Learn about how efficient zero search volume keywords are and how Google's new updates focus on quality rather than quantity.
In this article, SEO experts Blas Giffuni and Camilo Ramírez from SEO Bites discuss whether Zero Search Engine Optimization, also known as zero search volume keywords, is a good strategy for web positioning.
How efficient are zero search volume keywords?
When changes occur in the digital industry, particularly in the SEO universe, people tend to question everything achieved so far and change their approach to positioning. This was the case with Long Tail Keywords.
The Long Tail Keywords strategy introduced a new way of searching on the internet. Users typically search for the word without resorting to adjectives or characteristics of what they are looking for. For example, they type "car" instead of "White car made in Japan." This ends up being a Long Tail not only because of its length but also because the traffic volume it may generate is lower. Part of the keyword strategy used by people was to find a word that users would want to search for or are searching for and whose keyword difficulty was not too strong because it is not recommended to position there. Finally, if a strong keyword is not found, it is discarded to avoid investing content in a term that people are not searching for.
Everything evolves. Both Google and tools evolve, but tools do not evolve at the same rate as Google. Previously, the search engine was semi-static, so finding search volume and getting a click on a website was much easier. Today, the results page is extremely dynamic and considers variables such as physical location and device type. Probably, the results obtained on a computer are not the same as those on a mobile or a tablet. Furthermore, depending on the type of result sought, help can be obtained from Google. If you type in the search engine about something you want to know, like "how to prepare a hunter's chicken," the results will likely be recipes, images, or videos of its preparation. But if you search for a topic with not much search volume, only a few links and "what others have searched for" appear.
All this dynamic on the results page influences the metrics that platforms receive to determine if a keyword is complicated, if there are variables and search volume for this term. So when you perform a search and click on a link that another person searched for, the search is not performed again. According to this, tools practically cannot know what the search volume of a term is and how complicated it is.
This can be used as a proxy where one tool A yields a result, Google Trends, Google Search Console, and Bing Webmaster Center yield others, and the mixture of this information complements the keyword strategy of a website, i.e., the more sources you have, the better the keyword research is. Thus, tools are necessary but not the priority in a strategy. The following should be considered first:
1. Topic
Consider the topic being addressed. Ask: What is the topic? How is it divided? What subdivisions does it have?
2. Service or product
Know what the service or product is and its strengths.
3. Tone of voice
It is important to implement a tone with which to communicate with the customer. This influences how to write the content and how to use certain keywords.
How do zero search volume keywords work?
There are interesting terms with zero search volume for content creation. The important thing is to know where to get more information to add more elements to those keywords. One way to do this is to work with the closest data and gradually expand. Then, review social media comments, questions, and people's searches. And finally, see what users are searching for on the website itself.
First Party Data, or data from the first source, which functions to collect data from the client's own sources such as website visits and activity on social networks. This data is taken to Google to see if the search results yield any Knowledge Graph, videos, quick answers, and generated questions, which help identify what the real search is for that word or those terms associated with that word.
It is advisable to always look at the results page and not just tools like SEMRush, which may yield zero data when Google yields results.
Google does not invest time in generating a good results page if there are no search results.
So, what is the parameter for knowing if a search is good?
It depends on what type of strategy is required and the facilities for creating content. If you find a page with a lot of content but few features, it could mean that many people are covering that content; but it could also mean that nobody has covered it well, and therefore Google has not found it to generate quick results, or it could be that historically they have managed to have a lot of content and the search volume has fallen. There is no formula for this; an analysis must be done to determine if the results are good or bad and what can be improved on the website.
The tool is not responsible for doing all the work, although it serves to see the search volume of Keywords and their difficulty, it is not a guarantee of anything because everyone would have the same results. It is important to invest time in content analysis to reach more effective keywords. That is, when you have 500 monthly searches on the website, you can think of targeting a 10% search strategy: reaching 50 searches out of the 500 to improve the page's positioning.
Google prefers quality over quantity
Google has never said that a website should be filled with content. On the contrary, Google's updates have been about quality, not quantity. One of these is its technological part, which already has the ability to read the entire page: it understands why images and videos are used, how those images, videos, and PDFs relate to the main theme of the website.
Many agencies aim for weekly blogs as a good content strategy; they think that publishing three articles a week is the best for positioning, and the opposite happens, it takes one or two weeks to create a good article. The strategy must be a bit more fluid, based on the company's needs, financial results, or website goals.
It is important to establish an objective based on the page's theme considering the target audience, the reason for being, and the teaching. There are websites with 1500 blogs or articles, and probably only 10% generate traffic because they focus on creating content after content regardless of quality.
Another key point is to conduct keyword reviews more thoroughly in the search engine to see what appears. If there are no highlights, no features, no quick answers like an image, recipe, or something similar related, it means that there is an opportunity to add it to the search and try to get it in the top positions.
Zero search volume keywords = Blue Ocean
In a blue ocean where there is nothing, it is a good territory to navigate. The same happens with zero search volume keywords. If the content is very good, strong, and the user's search intent is identified, Google starts talking about it. In other words, if the necessary information is given to Google, the topic is interesting, and it is well covered, Google shows it in its first results with an organic link.
There are clients with very specific topics that are rarely discussed in everyday life. In this case, the use of tools and search volume is not effective. For example, processes and chemical treatments at high pressure and temperature record very low search volume.
The opposite happens with environmental issues. The top positions in search results are fought between a "company x" (not well known), the EPA (United States Environmental Protection Agency), and Wikipedia. However, this company is in the first position because of a video with a somewhat unprofessional animation where the voice is done with artificial intelligence, but the content is very good and complete. A blue ocean that proves that this is the best way to create a good SEO campaign.
What should be done to implement zero search volume keywords?
Agencies use metrics to perform searches based on positioning by topic, which works in implementing zero search volume keywords. Thus, the website's content must be worked on considering the main theme and indexing the keywords related to the theme at the time of the website's launch. Then, check the number of related keywords being captured after a certain time (30 days) and the growth in the number of related keywords per topic of each page. Finally, analyze all the content on the website. Look at the good, the regular, and the bad; take the good and see if the bad can be combined with another theme to improve it or simply discard it.
Conclusion:
When creating a content strategy, it is important to think about quality rather than quantity. Consider what serves the user, who is the one who best responds to effective positioning work, without relying solely on tools and a higher search volume of keywords.
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