[Method] Using Ahrefs to find Weak Competitors & their Keywords

er0s0ne said:

Great guide. Been wanting to get more into Ahrefs for sometime now, so this is perfect. Thanks!

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hero76 said:

Great guide, ahrefs is just too darn expensive though and I dont trust group buys

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Gazmo9 said:

I was already following these steps but learn few more tricks.

I was not filtering out CPS, thanks for that

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Dwivedi 98 said:

Thanks for the feedback.

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Dwivedi 98 said:

Hey BHW,
Today we will learn how to find Weak Competitors & their Keywords
It's a Newbie Guide

Let us take “gym bags” as our sub-niche [ we will be using it throughout this guide].

Search this term in the Ahrefs keyword Explorer. [ make sure that you have selected the USA as your target country, you may use other countries to target]

Now click on “view all” under the “having same terms” block.

After that, you will see a list containing around 100k keywords. [ahrefs have a lot of keywords in their database]

But we don’t need all these keywords, utilize the filter I have set [see below] -

KD: Min - 15
Ahrefs KD or Keyword Difficulty does not actually differentiate b/w low competition keywords and medium-low competition keywords. You can go up to 25 KD score.

Volume: 250 - Max
250 is certainly a great monthly search volume to target.

Reasons -

# Most of the sites on page 1 is actually not targeting these keywords.
# Even if the sites are targeting these keywords, the content is too thin.
# The only site writing great content around the exact search term is new websites.


CPS: Number of Clicks per search = 1.1
It’s an important factor that is always missed by marketers while searching for profitable keywords.
It basically means that, if a keyword has a CPS of more than 1 that means, that the target audience clicks on more than one search result.


For ex - If the keyword is - “What’s the age of Donald Trump?” here is what we will get-

As you can see, anyone searching for this keyword will get the answer without even clicking on any search result. And here the CPS may even be as low as 0

Whereas if someone searches for anything like - “Why my dog is feeling sleepy?”
They will click on the search results to learn more about the reason. And it’s a very common practice of people to click on more than one search term.

Hope you understand.

Now, coming back to our main topic.
After you have applied all the required filters, you will be left with less than 100 keywords [it depends on your niche].

Here is what we have -

So basically this is what we are going to do -

1. Check the SERP result of each keyword by clicking on the “SERP” button.
   
   
2. See if any weak website [DA less than 20] is ranking on the 1st - 5th page.
   
   
3. Find out all the keywords that the website is ranking for so that you can rank for them too. Please understand that backlinks are one of the most important factors in SEO and hence we will thoroughly consider them while scanning keywords.

Our ultimate goal - Finding a weak website.

Now just click on each keyword’s SERP button to find out if any weak site is ranking for that specific keyword or not.

For the first keyword “best gym bags” a website with DR = 17 [domain rating, similar to DA] is ranking on the 26th position.

This is the URL - https://garagegympower.com/best-gym-bags-for-women/

Open “Site Explorer” in another tab and search for the domain [ for this example, it’s garagegympower.com]

Then click on the “Organic Keywords”

You are going to get the “Ultimate Hit List Keywords”

After clicking you will see a huge list of keywords, now apply these filters -

Position: Min - 5
That means, filter only the keywords where the given website is ranking between 1st - 5th position.

Volume: 100 - Max

KD: Min - 5 [ You can go upto 25]

Word Count: 4 - Max [ Focusing on long-tail keywords]

Include: best, review, top [select any]

Exclude: 2016,2017,2018 [rubbish long-tail extensions, select any]


Also this filter for extra refinement -

After the filters have been applied, click on the export button to download all the keywords. But, we need to analyze the keywords to understand this whole process.

Before analyzing the keywords, I want to say that we will mainly find these types of keywords -

# How-to keywords [ create a 2,000-word article around the keyword, makes your website look more legit, can drive some serious amount of traffic]

# “Best of” keywords [ Best running shoes for women]

# Mis-spelled keywords [Ignore them]


So, the keyword you choose mainly depends on you and your site. If you want to make your site flow easily, then use a mix of “how-to” and “best-of” keywords.

Now, I am going to focus on “best-of” keywords.

Take this keyword - “ best running shoes for peroneal tendonitis “

Here are the websites ranking for this keyword on the 1st page of Google -

Now, look closely -

1. There are 5 websites out of 10 with a DA less than 19
   
   
2. Websites on positions #5 and #10 are not targeting the keyword, they are just ranking because of authority.

Go for this keyword!
But you may ask that it takes a lot of time?

Solution - This is one of the best solutions out in the SEO market, and it just sounds time-consuming but it’s not. If you are still struggling, hire a cheap VA and just send this guide to him for reference.


RECAP -

1. Enter your niche/sub-niche in Ahrefs keyword explorer.
   
   
2. Filter the keywords list and find out weak websites ranking for buyer intent keywords.
   
   
3. Research all the keywords that the website is ranking for.
   
   
4. Apply the given filters, and you will find some good keywords.
   
   
5. Rinse & Repeat.

Keep in mind.
This is a basic guide, made mostly for newbies.
If you think I missed something, let us know below.
Thanks
@Dwivedi 98

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SEO Authority said:

G


Great method thanks

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Narutito said:

When you say DA do you mean DR?

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Dwivedi 98 said:

yup

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