How to Find Low-Hanging Fruit Keywords for Your SEO Strategy

Everyone wants the SEO equivalent of finding twenty bucks in an old jacket pocket.

That’s basically the appeal of low-hanging fruit keywords: search opportunities that don’t require you to start at the bottom of Mount Google and climb your way to page one with nothing but determination and a Semrush subscription.

But there’s a catch.

Low-hanging fruit isn’t simply a keyword with low difficulty and decent search volume. Sometimes your best opportunity is a keyword with 50 searches a month. Sometimes it’s a query you already rank eighth for. Sometimes it’s an old blog quietly slipping down the SERPs while everyone is busy publishing something new.

The real goal is to find the shortest realistic distance between where your site is now and where more valuable organic visibility could be.

What Are Low-Hanging Fruit Keywords?

Low-hanging fruit keywords are search terms your website can realistically rank higher for without building an entirely new SEO strategy around them.

Traditionally, marketers have looked for some magical combination of low keyword difficulty + high search volume. Those metrics still matter, but they don’t tell the whole story.

In practice, low-hanging fruit often includes:

• Keywords you already rank for in positions 4–20
• Low-competition keywords with strong business relevance
• Long-tail keywords with clear search intent
• Competitor keyword gaps you can realistically fill
• Existing pages losing traffic or rankings
• Queries where your current content almost matches search intent

So instead of asking:

What are the easiest keywords to rank for?

Ask:

Where does my website already have an advantage?

Much better question.

How to Find Low-Hanging Fruit Keywords

1. Start With Keywords You Already Rank For

Before you hunt for shiny new keywords, check the ones you already rank for.

Google Search Console, Semrush, Ahrefs, and similar SEO tools can show you queries where your site is already appearing in search results. Pay particular attention to terms sitting toward the bottom of page one or on page two.

Think positions roughly 4–20, rather than treating that number as a sacred SEO commandment.

For each keyword, look at the page currently ranking and ask:

• Does it fully answer the search intent?
• Is the information current?
• Could the page cover the topic more thoroughly?
• Is an important question or subtopic missing?
• Are relevant internal links pointing to the page?
• Is another page on your site competing for the same keyword?

Sometimes the answer isn’t “write another 2,000-word blog.”

Thank goodness.

A stronger section, better internal linking, updated information, or closer alignment with search intent may be the better move.

2. Compare Keyword Difficulty With Business Value

Keyword difficulty scores are useful.

They are not clairvoyant.

Different SEO tools calculate difficulty differently, and a number alone can’t tell you whether your specific website should pursue a query.

Say you find two keyword opportunities:

One gets thousands of monthly searches but has little connection to what your company actually sells.

The other gets 100 searches a month, has clear commercial intent, and describes the exact problem your ideal customer is trying to solve.

Which one would you rather rank for?

Exactly.

When evaluating low-hanging fruit keywords, look at:

• Search volume
• Keyword difficulty
• Search intent
• Current organic rankings
• Business relevance
• Conversion potential

A keyword isn’t valuable because a tool gave it a pretty number.

It’s valuable because the right person is searching it.

3. Look for Competitor Keyword Gaps

Competitor keyword research can surface plenty of SEO keyword opportunities, but “our competitor ranks for this” isn’t enough reason to create content.

Otherwise, congratulations: you now have 486 blog ideas you don’t need.

Look for keywords competitors rank for where:

• Your site doesn’t currently rank
• The topic clearly matters to your audience
• The keyword connects to your product or service
• You have credible expertise to contribute
• The current SERP results leave room for something better

The goal isn’t to copy your competitors’ keyword strategy.

It’s to find the gaps where you have a legitimate reason to show up.

4. Find Content That’s Losing Rankings

Low-hanging fruit doesn’t always mean winning a ranking you’ve never had.

Sometimes it means getting one back.

Enter: content decay.

If a previously successful article starts losing clicks, impressions, or organic rankings, investigate before assuming its glory days are over.

Common causes include:

• Outdated information
• Stronger competing content
• Shifts in search intent
• Thin topic coverage
• Weak internal linking
• Keyword cannibalization
• Old examples or statistics

A strategic content refresh can often be more efficient than creating something brand new.

Your old content already has history.

Make it earn its keep.

5. Don’t Ignore Long-Tail or Low-Volume Keywords

One question comes up constantly in SEO discussions:

Are low-volume keywords actually worth targeting?

Potentially, yes.

A long-tail keyword with relatively little search volume can still be valuable when the person searching it knows exactly what they need.

Meanwhile, a gigantic informational keyword might generate thousands of visits from people who will never become customers.

So don’t automatically toss a keyword because the volume column looks a little sad.

Ask:

• What is the searcher trying to accomplish?
• How closely does that need align with your business?
• Does the keyword indicate commercial intent?
• Does it support a larger topic your site should own?

Sometimes smaller opportunities add up.

How to Prioritize Keyword Opportunities

Once you have a list, don’t automatically start with the keyword with the highest search volume.

Prioritize based on a combination of:

Current ranking position

A keyword sitting at position 11 may represent a faster opportunity than one where your site doesn’t rank at all.

Search intent

Make sure the content you have, or plan to create, matches what people actually want from the search.

Business relevance

Traffic is lovely. Relevant traffic is lovelier.

Keyword difficulty

Use difficulty as a relative signal, not an automatic yes-or-no filter.

Content effort

Ask how much work the opportunity actually requires. A small content optimization could outperform an entirely new page.

That’s the difference between chasing keywords and building a realistic SEO strategy.

How AI Search Changes Keyword Research

People aren’t only typing two- or three-word keywords into Google anymore.

They’re asking full questions. They’re using conversational search. They’re getting answers from AI Overviews and answer engines.

That makes the actual language people use increasingly important alongside traditional keyword research.

Instead of only researching “keyword difficulty,” look at the questions hiding underneath it:

What keyword difficulty should I aim for?

There isn’t one universal score. A realistic difficulty depends on your site’s authority, topical relevance, competitors, and current rankings.

Are low-volume keywords worth targeting?

They can be, especially when the search intent is highly relevant to your business.

Should I optimize an existing page or create a new one?

If an existing page already ranks and matches the topic, optimization is often the first place to look. A new page may make more sense when the search intent is meaningfully different.

How do I find keywords I’m almost ranking for?

Look in Google Search Console or your SEO platform for terms ranking near the bottom of page one or on page two, then evaluate the ranking page for gaps.

These are the kinds of questions people naturally ask, and answering them clearly can help your content perform across traditional search and newer AI-driven search experiences.

Low-Hanging Fruit Doesn’t Mean Low-Value

The best keyword opportunities aren’t necessarily the terms with the lowest difficulty score.

They’re the places where your existing authority, content, rankings, audience needs, and business goals give you a realistic shot at making progress.

Start with what you’re already ranking for. Fix what has slipped. Study competitors without blindly copying them. Pay attention to intent. And don’t dismiss a keyword simply because its search volume won’t impress anyone in a quarterly report.

The fruit may be hanging lower than you think.

You just have to look at the whole tree.

Check out our SEO services!