how to know if a keyword in google is too competitive

This post was originally published in [2025] and has been fully updated for 2026 with new data and tools. You could write the most life-changing article in history, but if nobody can find it, does it even exist? Most bloggers fail because they target the wrong terms. If you want to stop shouting into the void, you need to learn how to find the perfect keywords for a blog post for free. Here are free ways to brainstorm keywords... Use Google suggestions in the search Use people also ask section in Google Use people also search for in Google Use ChatGPT. Use Answer the Public Use your own brainstorming Keep reading, and I'll share 4 free ways to determine how competitive a keyword is. Plus, I'll share 4 free ways to know how much traffic a keyword gets. Plus 4 ways to skyrocket your income with blogging! Long-Tail Keyword Generator Enter your seed keyword to find 100 low-competition opportunities with estimated traffic. Generate 100 Ideas Keyword Phrase Difficulty (1-100) Estimated Monthly Traffic Why Keyword Research is Essential for Ranking Your Blog Fast Keywords are half of the battle when it comes to ranking an article. You can write the best article in the world, but if you get the keywords wrong - nobody will see it. Keywords have to have 3 things. Low competition High traffic Under 60 characters Lucky for you, I have a complete system for finding these keywords for FREE! Plus, how to know how competitive they are and how much traffic they get! 🎯 Keyword "Gold Mine" Estimator Is your keyword worth the effort? Let's find out. Monthly Search Volume: Avg. Product/Affiliate Price ($): Calculate Keyword Potential If you rank #1 (approx. 20% CTR): Monthly Visitors: 0 Est. Monthly Revenue (1% Conv): $0.00 7 Free Ways to Brainstorm Long-Tail Keywords for Your Blog When it comes to writing a blog post, you want content clusters. This is a group of articles all closely related and linked to each other. What I recommend is writing 1 juicy article, such as "10 Steps to Fixing a Car." Then each step can link to an article that goes into more detail on each step. Then link that article back to the 10 steps. All this interlinking can help you rank and get more views and more sales. #1 The best way to brainstorm ideas is to use Google itself. When you start typing in keywords into Google, the search will give you suggestions. #2 You can take that suggestion and plug it into the search again for more suggestions. The "people also ask" section of Google is also a great place to get ideas for keywords you can use. Plus, because Google is suggesting them, you know they get searched! #3 Finally, at the bottom of the Google page is "People also search for" section that gives you more keywords you can use. #4 When it comes to free websites, "Answer the Public" can brainstorm a list of tons of ideas based on 1 keyword you enter. #5 The fifth way to brainstorm ideas is to use ChatGPT HERE. Simply type in "Give me 50 or 100 keywords that are similar to how to fix a car." The AI will give you a long list of ideas. #6 Oh, and if you type in your keyword into Google followed by letters, you will get more ideas from Google in the letter you typed. How to fix a car a How to fix a car b How to fix a car c #7 Finally, is using your own brain (I know it sounds like too much work). To come up with an idea for keywords, you want to start small and then add keywords to niche down. How to fix a car. How to fix a 1996 Honda Civic. How to fix a 1996 Honda Civic with no tools. How to fix a 1996 Honda Civic sunroof with no tools. How to fix a 1996 Honda Civic sunroof in 1 hour with no tools. How to fix a 1996 Red Honda Civic sunroof in 1 hour with no tools and no hands. (I couldn't help myself) The more you niche down, the less competition there will be. Be careful because if you niche down too much, not many people may be searching for it. Still, it's better to be on page 1 than page 10 of Google, right? Now that you have some keywords, you still have to run them through 2 tests. Competition Traffic Ideally, you want a keyword with NO competition and TONS of traffic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pNA5qgUp3_0&t=1s How to Check Keyword Competition for Free Using Google Tools The best way to determine the competition of a keyword is Google itself. There is a free Chrome plugin called Keyword Surfer HERE that can give you even more info on the posts in Google. Type in the keyword and look at the blog posts on page 1. See if the blog posts... Come from domains with lots of authority. Are they on topic? Keywords in the title. Article length. Many Forums in the top spots! How many words? If you see lots of domains you have never heard of, with 500 words and talking about a different topic than what you entered into Google, you know it's not very competitive. You can rank for it! The main thing is to ask yourself. Can I create a more helpful resource? If the answer is yes, then write the article. Now, if many of the articles on page 1 of Google have 5,000 words, are from high-authority domains, and are spot-on topic, maybe choose another keyword. If