts

Needless to say, mastering advanced keyword research strategies is essential for staying ahead in the SEO game. Be sure to implement these six strategies to gain a deeper understanding of your audience, identify untapped keyword opportunities, and drive targeted organic traffic to your website.

But it’s also important to consider that effective keyword research is an ongoing process. Continuously monitor and adapt your strategy to stay ahead of the curve, capture emerging trends, and ensure your website remains optimized for search engines. 

Are you picking up what we’re putting down? It’s all about being proactive and flexible. These traits will be your secret ****** to achieving enduring success in the ever-evolving world of SEO.