How to generate thousands of keyword ideas using Ahrefs

Executive overview

Most keyword tools surface a shallow list of ideas. Starting from a single seed keyword, Ahrefs' Keywords Explorer queries a database of 5.8 billion keywords across eight reports to surface volume, difficulty, and SERP data at scale.

Filters cut that volume to manageable shortlists. The right report depends on the goal: finding low-competition targets, spotting SERP features, uncovering questions, or tracking trending queries.

The fastest way to build a keyword list is to combine a seed keyword with targeted filters, then cross-check SERP results to confirm intent before committing to a topic.

The eight keyword reports

1. All — combines every other report into one dataset; best for large-scale filtering
2. Phrase match — keywords containing the seed phrase in exact order
3. Having same terms — keywords containing all seed words in any order
4. Also rank for — keywords the top-10 ranking pages also rank for; useful once a topic is chosen
5. Search suggestions — Google autocomplete results with full metrics attached
6. Newly discovered — recently added keywords reaching a popularity threshold; good for trend monitoring
7. Questions — question-format queries built from the seed keyword
8. (Multiple seeds) — paste up to 10 seed keywords to get combined phrase-match data in one report

Filters that narrow results fast

• Low difficulty + high volume — set max KD (e.g. 10) and min monthly searches (e.g. 1,000) to find accessible high-traffic targets
• SERP features — filter by featured snippets, video results, or ad presence depending on monetisation or format goals; featured snippets can deliver up to 8.6% of clicks outside position one
• High CPC + low difficulty — useful for AdSense monetisation or industries where paid search is expensive; organic rankings on these terms can substitute for costly ad spend
• Modifiers — include terms like "best", "top", or a year in the keyword string to surface long-tail variants with lower competition
• Include/Exclude — remove irrelevant queries (e.g. exclude "pong" when researching golf brand "Ping") to clean large datasets quickly

Reading SERP results to confirm intent

• The top-ranking keyword is not always the one you typed — check what query actually drives the most traffic to the leading pages
• Content format matters: if the top 10 results are list posts, an opinion piece will underperform regardless of backlink count
• A page with many backlinks but low traffic signals a mismatch between the content and searcher intent
• KD scores are a baseline only; always review the actual SERP before drawing conclusions on difficulty

Using the also-rank-for and questions reports

• Also rank for pulls keywords the top-10 pages rank for beyond your target query — useful for finding subtopics to include in a post (e.g. targeting "best protein powder" surfaces "whey", "best tasting", "for women" as natural subsections)
• Questions lists interrogative queries around your seed; long-question keywords tend to have lower competition and weaker existing content, creating gap opportunities
• Sites with no backlinks can rank for question-format queries when existing results poorly match intent

Monitoring trends with newly discovered

• Filter by date range to see how many new keywords appeared each month for a topic
• A spike in newly discovered keywords can track with external events (e.g. Bitcoin price movement in 2017–2018)
• Use this report on a recurring basis to catch new content opportunities as search behaviour evolves
• Brands can use it to spot gaps where third-party sites are capturing traffic the brand itself could own (e.g. Netflix "leaving", "new on", "coming to" queries dominated by external sites)