you have a brand-new blog, then maybe go for less competitive keywords so you have a higher chance of being on page 1. #2 The next way to determine how competitive a keyword is is with this free tool HERE. You have to create an account, and you get 3 free analyses a day. You can take that data on your own and make a determination if it passes your test! It's important to take this score with a grain of salt because it "could" be wrong! #3 The third way is to look at the SERP features. SERP stands for (search engine results page). If the SERP comes back with TONS of ads, videos, and a big snippet of information, then it's going to be harder to get traffic. It's more competitive. It's the same way when looking for your keys in a cluttered room compared to an empty space. Now, if the SERP comes back with NO ads, no videos, no snippets, and just a few articles with boring titles, then it will be easier to be noticed, and the keyword will be less competitive. #4 Lastly is search intent. People type words into Google for 4 reasons.. Education Research Before Buying Something Transactional -Intent to Buy Go to a Specific Website If the prospect is using Google to go directly to a website and you have an article about education with their products, the prospect may not care. via GIPHY They just want to go to the specific website as quickly as possible. This means it's highly competitive even if you get to page 1. This is worth considering. How to Estimate Blog Traffic for Specific Keywords for Free Determining the traffic a keyword gets is an educated guess. It's just like predicting the weather! You can rank for additional keywords than what you're targeting. #1 A great free way to determine traffic is with Google Trends. There are 5 boxes, and if all 5 boxes have information in them, then you know LOTS of people are typing it in. If only 1 box shows up, then fewer people type it in. If NO boxes show up, then maybe look for another keyword. It may not be worth it to write the article. Plus, with Google Trends, you can see the interest over time with the keyword. #2 The next way to determine the traffic of a keyword is with "Google Keyword Planner." You know the tool people use to pay for advertising on keywords. Each keyword will have a range, and this can also be a good indicator. #3 You can also use the free Chrome extension Keyword Surfer HERE. It can also give you an idea of how much traffic a keyword gets when you plug it into Google. #4 Ubersuggests HERE can also give you the traffic of a keyword. The downfall is that you only get 3 free searches a day. Still, if you own the fence, you can get another data point to help you decide whether to go after the keyword or not. How to Monetize a Blog Using Keywords and Affiliate Marketing Now that you have saved money on keyword tools for blogging, there are a few tools that WILL supercharge your income. #1 What is so great about blogging is that you can put affiliate links in your blog posts. This is where, if someone clicks on a link and buys something, you get paid. What if there was a way to keep 100% of the money? Even better, do NO work creating it? Plus, have complete control over it. You can charge what you want, give them away, and use them as bonuses. Nice, right? Well, it's called PLR, and it's cool! From this link HERE, you can get a massive collection for almost nothing. Next, what goes well with blogging? Yes, YouTube, and I love it, but there is something even better. #2 Yes, eBooks. You can repurpose your blog content into eBooks. Then sell them, give them away, and put affiliate links inside. eBooks have more uses than a rubber chicken for my pet puppy (no humping required). There is software that makes creating an eBook a breeze. In fact, it can take your blog post and automatically create an eBook with almost no work. Plus, it's insanely cheap for what you get. Check out this cool eBook software HERE. #3 Next, there is a whole system for making money with PDFs and eBooks. This works perfectly with blogging, and you can view this whole system HERE. This system is very good. #4 Finally, adding in email marketing WILL skyrocket your income if done correctly. Plus, not only can you do it for FREE, but I can give you a whole system that will double, 3x, or even 7x your income online for FREE. To view this free guide on email marketing, just click on this link HERE. Conclusion If you hang around the forums, some people are pessimistic about blogging for the long term due to AI. The ONLY thing that matters is the market. Some people want to read blog posts from humans. They want real experiences and stories. It's the same with how nobody wants to talk to an AI person on the phone. Blogging will probably always be around. Now I honestly am not sure if it's as good as it was 10-15 years ago. You might need to add YouTube or an email strategy to make the same type of income. But it's still an amazing opportunity and might get better since many people want to create videos and create shitty AI articles! If you want to view the complete 10 steps to starting a blog, along with 20 benefits a blog can provide, then click on the link HERE.