There are many reasons to target low search volume keywords, the most common one being that if you go after the ‘low hanging fruit’ it will help you to rank for bigger terms later on. But ranking for low search volume keywords can help with so much more and here are four noteworthy reasons why.

4 reasons to target low volume keywords

1. If user intent is high

User intent refers to the reasons why a user types a keyword into Google. If a user searches for the keywords, “best ice cream”, as opposed to just “ice cream”, the intent is different. A user who searches for the words “best ice cream” is most likely searching for reviews of ice cream rather than just looking to buy ice cream.

The user who searches for “best ice cream” has informational based search intent and is looking for more information in the hopes of deciding on a particular brand or location to buy from. They might read reviews, look at a number of web pages and shop around a bit before making a final decision.

The user who searches for “ice cream” on the other hand, has what’s called transactional intent and this is a sign that they already know what they want and are ready to buy.

2. If keyword difficulty is low

Keyword difficulty (also known as “SEO difficulty” or “keyword competition”) refers to how difficult it is to rank in Google’s search results for a specific keyword. A keyword’s difficulty is based on a number of factors, namely: domain authority, page authority, and content quality. People prefer to target low keywords because it’s easy for them to rank quickly without doing much work.

A fundamental part of SEO involves finding as many low ranking keywords as possible and including them into your content as naturally as you can. By using all low competition keywords, you can rank quickly and get traffic to your website. You can also improve your domain authority and once that happens, begin to target more competitive keywords.

3. If you use a long-tail keyword that contains a high search volume keyword

Long-tail keywords are phrases that contain more than four keywords and more often times than not, contain a high search volume keyword as well.

If we look at the keywords, “what is the best local sugar-free ice cream in South Africa” it may only get 10 searches a month while the keywords “sugar-free ice cream” (the high ranking keyword) might get 1000 searches per month. As a result, you may want to target these long-tail keywords and position an entire piece of content around them with the intent of eventually getting the high-volume keyword.

4. If you’re writing about a niche topic

Sugar-free ice cream would be considered a niche topic because it’s something that doesn’t interest everyone. And those who follow the sugar-free lifestyle will be very interested to know everything there is to know about sugar-free ice cream. They will also most likely be interested in spending a lot of money to purchase it. As a result, it’s better to target low search volume keywords even if they don’t bring in a lot of traffic. Google is rewarding content that goes in-depth and covers topics to the fullest extent.

So how does this relate to low volume keywords and niche topics?

Targeting low volume keywords has other purposes besides bringing in traffic. The goal of your site should be topic mastery and expertise. Google likes and rewards this because it wants to see that you actually understand the topic and that you are interested in it

Conclusion

To sum it all up, you should be targeting low volume keywords because the value goes far beyond just being able to get ahead of your competitors or driving more traffic.

Other benefits of using low volume search keywords in your SEO strategy include:

• Highly relevancy – Long-tail keywords are usually low-volume keywords that are highly relevant to your target audience. The more relevant the content, the more likely users are to convert.
• Builds interest – Low volume keywords provide many opportunities to build interest around a new or small niche.
• Good return on investment – Even the lowest volume keywords can drive conversions that offset the cost of creating content.
• Variety – Your content can rank for a wide variety of low-volume keywords all at once which can potentially increase web traffic.
• Transactional intent – You can use specific keywords to draw users in who are ready to buy your product or service.