When developing a strategy for your company’s Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), it’s likely that you will instinctively focus on high-volume keywords. These are the phrases that search tools report as having thousands of monthly searches. The assumption is simple: the more people searching, the higher the potential traffic. However, an increasingly important part of SEO involves targeting what are known as zero volume search terms. Despite the name, these keywords are far from worthless. In fact, they can often deliver more meaningful results than some of the most competitive search phrases. So what are zero volume search terms? And how can these add value to your SEO strategy?

What are zero volume search terms?

Zero volume search terms are keywords that, according to keyword research tools, show little or no monthly search activity. They are often highly specific, long-tail queries, frequently framed as natural questions. For example:

“How to fix error 503 on WordPress after plugin update”
“Best lightweight waterproof jacket for spring in the UK”
“Can you recycle bubble wrap in Manchester?”

A keyword tool may report these as having zero or negligible search volume. Yet in practice, people do type these queries into search engines, it’s just that they are simply too specific, too niche, or too localised for tools to track accurately.

In other words, “zero volume” does not always mean “zero searches”.

Why do traditional tools miss zero volume search terms?

Most keyword tools, whether free or paid, aggregate search data from a combination of Google’s Keyword Planner, clickstream data, and third-party sources. To keep their data sets manageable, they often round down very low numbers to zero.

For long tail keyword questions that are specific, this method of collecting search data has two problems. The first is that Google Keyword Planner focuses information from businesses that are choosing keywords for marketing, and so is often focused on the highly competitive short tail or head keywords. The second is that if a phrase is searched fewer than, say, twenty times per month, it may be reported as having no measurable volume. This means that for the majority of large-scale SEO campaigns, these phrases are ignored. Yet for a business that answers one of these specific queries directly, those few searches can convert at a much higher rate than broader, more competitive terms.

So what are the benefits of zero volume search terms for your SEO?

Zero volume search terms can deliver a range of benefits that can often be overlooked due to the low level of search volume recorded. These benefits include:

Lower competition

One of the main frustrations in SEO is battling against established competitors for high-volume keywords. Large companies often dominate the search results for head keywords like “insurance quotes” or “running shoes”. Zero volume search terms, focused on answering questions based on the head keyword, like “best running shoes for cross country tracks”, are often neglected by bigger brands. This gives your company an opportunity to rank for these questions, increasing visibility and topical authority, and perhaps even landing featured snippets or knowledge box answers.

Higher relevance

Because zero volume terms are often long-tail question queries, they reflect very specific intent. Someone searching “car insurance” may only be at the research stage. But someone typing “temporary car insurance for a weekend trip UK” has a very clear need. By optimising content around these precise queries, your business can attract visitors who are further along the buying journey, and may be more likely to choose your services or products.

Better conversion rates

Traffic from high-volume keywords often looks impressive on paper but does not always convert into sales or enquiries. Zero volume keywords, though smaller in traffic numbers, often convert at much higher rates. This is partly because the customer is further along on the buying journey, as mentioned above, but it’s also because when a visitor finds a page that exactly matches their question, they are more likely to take action.

Voice search and natural language queries

As voice assistants like Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant, as well as AI like ChatGPT, become more common, users are increasingly typing or speaking queries in full sentences. Many of these conversational phrases fall into the “zero volume” category in keyword tools, and as a result, optimising for these can help your business capture traffic from the growing voice search market.

Building topical authority

One of the most important benefits of zero volume search terms is that these can help your website build topical depth.Topic clusters in content marketing take the highly competitive, high volume, head keyword, like “running shoes”, and turn this into a topic by producing content around the head keyword. This generally includes long tailed question based content that is relevant and helpful to your audience, yet may have zero recorded search volume itself. It is easy to think that this means that the content is not valuable or worth producing, but this isn’t the case. By answering lots of related questions, even niche ones, your website signals to search engines that it is a trusted authority in this field. This can lead to improved rankings across a broader set of keywords, including the higher-volume head keywords that you built your topics around.

How to identify zero volume search terms

Keyword research tools, like the SEMRush keyword strategy builder, allow you to create topic clusters including question based queries that may have no search volume recorded. But there are other options to consider too, including:

Search suggestions: Typing a core keyword into Google and reviewing the autocomplete suggestions often reveals specific, question-based queries.
People also ask boxes: Google’s built-in “People Also Ask” feature shows questions that may not appear in standard keyword tools.
Customer questions: Reviewing emails, live chat transcripts, and sales enquiries can uncover the exact language real customers use.
Forums and communities: Sites like Reddit, Quora, or industry-specific forums provide insight into the detailed questions people are asking.
Search console data: Reviewing a website’s performance data often reveals impressions for queries with little or no reported search volume elsewhere.

As always with keyword research, the zero volume keywords you choose need to be relevant and useful to your clients and customers.

What are the best practices for using zero volume keywords?

To get the most out of the zero volume search terms you choose, you should be sure to:

Integrate naturally: Content should answer the query in a natural and helpful way, rather than being stuffed with repetitive phrases.
Group related terms: Individual zero volume terms may attract only a handful of searches, but when combined into a cluster, they can drive meaningful traffic.
Optimise for featured snippets: Because many zero volume queries are phrased as questions, well-structured answers may be pulled directly into Google’s featured snippet section.

Can zero volume search terms boost your SEO?

Focusing exclusively on zero volume terms is unlikely to deliver huge traffic numbers overnight. But as part of a balanced SEO strategy, they can provide consistent, high-quality visits that convert well. By targeting the questions and phrases that real people are asking, even if keyword tools underestimate them, your website can meet customer needs more effectively, and strengthen your topical authority over time.

Here at Pumpkin Web Design, we are Preston’s leading web design and web marketing experts. From SEO to content, we are the team you can count on for your businesses online success. We provide high quality web design in Lytham St Annes, Ormskirk, Salford, and across the region. Why not get in touch today to find out more?

Zero volume search terms: Can they boost your SEO?