How to Find Low Competition Keywords in Ahrefs (2026 Step-by-Step Guide)
By SM Mehedi Hasan
To find low competition keywords in Ahrefs, enter a seed term in Keywords Explorer, open the Matching terms report, filter Keyword Difficulty (KD) below 10 to 15, then add a Lowest DR filter to surface keywords where weak sites already rank. Always confirm the opportunity by checking the live SERP.
Finding low-competition keywords is the fastest way for a newer site to actually pull traffic, rather than waiting months for nothing.
The problem is that most guides stop at the KD filter, and KD alone lies to you more often than people admit.
This guide shows the method that holds up in 2026, including the part where AI Overviews quietly change which keywords are even worth chasing.
Table Of Contents
What are low competition keywords?
Low competition keywords are search terms you can rank for without a huge backlink profile or a high-authority domain.
In Ahrefs terms, they usually carry a low Keyword Difficulty score, and the top of their SERP is made up of weaker pages you can realistically beat.
But here is the catch most people miss. A low KD number does not automatically mean low competition. KD is built from a single signal: the number of referring domains pointing to the current top 10.
It says nothing about brand strength, search intent, or whether a forum thread is sitting at position 3 because Google couldn’t find anything better.
So treat KD as a starting filter, not a verdict.
How to find low competition keywords in Ahrefs (step by step)
- Open Keywords Explorer and enter one or more seed keywords for your niche.
- Click into the Matching terms report to expand into thousands of related queries.
- Set the Keyword Difficulty (KD) filter to a maximum of 10 to 15 for a new site.
- Add a Lowest DR filter (set DR to around 30, position Top 5) to find SERPs where weak sites already rank.
- Sort by Traffic Potential, not raw search volume, to surface the real upside.
- Open the SERP overview for each shortlisted keyword and read it before you commit.
Each step builds on the last, so here is why each one matters and what you should see after doing it.
Steps 1 to 3: Seed, expand, and filter for difficulty
Start broad. If you run an AI tools blog, seeds like “AI writing, “” Notion AI, or “transcription tool” are enough to feed the engine. You are not guessing exact phrases yet, just opening the door.
Once you hit Matching terms, Ahrefs throws a wall of ideas at you. That is where the KD filter earns its keep. Drop the maximum to 10-15, and the list shrinks to terms with few backlinks on the top pages.
New sites should stay under 15. Mid-authority sites can push to 30. After this, you should be looking at a much cleaner list of genuinely reachable terms.
Step 4: Why the Lowest DR filter beats the KD filter alone
Here is the part most competing guides skip entirely. The Lowest DR filter is the single most useful low-competition signal in Ahrefs, and almost nobody talks about it.
Set Lowest DR to 30 and the SERP position to Top 5. Ahrefs then shows you keywords where a site with a Domain Rating of 30 or less is already ranking in the top five.
Think about what that proves. A weak site is winning, which means Google is openly telling you the bar is low for that query. That is far more reliable than a KD number, because it is based on real rankings instead of a backlink estimate.
Honestly, when I leaned on KD alone in my early days, I targeted dozens of “KD 2” keywords and got buried by DR 80 brands every time. The Lowest DR filter would have saved me months.
Step 5: Traffic Potential, not search volume
Most older tutorials tell you to sort by search volume. That advice is dated.
Volume measures a single phrase, while Traffic Potential estimates the total traffic you would earn by ranking for that keyword plus every variation it pulls in.
A keyword with 200 monthly searches can have a Traffic Potential of 1,500 if it ranks alongside a cluster of related terms. Sort by Traffic Potential, and you stop chasing tiny isolated phrases and start targeting whole pockets of demand.
Quick tip: When Traffic Potential is far higher than the keyword’s own volume, that is a strong cluster signal. Build one pillar article around it rather than three thin posts.
How do you confirm that a keyword is truly low-competition?
Open the SERP and read it for sixty seconds before you trust any score. Numbers point you in a direction, but the live results page is where the competition is actually decided.
Look for these weakness signals in the top 5:
- Forum or community pages ranking (Reddit, Quora, niche forums) usually means Google is short on strong content.
- Pages with a DR under 30 are holding top spots, which the Lowest DR filter already flagged.
- Thin, outdated, or poorly matched articles that you can clearly out-write.
- No single big brand dominates every position.
- A search intent that the current results misread, leaving a gap you can fill.
If you spot two or more of these, the keyword is worth your time. If the first page is wall-to-wall DR 80 publishers with deep, recent guides, walk away, no matter how low the KD score looks.
Finding low competition keywords in the AI Overview era (2026)
This is the shift that changes the whole game, and it is missing from nearly every guide still ranking for this topic. AI Overviews now dominate informational SERPs, and they eat clicks.
Ahrefs’ 2026 study comparing late 2023 to late 2025 found AI Overviews cut clickthrough rates by roughly 58% for affected queries.
So a keyword can be low competition and still send you almost no traffic, because Google answers it inside the AI Overview, and the searcher never scrolls.
Here is how to adjust your hunt:
- Check for the AI Overview tag. In Site Explorer, open the Organic keywords report and use the SERP features filter to spot where AI Overviews trigger. In Keywords Explorer, the SERP overview shows the same.
- Favour keywords with weak SERPs and no AI Overview, since those clicks still go to real pages.
