"For many, the best way to succeed with SEO is prioritizing long-tail keywords… that may have little to no search volume."

"The fact is, for some industries (like SaaS) and countless B2B companies (especially when SaaS and B2B meet), keyword tools simply do not provide measurable data about their core keywords."

"In many cases, the search volume is there... it's just that the tools are not yet reporting on it and these low-hanging keywords have yet to fall on their radar."

"Even when search volume is low or undervalued, these long-tails are often high-intent (aka high converting) keywords that fall deep in the funnel."

"Because keyword tools have yet to evaluate the true potential in these queries, low- to no-volume keywords are, by definition, low-competition."

"The process of getting keyword ideas starts similarly to normal keyword research."

"“I use no-volume keywords all the time. Not every keyword in the funnel has search volume, but I build them anyway if it will serve as a service/product page to convert traffic from information content,"

"I'll also use no-volume keywords for opinion style pieces around divisive topics that build authority for clients. Those pages tend to get a ton of traffic, especially if the client is an industry authority.”"

"When you're trying to come up with keyword ideas, talk to your sales and customer service teams."

"When you talk to your teams, you might be able to identify some information that is missing from your website and get some keyword ideas for your content marketing strategy."

"“I conduct user interviews specially for technology-related products where the user's keywords (need-related) are different than the technology provider (solution-based). I find product reviews are also useful.”"

"Another great way to pinpoint popular topics that may be undetectable through conventional keyword research is to use trend analysis tools. Try utilizing platforms like Google Trends, Snapchat Trends, and Pinterest Trends to uncover themes and interests that may have SEO merit."

"""Trends.pinterest.com was a really helpful tool that helped me with a low-volume keyword I wanted to target. My blog is all about student life and I thought Starbucks/coffee, in general, is a big part of that. So I thought of different coffee drinks that most students drink and came up with “Starbucks cold brew orders” as a good keyword to write about."

"Why podcasts? Because the sources are generally experts in their field and they’re usually answering questions they get asked frequently, or that they use to share topical news and then through conversation, you can discover related questions and semantic language people use.”"

"To tap from these keyword ideas, you'll need to find online communities where people are having conversations about your industry."

"To make the process easier, you can use social media listening tools like Brandwatch and Talkwalker to track mentions of your brand or competitors."

"The Internet offers an abundance of information that may inspire topics that have yet to come to their full fruition."

"(1) If it’s a reputable source, I reach out to them through the report inquiry form to say I’m doing research for a blog post, Industry report or a talk and I don’t have a budget, but if there’s something valuable to share within, I am happy to provide credit to give their report/company visibility."

"(2) If that doesn’t work, I reach out to the sales team of the company that initiated the report. Why the sales team? Because they usually answer. I explain what I’m doing, the reasons, and ask if they can provide me with questions people ask and supporting data or a quote. I then include a link back to their company."

"At the bottom of the SERP, you'll find even more queries that potential customers are searching for."

"Using the same data as Google Autocomplete suggestions, AnswerThePublic can generate hundreds of long-tail keyword variations of the phrase you type in."

"To quickly and scalably collect People Also Ask questions, check out AlsoAsked (a tool from the aforementioned Mark Williams-Cook!!)"

"Using real first-party data from Google Search Console is a great way to discover long-tail insights — that you are already benefitting from! — which can perhaps be better leveraged with more precise SEO and keyword targeting."

"However, by scanning GSC to find certain keyword variations that do in fact receive searches (and clicks), we can better hone our SEO for products like this. Translate this practice across hundreds or maybe thousands of products, and suddenly the zero-volume keyword game isn’t all the insignificant after all."

"Despite low- to no volume for these question-specific queries, Ahrefs is still recognizing that these long-tails are indeed being searched."

"Although Term Suggest does not provide actual search volume metrics, the tool lends itself as a fantastic brainstorming library, particularly for long-tail keywords and content strategy ideation. In short, it generates suggested terms using Google's Query Suggest API. So while uber-simple and easy to use, it’s also impressively vast."

"“I usually tie up low search/zero volume keywords to relevant local events. I tend to work in tandem with the localization team to identify cultural opportunities and use keywords that have low value but can add value to hyperlocal pieces of content. To do so, I check the local sources of information (magazines, blogs, Eventbrite if it's relevant to my market, social media calendars, etc.)”"

"“Crossing data is useful. Tools like Ahrefs sometimes provide unreliable data for smaller markets or niche markets, especially when search volume is low. To get meaningful insight, I pull data from a neighboring market like France or the Global volume. Then I add data from KW Planner (which usually shows higher search volumes) or a second tool like Mangools.”"

"If you can produce 20+ autocomplete suggestions of keyword ideas directly from Google’s search bar (... that are actually about your target subject!), then the keyword of interest likely has more search volume than one with 5-10 autocomplete suggestions."

"The process of optimizing content for zero-volume keywords is broken into two parts: initial optimization and re-optimization."

"Beyond the actual techniques used for optimization, another major consideration is what type of content zero-volume keywords are best used for."

"This will vary widely depending on the use case but in most situations, these types of keywords are best suited for tertiary pages of a site (like a specific service or location that a business needs to call out), blog content (like insightful or educational articles), and visual content (like videos, infographics, etc. – which can supplement the latter two uses.)"

"After publishing your content, closely track its performance at the 3-6 month mark."

"First start with your 1st party data source, Google Search Console (GSC):"

"Now, start looking for the queries that have relatively high impressions or clicks and a low average position. These are new opportunities to rank."

"When you have your new keywords ready, you can re-optimize your content around them using the process outlined above."