Beyond the First Page: The Value of Ranking for Keywords No One Else Wants
I still remember the day when my boss called me into his office, his face a mask of thinly-veiled panic. “Listen,” he said, “I need you to get our website ranking number one for this keyword by the end of the month, or I’m going to have to let you go.”
The keyword in question? “Business suits.” A difficulty level of 33%. Not exactly an easy task, but hey, I was the digital marketing manager – this was my bread and butter, right? I confidently assured him that I would make it happen, and got to work.
I dove headfirst into optimizing our site – publishing blogs daily, tweaking the on-page SEO, and building backlinks like a madman. Four months later, and I was still nowhere near the first page of Google. My boss was getting restless, and I was starting to panic.
That’s when I had an epiphany – what if I stopped focusing so much on that super-competitive “business suits” keyword, and instead went after some of the lower-hanging fruit? The keywords that no one else seemed to be targeting? It was a risky move, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
So I set out to identify those overlooked, under-the-radar keywords – the ones with decent search volume but relatively low competition. And you know what? It worked. Within a few weeks, we started ranking on the first page for a handful of those keywords. Sure, the individual search volumes were lower, but combined, they started driving a decent amount of traffic to the site.
But the real kicker? Those “little” keywords ended up being the foundation for something much bigger. As our relevance and authority grew, Google started rewarding us with better rankings for our more competitive target keywords as well. Before long, we were ranking on the first page for “business suits” – not at the top, but high enough to start driving a meaningful amount of qualified traffic.
All of this happened because I was willing to think outside the box and target keywords that my competitors had written off. Rather than getting bogged down in the rat race for the most popular, high-competition terms, I focused on finding the diamonds in the rough – the keywords that were just begging to be claimed.
And you know what? It wasn’t easy. There were plenty of times when I felt like throwing in the towel and just going back to the “safe” strategy of targeting the big-ticket keywords. But I stuck with it, and the results speak for themselves.
These days, our website is a powerhouse – ranking on the first page for a wide range of keywords, both competitive and niche. And it all started with a shift in mindset, a willingness to think beyond the obvious and explore the untapped potential of those “lesser” keywords.
Sure, it might take a bit more work to rank for the lower-competition terms – you can’t just throw a few backlinks at them and call it a day. But the payoff is well worth it. Not only do you get the immediate traffic boost, but you also start to establish your site as an authority in the eyes of Google. And that, my friends, is the key to unlocking those elusive first-page rankings for the big-ticket keywords.
So if you’re feeling frustrated, like you’re spinning your wheels trying to crack the code of SEO, take a step back and consider shifting your focus. Look for those overlooked keywords – the ones that your competitors have deemed too “small” to bother with. You might just find the secret to unlocking your website’s full potential.
And who knows – you might even save your job in the process. 😉