Mona asks this question:
Should we use a keyword even when we don’t have volume or keyword difficulty data? [tool name redacted] Regarding some keywords? “
Great question Mona!
And the answer is yes, you should focus on zero search volume keywords when it makes sense for your company.
Here are four examples to illustrate a feasibility study if asked, “Why do we focus on questions that no one is looking at?”
- You build the structure of the site.
- Customers can ask, and this provides a solution for them and future customers.
- Remarketing to someone is cheaper than paying for all acquisition touch points.
- The question may not have search volume, but responses appear to the keyword phrase that has high search volume.
Let’s take a closer look at each of these examples.
1. You are building a site structure
On e-commerce sites and sites designed for brands, the amount of basic website pages and content is usually limited.
By having these topics relevant to what your company or organization does, you can use zero search volume keywords and entities to create relevant content.
This content helps search engines and potential customers see what you’re doing and which pages are offering those solutions.
When a product or service is mentioned or offered, you can source the conversion page with an internal link. This is a natural way to build an SEO site structure and help the site visitor at the same time.
And if a page gets backlinks from quality sources, it may boost your other pages to increase your SEO.
Pro tip: Just because the tool shows zero search volume, it doesn’t mean that no one is searching.
If you build a high-quality experience, you could become the website that gets cited because journalists and bloggers search for resources.
2. Because customers ask
An SEO tool doesn’t know what your customers are asking for. They can just ask different questions and make assumptions about how many people are actively searching.
Talk to your customer support team and get a database of live chat questions.
If your customers are actively asking these questions, and the question or phrase appears in your SEO tools, that means there is, in fact, search volume — and likely high intent, too.
A high intent keyword with 100 monthly searches can generate more money than a low intent phrase with 10,000, as the person is ahead of the sales funnel and looking to convert.
Pro tip: Because you know the person is looking for a specific answer, and your customer support team has shown what answers the question and converts the customer, you have a data-driven advantage over someone who takes a shot in the dark and keeps searching online.
One option is to create a blog post dedicated to the topic.
If there is a how-to part, try adding a video demo and scroll through the YouTube and Google Video results.
And if there is something people are asking for that is directly related to using your product or service, consider adding it to the text on your product or service page, as it can lead to a higher conversion rate. This might also be a good addition to the FAQ.
By answering these questions to people who are considering shopping with you or using your services, you can tell them they’re in the right place.
This reduces the workload of customer support because they don’t answer the same thing multiple times, and gives social media and PPC teams new assets for people.
3. Remarketing is cheaper than acquisition
If you can bring the person through SEO, you can tag them with remarketing pixels.
Instead of bidding on big keywords where you need a huge budget, you can tag the person higher up in the sales funnel and bring them back for pennies on the dollar.
The plus here is that you’ve given them a solution in content without the need for hard sales. If you do a good job, you earn their trust.
Now, as your remarketing ads show them, you’ve already built credibility and trust and can keep them coming back for more relevant posts or direct conversions.
But it all depends on the topic and where the person is in your sales funnel.
4. Your content can appear to get bigger phrases
Even if the long phrase or question doesn’t have a search size, type the phrase with the shorter size into an incognito search engine. You may find that the question already appears in the following and you can take traffic from:
- People ask too.
- related searches.
- videos.
- Knowledge boards.
- last.
If these titles, or responses, are the same as yours, you can replace them by creating a better, more relevant user experience. Even though your phrase doesn’t have search volume, it still appears for a phrase with 20,000 monthly searches. It’s a trick we use with some of our clients who have new sites and aren’t ready to build links.
See what is missing, but needed, to provide a solution to the issue, and create it. If the top existing sites have a great answer, but the answer is hidden, create content that gives the answer first and then offers more solutions.
Pro tip: I do this on YouTube sometimes. I look for the videos that appear in the top results for the big phrases and then I look for the videos that play after each one.
From there, I study why these videos are recommended, what they’re missing, and what other videos have in common with them.
Then I make a better video and try to get the scenes without going to the key phrase.
In conclusion
Yes, zero search volume keywords are worth pursuing, but only if they are relevant to your business.
They can increase conversions for people in your funnel, be used by multiple channels, and bring in traffic that SEO tools don’t take into account.
More resources:
- Why you should target zero search volume keywords
- Google and the rise of zero-click searches – what does this mean for your business? [Podcast]
- How to Do SEO Keyword Research: The Ultimate Guide
Featured image: Roman Samborski/Shutterstock
