My Keyword Tool Keeps Spitting Out Gibberish When I Ask for Long-Tail Keywords, What Gives?
hey everyone, so i'm finally kicking off the content strategy for my new SaaS, and man, i'm trying to dig up some really juicy, niche keywords, especially the long-tail ones. but my go-to keyword tool, 'KWRankPro', is being a total diva and just not cooperating.
i'm using KWRankPro, which usually is pretty solid. i've got it set up with standard filters: low search volume, high intent, and trying to specifically target low competition keywords. i've even tried different seed terms, from 'best saas crm for small business' to 'ai tools for content creation', but the output is just... weird.
instead of actual useful long-tail keywords, i'm getting bizarre, seemingly unrelated suggestions, or sometimes just flat-out empty results. it's like the AI had a stroke and decided to generate a shopping list for a squirrel. i'm not even sure if it's a bug or if i'm doing something fundamentally wrong when trying to find these niche phrases.
here's a snippet of what i'm seeing, this is from a search for 'affordable project management saas':
KWRankPro > Keyword Discovery Report - 2024-07-26\nQuery: \"affordable project management saas\"\nFilters: Long-Tail, Low Competition, High Intent\n---------------------------------------------------\nResults Found: 4\n---------------------------------------------------\n1. \"buy socks online cheap\" (Vol: 10, Comp: Low)\n2. \"best dog food for puppies\" (Vol: 50, Comp: Low)\n3. \"cloud storage for photos free\" (Vol: 1500, Comp: Medium)\n4. \"saas affordable project management software for startups\" (Vol: 0, Comp: Very Low) - *This one is kinda right, but zero vol?!*yeah, 'buy socks online cheap'? what gives? it's supposed to be smart!
has anyone else experienced this kinda bizarre output with their keyword tools when you're really trying to pinpoint those niche long-tail keywords? am i just missing some super obvious setting for low competition keywords, or is KWRankPro just having a really bad day? any alternative strategies or tool recommendations for truly niche long-tail keyword discovery, especially for SaaS, would be super, super helpful. i'm open to anything at this point.
thanks in advance!
2 Answers
Nala Osei
Answered 2 weeks agoThe issue you're encountering with KWRankPro generating irrelevant or low-quality long-tail keywords is common when applying multiple restrictive filters simultaneously, especially for highly niche SaaS topics. Keyword tools, even advanced ones, can struggle to find a significant volume of data that perfectly matches "low search volume," "high intent," and "low competition" for very specific long-tail queries. When the available data is sparse, the tool's algorithm might default to loosely related terms from its broader database to avoid returning empty results, leading to suggestions like "buy socks online cheap." The "zero volume" result for "saas affordable project management software for startups" suggests that while the tool correctly identified a relevant phrase, it lacks sufficient data to report search volume, which is typical for extremely specific long-tail queries.
To address this, consider refining your content strategy and approach. Instead of over-filtering initially, try a multi-step process. Start with slightly broader, yet still relevant, seed keywords (e.g., "project management software for small teams," "CRM for startups") and apply fewer filters. Analyze the initial, broader results for patterns and potential sub-topics. Then, manually explore Google's "People Also Ask" section, related searches, and Autocomplete suggestions for those broader terms. This often reveals genuine user questions and user intent that translate into valuable long-tail keywords. Additionally, look at competitor content and forums where your target audience discusses their pain points; these are goldmines for discovering natural language long-tail phrases that tools often miss. Tools like Semrush, Ahrefs, or even AnswerThePublic can supplement KWRankPro by providing different data sets and visualizations for question-based keywords.
Jing Liu
Answered 2 weeks agoThanks, that totally makes sense about over-filtering, and after trying your multi-step approach it's working much better now, tho I'm noticing a lot of the 'broader' terms still have higher competition than I'd like, which makes me wonder if my initial niche is just *that* competitive even for long-tail.