Starting a new website is exciting, but ranking it on Google can feel impossible. Every keyword you check seems to be dominated by big, established sites with years of backlinks and authority. This is where low-competition keywords come in. They give new websites a realistic way to rank, get traffic, and build authority before going after bigger, harder terms.

This guide walks through exactly how to find low-competition keywords, why they matter for a new site, and which tools and checks actually work.

What Are Low-Competition Keywords?

Low-competition keywords are search terms that are easier to rank for because fewer strong websites are targeting them well. They usually have lower search volume than broad “head” keywords, but they’re also far more achievable for a site with little or no existing authority.

A simple way to think about it: instead of trying to rank for “running shoes,” a new site has a much better shot at “best running shoes for flat feet on a budget.”

Why New Websites Need Low-Competition Keywords

A brand-new domain has no backlink history, no trust signals, and often no traffic. Google tends to be cautious about ranking new sites for competitive terms, a pattern many SEOs refer to as the “sandbox” effect. Trying to compete directly with established sites on high-volume keywords usually leads to months of effort with no visible results.

Low-competition keywords solve this problem in three ways:

• They let a new site start ranking and getting real traffic within weeks instead of months.
• Early rankings build trust signals (clicks, engagement, backlinks) that help the site compete for harder keywords later.
• They’re often closer to what people actually type when they’re ready to act, which means better conversion rates even with less traffic.

How to Find Low-Competition Keywords (Step by Step)

1. Start With Long-Tail Keywords

Long-tail keywords are longer, more specific phrases, usually four or more words. They have lower search volume individually, but they’re easier to rank for and add up across many pages. Instead of “digital marketing,” try phrases like “digital marketing for small bakeries” or “digital marketing checklist for new startups.”

2. Check the Keyword Difficulty (KD) Score

Most keyword research tools assign a difficulty score out of 100. As a general rule for new websites:

• 0–20: Very low competition, good for early content
• 20–40: Low to moderate, worth targeting once the site has a few months of history
• 40+: Save these for later, once the site has more authority

Free and low-cost tools that show this score include Ubersuggest, KeywordTool.io, and Google Keyword Planner (which shows relative competition, not a KD score, but is still useful for volume).

3. Look at Who’s Actually Ranking

Difficulty scores are a good starting signal, but they’re not always accurate. Search the keyword yourself and look at the top 10 results:

• Are there forum threads, Reddit posts, or Quora answers ranking? That’s usually a sign the topic is winnable.
• Are the ranking pages thin, outdated, or poorly formatted? That’s an opportunity to publish something better.
• Are all 10 results from major, high-authority domains? If so, skip it for now.

This manual check matters more than any single tool’s score.

4. Mine Question-Based Keywords

Questions are naturally lower competition because fewer sites answer them directly and completely, and they’re exactly the format that AI Overviews, ChatGPT, and voice assistants prefer to pull answers from. Good sources for question keywords:

• Google’s “People Also Ask” boxes
• AnswerThePublic
• AlsoAsked
• Google autosuggest (start typing a keyword and see what Google suggests)

Phrasing a page around a specific question, like “how much does local SEO cost for a small business,” is often much easier to rank than the shorter, more competitive version of the same topic.

5. Use Keyword Modifiers

Adding modifiers to a broad keyword instantly narrows the competition:

• Location: “plumber in [city]”
• Price/budget: “affordable web design for small business”
• Audience: “SEO for real estate agents”
• Format: “SEO checklist,” “keyword research template”
• Comparison: “X vs Y,” “best alternative to X”

These modifiers match real search intent and are far less contested than the generic root keyword.

6. Study Competitor Content Gaps

Look at two or three competitors who are slightly bigger than your site, not the industry giants. Check which keywords they rank for on page one but haven’t covered in-depth. Tools like Ubersuggest or SEMrush’s free content gap features can surface these terms. These are often overlooked, lower-competition opportunities sitting right next to keywords they’ve already validated as worth targeting.

7. Check Search Volume Trends

A keyword with steady or growing interest over the past 12–24 months is safer to target than one that’s fading. Google Trends is free and shows this at a glance. Rising topics also tend to have less existing content, which naturally lowers competition.

8. Validate Before You Write

Before committing to a keyword, run through this quick checklist:

• Does the keyword match something your site can genuinely answer well?
• Is search intent clear (informational, commercial, or transactional)?
• Do the current top-ranking pages have visible weaknesses?
• Is the difficulty score realistic for your site’s current authority? (Domain authority plays a big role here — see our guide on what domain authority actually means if you’re unsure where your site stands.)

If a keyword checks these boxes, it’s worth building a page around.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

• Chasing volume over winnability. A keyword with 50 searches a month that you can actually rank for beats a keyword with 5,000 searches a month that you can’t.
• Ignoring search intent. Ranking for a keyword doesn’t help if the page doesn’t match what the searcher actually wants.
• Relying on one tool’s score. Difficulty scores vary between tools. Always sanity-check with a manual SERP review.
• Targeting the same keyword on multiple pages. This creates internal competition and confuses search engines about which page to rank.

Low-Competition Keywords and AI Search (AEO/GEO)

AI-powered search results, like Google’s AI Overviews and tools like ChatGPT, tend to favor content that answers a specific question clearly and completely, not content that’s stuffed with generic broad keywords. This works in favor of low-competition, question-based, and long-tail keywords, since they’re already structured the way AI systems look to extract direct answers. Writing clear, well-structured content around these terms helps a new site get picked up by both traditional and AI-driven search at the same time.

FAQs

What counts as a “low” keyword difficulty score for a new website?

Generally, a score under 20–30 is a safe starting point for a brand-new site with little to no backlink history.

Can a new website ever rank for high-competition keywords?

Yes, but usually only after building authority through low-competition content first. It’s rare for a brand-new domain to rank for a highly competitive term without an existing audience or major PR push.

Are long-tail keywords worth targeting even with low search volume?

Yes. Long-tail keywords often convert better because they match more specific searcher intent, and ranking for several of them adds up to meaningful traffic over time.

How many low-competition keywords should a new website target first?

There’s no fixed number, but starting with 10–20 well-researched, closely related keywords is a practical way to build topical relevance without spreading content too thin.

Do low-competition keywords stay low-competition forever?

No. As more sites discover and target a keyword, competition rises. It’s worth revisiting keyword difficulty every few months, especially for keywords tied to trending topics.

Looking for a full keyword strategy built around your site’s current authority and niche? BizClick Digital’s SEO services can help map out a realistic keyword roadmap for new and growing websites.