- For terms that do trigger an AI Overview, write to be the cited source. Clear definitions, direct answers in the first sentence, and clean structure raise your odds of being pulled into the answer box.
One thing worth knowing: traditional ranking still drives AI citations. Pages that already rank in the top few positions are the ones AI Overviews tend to quote, so strong on-page SEO has not become useless. It has become the entry ticket.
How to find low competition keywords without paying for the full Ahrefs
You do not need the top plan to start. Ahrefs Webmaster Tools is free for verified site owners and provides limited Site Explorer data and a full Site Audit for your domain. The free Keyword Difficulty Checker also pulls real KD scores without a login.
Here is a quick comparison of the main approaches, kept simple for mobile reading.
| Method | What it surfaces | Best for |
|---|---|---|
| KD filter | Terms with few backlinks on page 1 | Fast first pass |
| Lowest DR filter | SERPs where weak sites already win | Confirming real ease |
| SERP overview | Live brand, DR, and intent signals | Final go or no-go |
And a second view, comparing how to get keyword data on a budget.
| Tool | Cost | Use case |
|---|---|---|
| Ahrefs Webmaster Tools | Free | Your own site’s keywords |
| Free KD Checker | Free | Spot-checking difficulty |
| Keywords Explorer | Paid (Starter tier added in 2026) | Full discovery at scale |
In My Experience
The thing that surprised me most was how often a “perfect” KD 1 keyword turned out to be a trap. I once shortlisted a batch of ultra-low KD product terms for a small affiliate site, felt clever about it, then watched every one of them stay stuck on page 3.
When I finally opened the SERPs, big retail brands held all ten spots through sheer brand equity, not backlinks.
What flipped my results was building the Lowest DR filter into every session and clustering by Parent Topic before writing a word. Ahrefs now clusters related keywords directly inside Keywords Explorer, which used to need a separate export, and that one change turned my scattered keyword lists into clear article briefs.
The hidden frustration? Traffic Potential can look inflated for branded clusters, so I still sanity-check it against the live SERP. Useful, not gospel.
Common mistakes when finding low competition keywords
Most of these stem from trusting a single number rather than reading the whole picture. Here are the ones I see beginners repeat, and why they happen.
- Chasing KD and ignoring intent. It happens because KD is the loudest number on screen. Fix it by checking what the SERP is actually rewarding before you write.
- Targeting zero-click keywords. Many low-KD informational terms now sit under an AI Overview. Confirm there is still click demand before committing.
- Sorting by volume instead of Traffic Potential. Volume hides clusters. Sort by Traffic Potential so you see the full opportunity, not one slice of it.
- Forgetting brand equity. A DR 1 score on “black sandals” means nothing when big retailers own every position. Read the SERP for brand domination.
- Writing isolated posts. Single keywords rarely build authority anymore. Group them into clusters so each article supports the next.
Worth adding: keep it simple. If you cannot beat at least three of the current top five pages on depth, freshness, or experience, the keyword is not low competition for you yet.
A real workflow example (Input to Output)
Let me walk through a realistic flow so the steps connect, using a small AI tools blog as the example.
Input: A new site, DR 8, in the AI productivity niche. Seed keyword entered into Keywords Explorer: “notion ai”.
Process: Open Matching terms. Apply KD max 12 and a minimum search volume of 100. Add a Lowest DR filter at DR 30, Top 5. The list narrows from thousands of ideas down to a tight set of reachable terms.
Sort that set by Traffic Potential.
A phrase like “notion ai for students” rises to the top, showing low KD, a DR 25 site already ranking third, no AI Overview on the SERP, and a Traffic Potential well above its own volume because it pulls in related queries.
Output: One prioritized target plus a small cluster of supporting questions taken from the Questions report, such as “Is Notion AI free for students?” and “How to use Notion AI for notes?”
Result: Instead of a random keyword, you walk away with a publish-ready brief: one main article, a clear cluster of subtopics, a confirmed weak SERP, and a query that still sends real clicks.
That is the difference between busywork and a content plan that ranks.
Pro tip from habit: save your filter setup as a reusable view in Ahrefs. Re-running the same KD, Lowest DR, and Traffic Potential filters across new seeds reduces a 30-minute task to 5 minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
For new sites, a KD of 0-10 is considered low competition. Mid-authority sites can target up to 30. Always confirm with the live SERP, since KD only measures backlinks.
No. KD only counts referring domains on page 1. A low KD keyword can still be hard to rank for if big brands or strong content dominate the SERP. Read the results before trusting the score.
Use Ahrefs Webmaster Tools, free for verified site owners, plus the free Keyword Difficulty Checker. Both give real KD and ranking data without a paid subscription, enough for early keyword research.
Yes. AI Overviews can significantly reduce the number of clicks on informational queries. Favour low-competition keywords with no AI Overview, or write clear, direct content that earns a citation inside the answer.
It finds keywords where a low Domain Rating site already ranks in the top positions. That proves the SERP is genuinely beatable, making it the most reliable low-competition signal Ahrefs offers.
Is an SEO Specialist and AI Tools Researcher with over 4 years of hands-on experience in search engine optimization. As the founder of Smart AI Helper Pro, he tests and reviews AI writing, SEO, and marketing tools to help creators and business owners grow faster with practical, research-backed strategies.
