The Hidden Profit Potential of Zero Traffic Keywords

Niche marketers are always looking for that one thing that will give them an advantage over the competition. The problem is, that they end up implementing something everyone else is using, so it isn’t an advantage at all.

If you’ve taken any traffic or profit-pulling course for online entrepreneurs, you’ll know that they emphasize that you should focus on discovering low-competition, high-volume keywords to use in your content.

What they don’t tell you is that 15% of all searches are brand new. In other words, they are undiscovered, zero-traffic keywords that have not yet been listed in keyword tools for you to discover as something worth pursuing.

Oddly enough, you will see a lot of advice about pursuing long-tail keyword phrases, which is exactly what zero-traffic keywords are all about. The wonderful thing about this strategy is that the keyword phrases are extremely specific, so they convert very highly for you.

Many marketers have disclosed that although something was labeled as a zero-traffic keyword phrase, they are actually benefitting from hundreds of searches per month. The numbers aren’t yet significant enough for the keyword tools, but they can add up to something amazing for your niche site’s success.

Don’t Let the Official Metrics Fool You

People rely too heavily on keyword tools to tell them what direction to go in. But these tools are often not updated in real-time – not to mention some keyword phrases emerge as a new trend in the niche, so you may not see the numbers lining up with what’s unfolding.

Google has openly reported that 15% of all searches are new – phrases that have never been typed into their search engine before – and if you know about the volume of searches each day, that could be an enormous number you’re able to target for your niche.

People tend to change their language and search habits, so there might be a phrase that has evolved into something brand new but is still based on an original core concept.

For example, some people still use the wording pay per click, but many have evolved to use the phrases Google ads, search engine ads, or paid ads instead. Or someone using social media marketing might now be searching for influencer marketing.

They often report based on averages, not by a specific count. So the volume might be skewed when you’re looking at something over an entire year compared to recent months.

There are other theories about how accurate the reporting is and what reasons search engines have for not being fully transparent with search volume data, so you have to assume that phrases may have more search traffic than what is being shown.

You want to use a mix of tools, research, and your own mind to come up with keyword phrases you feel might be worth pursuing as a zero-traffic keyword option. By using your own creativity, you’ll be expanding beyond the reach of what most of your competitors are doing.

When trying to consider the right metrics, stop focusing on volume or level of competition, and instead think of different ways to say something more common. Drill down into the specifics of what your audience may want to discover.

It still needs to be highly relevant to your niche topic, but you want low-hanging fruit – not highly competitive phrases. So for example, if you want to target a phrase like homemade dog treats, that’s a phrase with high competition and high search volume.

But if you target a phrase like all natural healthy homemade dog treats, you’re going to see that is shows zero traffic and no competition. Yet it’s a very specific thing people might be searching for in different ways.

It’s very specific, which is why it isn’t showing up in the keyword tools. But it gives you a ton of profit potential. Your audience is highly targeted (they want good health for their pet) and this can create a built-in community feel for those who feel the same.

They’re willing to spend money and make an effort for the health of their pet. It’s a topic that will trend upward as people begin learning more about the nutritional needs of their dog.

It gives you many content slant possibilities, too – whether it’s teaching them how to make hypoallergenic treats, weight management treats, or treats for other issues like something digestive in nature.

The True Advantage of Zero Traffic Keywords

So when you’re seeing a keyword phrase come up that looks to be “useless” at first glance, you want to think of what you can do with these phrases. First of all, the competition will be virtually non-existent.

Most marketers try (and struggle) to break into the marketplace with broad keywords and phrases that are hard to dominate with. So you’ll find that even if you don’t have an authority site, your content is capable of ranking very high right off the bat.

Secondly, your content is going to convert better for you. Most of the zero traffic keyword phrases are so specific, that the reader feels it was written just for their needs, and if you’re savvy about monetization or list building with the content, it should perform well for you.

Third, if (as we discussed previously), this is a brand new and trending phrase or evolving phrase from an original concept, it gives you the ability to leverage it early – before any competitors get wind of its potential.

Fourth, if you’re a marketer leveraging paid ads, then these are going to help you get targeted traffic at a mere fraction of what others are shelling out for their ads targeting highly competitive phrases.

Keep in mind that as you continually use zero-traffic keyword phrases and rank high for them with valuable content, the search algorithms are going to see that your domain is providing what that target audience needs, and they will begin showing your site to people using more competitive phrases.

How to Uncover Zero Traffic Keywords That Are Worth Pursuing

So how do you uncover this unique, low-hanging fruit? As I mentioned before, you want to use a mix of tools, research and creative brainstorming. But let’s dig into that process in more detail.

Using keyword tools like Google’s Keyword Planner, SEMRush, Ahrefs, or even AnswerThePublic or Ubersuggest, you can try to drill down from a broad seed keyword into more specific, lesser-known phrases.

You can even go to Google and let the autofill feature help you. For example, if you start typing all natural health dog treat into Google, you’ll see that people are also adding the word training before treat which gives you an even more specific, zero traffic keyword phrase option.

With the research phase, you want to look at more than just keyword tools. Start looking in forums and communities online to see how real people are searching. If you see someone using a keyword phrase like treats for raw fed dog, take that to a search tool and you’ll see that you can use another phrase: best training treats for raw fed puppy.

Start looking around on social media platforms, too. Look at how people are discussing things – the verbiage they use not only in posts but in comments and hashtags, too. If you start looking on Instagram for homemade dog treats, you’ll find comments asking if they’re puppy friendly – so you can create a new zero-traffic keyword phrase like puppy-friendly homemade dog treats to use.

You can also spy on the competition. Analyze their SEO to see what phrases they’re ranking for and tweak them to be similar, but more specific as a zero traffic keyword phrase.

For example, if you find a competitor ranks well for organic dog treats, use keyword tools and research along with creative brainstorming to come up with variants such as natural organic dog treats, organic grain-free dog treats, or organic dog treats that are puppy-friendly.

In all cases, you’ll start with a broader keyword and narrow it down until it makes sense, but has little to no traffic or competition. You may have dozens or hundreds of subcategories when doing this, which means lots of content potential.

Using Zero Traffic Keywords in Your Business Strategically

The main thing you need to know after discovering these zero-traffic keywords is what to do with them once you have them? First of all, use them in your search engine optimization (SEO) efforts.

You can get high rankings and even a featured snippet position easily using this strategy. Google is providing more weight to those who have a voice-search strategy in place, and these long-tail, zero-traffic keywords are perfect for that purpose.

Use the keywords in your titles, headers, body content, anchor text, tags and more. Even though they’re already narrow, do some research to gather related semantic keyword phrases to use, too.

Take time to develop value-packed content for your blog and social media based on these ideas. Your audience will gobble it up and interact more with your content because it’s very specific.

Use a mix of media formats, too – not just text but also video and images or even audio if you want to create a podcast episode or audiobook about it. Make sure you have a monetization or list-building strategy in place when using these.

If you’re targeting the phrase all natural healthy dog treats, then you might have a recipe book you’re selling or you might be promoting silicone dog treat molds on Amazon, too. But get them on your list so that you can cater to their needs from that point on.

Zero-traffic keywords may initially seem like a waste of time, but there are very savvy marketers using these for hundreds of unique visitors per month and finding their site gaining traction overall in the SERPs (search engine results pages).