Finding low-competition keywords using Ahrefs Keywords Explorer

Executive overview

Most keyword research stops at search volume, missing whether a keyword will actually send traffic. Ahrefs Keywords Explorer adds two critical filters — keyword difficulty and clicks — that reveal whether a keyword is genuinely worth targeting.

Ranking for easy keywords requires matching low backlink counts, high clicks, and a low difficulty score — not just high search volume.

Step 1: Generate keyword ideas

• Enter one or two top-level seed terms in Keywords Explorer
• The "Having same terms" list returns 200,000+ suggestions for broad niches
• Results are ordered by search volume by default; filter or sort from there

Step 2: Filter by keyword difficulty

• Keyword difficulty (KD) scores 0–100 based on backlinks held by the top-10 ranking pages
• Color-coded: red = hard, green = potentially achievable with some link building
• Click "Get metrics" to refresh cached scores to current data
• SERP features (shopping ads, knowledge cards, site links, images) consume page-one real estate — factor these in when assessing a keyword

Step 3: Check referring domains on the SERP overview

• Open a promising keyword and scroll to the SERP overview
• If most top-10 pages have low referring domain counts, you can compete without heavy link building
• The KD hint tells you the approximate number of backlinks needed to reach the top 10

Step 4: Validate with clicks and clicks per search

• Search volume alone is misleading — some queries trigger knowledge cards and get near-zero clicks (e.g. "Donald Trump age")
• Clicks shows actual estimated clicks the top pages receive
• Clicks per search = clicks ÷ search volume
  • Below 1: most searchers don't click any result
  • Above 1: searchers click multiple results — good for ranking below #1
• Confirm a keyword drives real traffic before committing to it

Workflow summary

• Seed Keywords Explorer with 1–2 terms
• Filter by search volume and cached KD to shortlist candidates
• Open promising keywords; refresh metrics; check SERP referring domains
• Pull clicks and clicks per search to confirm traffic potential
• Add confirmed targets to a keyword list for future content creation