How to Find New Keywords to Boost Traffic and Grow Your Website
One of the biggest challenges website owners face is consistently discovering new keywords to keep their SEO strategy fresh and their traffic growing. Ranking for new keywords not only helps you attract new audiences but also gives you a competitive edge, drives more qualified leads, and opens up opportunities for growth across your website.
But how can you find these new keywords effectively? In this blog, we’ll walk you through 11 proven strategies to uncover valuable keywords and explain how each method can help expand your site’s reach and authority.
Why Finding New Keywords Matters
Regularly finding new keywords is essential for several reasons:
- Diversify Traffic Sources: Relying on a small set of keywords can make your traffic vulnerable to ranking drops and competition. New keywords help balance this risk.
- Target Buyers at Different Stages: New keywords allow you to target potential customers at every stage of their journey, from awareness to purchase.
- Optimize Paid Campaigns: Expanding your keyword list can help you find more relevant and lower-cost keywords for PPC campaigns.
- Increase Market Share: By ranking for a broader range of search queries, you can reach a wider audience and outshine competitors.
- Grow Website Authority: Covering more topics related to your niche improves topical authority, which helps boost rankings across the board.
11 Smart Ways to Find New Keywords for Your Site
1. Use Google Keyword Planner
Google Keyword Planner is a free tool that helps you discover fresh keyword ideas. Simply enter seed keywords or your website URL to generate keyword suggestions.
- Analyze monthly search volume, competition, and potential costs.
- Refine keyword suggestions by excluding irrelevant terms.
- Find both high-volume and niche-specific long-tail keywords.
2. Analyze Google Search Console Performance
Google Search Console can reveal keywords your site is already appearing for but not fully optimized around.
- Check keywords with impressions but low clicks—these are growth opportunities.
- Filter queries by individual pages to find under-served keywords.
- Use these insights to create new content or improve existing pages.
3. Perform Keyword Gap Analysis
Keyword gap analysis involves comparing your site to your competitors to identify keywords they rank for that you don’t.
- Look for “untapped” keywords where your competitors are winning.
- Prioritize keywords based on relevance and ranking difficulty.
- Use this data to build content that directly competes with top-ranking pages.
- Identify Lost Keywords
Lost keywords are ones you or your competitors have recently dropped from search rankings.
- Monitor keyword drops in Google Search Console or competitor tracking tools.
- Create content to target these lost keywords specifically.
- Analyze whether the search intent changed to avoid future drops.
5. Leverage Google’s People Also Ask (PAA)
The People Also Ask (PAA) box in Google search results is a goldmine for discovering related questions and long-tail keywords.
- Find commonly asked questions tied to your target keyword.
- Click on additional questions to expand your keyword list.
- Create blog posts or FAQs that directly answer these queries.
6. Explore Google Autocomplete Suggestions
Google’s autocomplete shows trending and related queries as you type.
- Use partial queries to reveal keyword variations.
- Type your brand name to uncover what people want to know about your business.
- Expand keyword ideas by adding different letters to your base query.
7. Use Google’s Related Searches
Related searches appear at the bottom of Google search results and provide additional keyword suggestions.
- Click through related searches to discover more variations.
- Build keyword clusters based on related search pathways.
Use these terms to enrich existing pages or inspire new content.
8. Search Forums Like Reddit and Quora
Forums like Reddit and Quora are packed with real conversations and questions from your target audience.
- Find trending topics and frequently asked questions in your niche.
- Use filters to uncover popular posts and hidden gems.
- Incorporate insights from these communities to create more relevant content.
9. Track Trending Keywords with Google Trends
Google Trends helps you spot emerging keywords gaining popularity.
- Filter results by region, category, and time to narrow trends.
- Focus on “Breakout” keywords that are rapidly increasing in searches.
- Tap into timely topics to gain quick bursts of traffic.
10. Monitor Long-Tail and Conversational Keywords
Long-tail keywords are highly specific search phrases that often have lower competition and higher conversion potential.
- Find them through autocomplete, forums, and PAA boxes.
- Target conversational queries that align with voice search and user intent.
- Build targeted content to address niche questions and user pain points.
11. Watch Competitor Keyword Movements
Tracking competitor keyword shifts helps you find gaps and opportunities.
- Monitor keywords your competitors recently gained or lost.
- Analyze their content to understand why rankings changed.
- Create optimized content to target keywords they may have neglected.
How to Prioritize New Keywords
Once you’ve built a list of potential keywords, it’s essential to prioritize them for maximum impact.
- Keyword Difficulty: Start with lower-competition keywords to achieve quicker wins.
- Search Volume: Focus on keywords with reasonable traffic potential.
- Search Intent: Target a healthy mix of informational, commercial, and transactional keywords to attract diverse audiences.
- Business Relevance: Ensure the keywords align with your products, services, or core topics.
How to Monitor Keyword Performance
Tracking your keyword performance helps you refine your SEO strategy and improve your rankings.
- Use Google Search Console to regularly review your keyword positions.
- Identify your best-performing pages and which keywords are declining.
- Continuously optimize underperforming content to maintain keyword visibility.
- Monitor competitors to stay ahead in the rankings.
Conclusion
Finding new keywords is not a one-time task—it’s an ongoing process that drives continuous website growth and keeps you competitive in your industry. By using a variety of research methods and closely monitoring your performance, you can consistently attract new visitors and build authority in your niche.
Stay proactive, keep exploring, and update your content regularly to maximize your keyword potential and long-term SEO success.