Keyword research for a new website: a practical step-by-step guide

Executive overview

New websites can't compete for every keyword. Starting with the wrong ones wastes time and produces no rankings.

The solution is a three-bucket system: low-competition keywords for early traffic, linkbait topics to build authority, and money terms for revenue. Each bucket serves a different purpose and requires different targeting logic.

Match your keyword choices to your current authority, or you won't rank.

Building a seed keyword list

• Start with 2–3 broad seed terms (e.g. "fitness", "weight loss")
• Use Google Autosuggest and related searches to expand into subtopics
• Use the search suggestions report in Ahrefs Keywords Explorer for a larger list
• Google Correlate surfaces related terms and body-part or concept associations
• Compile a working list of relevant modifiers (e.g. diet, calorie, training, abs)
• Enter seeds into Keywords Explorer → All Keywords report; apply an Include filter using your modifier list to cut from millions to a manageable pool (~188K from 2.6M)

Finding low-competition keywords

• Filter for at least 500 monthly searches to remove noise
• Set keyword difficulty (KD) maximum to ~20
• Exclude branded queries using the Exclude filter
• Sort by parent topic — one page can rank for multiple keyword variants, so target the parent rather than creating separate posts
• Check parent topic KD separately; it may be much higher than the child keyword's KD
• Flag interesting topics by checkmark; save as a named list

Finding linkbait topics

• Goal: build backlinks, not rank directly — these pages funnel authority to your other pages
• Use Phrase Match report with a minimum KD of ~70 (high KD = many links pointing at top pages, meaning many potential link targets)
• Set a minimum search volume of 100 to remove ultra long-tail keywords
• Scan the parent topic column, not the keyword column
• Look for topics where you can create something genuinely better: tools (calculators), original research, or in-depth product testing
• Link internally from linkbait pages to your low-competition and money pages

Finding money terms

• Money terms depend on business model: transactional queries for ecommerce, commercial-intent queries for affiliates
• For affiliate sites, use Include filter with terms: best, top, comparison, versus, review
• Set to "any word" to capture all combinations
• Apply additional filters (KD, volume) to target winnable versions

Identifying search intent

• For every shortlisted keyword, check the top 10 results to identify the dominant content format and type
• Informational query → blog post or guide; transactional query → product/category page
• If you can't match the dominant format, skip the keyword
• In Keywords Explorer, use the SERP button on any list to inspect top results without switching to Google

Assessing ranking difficulty

Three signals to evaluate for each keyword:

1. Referring domains — how many unique sites link to the top pages; look for pages ranking with zero or few links
2. Domain Rating (DR) — overall backlink authority of the ranking domains; low-DR sites in the top 5 signal opportunity
3. Topical relevance — do the ranking domains and pages actually focus on your niche? Low relevance = easier to displace with a targeted page

• Use the traffic column to estimate whether a ranking would justify the effort
• A single data point (e.g. 2,000 monthly visits from one page) helps calibrate ROI before you invest in content

Extracting subtopics from top-ranking pages

• For target keywords, click through to see the organic rankings of the top 5 relevant pages
• Filter to positions 1–5 to identify related subtopics those pages rank for
• Use findings to shape your content angle and outline — not to stuff keywords
• Example: if top pages for "weight loss workouts for women" also rank for beginner routines and gym plans, build your post around a structured 1-week plan